Hello from gay Paree!
Paris is crazy cool. To tell you the absolute truth, I wasn't really that thrilled to go to Paris when we first started working out this whole travel around the world thing. I couldn't tell you why. It was just "meh" in my book. But Lupe really wanted to come here so I figured "what the hell". I would like to officially state that Lupe is, as always, much smarter than me.
Paris is one helluva place. It's a major metropolis like New York with all the history that a place like New York lacks. Unlike Rome, who has so much history crammed into every step you take it's easy to miss it when it's right on top of you, the French got history... and they aren't shy about showing it off.
Yesterday, we walked from the quaint and comfortable Hotel Pavilion Bastille (located across the street from the very modern chrome and glass Bastille Opera House, a short walk to the Metro) to the Louvre (about 30-45 minutes walk away) where we saw all the sights there are to see. The nicest thing about traveling in the "off season" to most of these places we've been to? No lines. No wait. No hassle. The line into the Louvre took us a whole 5 minutes to navigate. The ticket booths are automated so, coat check and pre-exploring bathroom trip aside, getting in to the museum itself took maybe 5 more minutes. We high tailed it to the Mona Lisa as quick as we could, having heard the line can be ridiculous long and that they shuffle you through in 10 second intervals to find, lo and behold: no line, a small, manageable crowd, and all the time in the world to examine that frickin' smile.
It's smaller than you expect it to be. At least, that's what everyone had said to me when telling me of the painting. But, it's really just regular portrait size. The mystery about the painting is a tad overrated since anyone who understands what sort of mastery it takes to produce a work of art that contains within it such dimension that it creates an illusion of depth that produced that smile and those cheekbones (all without the help of photoshop, no less) can tell that Leo pulled out all the stops in creating this masterpiece. It's pretty impressive to see up close. And it requires a close examination. Like Michelangelo's "David", it's nothing like the pictures you've seen and so much more.
We explored the Louvre for as long as our feet could allow, stopping in the room with the Code of the Hammurabi for my own personal edification. That is some slab of rock. When the proverbial 'they' say that something is 'set in stone', they're (knowingly or otherwise) talking about this particular rock. Ever since I was a history student, I have wanted to see that thing. It did not disappoint.
After the Louvre, we walked around some more then went home. So beat. Legs hurt so bad. The cure for this? Why, more walking today of course!
Today was Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame was suprisingly small and relatively unimpressive to me. Don't get me wrong, it's still a sight to behold. What's really strange is that the Notre Dame has bravely accepted the future and all the conveniences of technology. Automated offering machines. Coin-op medallion dispensers. All the lighting rigs of a rock concert and the sound system to match. The confessional booths are sound-proof glass rooms where people queue just outside waiting their turn to speak to the priest who sits inside under incandescent fluorescent lights and invites them in for all to see. Talk about 'transparency in the church'. All-in-all, it was definitely a sight to see, disappointment aside. I guess I have just been spoiled with cathedrals since Italy. The duomo in Milan with it's garishly massive Gothic design alone was far more menacing and impressive. But it is Notre Dame... and the bells were ringing while we were there so that was cool.
We made the very long walk along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and were wiped when we got there. They left a light on for us though... the place went bright the moment we came around the corner to see it in all its glory. That was cool. When the lights flash off and on like a strobe light, the whole city "ooos and ahhs'. They actually turned off the lights for about an hour for Earth Hour to help conservation efforts. Neat.
The lines there were a little excessive and the French are brutal when it comes to ignoring the etiquette of a queue. Worse than Americans at the box office any day. We had also hoped to dine in the restaurant there but the top floor was closed due to stormy weather and we simply didn't plan well enough ahead. That was a bummer. But the sight from the Tower is unlike anything else in the world. Looking down over the city of Paris you can see so many world renowned structures it actually puts Rome to shame. The French are cutting edge when it comes to the importance of their buildings and the history that surrounds them and the sheer space they allow for their growth. Simply breathtaking.
Afterward, we made our way down to a cafe on the corner where the food was so fantastic I could have blown the rest of my cash there. So good. So full now. Teresa got escargot. Like a champ! Apparently they were quite good. I'll take her word for it.
Elvia and Teresa leave us tomorrow: back to Alaska where their lives go back to normal. I know that Elvia really had a great time here. Teresa was really homesick after a few days. She has no idea. Three months is a long time to be away from home. It gets harder and harder every day. It'll be worse now that we've had a taste of home with our family being here for the short time that they were. I'm glad they got to come and experience this though. It was great to live vicariously through their excitement about being somewhere foreign and new.
Elvia, in particular, is fearless. Whereas my wife and I will argue over where to eat for three hours before we finally concede to a place that we both agree looks good enough, Elvia is the food decision queen! Every place she's said, "let's eat here" has been incredible. I guess it can't be that hard to find good food in France. She is also fearless when it comes to meeting people. She will wander up to complete strangers and strike up conversation. Tourists, police in riot gear, street performers, scam artists: she talks to them all, telling them she's from Alaska, giving out postcards from Sitka with her address on it, telling people that if they ever come to Alaska to give her a call and she'll put them up. Like I said... fearless. That, too, is refreshing.
I have yet to experience any of the famed French rudeness first hand. Well... anything rude enough to feel anything less than what you get in America, I guess. There've been a 'tsk' here and a few looks there but, honestly, it's about as bad in rudeness here as it is anywhere in the U.S. Like America, if they don't understand what you are saying, they don't care about you. Kind of like how most America is with anyone who doesn't speak English. Like the Americans, they don't really like foreigners and that's apparent. But it honestly hasn't been anything worse than the kind of rudeness you can get from any American on the street. In most cases, the people have been quite friendly, pretty helpful even if resentfully, and funny funny funny. These folks can take a joke, I'll tell you that much. If they can understand you, that is.
Paris is great. I would still rather go back to Italy if given the choice... but I can see why people like it here so much. Food is amazing, people are pretty, the sights are phenomenal, and the price is not so ridiculous it's unbearable. Sydney still holds as the most expensive place we've been to, in my opinion. Speaking of this: we met a great woman from Atlanta, Georgia who was visiting Paris. She had won a contest from a travel site and was here for a good while, hotel, plane travel, etc: all paid. She told us she had also won a trip to exclusive Australia but couldn't afford the taxes to go there. So they gave her a cash equivalent reward instead. So she bought a house with it. Yeah. We all rubbed her for good luck. Holy crap, what a story she told. Crazy.
It is very late here in Paris and I am totally wiped after the last two days. Time to kick back with some MTV France (where they still play music videos!) and drink some wine.
So sore. So beat. So ready to come home now. A few more days here in Paris then it's off to London. Funny... we started this trip in a place where they still speak English enough for us to get by, went to all these places where they don't speak much English, and now are going to finish up this trip in a place where they speak English again. Weird.
Must go. Photos available on facebook soon.
-d@n
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