My dream has been to come to Paris for as long as I can remember, and I was honestly a little afraid that it wouldn't live up to my expectations of it (despite many people telling me that it met and exceeded their own). I tried--and failed--to lower those expectations because I didn't want to be disappointed. Thankfully, Paris has lived up to all the wonderful stories and ideas. This place is wonderful.
Because last night was such a late night (I went to bed at two in the morning. TWO! In the morning! That should be illegal.) we decided to do brunch instead of breakfast. We found a cafe at ten-thirty or so and sat down. The man who seated us didn't speak English really well, so ordering was a bit of an adventure. He had another woman whose English was far better, and we fared better with her. He did understand my French, though, so that made me feel good.
My French is not good. It's passable in most situations, but it's really not so great. But people here are so kind and so patient, and they'll humor me most of the time and carry on the conversation in French (and then I get lost and nod and smile and hope that that was the appropriate reaction). I love the French people, though. I think they're part of the magic of Paris.
Brunch was delicious, and I was so glad we decided to go there. It consisted of sliced bread, an omelette, hot chocolate, fruit juice, and a salad with a wedge of tomato. I wouldn't normally eat salad for breakfast, but it worked this morning. I've missed good salads.
After brunch we headed over to one of the many love lock bridges located here in the city. This particular one was by Notre Dame, and it was so fun. We found a Metro stop and headed over to the Eiffel Tower again. This time, though, we went up to the top.
I'm so terrified of heights, so being in the elevator going up was a bit alarming, but once we were up there it was fine, because there were protective barriers. I love protective barriers.
It was similar to being in the top of the Empire State Building, but this was better, because the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris. We were looking down on everything, and it was magical. Almost everything about Paris is utterly magical (except the Metro. I'm less of a fan of the Metro).
The Eiffel Tower took a long time, but we still had several other things on the agenda for the day. Mary, Amy, Maddie, and I stopped at a bakery for lunch (super late, huh?) on our way to the Musee d'Orsay. I accidentally got a smoked salmon and lemon sandwich when I was expecting ham and cheese, but it was still good (which is saying something, because fish is not my favorite). I also got a strawberry tart and it was divine. I had two regrets after finishing it: one, that it was gone, and two, that I haven't been purchasing one with every meal. I'm learning how to make them.
There was some confusion when we were trying to meet up at the Musee d'Orsay, and we were told that we needed to meet with the rest of the group ASAP. Then no one else showed up, so Mary and I headed off to look at the art (because that's what museums are for).
Five minutes after we'd been at this, an announcement came on saying that the museum would be closing at 5:30. At this point it was nearly 5:15. We found the Van Gogh room and then we ran up to the top floor so we could see the Monet. There were so many stairs, but we were seriously crunched for time, and we wanted to see the Impressionist paintings. It was worth it. I would have like to have spent more time in the museum, but we didn't plan it well enough (also, we didn't realize that it would be closing so early). I did see some beautiful works, though, and it was worth it. I'm glad we were able to see what we did.
After the Musee d'Orsay the plan was to see Sainte-Chapel. However, this was closed at 5:30, too, so we decided to head straight over to the Louvre (which was open until 9:45 tonight). Mary, Maddie, and I sat in the park next to the Louvre for a few minutes before going in, and the rest of the group forged on ahead.
The Louvre is enormous and intimidating, and has too little of the Impressionism era. It was still incredible, though. They have so many pieces that I've learned about over the years.
Something that made visiting the Louvre a bit more difficult was that all the inscriptions were written solely in French. I was able to make out the gist of what they were saying (and sometimes I understood pretty much everything), but it takes so much brainpower for me to read French, still. So I was exhausted pretty quickly. Especially because I'm the kind of person who likes to read every inscription so I can connect with the painting more.
We did see the Winged Victory of Samothracem (which was beautiful), Liberty Leading the People, and the Mona Lisa (of course). Everyone I've talked to has complained about how crowded it is around the Mona Lisa, how it's super small, and how you can't get close enough, so I wasn't all that excited about it. However, we were in the Louvre later so it wasn't all that crowded the second time we went (about half an hour before close), and she was bigger than I'd expected. She wasn't huge, but she's the size of a normal portrait. It was was also funny to see all the people taking pictures of her and seeing her through the screens of their phones and camera screens, even though they could look up to see her in person. I just found that a bit ironic: here they were in the most famous painting in the world, and instead of standing and taking it in, they were snapping a picture whose identical twin can be found on the internet millions of times over, and moving on. I don't know. Maybe I was missing something. I did take a picture of her the first time I visited, but I spent a fair amount of time just staring both times.
After the Mona Lisa we set off in search of the wing containing French artists. However, we somehow managed to get completely lost in the Egyptian exhibit. I don't know why, but Egyptian art freaks me out a little bit, so it was "fun" being lost amongst sarcophagi, mummies, and jackal gods. We went up and down so many stairs, and pushed ourselves to slap-happy before making it out.
We did eventually find the French art, and I, to my delight, the art from Holland. I saw some beautiful landscapes and a few more cows, and I was content. I also decided to try reading the inscriptions again, and this helped me enjoy it even more.
At about 9:15 we were done. We went outside and sat by the glass pyramid and waited for the sun to set. We saw five fancy Asian event photo shoots, and Mary snuck a few pictures of the couple taking engagements. They were stunning, so I can't blame her.
After the lights turned on in the pyramid we headed home. We opted to walk, and we were going to get crepes on the way home, but then we were all hungry for dinner, so we got that instead. Mary and I wanted pasta, so we found a sit-in restaurant that was cheap and looked delicious (it was also crowded with a bunch of French people so we figured that that was a good sign). The food was delicious, and I loved being there. We didn't finish eating until 11:30, but, because the city was still awake, running, and booming, I didn't feel that tired. I mean, my head hurt and my feet were crying, but I had a smile on my face as I walked the still-busy streets leading to our hotel. Paris is a city that runs later. Not necessarily the greatest thing for me, but enjoyable nonetheless. I'm going to miss this place.
I wore my yellow dress today (as shown), and, because it is such a happy thing, I was dancing down the street. Miriam asked me if she could take a picture of me spinning around. I guess this is when I stopped. Also, I got several compliments on my dress today. Paris is a better place to wear it than London.
Maddie and Amy matched today.
So many locks. So much love. I love ice cream. . . does that mean I should have purchased a lock after all?
Me and Mary. I wore my hair down for most of the day for whatever reason. It was way too hot for that today.
Oh Paris, I love you so much.
Maddie
From the top of the Eiffel Tower
Maddie and Amy
Amy
The best tart of my life. Also, it matched the car so. . . I had to hold it up.
On our way to the Louvre
The group
Mary
In the gardens
Stalker pic of Maddie who is probably contemplating all of life's deepest things.
Oh. We also found a goat.
There she is!
Mary with her French braid in France.
Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Mona Lisa from several feet back. She was still beautiful.
And the horde of people only seeing her through the screens of their devices. I mean, if you're going to be looking at it through a screen anyway, why deal with the crowd? Why not just Google it?
Fruity faces. And Maddie.
This reminded me of KKeats' Ode on a Grecian Urn." It's amazing to me how I can already see that my study abroad experience has changed my life and how I will view things forevermore.
While we were lost in Egypt I thought I should probably document something of the adventure we were having so. . . that happened.
Maddie "taking a picture" of the Sphinx.
The stairwells were beautiful, but we grew to loathe them as our legs turned to jelly. One ascends and descends more stairs when one is lost.
So.many.stairs.
Mary started laughing so hard that she teared up at one point on the stairs. This was where the slap-happiness started.
Just some of my favorites
A capybara! Bill Peet wrote a story about this animal, once, and I loved it. I was pleased to see one painted.
This lion was fierce.
Hercules killing someone who had metamorphosed into a serpent. I don't remember this story, but that's what it's depicting.
Another huge vase.
We found places to sit in the Grecian statuary, so we rested for fifteen minutes or so (we looked at the surrounding statues, too). This is Maddie composing poetry of her experience at the Louvre.
And Mary doing the same.
The Louvre at sunset. Sunset is so late here, but it's also beautiful so. . . you win some, you lose some.
Rebekkah
It's past bedtime, but today was a lovely day. I can't believe my stay in Paris is almost done! I'll come again soon, even if it's only in my dreams.
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