where was i? paris was wonderful. this was the only city i’ve been to so far that i had previously visited on other european trips. before the trip, i was a little hesitant. i didn’t have the greatest impression of the city from my first visit. however, i’ve since realized that my previous dissatisfaction was probably based more in my culture shock slash jetlag slash juvenility slash stupid sixteen-year-old girl than actual negative vibes towards paris. as i’ve mentioned many times before, i appreciate my independence, especially when it comes to exploring new places and seeing the sights that i am interested in. i was afraid at first that i wouldn’t feel as comfortable on the metro as i did in london because i don’t speak french. as it turns out, navigation is pretty universal and i had absolutely no problems at all. well, with the exception of my metrocard ceasing to work for a time, but that’s hardly the point.
i can’t say that i’ve picked up that much french since being here. but i do think that i absorbed more language in the four days in paris than the rest of my time in strasbourg. if anything, i can now pronounce the names of parisian landmarks with a convincing french accent. so i guess i have that going…
we left the chateau on thursday afternoon for the train ride to paris. it took about four hours on the conventional train. apparently they’re building high speed tracks for this part of western europe, so next summer it will only take two-ish hours to reach paris from strasbourg. that would have been super fun; i’ve always wanted to ride on a high-speed train. maybe they’ll install one from quincy to chicago. or maybe i’ll just come back to europe next summer. dad and dan, i blame you for instilling a geekish fascination with transportation in general and trains in particular. i tried so hard to ignore you. sorry, that’s the fever talking.
at approximately 7:00 we rolled into the gare d’est station in paris. our tour manager, annettee, was waiting with our coach to take us to our hotel. first of all, annette was the best tour manager we’ve had thus far, and that is saying something. she even made mix cds for our time on the bus. i can appreciate that effort. after dropping our things off at the hotel, we went to dinner. normally i wouldn’t mention something as boring as dinner, but it was the most delicious meal i have had in nearly three months. we ate at a lebanese restaurant. hummous and baba ganusch and a whole bunch of other delicious delicious things. mmmm, i’m hungry just thinking about it.
the next morning, we woke up for our customary bus tour of the city. i still think it’s the best way to orientate yourself upon arrival, and quite interesting to boot. plus, then i didn’t feel guilty about not visiting landmarks such as napolean’s tomb or any of the shopping areas, because technically i did see them. after the bus tour, we got lunch. karissa and i grabbed a sandwich somewhere, then ate it on a bridge crossing the seine. as we were enjoying our picnic, some crazy woman started dancing on the bridge. clearly, it was her own style, but i might describe it as a cross between classical ballet, t’ai chi, and something that i might bust out at a party. as we were laughing at this spectacle, a different parisian pastime was happening to our right. we witnessed a fashion shoot in its full glory. the model walked gracefully in her designer suit and too much makeup, as photographers snapped and hairstylists touched up the look. i think we were interfering with their shots, but gosh darn it we were there first.
after lunch, we visited the museé d’orsay to see the impressionist. my favorite part of traveling with a bunch of art students is that our guided tours of museums do not mess around. almost all of us have taken some sort of class in art history, so we can put together a pretty decent context for the works of art that we visit. we can ask substantial questions, and also shown the less-appreciated works of art that sometimes get overlooked. plus, we would probably rather spend more time at these museums than visiting tourist traps such as the moulin rouge.
after the museé, we had free time to do as we wished. a group of us walked down the seine to visit notre dame. i was amazed (again) by notre dame. cathedrals across europe all seem to blend together sometimes, but i can’t get over how impressive notre dame is. my only regret is we arrived too late to climb to the top, which is something that i really wanted to do. hmm, perhaps a reason to return to paris.
friday night was really fun. a group of us got our cameras and decided to visit monuments at night so we could take pictures. i got a few cool shots of the eiffel tower, but then my battery died and i was pretty much out of luck. oh, you should really visit my friend james’ blog. he takes amazing pictures which put mine to shame. here’s the address: http://web.mac.com/thirdjh
saturday morning we had a visit at sacre coeur. this cathedral i think is quite mystical. perched high above paris on a hill, its brilliant white domes look stunning contrasted to the bright blue sky. it doesn’t seem like a catholic church, but would fit in much better somewhere in india or something. we had an introduction and brief lecture of the history of the cathedral from a benedictine nun. i think most of the group slept through what she had to say, but i was quite interested. the cathedral was build as a symbol of paris pulling itself out of the sinful life it was living. it took many years and great sacrifice, but sacre coeur is a testament to the spirit and faith of many parisians.
we wandered around montmartre for a while, then had dinner at a hilarious “french interpretation of american culture” theme restaurant. it was called buffalo bill’s or something like that, and filled its décor and menu with references to cowboys and the wild west. i had some delicious onion rings.
i think if i had come to paris expecting a stereotypical experience, filled with romantic strolls through the streets and sketching over a cup of coffee in a café, i would have been disappointed. instead, i visited all sorts of museums and wasn’t afraid of tainting my parisian experience by eating at such cheese-fests as buffalo bill’s café.
my new-found streak of exploring random parts of the city in search of obscure attractions remained unbroken. saturday afternoon, jessica and i went in search of architecture by le corbusier. we’re making a presentation on him for our french culture and civilization class, so we took this opportunity to do some firsthand research and field trips. it wasn’t as hard to find as the temple in london or as random as the pub in dublin, but still it was an adventure. we found it eventually, toured the villa, took lots of great pictures and did some excellent research.
saturday night was our visit to the top of le tour eiffel. standing in line, i felt a tinge of nervousness within me. ok, more than a tinge. for a moment i considered not venturing to the top for fear that my newfound aversion to heights would prevent me from maintaining consciousness or provoke another panic attack. but then i thought of you, my faithful blog readers, who so enjoyed reading about my experience on the london eye. if anything, i could rename my blog “katie mays has panic attacks on top of famous european monuments of great heights”. still, i ventured upward. as it turns out, i was fine. there was a touch of nervousness as i got close to the edge, but overall i was completely able to handle it.
sunday was our visit to versailles. i was interested in going back to versaille because we studied this castle extensively in my architectural history class. but i ended up being pretty apathetic to the whole situation, perhaps due to my total exhaustion and crummy weather. adding to my disgust were the throngs of asian tourists who had absolutely no manners or tact. they would literally bowl you over in order to snap a picture in front of something famous. and they would take pictures of each other, completely expressionless. they didn’t seem to care about what they were looking at, but instead wanted proof that they were there. quite an extreme cultural difference. i guess if you stepped back it was pretty amusing. i even took a picture or two in their style.
i was most interested in seeing the gardens of versailles. but it was cold and rainy, and i was tired. when we walked outside i spotted some golf carts that were for rent. what could be a more perfect solution to my hesitations of exploring? jessica, shruti, karissa and i got really pumped for renting the cart. however, our dreams were shattered when the lady informed us that a 150 euro deposit was necessary for people under 25, and they didn’t accept credit cards. honestly, 25 is the new 21. you still can’t do anything cool until you’re over 25.
so we went back to paris, completely exhausted. we ended up taking a nap for most of the afternoon, but then went to the latin quarter for dinner. mmm, mexican food. after dinner we walked around a bit, and stopped in a bar/club for a drink. when i got back to the hotel, i turned on cnn international for the greatest surprise of the trip: the daily show with jon stewart! broadcast for some reason on cnn. now that i got my fix, i could stay here another three months. kidding, mom!
monday morning we went to the louvre. it was amazing, as you might expect. saw the mona lisa and venus de milo, as is required. it’s hard to grasp the idea that so many masterpieces of art are under one roof. also, it’s impossible to understand how enormous the museum actually is. there’s some statistic that observing every artwork in the louvre for 5 seconds would still take a really long time to complete. hmm, that statistic might be impressive if i actually tried to find what it said, instead of hinting at something cool. once again at the louvre, asian tourists were all over. our tour guide actually yelled at a couple of them, which was pretty amusing.
monday afternoon was our train ride back to strasbourg. i had a great time in paris, but still really want to go back. even riding on the bus to the train station, i looked out the window and saw all sorts of places that i didn’t get to visit but really want to go to. paris, i’ll be back.
in other news, i’m completely addicted to the new damien rice cd. i encourage any and all to download it immediately. i only have three more weeks left in europe. eeek! back to the real world. finally, tomorrow is thanksgiving. i have class in the morning. we’re having a “traditional american thanksgiving dinner”, but i can’t imagine what we’ll actually be served. if it’s funny, i’ll write about it.
over and out.
-kate
