La Vie en Rose

J’adore Paris.

Monday was my much anticipated trip to Paris with Rick. With wonderful memories and very sore feet, I’ll now describe our day.

For anyone who doesn’t know, I’ve been to Paris before in high school with my French class. This trip was about revisiting my favorite spots in the short amount of time we had, and also making sure Rick got to see the major sights. But mostly it was about just being in a city I fell in love with almost three years ago.

We woke up at 4:15 a.m., which no one in their right mind should ever do unless it involves a trip to Paris. We caught one of the very first Tube trains to St. Pancras International, the new home of the Eurostar. This is not to be confused with St. Pancreas, the patron saint of insulin. Anyway, the Eurostar is the train which travels under the English Channel through the Chunnel. It reaches speeds of 186 miles per hour, which is faster than an airplane goes on land while it is taking off. The price of trips varies depending on the day and time, but since we went on a Monday we spent only $104 each for roundtrip tickets (which is very good compared to flying).

Our train left at 6:30, and we slept almost the entire way. A few of our friends had taken the Eurostar already, and said that the pressure in the Chunnel made their ears hurt much worse than any airplane. It couldn’t have been that bad, because both of us slept right through it. The trip took just about two hours and 15 minutes. France is one hour ahead of London’s time, so we got there just before 10:00 a.m.

The weather in Paris did not seem to want to facilitate our need to be outside a lot that day. It was quite cold and rained on and off all day long. But even that could not dampen our spirits.

We headed first up the hill to Montmartre, the artsy neighborhood. There, on top of a huge hill, sits Sacré Cœur, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. It is a huge white structure that is beautiful both on the inside and out. The hill overlooks the entire city of Paris. It’s really too bad it was cloudy, because I’m sure the view would have been fantastic in the sunshine.

We then hiked back down the hill, heading toward the Louvre but making a few stops on the way. First we walked through La Place Vendôme, which features a huge column of...I don’t really remember. Madame Guillet is going to kill me. Anyway, from there we went to La Madeleine, the church of Mary Magdalene. This church is very unusual in that it looks like an ancient Roman Temple with grand pillars from the inside. We also got to go inside, something I didn’t do last time I was there. It was very different from the outside; it looked much more like a Catholic church or cathedral. The highlight was a gorgeous marble statue of Mary Magdalene and angels behind the altar.

From there we walked straight to La Place de la Concorde. This square has a giant Egyptian obelisk and some very intricate fountains. Standing on one side we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. I could also make out the Musée d’Orsay, the museum which has many paintings by the Impressionists (unfortunately, I didn’t have time to make it back there). There was also a Ferris wheel set up, although not many people were on it due to the weather.

Directly leading up to the Louvre is a large garden, le Jardin des Tuileries. It has a lot of marble statues of Greek or Roman figures, along with various fountains which were at the time full of ducks and seagulls.

We then arrived at one of the main points of contention among Parisians – the glass pyramid entryway of the Louvre. It was designed by I.M. Pei, the same architect who designed Newhouse I and the Everson Museum in Syracuse. My feelings on it are mixed. On one hand, it is cool in and of itself. On the other, it seems out of place in the middle of the Louvre, a grand horseshoe-shaped building which used to be a palace.

Once in the Louvre, we made sure to hit up some of the most famous works, namely the Mona Lisa and the Code of Hammurabi. I then dragged Rick around to see the French paintings I had learned about in high school. The museum itself is like a work of art. From the time it was a palace, the ceilings, walls, and even floors are intricately and lavishly decorated.

After a few hours in the Louvre, we walked along Paris’ river, the Seine, until we reached the islands in the middle of the river. We crossed onto them and veered toward Notre Dame. Before visiting the famous cathedral, we stopped and had Croc Monsieur for lunch, a French sandwich that is equivalent to the American peanut butter and jelly in its popularity. It consists of ham and cheese with a cheese sauce, grilled and covered with more cheese.

We ducked into Notre Dame just as the rain started to come down harder. After being in Europe and seeing many other cathedrals and grand churches, Notre Dame doesn’t seem quite as big as it did three years ago. I still like it very much though, and the outside is probably my favorite of all that I’ve seen. Inside was also the first chance we’d had to sit down all day long, and our weary feet and backs were glad for it.

From Notre Dame we retraced our footsteps almost exactly backwards: back along the Seine, through le Jardin des Tuileries, and through La Place de la Concorde. We then walked down the Champs Élysées, perhaps the most famous street in Paris and a big shopping street. At the end of the street is La Place des Étoiles, a hectic traffic circle with twelve streets radiating from it. In the center of the circle sits L’Arc de Triomphe, a grand arch built by Napoleon that now serves as a war memorial.

Our last stop was the Eiffel Tower. Just before heading up the Tower, we grabbed some crêpes from a stand. Crêpes are very flat, sweet pancakes. We had ours covered in chocolate, and the vendor folded them to make them easier to eat. Having crêpes while looking up at the Eiffel Tower kind of encapsulated our entire French experience.

We headed up to the top of the Eiffel Tower in giant elevators. The top floor of the Tower has an inside room that labels the views of Paris and also shows the distances to foreign cities. We were something like 5,000 kilometers from New York. The wind outside was ferociously strong and freezing, but we braved it for the view. Absolutely breathtaking. To top it all off, the Tower has lights that sparkle on the hour for ten minutes, and it started to do so when we reached the top. It was still going as we were walking away, and that was our last view of it.

Because we were very tired and short on time, we took the Paris metro back to the train station. It was pretty busy, but nowhere near as packed as I have seen the Tube at times. We grabbed sandwiches for dinner in the train station, and boarded the Eurostar for London. I was awake through the Chunnel this time (the pressure wasn’t too bad), but fell asleep shortly after. We got back to our flat a little after 11:00 Monday night. Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

I am so glad we had the chance to do this trip. We had considered staying in London, since it is our last week, but I don’t regret it at all. We had a wonderful day and it was a great way to cap off our time in Europe.

Make sure you check out the rest of my pictures!