Last weekend I was fortunate enough to take my first trip to France, and even luckier that it was in Paris! I'll admit I've never been in interested in Paris for one reason or another, but my friend Laurence (who's French but not technically Parisian) is studying there so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to see if this city was really worth the hype. It kills me to say this, but, it is. I loved Paris. I must go back.
I got in on Friday evening and met up with Laurence at the Gare du Nord (North Train Station) and we took the metro back to her apartment together. I had to ask someone in broken French at the airport to make sure I was heading toward the correct train station and he was very polite and helpful. I'm wasn't really sure how to pronounce it so I just went with how it was spelled. Not correct. French is not phonetic like Spanish so my Spanish-speaking brain was of no help to me. He understood, though, and replied with "Oui". Too funny. In my relieved state I said "gracias"...oops. Later my phone went off and I was speaking in English. He probably was really confused about where I came from. (For the record it's pronounced something like "gar de nor" - the d is silent. my bad)
Anyway, Laurence took me back to her to apartment: a small yet cozy studio in this really cool old building right in the heart of Paris. She told me the building used to be for rich people and that her apartment was actually part of the servants' quarters. We had a side entry to the building and we got to walk up an old spiral staircase because the elevator only went so far. I thought it was cool.
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| Laurence's building |
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| Home sweet Home |
Our first order of business was crepes. I was told by a friend to get a chocolate and banana crepes and then I was told by one of my students to get a ham and cheese crepes (typical Spanish . I got both: ham & cheese for dinner and chocolate & banana for dessert. I was assured that it was normal and expected to eat 2 crepes in the same meal. Crepes...check!
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| Ham and Cheese Crepes (Jambon et Fromage) |
The next day we walked all over the city. And I mean it...we walked all. over. town. Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe which was just down the street from Laurence's apartment. It's basically a square with a huge Arch serving as a sort of war memorial. It also connects a lot of streets, including the Champs-Elysées, which was next on our Itinerary.
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| Arc de Triomphe en Place de L'Etoile |
The Champs-Elysées is kind of like the Michigan Avenue of Paris (or Gran Vía of Madrid) but on a much bigger scale. Lots of great shopping and people watching if it hadn't been so cold. I would love to see it in the summertime. This lead us down to the Jardin des Tuileries (I have no idea how to pronounce most of these French words by the way, bare with me) which is the garden/park area in front of the Louvre. Again, I'm sure it's an incredible site in better weather but there wasn't much lounging and sunbathing going on in the frigid temperatures.
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| Looking down the Champs-Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe |
The Louvre itself is an incredible building. It was once a palace, but now has to be the largest art museum in the world. I'm seriously, it's MASSIVE! It just keeps going. I don't know how anyone could get through the museum in a week, much less a few hours. I didn't go in because it was probably packed and I wasn't willing to waste my time being disappointed by the Mona Lisa. Sorry Da Vinci, I mean no offense. I got some cool photos anyway.
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| Louvre |
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| Looking out from the front entrance |
Later we walked through the neighborhood of Saint Michel (say: san michelle), which is kind of a student hang out, to make our way over to Notre Dame. The cathedral is not as big as I thought it would be, but it was definitely worth the walk-around inside. The stained glass is incredible! And it's just everywhere! I've never seen so much stained glass windows in my whole life. To top it off, 2013 marks the 850th anniversary of the beginning of construction of Notre Dame. I can't even wrap my mind around that.
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| Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) |
Next stop was Ile Saint Louis (say: ill san lou-IE), a little island in the River Seine (say: sen) right behind Notre Dame's Ile de la Cité...lots of little land masses in the middle of the river. This was just something I wanted to do for the heck of it because everywhere you looked there were signs with "Saint Louis" on them. And lets be honest, that's makes for some funny photos. While we were there we got some really good sorbet. Even in the cold it was delicious.
After Ile Saint Louis we strolled along the Seine back to another neighborhood called Saint Germain (say: san zzher mon) to stop at a restaurant called Ladurée to get some macarons. I was told these things are awesome but also expensive...both are true. I can't even described how delicious these little cookies are, but they were well worth the wait. I got 4: chocolate, orange, raspberry and pistachio and these 4 bad boys set me back 7 euros...eek!! Totally worth it. Macarons...check!
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| Eating Sorbet along the Seine with Notre Dame behind us |
The next day we put sight-seeing aside and decided to march for same-sex marriage rights in a demonstration that went through the heart of Paris. I can now say I've been a part of a French demonstration. It was peaceful and everyone was in good spirits. A great way to stroll through the city and just take it all in. And I learned a new word: Egalité (Equality).
Monday was my last day and I just had the morning and afternoon left to wander around. Soooo.....we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel). I didn't go up because I have a terrible fear of heights, and we didn't have the time, but it was another incredible structure.
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| Impersonating the Tour Eiffel |
Last stop was the Statue of Liberty, given as a present to the French by the U.S. apparently in 1986. It's much smaller than the real thing, but it's the same statue. Who know I would see it in France before New York? Nothing should surprise me anymore.
And that's my trip in a nutshell. Glad you could come along :) Au revoir!
~Caralyn
