Happy Easter, everyone! After a solid month of weekend travel, it's fair to say that I'm looking forward to spending the last month of my experience abroad in my home, "Little Lebanon." The final chapter in the book of weekend escapades concluded with Paris, France.
Considering its close proximity to London via Eurostar train (it took a bit over two hours one way), Paris seemed like a no-brainer for a quick dose of baguette culture. With our hotel perfectly positioned between the Gare de Nord (Eurostar) station and the Metro, the infamous "urban sprawl" of Paris never phased us. Getting from our hotel to our first stop (Musée d'Orsay) took a mere ten minutes.
Speaking of our hotel! Le Parisiana certainly lived up to it's two star rating. Everything was great (especially the breakfast) except for the overwhelming stench of cigarette smoke that jumped out at us as we opened the door to our room. Awesome. It was like someone was stuffing them down our throat. All was well though because we threw open the doors that I guess were more like windows due to the lack of a balcony and it seemed to help. To remedy the pillow stench, I whipped out some of my handy dryer sheets (why I had them isn't important) and put them under the pillows. After returning from our first day in the city, the cleaning staff seemed to take the hints and gave us fresh sheets, a big bottle of French "Febreeze" and some chocolate Easter eggs.
In the midst of waiting in line to purchase our tickets, Bri and I heard English and instantly turned around to introduce ourselves. Tim and Cara from Vancouver, BC were brother and sister traveling around Europe for four months! Oh the people you meet. They both seemed to be great people (after talking to them for five minutes), in fact, when it was our turn to figure out how to purchase tickets from the machine, they lumped all of ours onto one tab and ended up buying my metro pass!
Sadly, they had planned on taking a connecting train to Versailles for the day and so we were forced to part ways 20 minutes after we were introduced.
Arriving on Thursday and departing on Saturday evening meant we had 48 hours explore Paris.
Day One: Notre Dame Cathedral, Musée d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower
Notre Dame Cathedral
After we got a taste of the Paris Metro (which has nothing on the Tube, mind you), a medium-sized line awaited us outside of the cathedral. Being Good Friday and considering the place has been around since 1163, the smaller-than-expected crowd was a welcome surprise.
Known to the French as Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral was completed in 1345, effectively taking the better part of 182 years to complete.
Although I don't have documentation of the Good Friday service, my experience at the cathedral wasn't memorable for the right reasons. As I was being funneled around the perimeter of the nave with countless other tourists (cameras flashing, people chatting, yelling, laughing and pointing), the clergy were (attempting) to conduct a full-blown service. It all felt very wrong.
Nevertheless, the beauty of the place was undeniable. If I have the chance, I would love to go back and attend a service sans hoards of tourists, camera flashes and obnoxious behavior.
I love stained glass
Musée d'Orsay
With the bizarre glimpse of Notre Dame Cathedral complete, a quick walk down the Seine was the only thing that stood between us and our next stop, Musée d'Orsay.
The Seine River
The national museum of the Musée d'Orsay was created when works from three museums came together. On 9 December, 1986, the museum opened its doors to showcase western art between 1848 and 1914.
Paintings originated from the Louvre, Musee de Jeu de Paume and the National Museum of Modern Art.
Countless works of well-known artists covered the walls, most notably: Degas, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Mondrian, Van Gogh and Cezanne. One of the three main collections focused on the late 1800s (1870 - 1880ish) which happens to be when many Paris-based impressionist painters came to prominence. This meant there was lots of great impressionist art to ooohh and aww at.
The museum was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. I can't say enough good things, the collections were full of famous works that I've only ever seen in textbooks, it wasn't so big that it was impossible to complete in a few hours, the food at the cafe was reasonably-priced and tasty AND not having Louvre plastered on the front door meant we actually had room to breath as we walked through the galleries.
Rain, sun, rain, sun and some drizzle summed up the weekend weather.
Notice the blue sky in the pictures from Notre Dame. Now check out that sky in the picture I snapped from the top floor of the Musée d'Orsay.
The queue to get tickets
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is one of the greatest monuments in the world. Ignoring it's existence is like passing up a free tray of just-baked chocolate chip cookies at Max n Erma's, you just don't do it. The only question was when we were going walk underneath the towering hunk of iron. Day or night? How about both?
With our minds thoroughly saturated with art history and our stomachs full from lunch, it was clear some fresh air was needed. Thankfully, the walk to the Eiffel Tower was pretty manageable as it entailed mindlessly following the Seine River due west until we saw the tower.
Eiffel Tower: it's hard to miss
I tried to get the tower in the reflection of the puddle..It kinda worked.
Peace Memorial
Ignore the dashing couple behind me
With Saturday reserved for the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and Louvre, we had plenty of time to walk around and soak up the Parisian sun/rain until dinner.
One of the many meat markets we stumbled upon
Rue de Granelle
Cafe Roussillon is located right off of Rue de Granelle, which runs into to the Champ de Mars (the path that connects the peace memorial to the Eiffel Tower).
French food = rich, right?
Ordering food in a foreign country is always a bit haphazard. It has been my experience that even if the waiter speaks mediocre English, things can still be easily misunderstood, translated and result in an unpleasant dinner. This wasn't entirely the case when I ordered "rivoli" hoping for some sort of meat ravioli, salad and bread. It was all that and more.
Imagine the richest "alfredo" sauce you've ever had, add a few more splashes of heavy cream for kicks, toss in a raw egg yolk, stuff the pasta with extra-fatty, greasy bacon and finish it with the most random vegetable you can come up with (leeks). That was what arrived steaming hot (almost bubbling) in a small bowl with a massive side salad and lots of crusty bread to soak up all the "broth."
Delicious isn't the right word as it was the most incredible contradiction of pleasure and pain. Pleasure because it was by-far one of the richest, most delicious things I've ever consumed and pain because I could feel my arteries clogging with every bite. Immensely satisfying and completely worth it.
Dessert? How about tiramisu with ladyfingers that tasted like they had been soaked in espresso for 48 hours? What better way to finish up a meal of cream, butter, bacon, eggs and red wine, than with a dessert packed with thick, tart marscapone cheese, espresso that gave me a legitimate caffeine buzz and melt-in-your-mouth ladyfingers.
Eiffel Tower
First shot of the Eiffel Tower at night. Incredible.
In contrast to the midday, blue skies that filled the background of the photos from earlier in the day, the big pile of rusty iron suddenly became a glowing piece of art once the lights got a chance to show their stuff.
View from the top observation deck
UFO?
Me overlooking the Seine
A full day of climbing endless sets of stairs meant we were pretty tuckered out and headed for the hotel after our descent back to solid ground.
Day Two: Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and the Louvre
Arc de Triomphe
As I was staring at the arc, it was impossible not to notice the five lanes of traffic flowing around the base with cars jockeying for positions that were, at the very least, questionable. In that, they would merge when buses, trucks and small cars were in the way and just assume they would be let in. Sometimes, by grace of God these hooligans are given the go-ahead and sometimes there is contact. Interestingly, when there is a minor fender bender, motorists keep on truckin' like nothing happened.
Moral of the story: if you ever drive around the Arc de Triomphe, make sure your car already has a few battle scars.
I found it interesting that many of the car companies had "dealerships" sitting right on the Champs-Élysées. These supposed dealerships, after closer inspection, turned out to be glorified museums. Several of the car companies (Toyota and Citroën) had some extra-special displays that were worth noting.
Above you'll see Toyota's big "walk-in commercial" that featured a real Prius plug-in hybrid, several city cars, some former rally cars and a "design your own Prius" table. Pretty cool designs, I must say.
In Paris, chocolate shops are more ubiquitous than Starbucks and, as you can probably imagine, range from expensive to outrageous. This one prided itself on edible packaging. That meant even the bowls, boxes and cups were cast from chocolate!
The most unique building on the Champs-Élysées was definitely the Citroën showroom. Just as Ford is to America, Citroën is to France. They build cars for the masses and most-notably sponsor a championship winning World Rally Team. The French are crazy about rallying and it showed with the extravagant multi-level displays that showcased their illustrious rally heritage.
Lunch: Paul
After walking up and down the famed road a few times to scope out the "best" lunch spot, Paul looked more and more like a winner. A classic French bakery, Paul has served up delicious pastries, breads and fresh sandwiches since 1889. By accident, I ordered a smoked salmon baguette (which can sometimes be iffy), but this one deserved two thumbs way up.
French food, I love you.
Fresh breads were everywhere.. It was dangerous.
Louvre
To sum up the Louvre: massive, beautiful, ornate, awkward layout, need an extra lifetime and a PhD in art history to appreciate everything on display, the Mona Lisa might as well be a postage stamp. It's uber-impressive, but impossible to wrap your mind around.
Outside the Louvre
Our entertainment for the train ride to Paris was the "easy" crossword out of the Evening Standard. It was quite a painstaking process, but over breakfast on Easter Sunday, we managed to completed the (few) remaining clues with a little help from Google. It was a glorious feeling.
Thoughts?
Did I get my fill of baguettes and culture? Absolutely. The only thing that was more bountiful than all that fresh bread and priceless artwork was the cigarette smoke that enveloped everything like smog in L.A.
Nevertheless, it's the good things I will remember and Paris really showed me why it's considered one of the greatest cities in the world.
From the picturesque walks down the seine, to the priceless artwork that seemed to be everywhere, to taking in the Parisian skyline from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, to sneaking one last bite of French culture in the form of a Parisian macaroon at the train station, it was one trip I will never forget.
Happy Easter!!!
