Paris - Part One

So, I went to Paris two weeks ago?

I was back at the College for a grand total of 2 1/2 days before leaving again for Amsterdam, so it's been on the backlog of shit to do, but it was epic and beautiful and definitely deserves a post! It's probably good that I waited too, because it was 4 days of crazy and now I'll only remember the highlights, which is the only part you care about anyway! IT WORKS OUT FOR EVERYONE.

Thursday, March 8th, AIFS got us up at an ungodly hour, by some miracle, packed and dressed. Packing for Paris was exciting, because it's Paris! You have to wear cute clothes and be stylish and oh wait...I only have like 3 outfits and it's going to be freezing cold. Shakira's "Waka Waka This Time for Africa" was our pre-Paris jam, and that's all you really need to know about that. The morning that we left they herded us all onto a large charter bus, the kind where the back row is raised like a foot higher than everything else, which of course was where Jenn, Karnig, and I sat and gave loud decrees upon our thrones, "AS QUEEN OF THIS BUS...." Much to the incessant and unwavering joy of our fellow classmates.

We flew out of Nice to Paris Orly via Air France (fancy fancy..they gave us coconut cookies as a snack, like really), and upon arrival began a charter bus tour of Paris (as a very roundabout way to get to the hotel). Our guide was probably the most hysterical tour guide I've ever had, and spent most of the time telling us about the different ways in which Parisians are awful (he himself included) and also helpful tips for traveling:

"Do not lose your passport, or you will not be able to return to your country and will have to become a bus driver or a tour guide of Paris. That's what happened to me. I was from Wisconsin, a cheesehead, a redneck, I knew nothing of the world..."

One of the other things he informed us of during our very long tour (yay traffic..) was that, as some of you may know, Paris is separated into Districts. Our hotel, in the Bastille, was in District 12. NOT A BIG DEAL GUYS. NOT A BIG DEAL. This was not lost on the other Hunger Games fans on the bus, and in case you are wondering, no, I have not seen it yet, it's only out in French with English subtitles and that's not acceptable because the lines will be changed. Alas, a tragedy. The odds are not ever in our favor.

Notre Dame

Anyway, during our welcome-to-Paris tour, we stopped at the Notre Dame to take pictures and take a tour inside. Within the first 5 minutes Aude (one of our RDs, who I would not fuck with) got into a screaming fight with a street vendor while Sandrine (the other RD) just sort of

looked on and sighed. Aude won, of course, then just rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette. Like a boss. Notre Dame is unbelievably beautiful, from all angles. The front with the square towers reminded me of Florence a little bit, and the rest of it was just breathtaking. That is what Paris was, by the way. Breathtaking. But I'll continue to go into that later.

(We were taking stupid pictures outside of the front and Aude and Sandrine took this picture of us. AIFS brochure here we come...) I just love that idea because I'd be the most ironic face ever of study abroad. Notre Dame is beautiful from the inside too, although very roped-off and tourist oriented. Regardless, it's quite a thing to behold. After that we moved onto the Ponte des Arts over the Seine, famous for being covered in "love-locks." The idea is that a couple writes their names on the lock, locks it onto the bridge, and then throws the key into the river.

Our hotel was located in the Bastille, and once we got there we basically crashed for the afternoon. I wandered around and explored a little by myself, and Paris is..very stimulating. A bit overwhelming, but truly one can just walk around and take things in. The term flanneur was coined by the Impressionists to describe one who wanders the streets just taking things in and as they come to them, like a child. Evan calls it "flanning." Regardless, it's very French, and in Paris sort of what you have to do. Paris is one of those things that you can't really overhype in a certain sense. It's less romantic than it's made out to be, but oh, is it beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful city in all of my life. It does the soul good to see such beautiful things in such abundance, and I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's really true. All the art, the architecture, even just in the details...Paris worked hard to be so pretty and all the beauty is completely intentional, but oh does it work. It's magnificent.

That night AIFS took us on a dinner cruise on the Seine, which was lovely. We had good food and looked nice, and the seats were such that you were looking out windows to the banks of the Seine. It was beautiful, but the real magic of it came later. They called us all out to the roof all of a sudden, and there we were, right in front of the Eiffel Tower at night. It was, really and truly, probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

The next morning we went to the Musee Orangerie, famously home to Manet's Water Lilies. We've been studying this in Art History, and as our teacher said, it's kind of a religious experience. The paintings are so huge, against the white of the walls...god it's something. I spent the next bit walking around the Champs-Elysees and had lunch at a little cafe. Obligatory.

We took the Metro to Montmartre, where the entire group was meeting up again for a tour. Oh wait, did I mention it was IN FRONT OF THE MOULIN ROUGE.

This was supremely exciting for me, although the Moulin Rouge is much more exciting in the movies than in real life. I don't even care. Montmartre is incredibly famous for being where all the bohemian artists hung out, and we hiked all around and got shown where various painters worked, famous cabarets like the Lapin Agile, and ultimately up to the top of the hill where the Sacre-Coeur is.

The Sacre-Coeur is a gorgeous cathedral, and from the hill you can see a great view of Paris.

Jenn, Karnig and I made our way slowly down, stopping at the Place du Tertre, where all the crazy artists are, to eat at a cafe before eventually getting on the Metro and going to...the Louvre.

The Louvre -or- Strug Life:

In Which Michaela, Jenn, and Karnig Go to the Louvre for Free and are Unable to Walk and End Up Alone in Napoleon's Apartments

I bet you didn't know that the Louvre is free for students after 6PM on Fridays. Well, guess what, it is, and to preface this story, it must be understood that throughout all the hiking through Montmartre, Jenn was wearing very high-heeled wedge boots, Karnig has a back problem, and I have flat feet. Our tale begins.

They say that if you were to spend 30 seconds in front of every piece of art in the Louvre, it would take you 3 months to see all of it. Well let's say you had about an hour and a half. And you were going to see as much art as you possibly can.

We hauled ass through that museum. And it was amazing. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, painting after painting after statue...the Louvre is gigantic, and we spent a lot of time just stopping and staring at the galleries...also because Jenn's feet started to hurt, then Karnig's back and leg went, and then my knee, and then it was a strugglin, painin mess.

BUT WE HAD ART TO SEE AND SO WE DID. Stumbling and limping we finally got to the French collection, the Egypt collection, and then they started to give the closing announcements around 8...but it closed at 9:30. They were going to have to kick us out of the Louvre.

We saw the Sphinx, we saw Hammurabi's Code, and best of all...Napoleon's apartments. There were only two other people there, Canadians, and they told us it was pretty much the luckiest thing in the world that we were there by ourselves. I have never in my life seen anything so beautifully lavish, embellished, ridiculously beautiful and detailed as these rooms. Even in Versailles it wasn't like this.

Napoleon's Salon (Photo creds to Jenn)

I wish I could include more pictures here, but look at my albums on Facebook for more photos of all of this! Eventually, once we were lost in more statues and that beautiful open room, the museum staff started slowly herding us out, and we made our way, slowly and luxuriously and full of art and limping, out of the Louvre. Everything all lit up at night outside was just exquisite as we hobbled to a taxi, and then we went back to the hotel. Went out to dinner at a lovely French restaurant called Grandes Marches, got back at midnight, and crashed.

Stay tuned for Part II.