Paris Holds the Key to My Heart

Our trips just keep getting better and better. Paris has taken the cake so far.

I got in around 4, Sam met me at the airport, but he hadn't waited long. We went to our hostel to drop my bag of via bus/metro and got a feel for our neighborhood (our hostel, called Perfect Hostel/Hotel, was right by the Moulin Rouge!). This was my first hostel experience and I was really surprised by it in a really great way! The room was small but clean, and the showers were newly renovated and very spacious. The bathroom and showers were down the hall rather in our room, though we did have a sink in the room. I'd definitely recommend it to any future student travelers headed towards Paris. Anyway, Sam had add to the the room with Parisian treats and snacks for us which we treated ourselves to before exploring Paris that evening. We decided to do some sightseeing first, and headed towards the Eiffel Tower after dark to see it all lit up. En route, while maneuvering through the metro, we got off at the Arc de Triumph stop and decided to sneak a peek at that monument first (originally planned to visit after the Eiffel Tower). We got off, and there it was, but in the middle of the

Do YOU know why they call it the Arc d'Triumph?

roundabout, and we wanted to get there. After circling the colossus thing, we finally found the underground passage that lead us to the Arc. From there we could see the Tower, and walked in the comfortably cool night air. It was beginning to get late, so Sam and I started looking for places to grab a bite to eat before everything closed down. Unfortunately our snacks earlier spoiled our appetite for a normal suppertime. A couple blocks away from the tower we agreed on a Chinese place, and enjoyed a nice dinner before we saw the Eiffel Tower absolutely sparkle in the sky (no, really though, there were a billion flashing lights going off on the thing, it was like a giant permanent firework!). We finally made it to our classic monument and relished in the romance of being in Paris together, and finished the night with warm crepes from a street vendor.

Notre Dame's fascade

The next morning we set our schedule: Musee d'Orsay, to the Eiffel Tower's top, to Notre Dame. But nothing every really goes according to plan, and while we were on the metro we just so happened to hit the Notre Dame stop and we decided, hey, why not, let's just go look at it now, we don't have to go inside, right? Located on a little island in the middle of the river Siene, the largest Gothic church in Christiandom seemed smaller than I'd seen it last. After looking around at the statues of the saints on the facade, Sam and I looked at each other, and we said, hey, why not, let's just take a peek inside, we're here aren't we? So I got to go in an marvel at the airiness of the cathedral with the colored light streaming in from the stained glass windows. It was NOTHING like the churches here in Italy, and it was truly awe-inspiring. I was very very very glad we went in. We looked into climbing to the top of the spires (maybe I was on a quest for a certain hunchback, maybe I wasn't...), but the line was long

Saint Chapelle

and it was chilly by the water, and we figured we'd get to the top of the Eiffel Tower that afternoon, so we didn't have to climb to the top of another French monument.

We walked along the Siene towards Musee d'Orsay, and it was an absolutely lovely walk! We strolled past book and paper vendors, who were not at all like the Italian vendors (not pushy, rather refined old gentlemen). I got several French posters that I enjoy so much and can't wait to put up in my room back at Syracuse! We made our way to Sante Chapelle, "the most beautiful church in Paris" built in the 13th century by Louis IX, also known as St. Louis, to house his prized relics: a piece of the wooden cross and the complete crown of thorns. As a result, the whole church is modeled after reliquaries, and is just as gilt and glittery! It's literally a giant Faberge egg, consisting of gigantically tall stained glass windows and gold leafed painted walls so unlike the frescoes of Italy.


En route to the Musee we stopped at a French cafe and enjoyed traditional Parisian fare for lunch: I

Saint Chapelle

nibbled on Quiche Lorraine with salad and Sam sampled something that I couldn't even begin to pronounce or remember what it was called but it was a big slice of bread with ham nestled under melted cheese and a fried egg on top of it all. Both of ours were delicious and definitely filled us up for the rest of the day! We continued to the Musee taking our time by the river. I really enjoy traveling with Sam because we're never in a hurry, we're content seeing the city side by side, whether we're touring a museum or looking at a monument or strolling down the boulevard, it doesn't matter to me! But we finally made it to the Musee, and it was our day for tickets because we both kept getting in for free or somewhat free: one of us would get a reduced rate and the other would get a free ticket, how that worked out exactly I'm not positive, but I think it had something to do with me having an Italian visa for 6 months (most European Union students get into museums free in Paris...because I'm a long term visa holder I count as a European Union student; Sam, on the other hand, does not have a visa, but is under 25 and therefore got the discounted ticket available for 18-25 yr olds). Anyway, at Musee d'Orsay we took our time enjoying the Academic statues of the 19th century in the center hall in comparison to the post-Impressionistic works along the side corridors. There was a great Van Gough exhibit we were able to observe, and of course, Musee d'Orsay's

View of the Seine River

impressive collection of Impressionistic works blew me out of the water as I got to see the majority of the works I studied first semester sophomore year in my Impressionism art history class.

After spending a while at the Musee we continued our walk towards Invalides, the veterans hospital built in the 1700s for French soldiers. An impressive complex, it is home to the French War Museum and still functions as a convalescent home for French military. After stopping for a giant bottle of water at a grocery store, we walked through the gardens leading up to the Eiffel Tower, and got our picture taken with it by a family from Colorado (very nice, very chatty).

A note on the language: we'd been doing OK with the language barrier so far; Sam was the linguist for the most part, I felt very VERY intimidated by the language and would wait for him to ask or order things (I know, I'm a coward of a girlfriend), but French is SO different from Italian/Spanish/English. It's some of the same words as Italian/Spanish, but pronounced in a completely different way. Like with a German accent. I was so baffled. But contrary to my expectations (of strikes and stereotypes), the French people we SO incredibly helpful and willing to cooperate with our lack of understanding, they always were able to switch to English with a smile. Thank goodness!

The lovely market by our hostel

Anyway, Eiffel Tower day 2: after our photo shoot we went towards the lines for the stairs first. Yeah, right. I'm adventures, but this girl likes to be prepared when she's about to climb five gazillion stairs to the top of the highest point in Paris. And ballet flats weren't exactly going to do the job. So Sam sympathetically switched lines (I secretly think he was super relieved he didn't have to climb all those stairs) to the lifts. As soon as we did, the marquee lit up and said that only the second floor was open and we couldn't get to the top. After much deliberation, we decided that we'd get up on time tomorrow, and make it to the tower first thing in the morning! (Yeah, right.) We made our way back to the hotel via the metro, stopping for crepes filled with chocolate and bananas (sooooo delicious). When we got off the metro in our part of town, there was a farmers market type of market going on by the park, so we strolled through it, and Sam had the brilliant idea of buying a light dinner from these vendors to eat in the room. We picked out pears and strawberries, fresh mini baguettes, a chicken leg (it might've been a turkey leg though...we'll never know), and some macaroons for dessert. We popped the champagne Sam had picked out before my arrival and we feasted on our simple, cheap, fresh, delectable dinner in our room. It was on of the best dinner's I've had, I really truly enjoyed it! That night we vowed to catch a show, perhaps at the infamous Moulin Rogue? Dressed up and ready to go, we made our way to the metro, only for me to gasp in shame, I'd left my metro ticket in my pant's pocket back at the hotel. Our hotel wasn't far from the metro stop, but we'd been cutting it close to the 9pm show anyway, and resolved to see a show tomorrow night.

Despite our vows to wake up early, we still missed our free breakfast at the hostel Saturday morning and wound up skipping lunch all together and getting breakfast as a bakery near our hostel. With baguette sandwiches and cream puffs in hand, we strolled up the bohemian section of Paris towards Sacre Coeure, the second highest point in the city atop a hill. Sam and I ate lunch on the steps of the basilica listening to a street performer play us Beatles songs on his guitar, with peddlers pushing everything from miniatures of the Eiffel Tower to bottles of beer. After dining on our fresh lunches, we walked around the interior of the church and I was taken aback by the mosaic above the altar: this was a far cry from the 12th and 13th century mosaics I'd been studying for the past two months: this was a 19th century mosaic with actual depth and attempts at modeling, but still that Medieval hierarchy and historic use of stacked space (bear with me my art history terms). What is going on here? The church is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Franco-Prussian war, but also to atone for the sins of the "communards" during the French Revolution (as Catholicism was associated with the monarchy). The church has always had someone there "on duty" to bear witness and pray, even through WWII when bombs shattered the stained glass windows.

We left the church and wound our way through the Montmartre section of the city--where the Revolution began, where Picasso painted, where the intellectuals gathered. This was a really colorful part of the city still filled with artists and music and cafes for people to meet and enjoy the bohemian vibe and talent. We even saw a mime (I took a picture for Jed and Kyle's sake)! We finished our tour of the Montmartre section at the bottom of the hill; the Moulin Rogue. As it turns out, it was a great thing I left my ticket in the hostel, because show prices are very much out of the student traveler's budget: 90-150 euro a pop. Thanks, but no thanks. We decided we'd go to a cabaret show at Au Lapin Agile instead; Steve Martin wrote a play about the authentic bar/pub/cabaret where Picasso used to trade paintings for meals. Sam had seen the play, and was very intrigued, so we made up our mind on our evening's activities. 

In the meantime, we traversed across the city from Moulin Rouge to the Tuileries Gardens. Though it had rained in the morning (hence our later start to the day), the sun was out and the clouds looked like marshmallows, and Sam and I reclined in green deck chairs by a large fountain in the Gardens right outside of the Louvre. When the wind started to pick up we walked through the arch and across the grass to the giant glass pyramid of the Louvre for a photo op, but refrained from a tour of the gargantuan museum (it was getting late in the day, and our next stop was the Eiffel Tower...again). We

Well hello handsome

hopped on the metro and took it straight to the tower. We were determined to get to the top this time, third time's a charm, right? Getting in line around 5:30, we were almost to the ticket stand when the marquee started flashing that the top was closed due to congestion--again. Just like Friday. No. We'd made it that far. We were going to get up there no matter what! So a couple lines later, an elevator ride up, and we were at the second floor. Lo and behold, there was a line for the top, and it was not closed. We got in line--without "SUMMIT" tickets, and realized that we needed to get those tickets. I not-so-gracefully jumped over a few gates and ducked under some handrails and scrounged up two tickets just as Sam was heading towards the front of the line. Two kindly Eiffel Tower workers unlocked the gates I'd previously jumped over to get to my boyfriend just as we were passing through to get on the second elevator, to the very top of the tower! Success! We got up there a little before 7, just as the sunset, and it was perfect timing to our three-part Eiffel Tower adventure.

We went back to the hostel to clean up and headed out for dinner. We went to a place near the metro stop by our hostel called Corso, where we deciphered the French menu with the help of Sam's guidebook (I think I'd still be lost in Paris if it wasn't for the guidebook, it was a godsend). He picked something that was more of a guess, I went for one of the dishes I could recognize. Nonetheless, we were completely satisfied with our calamari appetizer, our glasses of wine, my linguine with lemon and cream sauce, and his veal cutlets with linguine. Our beautiful evening then took us back up to Monmartre to Au Lapin Agile around 11:30 for the authentic cabaret. I mean, I've seen bits and pieces of Liz Minelli in Cabaret, and decided it's be more or less like Chicago, you know, when they sing at bars, when Roxy's trying to make it big. But set in France. Right? Ha. Our ticket took us into the dimly lit room after one song, and got us the house drink, cheries or something that sounded like "cherries" because it was a sweet cherry wine with four very drunk cherries sitting at the bottom of our oversize shot glasses. An older couple serenaded us with upbeat French songs that clearly told stories (in French) and had the rest of the crowd laughing. I smiled throughout the various singers as the rotated in and out of the room, I was very much amused though I didn't understand a thing. The walls were decorated with obscure paintings and drawings and wall moldings, and I know I spotted a few original Picassos hanging on the walls. It was a really fun and unique experience! I'm really glad to say I got to witness as French cabaret in person. Now, time to learn some French...

Love the Louvre

This morning (Sunday) we woke up actually in time to try our complimentary breakfast at our hotel. We were served warm chocolate croissants and warm baguettes, with tea (for me) and coffee (for Sam) with a glass of orange juice each. Oops. Too bad we'd missed out on that...afterwards we cleaned up and checked out, making our way to the major train station a short walk from out hostel. We took our time: we'd checked out around 10:40am, Sam's train was at 12:15ish, my flight was around 2:30 a half hour metro ride away. We spent our morning playing games in the train station and saying our good byes, and my timing ended up being perfect from the metro to the bus to the flight to the next bus to the bus back to my neighborhood.

Another very successful weekend abroad!