paris

Guess where I was last weekend....

PARIS!

To make this blogging easy I'm just going to quote right out of my journal. It might be a bit staccato, but bear with me.

Paris is the exact opposite of Rome. It’s an urban garden while my town is an overgrown jungle. But Paris is everything you imagine it would be. When I stepped out of the metro today I was surprised to find Paris was exactly as I imagined. Large sidewalks lined with trees. Iron gates in front of the windows. It’s incredible that an hour and a half plane ride to can me to a place so different from my Italy. Despite the thousands of people using its streets, a silence penetrates. The cold wind that rushes through your hair only carries tender whispers to your ears. And have I heard a car horn? No. I feel like I’m in another world. A world of leisure, peace, and a kind of perfection. It’s as though Paris is inside its own bubble and nothing can break the atmosphere. I’m sitting in a green chair in front of a small pool outside the Louvre right now. The chair leans back at the perfect angle (not too low and not to high) letting me completely relax and feel like I have no care in the world. I’m listening to the birds and being amazed by the beauty of the Louvre. Just the outside is a worthwhile museum.

Me outside the Louvre.

It rained tonight. Here in Paris. After walking around all day, Maggie and I found a café in which to rest our feet. It was a cozy café with large padded chairs and two huge TV screens broadcasting the rugby match between France and England. I wiggled my toes and stretched my ankles while waiting for my French Onion Soup to arrive. The French were fiercely cheering for their team (although not as loudly as the Italians would have) and the Eiffel Tower glimmered outside the window shining through the rain. It had begun raining just five minutes before Maggie and I entered the café. Perfect timing. Before that we had been walking around the Luxemburg Gardens and the Latin Quarter. It was in the latter that I ate the best crepe of my entire life. Filled with nutella AND sliced almond.

Me and my mouthful of crepe.

In Luxemburg Gardens

This morning I had French bread for breakfast. Delicious. Did you know that every morning (except Sunday) a plane flies from Paris to London with a load of fresh French Bread? I think if I lived in London I would wait in that bread line every morning.

I’ve never been a fan of stain glass. But when Maggie took me to Saint Chapelle, I instantly fell in love. Oh, gothic architecture is so different from what I had previously thought. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the windows. Tiny pieces of colored glass, fit together perfect to make a tiny picture. And when the sun shines through it…bellissimo.

The Eiffel tower. Well it wasn’t near as beautiful as I had expected. Kind of odd looking stark, ridged, and far different from any of the art of building I see in Rome. In fact did you know that the only reason the Eiffel tower still stand in Paris is because it was a useful radio station in WWI. In 1909 the Eiffel tower was almost torn down because the Parisians were horrified to have such an ugly monument in their city. It was only saved because it proved to be a useful radio tower. Although it is quite grotesque it is capturing because it is unlike anything one has seen before. An interesting idea.

And this is me right before I climbed to the second story of the tower. Not surprisingly to line to climb the tower was short. I waited a whole one min in line.

And here I am at Sacre Coeur (my new favourite church) with two drunk French men asking me if I was awake because I was still celebrating the French ruby victory, or if I was a crazy tourist.



And here are Maggie and I on the top of Notre Dom.

And here is a witness to how much walking I have been doing. My six month old shoes have a hole on the top of them. (Yes, that is my orange sock). The back of the shoes don't look much better.

My weekend in Paris was splendid. It was so good to see my friend Maggie from Ashland High School and fulfill my childhood dream.

I. Love. Paris.