out and about: Day 3: Paris

Coldplay Album in the Louvre?

A theme song for this post. Ignore the video... I didn't make it haha.

I love Paris. I actually didn't have high expectations for it despite it being, well, Paris. Generally speaking (even though I've been here before) you might hear that the people here are rude or that the city is dirty. I think Brendan and I have maybe just been very lucky that all of the people we have met have been quite friendly and we lucked out with a nice little hotel, beautiful weather, no unfortunate incidents really. But I'll start at the beginning of the day.

Today was our last full day in Paris and it started at Notre Dame. We waited in line for maybe 45 minutes before heading up to the top of the bell tower which was very cool! I didn't expect the inside (holding a bell that weighs just over 13 tons) to be made of wood. You get a wonderful view of Paris just before stepping through a small door (perhaps the inspiration for the hunchback?) in the interior up a small set of stairs to Emanuel, the biggest bell in the tower. I think it said it takes 16 men to ring it. We descended and then entered the Cathedral (unfortunately and awkwardly in the middle of mass). We weren't alone, there were hundreds of tourists doing a lap around the Cathedral with us which seemed unusual during a mass but I suppose they are used to it. I listened closely for "Notre Pere qui est au ciel..." but I think they were doing the readings which I sometimes struggle to follow in English anyways.

We then grabbed our hired bikes (again) and cycled over to the Louvre to view the Mona Lisa (of course) among other works of art including the painting that was used on the Viva La Vida album cover (the best!). I was in the Louvre only six years ago but had forgotten a few things about it. For one, I had forgotten about the amazing architecture. I nearly spent more time looking at the walls and ceilings (vaguely reminiscent of the rooms of Windsor Castle) than I did the actual art work. It also smelled like a church making me wonder a) did someone walk around the place with incense, b) is this just what marble and paint smell like, or c) did all these paintings just absorb the smell of incense from their many years spent in the field?

Our next and last stop (we spent quite a bit of time at the Louvre and Notre Dame) was the Eiffel Tower which took about 2.5-3 hours. Naturally the line there was incredibly long as well (about 45 minutes to an hour) but I made friends with a french gentleman in line in front of us from Montpelier. He didn't speak much English but I managed to hold a decent conversation with him for the better half of our time spent in line. I'm not sure but I think the French are generally appreciative when people can speak their language. Either way this guy was super nice! He showed me a picture of some sights in Montpelier and when he showed me a bull fighting ring I said (in french), "hey! I've been there! I think... 6 years ago!" (actually... to this day nearly!) I hadn't recalled having traveled to Montpelier but we traveled to a lot of cities on the high school french trip so it was a bit of a blur but the bull ring seemed pretty unmistakable...

We opted to walk up 328 stairs to the first floor where you can read all about the history of the tower (i.e. it was originally red, weighed 10,000 tonnes, and housed Mr. Eiffel in his apartment atop the tower) and the buildings in the area that one could see from this floor. Then we climbed more stairs coming to a grand total of 669 stairs to the second floor before taking the elevator up to the top (280m). Naturally the view was incredible. You could even see a replica of the apartment up top!

We headed back down and over to the Latin Quarter for a delectable three course meal in a french restaurant called Le Perraudin where Hemingway apparently ate once. I had pumpkin soup, boeuf bourguignon, and apple tarte! Sorry dad but beef has never tasted so good! It seems that a lot of the seating leaves you very close to other people which I kind of like! We were seated next to two Australian filmers in Paris for work and next to them was a young french couple. The man had studied in California so when we were a bit lost or confused he kindly helped us. I really like meeting new people in each city. After dinner we began searching for a bike stand when we stumbled across a used book/CD store selling books for as cheap as 0.20 euro! I got Harry Potter books 3 and 4 and (after having visited Notre Dame of course) Victor Hugo's Bossu de Notre Dame (Hunchback of Notre Dame) so that I can practice reading french. I've already started Harry Potter 3! Looking forward to tomorrow--thanks for reading!