Last weekend, Clark and I flew to Paris! It an amazing trip, packed with lots of beautiful sites and fabulous museums. We arrived Friday evening and decided to get some rest so we could be ready for three days full of discovering Paris. Clark has a friend who was going out of town that weekend so he lent us his apartment, which made our trip much cheaper since many hostels in France are not only expensive but also inconveniently located. Saturday morning, we hoped on the metro and our first stop was Notre Dame. It was raining so I had to buy an umbrella (again since the other umbrella I bought in France broke within hours). The cathedral was beautiful and packed with people.
After walking through Notre Dame, we headed over to Sainte Chapelle, which is a church that has a chapel surrounded by stain glass windows. It was incredibly beautiful, unfortunately some of the windows were being renovated so they were covered by scaffolding.
Then we walked back to Notre Dame to see it from a different angle, which featured the flying buttresses. This lead us to a bridge covered in locks. It is a fairly common tradition in Europe (and it's apparently gaining popularity in the USA) in which a couple writes their names on a lock, affix it to a bridge and throw the key into the water below. Thus symbolizing their eternal bond to each other.
We stopped at a falafel place for lunch that was delicious! When we got on the train to head to the Sacre Coeur, we realized we hadn't paid for lunch! We felt bad, but there was not much we could do at that point, so we decided to look at it as good luck! We ascended to the Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church on a hilltop that offers gorgeous views of the city. Inside the church was beautiful and a group of nuns just happened to be singing, which made the atmosphere feel quite divine. Outside the church a street performer was hanging from a light pole and tossing a soccer ball along to some music.
Following our little nun concert, we went to Les Invalides. According to wikipedia, "The National Residence of the Invalids, is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose." We quickly walked through the military museum which displayed armor and weapons. While it was interesting, I did not need to spend much time in there. Under the buildings huge gold dome is Napoleon's final resting place. I was surprised how simple his tomb appeared, especially compared to some of the more ornate ones. Personally I think it looked like a huge wooden box.
Since the Eiffel Tower was only a few blocks away, we decided to stop by on our way to our next destination. It was amazing to see the structure, which is beautiful, but as well to see the symbol of France and a monument that millions of people travel the world to see. The line to go up was incredibly long, so we decided not to attempt ascending.
Next we made our way to the Centre Pompidou, which houses the modern art museum. There were some interesting things in the museum, some of which I don't know why they're considered art. But it was still fun to look at most of the "artwork"!
We closed the night by going to a happy hour in the gay district of Paris. Clark and I both got a pint of beer and enjoyed the pop music that was filling the bar! Exhausted, we headed back to the apartment.
Sunday, I woke up early to get in line for the Eiffel Tower by 8:30. When I arrived, there was already a sizable line. However, just a half hour later, the line was snaking around the plaza. I was thankful I had arrived early! After what seemed like hours in the cold, I finally bought my ticket and the elevator shot me to the top. It was a breathtaking 360 degree view of Paris! I think it was well worth the wait and the cold.
I then went to meet Clark at the Musee d'Orsay. The museum is housed in an old train station and has the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh. I was in love with this museum since impressionism is one of my favorite movements! I could have spent all day there, but we had other places to be! We ate lunch and then headed over to the catacombs entrance. However, we were told it was too late for us to wait in line. Unfortunately, most things close at either 5 or 6, which meant that we didn't really have time to get to another place and explore the it. So instead we walked to the Louvre and walked through the gardens. We caught the metro where the Champs-Élysées starts and headed back to the apartment to converse and drink wine with Clark's friend who arrived that afternoon. We ate dinner and headed to bed since we wanted to wake up early to get in line for the Louvre.
Monday morning we arrived at the Louvre around 8:30. Thankfully the line wasn't long, but we weren't sure where to line up because the only line was clearly marked for people who already purchased tickets. However, when Clark asked an employee where to line up, she rudely insisted it was the line we were in. When the museum opened, we were able to walk in without purchasing tickets thanks to our Spanish identification cards and the fact that we are both under 26! These cards actually came in handy at almost every place we went! While most people were trying to get their bearings, I saw some people running through the museum. I am assuming it was to get to the Mona Lisa before a huge crowd formed. This was our first stop! Thankfully I had been warned that the Mona Lisa was tiny so when my eyes first gazed upon the masterpiece, it was actually larger than I thought it would be. Of course I took a photo with it! After seeing the most famous work of art in the Louvre, we made a game plan to ensure we saw everything we wanted to. Clark and I wound our way through the museum seeing historical works of art including: Liberty Leading the People, a sphinx, Napoleon III Apartments (which were unbelievably lavish, to imagine even half the palace was decorated like this was mind-blowing), and a medieval moat that exists under the museum!
Exhausted from all the art, we left the museum in search of the famous French delicacy, macaroons. This was my first experience with this treat and while I wasn't blown away by them, they were good. We headed back to the apartment to eat lunch and gather our belongings to head back to Madrid.
My first trip to Paris was wonderful! While a large part of our time was spent waiting in lines, it was a trip of a lifetime! And the whole time I kept thinking of the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie Passport to Paris and constantly mentioning scenes to Clark!
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