Autumn in Paris

I know why everyone talks about springtime in Paris and not fall—its freezing cold! Well, I didn’t mention how cold Dublin and London, Paris was a little better but still cold. We flew into the Beauvais Airport “in Paris” which actually meant about an hour bus ride from central Paris. We got in very late in Paris at 10:00 pm and I was little weary about finding our hotel in the dark in a city I have never been to also when I speak no French. Good thing I make friends easily and am competent with a map! I sat at a window on the bus but then moved when two old French women wanted to sit next to each other (I am constantly breaking American stereotypes and am nice). So then I sat next to a young man who was cute in a Ken Jennings sort of way (if you don’t understand the reference—you don’t deserve to get it). We didn’t talk until about halfway through the ride but he was very nice and he was in Dublin running the marathon. He was German but living in Paris working for an “American tourism company”. He was instantly charmed by me (I don’t really know why but it seems to happen a lot in Europe). After we got off the bus, we walked to the metro with him and he told us some information about the Paris metro and took the metro together for a few stops before I had to get off. I learned that he was actually working for EURODISNEY aka the happiest place on earth and he gave me his e-mail address so I could meet up with him when I come back to Paris on November 21-23 (we are having dinner this Saturday). There was only one functioning ticket machine at the metro station so the line to buy tickets was out the door (literally) and took us about twenty minutes. Once we were on the metro, we were practically to our hotel. Our hotel, the “Perfect Hotel” (its name) was fine—small and right next to a metro stop. We went to bed early because we had a large task in front of us: doing Paris in a day.

The day began at 08:00, Sonia got up showered, did her hair, make up, and got dressed. Me, in my typical, non-Parisian way, woke up 15 minutes before we left, brushed my teeth, and ate our free breakfast (which consisted of a baguette and coffee). We took the metro to the Louvre and were there by 9:00. It was a Wednesday morning in off-season October and I couldn’t believe the line at the Louvre!!! We had to wait almost TEN MINUTES to buy tickets. It was appalling. Actually, the line was shorter at the Louvre then at the metro station. We headed straight up to what we came for the Renaissance Masterpieces (I hate that word but I’ll use it here) of the 16th and 17th Centuries. We wanted to see Leonardo’s great works before it got too crazy. I skipped the Masaccio, Giotto religious paintings (been there, done that in Florence) and went straight to Leonardo. Oh Leonardo. I saw many paintings I had studied that previous week in my art history class. Including the beautiful Virgin Mary with St. Anne, I had seen the cartoon in the National Gallery of London just a few days prior and now I was seeing the painting! I then saw Da Vinci’s Madonna on the Rocks when I immediately exclaimed I knew where the Mona Lisa was! I have seen The Da Vinci Code over three times. We turned around toward the most famous painting in the world: The Mona Lisa. I guess I had the typical reaction: it’s so small! Really, it’s probably 20 inches by 30 inches and the barrier around the painting and then the huge crowd around the barrier only makes looking at it more dramatic yet anti-climatic. But then you see that smile, and just don’t know what to think. I stood there for probably fifteen minutes—the first five spent at looking at the Mona Lisa and the last ten spent at looking and taking pictures of the crowd. It is fascinating watching people who are staring at something else. I took a few pictures but I didn’t get any really good ones.

The rest of the Louvre was pretty much my Introductory to Art History class during my freshman year at Whitman. I saw Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa, Ingres’ The Apotheosis of Homer, Jacques Louise David’s (my favorite) Oath of the Horatti, Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, ect. I only saw one portrait of Napoleon and missed David’s Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass, but I will see this when I come back to the Louvre! As you all may or may not know, I am a big fan of Napoleon (I kind of love him and think he is the best thing to happen to France). We stayed in the Louvre only until about noon when the crowds started to gather. We basically had to skip antiquity (anything pre-Renaissance) and modernity (everything after the 18th century) to do this, but the Louvre is a big place and you need to make sacrifices.

Next, we had to recharge so we headed over to Notre Dame area to see the church and to eat of course. Lunch today was the only half decent meal I had in Paris. I had a warm goat cheese salad with bread and tomatoes. Sonia and I also shared some french fries (duh, we had to we are in France)! And we finished the meal with a chocolate crepe, yummy! Then we went to Notre Dame and it was an absolutely beautiful church and it was nice not to have to pay to go into a church! (Referring to the 12 pounds at Westminster Abbey and 3-5 euro at every church in Florence—don’t get me wrong I know the church needs money for restoration and maintenance, but I think it should be done on a donation only basis). We walked around the Gothic Quarter for a while and then decided to go to Musee D’Orsay—generally considered to be the second most famous museum in Paris.

Musee D’Orsay was fabulous! The ticket wait was double the Louvre (a whole twenty minutes) but it was definitely worth it. I was glad I skipped “modern” art at the Louvre because I saw the best collection of impressionism here! Here is just a sample of some of the artists whose works I viewed: Cezanne, Courbet, Degas, Delacroix, Gaudi, Gauguin, Ingres, Manet, Matisse, Millet, Monet, Munch, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Whistler. My favorites were Degas, Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. I grew up with Degas and Renoir copies in our living and dining room and I remember studying Van Gogh and Monet when I was in third grade. Again, in my down time I would sit and look at the beautiful paintings, but also at the people looking at the paintings. Here are some funny pictures I took in the museum.  

Me with Degas' Ballerinas

Sonia with Whistler's Grandma

Also in our dining room

After this museum, it was about 5:00, i.e. nap time. Yes, Paris in a day yet still time for a nap. We went back to the hotel slept for an hour or so and then headed to the Champs d'Elysses, the Triumphant Arch, and the Eiffel Tower for sight seeing and pictures. Then we had dinner in a café near the Eiffel Tower and walked around for a bit until we called it a night (didn’t experience the Parisian night life—we had an early flight in the morning).

I liked Paris—I think we did a great job with the short time we had. If you are wondering why we spent such a short time here it is because I didn’t want to come to Paris because I was already going with the school and I make negative presumptions about French people (no offense cousins). I also know no French. But my friend Sonia wanted to go. So we compromised and decided to only go for a day…hmm I did not really think this one through. Because I forgot about the expenses it cost to GET TO Paris rather than how much we were saving by not staying in Paris. In retrospect, I wish we would have decided not to go at all or go for at least two full days—but as you can see it turned out fine as we hit most of the major Parisian sites in just one day!

At the Triumphant Arch

At the Eiffel Tower