Study Abroad: Florence: Paris

What a crazy couple weeks it has been. Five days after getting back from Barcelona we headed out again, this time to France where we stayed for 5 days. Due to the sheer amount of stuff to see in Paris, we made sure it was our longest trip. It turns out we needed every minute of it. In fact, I've decided that you'll be exhausted of Paris as a city before you run out of things to do and see there. We flew into the Paris Orly airport where we purchased a 5 day unlimited public transportation pass, as well as a 4 day unlimited museum pass. These turned out to be absolutely necessary over the course of the trip as our hostel was located in the northern Montmartre district (even hostels in Paris are expensive near the center) and we used a ton of public transportation. The museum passes, besides getting you into most sites in Paris for free (we used it over 20 times), also allowed you to jump the lines completely (expect those standing in line to make comments, it is of course your fault that they didn't think ahead as well). Due to the sheer amount we saw, I think I'll do this post a little differently.

In general, the city of Paris was quite an experience, and not entirely what I expected at all. I can say that despite their reputation, the people in France that we encountered weren't really rude to us. We made sure, if they didn't start talking in English right away, that we asked if they spoke English first before just assuming. Considering that if someone came up to me in Ohio and started speaking French I would be a little annoyed, this seemed like a fair courtesy. While no one was rude, no one was really overly friendly either, which is many times the case in Italy. Paris is such an eclectic culture, however, that it is hard to look at someone and know they are native or even French at all, and so I really can't generalize. The city itself is massive and full of people. Because of that, it was less orderly, less clean, and more chaotic than what we are used to in Italy. Subway tickets just wouldn't work sometimes (especially when you're trying to get to the airport and not miss your flight), there was hardly ever anyone in the information centers to help out, trains would show up late, come early; it really is a city that requires time and patience. Luckily we had the benefit of 5 days, as many of our plans had to be changed on the go. For example, the day we had planned to go into Notre Dame happened to be the day when they were revealing the brand new set of bells for the cathedral for its 850 year anniversary, drawing thousands to the island. Everyone wanted to hear those bells, and any police officer blowing a whistle, or, god forbid, turning on his sirens, generated an insolent reaction from the crowd who lost the sound of the bells for a moment. Another time, during our quest towards the Arc de Triomphe, we happened upon a little anti-gay marriage demonstration stretching from the business district, broken through the police barricade at the Arc and spilling into the Champs Elysees, three miles and a million people strong. There were people playing music everywhere, some good, most bad. Either way, most metro rides included a free show. The food in France was interesting for being one of the top culinary destinations in the world. Many of the outstanding restaurants are Italian (no thanks), and the rest incredibly expensive. There are tons of Lebanese and Turkish places, and even a Chipotle and Pizza Hut (thank you). I'll give credit to the French for their bread, cheese, crepes and croissants. Many times for lunch we went to a grocery store to buy a baguette sandwich to take and eat outside. At Versailles there was a man selling baked potatoes loaded with an assortment of toppings. I had the salmon, sour cream, chives and lemon which was fantastic. Other than that we ate pretty simply, inexpensively and multi-culturally (sorry, no snails or raw hamburger). For all the chaos of the city, the 6 floor climb to the hostel, the shower than stopped every 20 seconds, and the return to cold weather (I know I'm spoiled, Ohio), Paris boasts some of the most beautiful architecture and art in all of Europe and it was amazing to experience first hand.

Day One

Versailles: the palace and historic complex of the royal family of France until the French Revolution (if you're jealous of their home, just remember how happy of an ending they all had). This complex includes the Petite Trianon, a small chateau built by Louis XV solely to house his longterm mistress. Upon his accession, Louis XVI gave it to Marie Antoinette to do with as she pleased. It is also the location of the earlier Grand Trianon, a much larger house commissioned by Louis XIV with his secret wife (?) as an apartment and location to entertain guests away from the official palace.

Saint Chapelle: the private chapel of the King of France, featuring the most stained glass I have ever seen.

Centre Pompidou: the modern art museum of Paris, featuring Mondrian, Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Day Two

Villa Savoye: A modern architectural Mecca by Le Corbusier. Located in Poissy, about 45 minutes outside of Paris, it was definitely much harder to find our way around (no English at all). Oh but what we'll do for Le Corbusier... The house itself is designed with the idea of a ship in mind, going by Corb's idea of a "machine for living." It perfectly shows his five points of architecture, being: raised on pilotis, free facade, open floor plan, ribbon windows, and a roof garden. He was a great thinker, though one cannot forget that the family moved out only a short while after its completion due to the fact that it leaked (he said ship, right?). Definitely worth the adventure to Poissy, it was one of my favorite things we saw in France.

Musee d'Orsay: an impressionist and post-impressionist museum housed in an old railway station. Rated as the top destination in Paris, it contains works by Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh among others.

Climbing the Eiffel Tower: We took the stairs to the first and then second platform you see on the tower, before a lift took us to the very top. 1000 feet above the city we were given a great view and blasts of extremely cold wind in the open air lookout (not for the faint of heart).

Day Three

The Lourve: Massive, super crowded, and full of famous artwork. We took the advise of seeing the Mona Lisa first before the crowds got there, and then from there wandered around. Some of my favorites were Caravaggio's works, the Winged Victory Nike sculpture, as well as the Egyptian exhibit. We could have spent days in there alone, but with the mass amounts of shoving people, I don't think I would have wanted to. A note of I.M. Pei's glass pyramid addition: maybe a little out of place, definitely creates an awesome space underneath, don't even want to know how much they spend keeping it cool inside during the summer.

Notre Dame: A beautiful Gothic cathedral, of course we had to climb it. The view with all the gargoyles was definitely cool. No hunchback in sight though.

The Business District/The Grand Arche: It's very interesting that in Paris the business/modern district featuring all the skyscrapers we see in American cities is located outside of central Paris, technically its own city. With little residential space in the area, the city is practically deserted at night. It's actually a little creepy to experience, you feel the whole time as if you've missed a memo or something. Everything is lit up, there are skyscrapers, giant TV screens with ads, and no more than a handful of people in sight. Nonetheless, it is the location of the Grand Arche which sits directly on axis with the Arch de Triomphe, enabling a straight line of sight from the center of it, through the Arc, and down the Champs Elysees.

Day Four

Musee de l'Armee: The military museum, featuring everything from knight's armor to World War II tanks.

Les Invalides: Originally built as a military hospital, Napoleon's tomb now sits under the golden dome. The interior itself is immaculate.

Rodin Museum: The location of The Thinker as well as The Gates of Hell, they were locked.

Conciergerie: The location of Marie Antoinette and other prisoner's jail cells during the trials of the French Revolution. Her's was the palace of the jail cells of course.

Palias Garnier: The Paris State Opera house and location of the events on which the Phantom of the Opera was based. It definitely had a different air to it than the Vienna opera house we had seen previously, and apparently there actually are underground caverns and a lake. While there was no crashing chandelier on Tuesday, the incredibly ornamented rooms were some of the most amazing I've seen thus far.

Arc de Triumph Climb: We decided our legs weren't tired enough on Tuesday night, so we climbed the Arc to what has been hailed the greatest view of Paris, I think you'll agree.

Whew. I hope you enjoy the pictures! I spent a lot of time narrowing down almost 1200 images to my 200 favorites.

I was slow getting the post of Barcelona up so if you missed it, make sure to go back and check it out!