La Vie Parisienne

I lied; I didn’t post about classes.  Instead, I had a picnic by the river as the sun set.  Sorry I’m not sorry.  I will write that post another day, because I’m going to post about my weekend excursion to Paris instead!

As my alarm rang at 5:15 a.m., my usual drowsiness was replaced by pure excitement.  I scurried to get ready and throw all my last minute necessities in my backpack.  For anyone who has ever seen me pack, this weekend was impressive: one sweatshirt, pajamas, one shirt, pair of pants, underwear, makeup, umbrella, map, wallet.  That is it!  Very pleased with my minimal packing, I strapped my backpack to my back and headed to the train station.  Little did I know that I would carry that bag for the next 15 hours.  Here is Maya approximately 10 hours in:

Once we left the train station, we began our trek through the streets of Paris!  We stopped at a café for a quick cup of coffee and plotted our day.  The first stop was le Jardin du Luxembourg, per my father’s request.  I tried to get him a picture to match the painting in our dining room but with the fountain turned off and without the flowers planted, it was kind of a fail.  The Jardin was still beautiful and we got great pictures of le Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the French Senate.

Then we headed to l’Ile de Paris where Notre Dame is located.  The outside was remarkable….

….but the inside was emotionally stirring it was so beautiful.  You can just feel God filling your body as you walk around the cathedral.  It was so special and one of my favorite experiences of the trip.  Then we went to the crypt in the basement.  To our dismay, there were no dead people.  Only the old walls of Paris…wah wah.  So we left rather quickly and headed to the Concergierie.  Our group is rather divided on this excursion.  This was the prison where people (including Marie Antoinette) were held during the Revolution.  I thought it was less than impressive because they didn’t have that many actual remnants.  There were recreations of some cells, but I just didn’t find it as memorable.

We then left the island and went to the Louvre.  On the way, we found a bridge with locks tied all along it with the hope of everlasting love.  Couples come to this bridge and secure them as a proclamation of their love.  I thought this was really cute and added to the lovey-dovey feel of Paris this Valentine’s Day weekend (…it was not that romantic for our group of 10 females). 

After our moment of sentimentality we recommenced our photo shoot at the Louvre which is RIDICULOUSLY LARGE.  We only saw the outside on Saturday but I returned on Sunday (more later).

 

I also took a picture of children sailing boats in the fountain by the Louvre because my host father used to sail them there when he was small. 

We continued our never-ending walk down the Champs-Elysees.  I didn’t purchase anything but I did go into Louis Vuitton!  Wooooooow.  For one, it was intensely crowded and people were spending thousands of dollars in this frenzied flurry.  I felt so out of place with my backpack but I got to watch wealthy woman try on thousand dollar shoes and dresses and purses so it was a “cultural experience” I suppose.

At the end of the Champs Elysees we found l’Arc de Triomphe, which is extraordinary.  However, Napoleon built it for himself.  Who builds themselves a monument?  But we caught l’Arc just as the sun was setting and it was beautiful.

As the light in Paris began to fade, our enthusiasm did not!  Okay, it did a little because we had been walking for 10 hours…but we were really excited to get to the Eiffel Tower because we had been spotting it in the distance all day.  Alas, we pushed our way past 20897235 street vendors who all sell the same thing for the same price (the French need some new business models because they do not understand supply and demand or efficiency here), and finally were at the base of la Tour Eiffel!  Just as we walked up, the lights turned on and it began to sparkle.  Ah Paris! It was breathtaking.

Happy with our adventure, we went to dinner where I was adventurous and ordered a “coq au vin,” a French specialty.  It was delicious.  Then we began our metro adventure.  Not gonna lie, this is where our trip went downhill a bit.  We had a brief run in with a pick-pocketer (he failed and we had some choice American words for him).  Then we were oogled and catcalled at as we walked/ran to our hostel in Montmartre.  But we finally arrived and I could not have been happier to crawl into bed.

The next morning, Maya and I climbed 2897350287 stairs to Sacre Coeur which is the highest point in Paris.  Once my quads stopped throbbing we went inside the church which is really interesting, but they won’t let you take pictures inside it!  Maya was informed of this when they made her delete all the photos she sneakily took.  So rude.

We then headed to the Eiffel Tower again but decided upon arrival it was too foggy to ascend.  Instead, we headed to Les Invalides, which houses Napoleon’s tomb, wounded veterans, a WWII/Free France Museum, and an armory.  The WWII museum was remarkable.  There were so many drawings, clothes, maps, letters from concentration camps, soldiers, and General de Gaulle.  Definitely worth seeing.  Then we went to see Napoleon’s tomb…which is actually six tombs because he asked to be buried within six coffins.  I know this man did remarkable things for France, but after l’Arc de Triomphe and his tomb I think he needed his ego deflated a bit.  It was a beautiful tomb nonetheless.

Finally, I returned to the Louvre where I only had the time/energy to wander the Italian and Spanish paintings wing with Amanda.  We saw the Mona Lisa, which is small in person.  I thought some other paintings were incredibly impressive so I need a lesson or two in why the Mona Lisa is so much more famous.

After a beautiful weekend in Paris, we returned to Gare Montparnasse for our train.  Stephanie and I had tea and people watched for a few hours to heal our aching feet after 20+ miles of walking and then returned home to our beloved Angers to start another week in France.

I’m so fortunate for this experience and each day I am more and more astonished that this is my real life.  How blessed I am to have this opportunity and how humbled I am to share it with you.  My thoughts, my love, and my hugs with all of you this week!!