Paris: A Whirlwind Weekend

Eiffel Tower

 My last weekend trip while being here in Rome was to Paris, and of course it was the weekend before our major deadline week. Becca and I set off on our adventure on Friday night, after a crit that never happened. Our flight went smoothly, and we ended up landing in Paris around 8pm. After bus and metro rides to our hotel (with heavy suitcases thanks to our laptops), it was around 10pm. We're hungry. What is our first French meal? McDonald's. Don't judge quite yet - it was literally the only restaurant open within a mile or so of where we were staying. I did notice that they had "Les Big Macs" on the menu, which is so stereotypical and sounds as if someone is making fun of the French. We also got Magnum McFlurry's, which is apparently a big thing in Paris. They seem to be just a combination of chocolate and caramel. The first night we really didn't do too much, except try to watch NCIS in French on our TV. We had a pretty ghetto looking room, and it was painted pink everywhere. It worked well for what we needed it for, though. The next morning we set off for our first major Paris landmark - the Eiffel Tower (of course). We got bombarded from nice street vendors, and then we decided to go underneath and then try to find someplace to eat. Of course the weather is awful, and the wind and rain are blowing everywhere to the point where its really unpleasant to be underneath the Eiffel Tower. This weather also broke my umbrella... though I feel this can be attributed to the fact that Italians seem to just really suck at constructing umbrellas.

Champs-Élysées

 We found a little cafe near the Eiffel Tower for lunch. I ended up having eggs with bacon (which is essentially ham in most European countries), chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), and crème brûlée. All was delicious, and I've discovered I have a slight obsession with crème brûlée. We headed to the Champs-Élysées after lunch, which is the large shopping street in Paris. We mostly browsed, and looked mostly at the Christmas market that was further down. The Arc de Triomphe is also in this area, though it seems a bit randomly placed in the middle of a really busy intersection. Becca and I decided that we wanted to see the new Twilight movie (don't judge) as it was a terrible day outside and most of the other movies were in French. While waiting for the next showing, we wondered down to the Musée d'Orsay to see if we could go inside the museum. The line was soooo long. We didn't even have nearly enough time to wait, so we really just saw it from the outside. We also saw the Ferris Wheel that's at the end of the Champs-Élysées, which is about 10 euros to ride. Not worth it.

 We went into the movie, which really was decent given what its predecessors were like. It was also interesting seeing the French subtitles, not to mention the audiences finding a lot of things funny that really weren't meant to be. By the time we got out, it was dark outside and the entire Christmas market and street were lit up with Christmas lights. It was really pretty, not to mention it made it look a lot more like an actual Christmas market. You could even go ice skating in parts of it, and they also had warm food and drinks in it as well. Though the market was a bit touristy and crowded, it was still really cool. I enjoy seeing Christmas decorations everywhere, so that might have something to do with it.

Eiffel Tower at night

 Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower at night. It really is pretty, and it occasionally sparkles as well. We decided we wanted to go up at night to see all of the lights of the city. We waited in a line to get tickets for about an hour and a half. I guess the Tower really is that popular. There are two tiers in the Eiffel Tower if you take the elevator, one halfway through and another at the very top. Its kinda nerve racking, as you feel there may be a chance you'll fly off the edge. All of the Tower had a pretty yellowish tint to it which made it look breath-taking. There's also a cafe someplace in the middle, but its outrageously expensive (but you're in the Eiffel Tower!). We went to both tiers, and at the top the wind was especially hard to deal with. It was well worth the wait, and the city was gorgeous at night. For the rest of the night, we were just back in our rooms doing studio work and watching movies. I actually got more work than I thought I would done while on this trip, and inevitably, all of my work was finished eventually.

At top of the Eiffel Tower

Louvre

 During our next (also gloomy) day we set off to the Louvre. We waited in a really long line here too, but it was because we were there on the first Sunday of the month, which meant the Louvre was free. Score! Saving ten euros... for an hour long wait. I did get to see the pyramid outside of the Louvre, and to my knowledge, Mary Magdalene's tomb is not underneath it (nerdly Dan Brown reference...). Once we got inside, we mostly just saw the more famous pieces of art, the last of which was of course, the Mona Lisa. The room where the Mona Lisa was hanging was absolutely packed with people, all radiating around the painting (which was encased in glass and set back about 10 feet from where people were allowed to be). I pushed and shoved my way through people to be able to snap a picture. It is really cool being able to see things for real that you've learned about your entire life and have seem in movies.

Mona Lisa

Notre Dame

 Our next stop after the Louvre was Notre-Dame, which I have been looking forward to. I love Gothic architecture and stained glass. The interior was beautiful, and we were there during a Christmas service. Everything in those churches are so ornate, yet just the nave itself is so tall, and is just plain huge. We also saw a nativity scene and several other Christmas decorations (not forgetting the lovely tree outside, of course) throughout the church as well. The stained glass was not disappointing, and many of the windows were beautiful, not to mention large. It boggles my mind that people go to church there as if its any old boring church.
The rest of the day we mostly wandered, and ended up at our room somewhat early to do some more work. We did eat at a nice French cafe for dinner that night, which included a steak for me and a chocolate pot for dessert. The rest of the night we were just chilling, making sure we didn't fail out of our Rome studio. Our plan for the next - and last - day of our adventure was going to Montmartre, to see the Moulin Rouge and the Montmartre cemetary where a lot of famous people are buried. We also had to make sure we were back to the airport on time, since missing flights really isn't that much fun.

Moulin Rouge

The cemetary was interesting, and we saw the graves of some of the people who served Napoleon, not to mention a lot of barons, baronesses, etc. I was looking for Degas' grave (as I like his art) but couldn't find it anywhere. They actually had a map of the more famous graves there, which is a little morbid if you ask me. We couldn't find his grave anywhere though, despite how hard we looked.
We ate in a cafe that was literally across the street from the Moulin Rouge. We couldn't actually go in as its still a functioning (expensive) dinner show, but seeing it from the outside is still fun. I got to have a nice omelette for lunch, and we spent most of the rest of the time we had getting the souvenirs we wanted, and relaxed a bit until we had to head to the airport. After yet another 1-2 hour transport to the airport and finally reached the gate, they forced us to check our bags because of a shortage of overhead space on the flight. We did get to board first, but it was still annoying that they think they can just tell people to do that.  At least it was free. We tried to do some work on the flight, and I promptly fell asleep. We did get to see the Eiffel Tower from above. Usually I can't see any interesting landmarks from a plane, but we did see the Tower.

Paris was a really fun trip, and I'm glad I went despite the amount of work we had. It was great to see all of the things we learned about in French class, and it was a great last weekend trip.
Alright, one last blog post while I'm still in Rome. I'm leaving for the airport tomorrow morning! I don't know how I'm already going home. The time has gone by so fast.
Ciao for now.