Paris!

I went to Paris last weekend-ish. The 11th through the 14th. Yes, I skipped lectures. This was more important.

General impressions: Paris was exactly what you think Paris is. Or at least what I thought it was. It was almost a caricature of itself. I seriously heard the Amelie soundtrack all over the city. That said, it was perfectly wonderful.

I went to visit my friend Kelly from Wooster. I have never had a hankering to visit the city, and probably wouldn't have if she weren't there. I also couch-surfed for the first time, and flew Ryanair for the first time. Ryanair is...a bit dodgy, but wonderfully cheap and perfectly fine if you're prepared for it, and I was. Not a bad flight, cloudy but there was an opening just at the French coast. Flew into Beauvais, about an hour bus ride from Paris, and came upon the city. My host lives just a block from the bus station, be we had both not thought to write down directions, so after a detour to Kelly's to use her computer, and getting the key from the highly amusing receptionist, got to my lodging.

It was really wonderful. Tiny flat, but beautiful, great views, very nice area. Vincent wasn't there yet, so we dropped my stuff and went to dinner at a nearby Chinese place. I got the duck. Mmmmm! I went back to the flat, Kelly went back to her place. Vincent had returned. Wonderful guy. Spectacular host. We shared a beer, I slept on a mattress on the floor. Got up early the next morning, and I went to the Louvre.

Kelly had class in the morning and meetings in the afternoon, so I was on my own. Managed to not see a single painting. Except a ceiling, but that wasn't an exhibit, that was just part of the palace. There's a section on the Medieval Louvre: it was a castle before it was a palace, and we got to see the foundations of the giant donjon, or tower. Then I looked at sculpture. This was my favourite:

He was amongst pieces of religious art. I also really loved Cupid and Psyche, and another whose name I don't know. A guy resting his head on a girl's shoulder. Very sweet.

Caught lunch with Kelly: paninis I think. Ate in the Parc Monceau, filled with fake ruins and a Lady Liberty. Then borrowed her computer to finish a paper in a Parisian café: both necessary and part of the experience. Finished, and started wandering down the streets, into a couple of magnificent churches: St Augustine and La Madeleine. For dinner we went to Le Marais, the old Jewish quarter, where the best falafel in Paris is to be got. It was damn good. We got a bit turned around, but it was fun exploring! Getting comfortably lost is the best way to see a city, I think.
We then walked to the Louvre, to see it lit at night. Beautiful, and a guy was singing Carmen completely wonderfully. It really fit the place. Tried to record it, but came out terribly.




Finished the day looking at wonderfully garish Christmas window displays in expensive department stores.

Friday I started the day be getting off the Metro right into a street market. There was a poissonaire, a should have taken a picture of the sign. (It actually means fishmonger.) Walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg, then tried the Panthéon; they wouldn't let us in free because we weren't EU nationals. Bugger on them. Next we checked out Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, which turned out to be my favourite church I've seen here. White, and bright, and simple but complex. Beautiful.

We wandered on to rue Mouftard, a street famous for having street stalls selling cheese and wine and bread and fruit and just about everything. We stocked up for a picnic: bread, cheese, fruit, and Orangina (a French soda), then over to Montmartre. Walked along the sex shops for a couple blocks, it was funny. Then climbed climbed climbed. Very touristy, in a tasteful way, Montmartre, is. Quite lovely. There was a guy singing and playing guitar in the steps of Sacre Cœur, the church at the top. He was good, and there was an audience, so we joined and had our picnic, taking in the view over the city.

Headed down, went to Arc de Triomphe, looked at it, then went down the Champs Élysée to Tuilleries. Champs Élysée is not actually exciting at all; we knew that, it happened to be the direction we were going. Good for people watching. Then walked along the Seine, spitting grape seeds and waving at the boats full of other tourists. And looked at the amazing houseboats lining the river. Reached the Tour Eiffel, touched it, then sat on the Champs de Mars to finish our food. Walked around some more, went to one of the canals, got crêpes for dinner, then to the Ile Saint-Louis, one of the oldest parts of the city. It was rather awesome. Then crossed to Ile de la Cité, seeing swans in the Seine. Walked around Notre Dame, and Pont Neuf, then back to my host's.

 We told him our plan for tomorrow was to do the sewer tour, and that we wanted to do the catacombs but they had closed in early September, because of vandalism. Vincent then tells us about the catacombs of Paris; he starts by pulling out from the mess on his table a book of maps, engineer's maps (he's an engineer), that show all the tunnels underneath Paris. The catacombs are actually old quarries that snake under the entire city. When the plague came they were a useful place to pile bodies. Only a small section of them were filled: the 'official' section. The unofficial section has been closed to the public for ages, but there are entrances all over the city, and you can go in if you know where one is. For years, there has been a battle between the guards of the official part and people who roamed the unofficial parts, trying to break in to the official part. It early September the unofficials won: a guy broke through a wall, and with a pick-ax, laid waste to the remains. He basically destroyed the place. It is going to be a long time before the catacombs open again.

We met Saturday morning at Vincent's, took in the view from his building, 14 stories up. Then ventured to a Roman arena, in surprisingly good condition. From there we hopped to le Jardin des Plantes,the Botanical Garden. There was a zoo next door, and we could see the Wallabies! Wandering to Saint-Michel we went through an antiques market, stalls on the street, and poked around. Just about everything was very expensive, but fun to look at. We met up with Kelly's English friend Katie at Saint-Michel, got good, cheap, crêpes, then headed for the sewer entrance.

The sewers were not that exciting. They smalled bad, and looked modern, rather than the old and creepy and awesome I was expecting. The history was interesting, but not worth doing the tour for.

After that we went to visit Saint Eustache, the girls' favourite church in Paris. It was stunning. And there was a choir practicing while we were there. Again the recording sounded awful, but there it was wonderful.

Went to a restaurant, had a mix-up with the wine which meant I drank a half-litre by myself, then ran to the bus station so I wouldn't miss my bus. Going home we flew over London, which was a spectacular sight. Then Sunday I had a terrible bout of culture-shock. It subsided though.

For Kelly's take on things, go here. For the rest of my pictures, try this.