While waiting in line to board our Ryanair flight from Pisa to Beauvais (about an hour ourside of Paris), we talked about our friends who refuse to fly the budget airline because of safety concerns, and joked about how the plane would probably fall apart. We then looked over to see this reassuring sight...
Once we landed safely in Beauvais, we took a bus from the airport to Paris (the French landscape is beautiful!)...
...then a metro to our hotel. We arrived in the evening, and just grabbed some Subway, stopped by a small grocery store to pick up some things for the morning, and played a game of Scotch Bridge at the hotel.
In the morning we went to Notre Dame.
I especially wanted to hear Gregorian chants, but we failed to remember we went on Palm Sunday, during which they would have special music. But the outside is beautiful, the inside is beautiful, the parks are beautiful, Paris is beautiful. I got more video of the singing than I did of the interior...but it was just unreal. I had spent some time the semester before studying Gothic architecture, Notre Dame in particular, so to see all the arches, the flying buttresses outside, all the stained glass, it's just beautiful...
After we left we stayed in a little park behind the Cathedral to take pictures of flowers...
...and play on one of the spinny things....
We crossed the Seine....
...and took a metro further north to Porte du Clignancourt to go to the gypsy (aka flea) market. After a bit of shopping, and coming so close to buying a beautiful Moroccan leather bag, we walked down (south) to the Montemartre area, which is actually elevated, near the church called Sacre Coeur. Montemarte is the small area where historically and currently there are many cute little shops and restaurants around a little court where artists would and still do paint. It is so quaint. :)
We had lunch at a little place called Le Poulbot...
...then walked to Sacre Coeur (a later view from the bottom of the hill)...
It is beautiful. The interior feels more simple and less adorned than other churches.
And it is also on a hill, so from the steps outside, we saw Paris, including the far-off Eiffel Tower.
...After listening to a lady play the accordian...
...we bought some little souvenirs from some Indian men (which apparently is illegal) who ended up running off because they're not supposed to be selling on the streets. Joanna was left with an Eiffel Tower keychain in her hand that she was about to buy. We walked down the hill and walked walked walked to a metro (where I bought Naomi a beret :) which we took over to the Arc d'Triomphe.
After watching some nearby street dancers...
...we took the steps under the street and up and out to the Arc d'Triomphe, which is situated in a circle with the street surrounding it and streets branching out from it like the spokes of a wheel. Napolean had it built as his triumphal arch (duh), like his own entryway. We climbed the steps up to the top (along the way we met a family that has mutual friends with the Waltis) and had an amazing view from the top.
The modern skyline in the distance.
Soon after descending the Arc d'Triomphe, as the sun was setting...
...we took a stroll down Avenue Champs des Elysees, where all the designer stores are located, and hopped on a metro back to the hotel.
Monday, the next morning, we went to the Louvre!! After waiting in line for tickets, we finally entered!! We saw....
...Egyptian (the Grande Sphinx)...
...Greek (the Winged Victory of Samothraces!)...
(one of the hallways)
...Italian (Da Vinci's Mona Lisa) - this is how hard it is to get a photo!...
....and French art (Delacroix's La Liberté guidant le peuple - Liberty guiding the people)
And that was mainly on one of several levels! By this point I had gotten separated from the rest of the group, but some texts and calls later, found them outside in front of the pyramid, where we had some fun...
We left the Louvre to meander the streets, shopping, stopping for sandwiches and baguettes, then beginning our trek to the Eiffel Tower, on the other side of the Seine...
All the walking is a lot more fun in the company of friends. We finally made it!!! And we just lay in the grass and soaked in the view. It wasn't just a landmark anymore or a little note on a map. We were actually there!
Jacob, Joanna, and I climbed the tower as far as is allowed (the second level)...
...plum tuckered out, with still a ways to go...
...plum tuckered out, with still a ways to go...
...Joanna got tired of her shoes, so she walked in my socks...
...and got a wonderful view of Paris!
We climbed back down, sat in the grass, and ate the rest of our baguettes (while on my iPod I enjoyed my Paris theme music, the Amelie soundtrack... :)
We walked to the nearby metro and checked out the maps in search of the church in the Da Vinci Code. We took what we thought was the best metro line, and when we got off, asked a couple guys nearby. They are students at the University of Paris - the Sorbonne, they both speak French, but they are both American (one is from Missouri), who made some suggestions. We decided to walk towards the Sorbonne, and on the way we stopped at a grocery store, where, after being warned by the cashier to open my pomegranate soda slowly, opened it too quickly and promptly spilled half of it on the floor. Anyways, we found...
...the Sorbonne - one of the oldest universities in the world! (Alma mater of St. Thomas of Aquinas, John Calvin, Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie...)
...and then kept walking in search of a view of the lit up Eiffel Tower by night, which we couldn't see by the Sorbonne, but later on we did. We walked through the Latin Quarter, still very alive at 11 or 12 at night, then along the Seine to find that view of the Eiffel Tower.
Along the way we saw Notre Dame again, this time by night...
While standing along the bank of the Seine, a cruiseboat floated down the river, the people on board waving to those on shore. Right after I waved back, they started cheering loudly. It was rather gratifying until we realized they were cheering for a man mooning everyone from his apartment window.
We found the view...
...then hopped on the nearby metro for the hotel. We only had the next morning in Paris...it was going too quick.
Tuesday morning arrived! The plan for the morning was an Impressionist exhibit at the Hotel d'Ville near the Seine.
Pictures were not allowed inside, but we saw some wonderful paintings and sketches by Degas (my favorite!), Van Gogh, Berand, Renoir, Caillebotte, Steinlen, and others.
I split from Mrs. Walti, Hannah, Jacob, and Joanna -- they planned to walk and shop their way towards the opera house, while I planned to visit Notre Dame again, as I didn't get a good enough look of the inside, and possibly visit Sainte Chapelle, a beautiful chapel near Notre Dame. Turns out the line for Notre Dame was even LONGER than on Palm Sunday, but I did get more pictures of the outside, this time more from the side, where you can see a bit of the flying buttresses and gargoyles, if you look closely.
While walking along the Seine towards Sainte Chapelle, some random guy came up from behind and asked, "Excuse me, do you have time for coffee?" Uhhh....No, as a matter of fact I don't, I have to catch a metro. (Which I did...a little later...)
Here's the abysmal line at Sainte Chapelle that went down the street.
Clearly I didn't go, because we had less than 2 hours to get to our hotel again. I stopped by an outside garden shop next to the metro stop where I wanted to look for some bells for my mom. No such luck. But it was cute. I mailed some postcards, then hopped on the metro again...
(can you tell that the metro system was key? And my metro map was the key to that key.)...to meet the others at L'Opera Garnier, inspiration of the Phantom of the Opera!
From there we took another metro to the hotel, but because we were low on tickets and time (only an hour to get across Paris, buy bus tickets, and be ON the bus), Joanna and Mrs. Walti stayed in the metro system while Jacob, Hannah and I ran to the hotel, picked up our bags, ran with all of them back down into the metro system, ran onto a train, rode, switched trains, all the while Mrs. Walti and I were getting really, really nervous. When we got off the metro, we powerwalked to the bus station while Jacob ran ahead to buy tickets. Just minutes after arriving, we loaded the bus, and minutes later, it left for Beauvais. Talk about timing!
We had a fun flight back to Pisa, where I talked with Mrs. Walti and Joanna across the aisle about life and careers and all that jazz and took pictures of my weird neighbors... :)
Happy birthday, Hannah :)
Thus ended our whirlwind of a trip to Paris, the most beautiful city in the world! Wonderful weather, wonderful city, wonderful friends, wonderful time!
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