Paris has been called The City of Love and The City of Light, but it really should be called Paris: the city where you climb things. Did you know you can climb to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral? To the top of the Arc de Triomphe? Take an elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower? Climb a million and one steps to get a beautiful view of Paris in the artist quarter? You even climb their subways, because the RER is a double-decker!
I am still in shock that I got to visit Paris, and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go. Paris was unlike any other city I’ve been to, and the language barrier actually added to the experience.
The only French I knew going over was “hello, goodbye, my name is, do you speak French (helpful, right?), do you speak English, please, thank you very much, where is, what, yes and no.” I had to talk with people to pass through security/customs, buy food, ask if I was on the right train, gain entrance to museums, and a lot more. Honestly, it was fantastic. For food, I just made sure to say, (in French), “Hello! Please…” and then give my best try at the food item I was ordering. I rarely encountered anyone who was annoyed by my more-than-broken-French—most people seemed to like that I was trying. Other than that, it was a weird but cool experience to have people talking to me, and yet I literally had no idea what they were saying. I know more than once I just stood there smiling, because it was so bizzare. You had to get creative to express what you’re trying to convey… it was like playing charades.
My first stop was the Latin Quarter, a section with loads of restaurants, crepe and panini places, and too many tourist shops. With my broken French and a lot of please and thank yous, I got a ham and cheese panini (jambon, fromage) and a bottle of water. THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS. And Latin Quarter, aside from being really quaint with narrow streets and beautiful architecture, smelled absolutely amazing. I ate my food and followed signs for Notre Dame along the Seine River, stopping at an intersection—the signs had stopped. I looked around, wondering where the signs had gone, and as I turned, Notre Dame rose up in front of me.
It. Was. Beautiful.
I felt like a balloon had suddenly been inflated inside my chest. That’s the best way to describe it. I was shocked by the beauty and power of Notre Dame. It’s crazy to think that many years ago it had been decrepit, and was going to be torn down.
Notre Dame
Lock Bridge
Yum
French Pastries
Arc de Triomphe
Paris after the rainstorm
After walking around the gardens in the back for a while, I started heading back towards the subway station. Halfway there, it began full out down pouring. Me and everyone else ran for the cover of the thick trees in front of Notre Dame, but soon the rain even penetrated through that, and I was getting extremely soaked.
An older Parisian couple on my right called out “Mademoiselle!” and then said something else in French. I turned to see that they were gesturing for me to share their umbrella! I said a lot of “merci!” as I ducked under the shelter, and they smiled in return. They asked (in English) if I spoke French, and I told them no. It turns out they didn’t speak much English, but the woman smiled and said, “Paris, beautiful.” I smiled back and said “oui!”
And so we stood there looking at Notre Dame while the rain poured down, having reached the extent of our foreign language abilities. It didn’t matter though. Smiles and body language can convey more than a thousand words can.
As the rain lightened up to a drizzle, we parted ways. They said, “goodbye,” and I said “au revior”.
*
Grace took me to the Lourve later that day, and we wandered the massive halls, taking guesses at what each statue/painting represented—the descriptions were, not surprisingly, in French. We (after many wrong turns) reached the Mona Lisa! I’d heard her eyes follow you anywhere you go, so we walked in an arc around the painting. It’s official: Mona Lisa is the biggest creeper in the whole museum. Her eyes follow your every movement! And she has such a smug smile about it….
We then went to the Arc de Triomphe, which is basically a massive rotary in the middle of Paris, with 6 or more lanes of traffic going around it. It was beautiful in the sunset 🙂
Saturday we packed the entire day full. Things we did included:
- Went to the artist’s quarter and saw artists painting or drawing
- Sacre Coeur (beautiful church with a view of Paris)
- Love Wall in Paris (love written in 250 languages)
- Walked on the Lock Bridge
- Got crepes and then sat by the Seine river, watching boats and people go by
- Went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, which was beautiful. Many famous politicians, musicians and historical figures are buried there. It is so massive, I felt like I was walking through a city. We saw Chopin’s grave!!!
- Went to a bakery, got French pastry (I got an éclair and au pain chocolate (chocolate inside a croissant)) and then we ate our treats while sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower. I honestly had to keep sitting up and checking to make sure it was there; I couldn’t believe I was sitting in front of Eiffel Tower, something I’d seen pictures of since I was 6 years old. The Eiffel tower is a little over-whelming—it rises above you with thick, elegant beams of steel, stretching far into the sky. You kind of can’t stop looking at it.
- After getting dinner and walking around some more, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up at night. The Eiffel Tower is even more beautiful at night.
- On the way back to her dorm, the subway compartment next to us was dancing and clapping for some reason unknown to us—it was pretty funny to see at 12am. We later found out there was a man playing accordion in that compartment.
- Almost bought cottage cheese for breakfast instead of yogurt. The container looked like yogurt, and there was a picture of a peach on it. Then we saw it had the word “fromage” … whoops
- Saw a fight in the subway station…. no idea what it was about, because they were shouting at eachother in French as they tried to punch eachother. Thankfully, the transit police broke it up pretty quickly (we just kept walking out of that part of the station).
Eiffel Tower
At night!
Pere Lachaise Cemetery
The Love Wall
Sacre Coeur
Artist’s neighborhood
On Sunday I ventured to Versailles, the palace that King Louis XVI lived in while the rest of France faced extreme poverty (good job, King Louis). It was insanely large. I had known it was a big palace, and I’d been told the gardens were big, but… WOW. A maze of paths awaited me, and it was a lot of fun to lose myself in the gardens, take any turns I wanted, and then pull out the map and have no idea where I was. (I’m not even joking—I really get a kick out of doing that. I’m like a little kid running around). I really loved the sense of timelessness, peace, and tranquility the landscape held (which is ironic, considering a revolution was going on while King Louis took daily strolls through the paths).
Versailles. It’s not even all in shot
Things that struck me about Paris:
- the city has beautiful architecture, everywhere you turn
- it is freaking beautiful. And we were spoiled, because it was like summer weather the weekend I was there.
- the people preparing your food touch it. Get used to it haha
- some of the subways smell terrible, and are pretty dirty. Other subways (like the RER to Versailles) are super clean and smell just fine
- The vibe I got from Paris was very much “go at your own pace”. There didn’t seem to be a rush, even on the crowded streets.
- The city is MASSIVE. After 3 days in Paris and hitting off all the “major” tourist destinations, I knew I could spend a month there and still find things to enjoy. Even though it’s a city of more than 2 million people, each neighborhood seems very low-key and has its own distinct feel.
- I saw a dead, skinned chicken being pushed down the road in a little wooden wheel-barrow. Dinner!
Walking around a foreign city made me feel so alive. I loved seeing something new and unfamiliar every turn I took. I loved looking at maps and signs to figure out where on earth I was, or ignoring them all together and seeing where I ended up. (Don’t worry Mom, I only did that in Latin Quarter and Versailles).
There is a problem with visiting such a beautiful and historic city, with a new culture, though. Actually, there’s a massive problem with doing any traveling at all.
You just want more.
IceBlueSpark 