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Published: August 1st 2005
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Things have been pretty fast paced since we left Limerick. We finished finals last friday and got really smashed to celebrate our mediocre performances. It made for a great last night and we ended up staying at the Trinity Rooms in city centre until they closed. It was great fun, but we had a terrible day of traveling saturday morning when we had to get up at eight because of it. Nonetheless, we made it to Paris. Though Nick and I really didn't feel right until we went to sleep that night. But before we did that, we managed to work in a few hours of strolling, climaxing with a night-time view of the Arc de Triomphe.
The next morning, we woke up and decided we'd knock out the Eiffel Tower as a means to A) get a good view of the landmarks in Paris and try to get some sense of direction in regards to all of them, and B) get the long climb up the stairs out of the way. It's around 700 stairs to the second platform and it definitely takes its toll on the legs, but what a pay off. The view was great and we
spent a long time soaking in every angle, despite the overcast skies and the threat of rain.
From there, we went to the Hotel des Invalides, and old hotel for French soldiers that's been converted into a museum housing Napoleon's tomb, an absolutely fantastic World War II museum (although they kind of glossed over the Normandy Invasion...damn Frenchies), and a museum of the history of the French Army. The collections in all three were extremely impressive and we ended up learning and seeing a great deal.
But Paris is gorgeous. The walkways, the streets, the gardens, the Seine River, all of it. And if you wander around aimlessly, which Nick and I did on a number of occasions, you come across a ton of great plazas - all photo worthy. But the beauty of the city comes at a great price. The streets here are more windy and confusing than any place I've ever been. To get from our hostel to the river is about 2,000 yards straight south, and there's no way to get there without having to take four different streets that go different directions. It's almost impossible to keep any sense of north and south
and that makes it somewhat difficult to get around. I've unfolded my map so many times that it's already falling apart after two days.
At night, Nick and I decided to take it easy and chill in the lobby bar in order to save money and try to get to sleep early. Our hostel is fantastic. Apart from the 2am curfew, there isn't a place I'd rather be. It's very much geared toward the kind of people Nick and I were hoping to meet, and the clashing of cultures has been a great experience. And to top it off, they play great music all day. We ended up meeting a group of kids from Colorado, one of which goes to KU. We played Uno with her and her travel mates polishing of many beers and a bottle of wine. They were a great crew and it was a pretty fun night. I can't believe how small the world can be.
This morning we woke up a little slowly and headed straight to The Louvre in hopes of beating the rush of tourists. Little did we know that to do this is UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE. The place was crowded as
all hell. And anything worth getting a picture of was swarmed by hundreds of Japanese tourists doing very little to combat the stereotype. We spent about four hours wandering aimlessly and hit the necessities - The Mona Lisa, The Venus de Milo, Ramses II, and The Hammurabi Code. To be honest it was pretty boring, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving Paris without seeing it. And the Parisians are right to be proud of it.
From there, we went to the Picasso Museum, which was much more interesting and could be toured all the way through in an hour and a half. They had a good collection and presented a great timeline of his life. I left with a much greater appreciation of his work.
Then we headed north the Montmarte and the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. The basilica is situated on the top of a hill with a fabulous, unobstructed panoramic view of the city. And Montmarte is by far my favorite part of Paris so far. It's made up of cobblstone walkways and small squares full of great cafes and artists doing portraits and landscapes. It was hard to get out of there without being drawn,
they'd start drawing you before you could even say no. And their skill as artists and painters was incredible. They all managed to get an incredible amount of detail into these works that only took 20 minutes to complete.
All in all, Paris is turning out to be a great place. The Parisians aren't as big of assholes as I was led to believe, and the food has been remarkably good so far. More to come...
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