Paris at Last

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And now, after some delay and much anticipation, I present the final chapter in my epic tour around Europe: Paris.

That's not entirely true, as I'll still write a few more times while I'm abroad I'm sure, but they will probably all have to do with Edinburgh instead, so in that way it is the last entry regarding my traveling. Also, I want to point out that with this entry I now have posted pictures for all of my travels, except for Edinburgh, which I'm still in the process of getting pictures of. So go look at them! All you have to do is look at past entries I have, and they should be filled with pictures now. Quite a few of them have more than one page of pictures, so be sure to look and see if there's more. Also, if you click on any picture it will bring it up in a bigger window, and you can just go through them using the arrows and numbers at the top of that window.

Now on to Paris! As mentioned in my previous blogs, I had been to Paris about 5 times before this, but never really had time to do anything other than sleep and see the Eiffel Tower. Part of that trend continued, as I ended up seeing the Eiffel Tower each of the three days I was in Paris. This did result in a very large number of stairs climbed, since I never once took the elevator. It really has to be one of the coolest sights in the world - every time I saw it I couldn't help but grin like an idiot. It's obviously gorgeous by night, when it's all lit up, but by day it seems so much more real. It really hits you that you're standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. I don't know if I'd ever get tired of seeing it.

Despite all my excitement about Paris, I'd have admit my stay ended with me a little disappointed. Not because Paris didn't live up to expectations, but because I wasn't able to do half of what I had hoped to. We met these two girls in our hostel our first night there, and they said they wanted to travel around with us the next day - not a good idea. By 3pm the next day we had only seen one sight, Notre Dame, because of starting really late in the day and then having to stop at every tourist shop at least once to look inside... I was a little frustrated. Notre Dame was amazing, though. It's not the biggest or most intricate cathedral I saw, it's just built so elegantly that it doesn't matter. The only downside was the ridiculous amount of tourists in it, which kind of killed the feeling.

Some of the other really cool things we saw were the Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's Tomb, Orsay Museum, and of course the Louvre. The Arc was really cool, especially to look down and watch the crazy roundabout that circles it, with 12 different streets coming in to it. In addition to adding to my stairs-climbed total it also offered a really great view of the Eiffel Tower in the background. Napoleon's Tomb was definitely cool too - the building his tomb was in was really fancy, and right next to the Army Museum, which had all sorts of cool Medieval stuff to look at.

Now for my confession... I feel like I committed a crime to the Louvre and Orsay Museum. I went to both, but only spent about an hour in each one, when the Louvre could easily take multiple days to see. I don't necessarily know if I would want to spend days, but I will definitely have to make them a priority on my return to Paris... which will definitely have to happen. They were both really cool for the time I was there. Orsay has an amazing collection of Impressionism, plus the building itself is reeeally cool. The Louvre is... well it's the Louvre, so obviously it has good stuff. Michelangelo, da Vinci, Greek and Roman sculptures - all there. One really funny thing was the crowd around the Mona Lisa. It's in a room full of HUGE paintings that just cover all the walls surrounding it, and then in the middle of the room, on its own wall, is the little Mona Lisa. It's smaller than an average poster, yet it's what everyone in the room is looking at - pretty comical.

In the end, I absolutely loved Paris the city, but I wish I could have gotten more out of it. I'll just have to move Paris to the top of the list of places to return to... maybe with a little more money next time too (everything is REALLY expensive there). Right now I'm content with staying in Edinburgh - I like it so much here. It's definitely one of my favorite cities... maybe even the top. I'm so glad I'm here for an entire semester. I'll put up a few more posts throughout the semester about Edinburgh and anywhere else I travel, but the frequency will probably go down quite a bit. So please check out all my pictures, and enjoy!

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Photos

Notre Dame
Front face of Notre Dame

Arc de Triomphe
There were quite a few stairs... I was dizzy by the time we made it all the way down.

Eiffel Tower
View down one of the 12 streets that runs to the Arc de Triomphe.

Eiffel Tower
View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Eiffel Tower
View of the Seine, from the Tower.

Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe on the left. It's amazing how white the city of Paris is from above.

Eiffel Tower
Parc de Champ du Mars.

Napoleon's Tomb
The building that holds his tomb.

Napoleon's Tomb
The tomb itself.

Orsay Museum
Orsay Museum has one of the coolest buildings I've seen.

The Louvre
The famous entrance.

The Louvre
Venus de Milo

The Louvre
The crowd surrounding the Mona Lisa.... even with all those huge paintings on the other walls.

The Louvre
Milady Lisa herself.

The Louvre
Madonna of the Rocks, by da Vinci. I like it more than Mona... It's probably too dark to see in a photo though.

The Louvre
The pyramids at twilight.

Comments

[Tracie]

Soon. . .
Hi Josh! You have had the same feelings I do about Paris. I cry at Notre Dame every time - been there in the evening for Mass without all the tourists - very cool. I love eating at a cafe on the sidewalk watching Paris walk by. The first museum I went to was the Orsay in the old train depot - love my Van Gogh! You should walk up the towers of Notre Dame and see the city from there - so cool. Have fun in Edinburgh - study hard. We have corn waiting for you!!

[Arthur]

Voltaire
I believe one of the sites I would really like to see would be the French Pantheon where Voltaire is buried. He was one of the most amazing and interesting intellects ever. Rousseau is also buried there, and much of Jefferson's writings and personal philosophy were influenced by him, but I don't think he has endured nearly as well as Voltaire. Isn't it fun seeing all that art that you have seen in pictures or heard of all your life? Those museums hold the cultural iconography of Western Civilization - and you can walk right up to it! The Mona Lisa is, of course, just a small panel, but it is the Mona Lisa - probably one of the most universally recognized artworks in the world! And - if you look closely - you can see Leonardo's very brushstrokes! It has been hypothesized that the wet paint captured the sound waves that hit it as it was applied just as an analogue record/wax cylinder does, and - if we could only figure out how to "play" them - we could hear the sound of Leonardo's voice. They moved Napoleon's body to the Chapel of St. Jerome where it is now in 1840, and found it to be almost perfectly preserved. That has been attributed to the high levels of arsenic due to environmental and medical exposure, and has led to all the conspiracy theories about the British poisoning him.

[auntie R]

Hi Josh, With every blog I get more jealous/envious. What a wonderful experience. I love the photos. You are doing a superb job taking us along with you. I am sooo proud of you taking this semester abroad. Good luck with classes (but I know you don't need it) Much love to you, Auntie R