Happy Day 3 of Paris
Palooza! Unfortunately, today was a horrible morning in Paris because there was
a steady rainfall and grey skies, and it didn't look like it was going to get
any better. Even Natasha checked the weather on her phone, and they called for
a 100% of rain all day. Well, I suppose then there will be a 100% chance that
we'll be staying indoors today. Therefore, we decided that today would be the
best day to go visit Le Louvre, since it's an indoor museum and it's huge. We could definitely benefit from a whole
day set aside for the Louvre! We went to the metro station and caught a metro
that took us straight to the Louvre, which was nice; no walking through puddles
for us! Once we arrived, the place was crowded, and it was crowded with
tourists. I have never heard so much English and Chinese in one place in my
entire life, and do not get me started on how blind I was after walking through
at least twenty camera flashes. Once we bought our tickets, Katie and I went one
way while Jimmy, Paige, and Natasha went another way (not really by choice, the
crowd split us up a bit). Katie and I ended up going through the Egypt, Greek,
and Roman exhibits first, where I saw plenty of statues of sphinxes, Greek
lords and ladies, and lady Venus. Unfortunately, Venus was literally a Venus
flytrap of tourists, so it was difficult to get up close. But I still got to
see her and I got a picture from afar, so I was content. After wandering
through those exhibits, we went to another exhibit that featured jewelry,
armor, and weapons from various past ages, and that was really interesting. The
jewelry was marvelous, and the armor was very interesting as well, but I was
mostly surprised by the fact that all of these artifacts survived against time
for so long and still managed to look so pristine! From there we made our way
through the Italian art wing, where we were bombarded by walls upon walls upon
walls of grand paintings, including a painting that practically everyone knows,
Miss Mona Lisa herself. Oh lord, if I thought Venus drew a crowd… I honestly
thought I was going to die. Have you ever seen those Discovery Channel shows
where there's a lion hunting down a crippled, three-legged zebra? Well Mona
Lisa was the zebra, every single tourist in that room was a lion, and I was
just some poor, lost and confused flamingo that feared for my life in this
arena of tourists and camera flashes, which aren't
allowed, but whatever. After narrowly escaping the Mona Lisa death pit, Katie
and I made our way to a smaller exhibit that featured African art and South
American art. I thought these were really interesting, and they were possibly
some of my favorite exhibits that I've seen at the Louvre. It was nice to step
back from all of the artwork of the renaissance and experience a type of art
that's a little less appreciated. I especially enjoyed the tribal theme of most
of the art, and it was easy to tell that a lot of this art was handmade, which
gave it even more of a special desire. While in the exhibit, we noticed that it
was lunchtime and we were getting hungry, so Katie and I decided to head back
up aboveground, make our way to the glass pyramid, and then go back to the
entrance of the museum to find the others, and we'd take a Louvre lunch break.
To our surprise, however, when we got to the surface, we realized that the
weather was gorgeous. The sun was
shining bright, there was a gentle breeze, and birds were chirping like
nobody's business. Thank you for the accuracy, weather report… I did not want
to waste a beautiful day like this inside, and the others agreed, so once we
all regrouped, we made our way through the gorgeous gardens and fountains to
Place de la Concorde, a historical location where Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette had their heads "removed" by the guillotine. I was
honestly a tad upset…well, very upset, to be standing where poor Marie
Antoinette died. Just yesterday I was visiting her palace, and today she's
dead. Such a cruel world. After visiting this little slice of history, we made
our way to a metro station in search of lunch. We all knew what we wanted for
lunch. We'd been dreaming about it ever since we arrived in Paris and found out
that this restaurant actually existed here. …Chipotle. After searching high and
low and through various metro lines, we finally found it. It's a little sad,
but this was the most excited I had felt since arriving in Paris. No regrets. I
mean, it's Chipotle in Paris, that's
special! The menu was pretty much the same, except here in Paris they added
margaritas to their menu, which Katie ordered, and it tasted like pure 100%
tequila. A little strong, Paris Chipotle, a little strong. Either way though, I
thoroughly enjoyed my French spicy chicken bowl, and I will remember this
glorious little moment in Paris every time I go to a Chipotle back home! After
enjoying our delicious lunch, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. This was it!
This was our time to climb la Dame de Fer! You heard me correctly: Climb. We
bought our tickets to climb the staircase all the way to the middle floor. It
was a pretty intense workout, but I couldn't pay attention to how out of shape
I was because I was too busy admiring the Eiffel Tower that I was climbing.
Once we got to the middle floor, we were greeted by the most beautiful sight I
have ever set my eyes on: The sun setting over the horizon of Paris. I was in
awe. My eyes even misted up a bit I was just so…inspired.
This is a sight I will never, ever, ever forget for my entire lifetime. We stayed up there for quite a while,
staring off into the sunset, gazing across Paris and taking it all in, pointing
out sites that we visited that looked so tiny now. We stayed up there until the
sun finally set, and we enjoyed the sparkling Eiffel Tower light show up close
and personal. It was so magnificent and so beautiful… Moments like this are
when I remember why I fell in love with France, why I wanted to study French,
and why I wanted to come here. All of it just has this hold on me, some otherworldly
dominance, but I won't struggle. France
can have me. After descending the Eiffel Tower on foot, we went back to the
little crêpe shop that we went to our first night here, and sat around enjoying
more nutella crêpes, basking in the warm and recent memories that we all shared
together on top of that glorious tower. Once we got back home to the hotel, we
decided to go out on the town and have a little fun on our last full night in
Paris. We met up with one of Jimmy's friends, Vincent, and we made our way to a
bar that he knew pretty well. We spent a super fun evening sipping beers and
wines, playing never-have-I-ever and would-you-rather (games that get pretty
intense after a glass of wine or beer…), and just enjoying each other's
company. It was a really pleasant evening, and I am so glad that we were all
able to spend our last night in Paris together. I love these folks! =)
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