Paris Perfection

Exams seem to have taken over my life. In the sense of preparing for them anyway! That, and the occasional random trip around Europe as as reward for completing some exams. This was the case a few weeks ago after a rather intense week of studying, final papers and exams. My reward? Paris!

While I briefly stopped in Paris on my way to the Loire Valley and on the way back to Brussels, I really hadn't seen much of the city beside the exceedingly beautiful Musée d'Orsay, which is now one of my favorite museums (Pergamon in Berlin is still winning though- it had an entire temple inside). Paris happens to have a great policy on museums wherein EU residents between 18 and 26 can get inside for free! Since I'm studying in Belgium, and I have a Belgian residence card, I count, and took full advantage of this.

My roommate Illy and I went for three days to explore the city, and it turned out to be a perfect amount of time to see just about everything. It also turned out to be the perfect weekend to visit Paris(as numerous people assured us- Parisians and foreigners alike), the weather was the best it had been in weeks, sunny and warm, great for walking around the city and seeing the sites.

One of the cheapest modes of transport out of Brussels is by bus, so we once again hopped on the oh-so-cheap Eurolines for a 3.5 hour ride to Paris at the glorious hour of 7am. Once we got to Paris, we had an hour or so to kill before going on another one of those free walking tours and headed to les Jardins Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). It was beautiful, massive, and absolutely full of people. Everybody was out enjoying the day, from families with kids pushing little sail boats in a fountain, to students studying and having picnic to grandfathers having a drink. An interesting little fact is that there are almost no tables in the gardens, no any any other public garden in Paris despite the abundance of chairs. Instead, people just grab the nearby chairs and pull them into a circle to chat, or grab two and use one for a footrest  while sunbathing. We discovered loads of very square trees, and a seemingly secret fountain monument that might have been hiding in a forest in Italy before going to Place St. Michel for the tour.

Jardin Luxembourg- I loved the toy sailboats! also note the very square trees in the background

Illy and I and the not-so-secret fountain

As you've probably noticed by now, we've been doing quite a few of these "New Europe" tours because they're really interesting. You give as much as you think the tour is worth at the end, and get a really entertaining history lesson that brings the city, its buildings and monuments to life. It's one thing to see a building and notice some dents. It's another to learn that those dents are actually bullet holes from WWII as the French tried to take back their city from the Nazis. Much more interesting, no?

WWII bullet holes; we also learned that a Nazi saved Paris from being destroyed by tricking Hitler into thinking the city was burning by torching only the 15th arrondissement (neighborhood)

After the walking tour and seeing a wedding party just outside of les Invalides, we were hungry and got one of my favorite French foods: quiche Lorraine! If you've never had a quiche, try it. Essentially, a quiche Lorraine is a delicious pastry crust with a filling of eggs, cheese and ham inside. Yum. Being in Paris (again?) at last, Illy and I finally got to see the Eiffel Tower! It was strange in a way, having seen pictures of it and movies with it for so long to finally be standing there with this massive structure in front of you. "I think we're in Paris" was roughly our response. It was beautiful and hard to believe we were actually there!

Our next big Paris landmark was the Arc de Triomphe, and it's 284 steps to the top. Since we didn't go up the Eiffel tower (we're cheap students), and this was free for us, up we climbed! It was definitely worth it. You can see the entire city from the top, all the way down the Champs Elysées from the Louvre to the business district. I have a little bit of a fear of heights, so this picture was taken with much courage and clinging on to the rails...

We spent the night in the house of a friend of mine who happens to be studying in Paris for the year in Clamart, about 10 minutes outside of the city by train. On our way back into the city in the morning, we  started out the day all kinds of right by stopping in a legit french bakery (boulangerie/patisserie) and getting pastries for breakfast and a real, beautiful, baguette. The pastry plus a coffee in a nearby café was our brilliant breakfast before exploring the Louvre all morning!

I was pretty proud of my baguette. 

As most people have probably told you it's massive. What they probably haven't told you is that before you even enter and exhibit, you should name a meeting place!! Do it. Then, when you lose your friend by the Mona Lisa (like we did), you will not panic and think you will never see them again for another three hours. We did eventually find each other, after I geeked out on seeing "Grand Odalisque," a painting I had just studied in my France-Maghreb course. The Louvre has an incredibly diverse and vast collection, and we only covered one wing really (Denon and a bit of Sully if you've been) despite our four hours inside. While I think I prefer the Musée d'Orsay for it's ease in seeing the works, the Louvre is still impressive and it was really cool to see so many originals, from the Da Vinci's works to statues.

The Louvre!

Venus de Milo 

the Winged Victory of Samothrace

Pysche and Cupid

A picnic in the Jardin des Tuileries later (just in front of the Louvre), we checked in at our hostel in the quaint Montmartre for the second night and headed back into the city for a lot more walking. We checked out Île de la Cité again (Notre Dame and la Sainte Chapelle), walked along the Seine and eventually found our way to place de la Bastille and a sweet artsy market that was going on. I love discovering things by accident. After being thoroughly entranced by scarves, candied fruits, leather works and jewelry, we chilled in Place des Vosges, a lovely little courtyard with a garden/park in the middle full of students relaxing and fountains. Plus, there was a street harp player, which is a rather rare site, and Victor Hugo's house. We also found Centre Pompidou, which was surprisingly...well... ugly in trying to be modern art (which I unfortunately still have no appreciation for, I did try.) Lots of walking later found us having dinner in the bustling Latin Quarter, then walking along the Champs Elysées at night eating ice cream. We also discovered that Häagen-Dazs has a club above it on the Champs Elysées. Unfortunately, no invites scored, and we contented ourselves by seeing Paris at night from Sacre-Coeur. Seeing the city all spread out before you, lit up with a thousand lights made us realize just how big Paris is. Brussels suddenly seemed tiny compared to this sprawling metropolis!

An artist painting Irises in Jardin Tuileries

the market we discovered by la Bastille

Notre Dame's garden 

Place des Vosges, full of students!

the Seine by Île de la Cité

Champs Elysées at night! 

l'Arc de Triomphe all lit up at night

Our last day in Paris was another beautiful one, we got to explore Montmartre and it was also the day I got to meet up with two of my friends that live in Paris, one an old French house director from McDaniel! That meant we also got to see the business district where she works, by the Grande Arche de la Défense.

Montmartre: Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur in the day

La Grande Arche de la Défense, the business sector!

We left Paris a little sadly, clutching a baguette and a quiche for the road. It had literally been the perfect weekend, beautiful weather, seeing old friends and discovering both a fascinating, living and beautiful city. Until next time, Paris and France. Je t'aime.