KT Says

Hello everyone!

This weekend I went to Paris with my friend Amber from our group, and I have discovered one of the most amazing cities in the world. I don’t want to knock Florence, because I love it, but Paris has all the magic that everyone says it has. I was not disappointed at all! Our flight was on Thursday night, October 16th, at 8:50 from Pisa airport, so Amber and I had to rush out of Italian at 5 to catch a bus from the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence to Pisa. We made it through and got on the plane, but we hit some turbulence while we were in the air. That was a little scary because it lasted longer than 5 minutes, and I’ve never experienced turbulence like that. Poor Amber was really freaked out because she’s only flown a handful of times in her life, including our flight to Italy! We made it in one piece though and because we really had no idea where our hostel was, we decided to get a cab. It was only 14 euro between the two of us, and we thought that was pretty good considering the location of the airport and all (we flew into Orly Sud in Paris). Our hostel was a little weird–the people were very nice and we didn’t feel unsafe or anything, but it was very old and it smelled old, kind of like mothballs. We had our own room and bathroom though, so we couldn’t complain too much.

This is the street our hostel was on: Rue Magenta de Strasbourg, I think it was called. I swore I took a picture of our room, but apparently not so maybe I’ll steal some from Amber if she took any . Anyway, we crashed the first night because we were exhausted from the flight and getting to the hostel, and we had a huge day planned for Friday.

Friday morning we were up and out of the hostel by 9:30 am, and found a nice little bakery down the street from us . Needless to say, I certainly took advantage of that and bought a pain au chocolat for breakfast. It was the perfect way to start our day off in Paris! We had a plan for Friday: Eiffel Tower, Musee d’Orsay, the Louvre, Champs Elysees, and the Arc de Triomphe, and we were going to stick to it! So, the both of us went to the nearest metro station and asked a nice lady at information for directions to Le Tour Eiffel, and she couldn’t have been happier to help! We made it to the stop she directed us to in no time and we emerged from underground into a cold, crisp, sunny morning. We looked and looked for the tower but we couldn’t find it, but finally we turned a corner around a building and there it was, in all its glory.

I have to say, the Eiffel Tower is the best monument I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing–tall, beautiful, majestic…just absolutely amazing. We were both speechless at the sight of it, literally. Since I’ve been taking French for so long I’ve always dreamed of going to Paris, and this was the culmination of all my dreaming. We absolutely couldn’t take our eyes off of it for a long time. We quickly got in line to go to the top of it, and that was totally worth the 12 euro.

You don’t get views like that from just anywhere! We had a nice lunch at a snack place inside the tower and bought a few cute souvenirs (I was cheesy and touristy and bought Eiffel Tower stud earrings ) before we headed down the Seine to our next destination: the Musee d’Orsay.

Our friends Cara and Bailey went to Paris over Fall Break and they both said the Musee d’Orsay was worth seeing. We went in and saw all kinds of Impressionist paintings, from Degas to Manet to Renoir to Toulouse-Latrec, and I love the Impressionists. I was in my heaven, and that was before we went downstairs to see the Rodin sculptures the museum had. They were all amazing! I never appreciated sculpture before I came to Florence and now I have a love for it. Also, I saw a painting there that may be my new favorite painting ever: it’s called La naissance de Venus by William Adolphe Bouguereau. I fell in love with it and couldn’t believe I had never seen it before! I like it better than Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus because the figures are so much more substantial and alive in this painting. I can’t say I don’t still love Botticelli’s painting though–I’ve lived in Florence for too long to not appreciate the Italian artists .

After the Musee d’Orsay, we headed a few bridges down the Seine to the Louvre. We crossed the Seine and were wandering around trying to find the museum and discussing that we would probably know it when we saw it since it’s a pretty big building, and sure enough the giant building we had been staring at the entire time was the Louvre! It’s an absolutely breathtaking building: I took 5 or 6 different shots of the building to try to convey just how big it actually is. I completely understand now why a tourist couldn’t see the whole museum in a day…or even a week! It’s huge.

It’s such a gorgeous, gorgeous building, much like all of the structures in Paris, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. We decided to go in to see La Jaconde (The Mona Lisa) and the Crown Jewels. After walking for what seemed like 15 minutes, we made our way up many flights of stairs to the "first floor" where she was sitting on her own glass-encased wall in the middle of a huge gallery. There was a rope around her so we couldn’t get closer than a few yards to her, so it was tough to see since the painting isn’t that big to begin with. It was still wonderful to be in Paris, in the Louvre, one of the most popular and well-known museums in the world, looking at probably the most well-known painting in the world. It blew my mind! Oh, and she really is smirking .

The crown jewels were very beautiful too, and the room itself was gorgeous! I’m glad we chose only a few things to see, otherwise it would have been too overwhelming to try to take the whole museum in at once.

After the Louvre, we walked back down the Seine to the Pont Alexander III (I think) to go up past the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais (which are now museums) to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. That was really neat! The whole street is completely lined with trees and shops and restaurants, and it was a great experience to be there and to see it. We stopped at a pizza place (go figure…) and got a nice, cheap, filling dinner before continuing our long walk towards the Arc de Triomphe. It was so nice to just stroll after walking hardcore all day. Oh, and that big circle around the Arc is really crazy and dangerous! There are no traffic lights or any sort of direction, and it’s just pandemonium! There were a few times where Amber and I just looked at each other and had to say "We’re in Paris, we’re staring at the *insert famous monument here*" to keep us focused. We were in awe the entire time!

On Saturday, we woke up early again and set out to see Notre Dame. We walked straight down a street by our hostel for about 20 minutes, and then we saw it looming above the buildings on the Seine. It was such an experience to just stand in the square in front of Notre Dame and just stare at it; it is such a beautiful church from the outside that I couldn’t imagine what the inside looked like.

We went inside and there was choir music playing, and it was just an amazing place to be at the time. I sat down in front of the altar for awhile just to take it all in, despite the large groups of noisy tourists wandering around. I guess that’s the problem with beautiful churches–you’ll always have crowds of people inside them no matter what. After Notre Dame we headed to the metro which took us to the train station where we caught a train to Versailles! I never imagined that during my weekend trip to Paris I’d see the Palace of Versailles, but it’s only about a 20 minute train ride from Paris. We walked down the street from the train station, and there it was!

I was a little disappointed because there was work being done on the palace and there were tarps over parts of it, but it is still a gorgeous building. We bought tickets for the palace and for Marie Antoinette’s estate, which is separate from the palace itself. We walked through all the rooms and I can’t believe that people actually lived there! There are some rooms which are fairly small, and then there are huge expanses of rooms, like the hall of mirrors or the chapel, which have high ceilings and beautiful artwork. Before going to Marie Antoinette’s Estate, we took a walk outside to the gardens and they were BEAUTIFUL!

You couldn’t see the gardens in a day, because there are different parts and mazes and fountains all over. Because it was such a beautiful day, we took our time making our way to the end of the Versailles gardens, where it turned into a public park, and made a right to get to the Estate. It was very small, but very pretty. Marie lucked out with that deal .

After Versailles we ran back to the train station so we could get to Sacre Coeur and Montmarte in time for the sunset. The church and the steps of Montmarte sit on a hill and that’s where people go for the sunset–it’s like a big party. Some people bring food, some bring wine and beer, and there is live music and dancing and everyone just sits, talks, and has fun. Amber and I watched a few guys dance and sing to their own music for awhile before moving up the steps to where these two guys had amps and microphones plugged in so they could play their guitars and sing. They played "No Woman, No Cry," some Greenday, and other American songs, plus some French songs. It was so much fun! When we got too cold to sit there anymore, we went to a cafe down the street and had some hot chocolate and a croque monsieur. That was SO GOOD! Overall, I’d say I had the best weekend that anyone could have. Paris is the most amazing place in the world and I can’t wait to come back with family or anyone who wants to see it–I’d glady show them .

Today, we heard some screams coming from the street after our English class and Danny, the guy who mans the desk at CAPA, told us that high school and university students in Florence are protesting a law that was recently passed that cut funding for the teachers, among other things. They protested and have been occupying the schools for a few weeks now, which basically means they don’t go to school and hang out in the building having parties. Some of the kids really care about the issues, but some are just in it for the party. But anyway, Kelly, me, Abbie, and Cara ran down the street and were greeted by a HUGE crowd of students chanting, holding signs, clapping, and singing. There were groups and groups of them floating down the street…it was really neat to see and to be a part of. There were police there just watching them…I guess they can do stuff like that in Italy and nobody can do anything about it. Amazing! Okay…I don’t have anything planned for this weekend, but Halloween weekend is Dublin! I can’t wait. Oh, and only five weeks until I come home! I can’t believe how fast it’s going….

Ciao!
~Katie

PS-Here is the link to the slideshow of my pictures: Paris Pictures If you can’t read some of the captions, just hold your mouse over them and they will appear in a little box so you can read the whole thing. Enjoy!