Weekend in Paris

Hi family and friends!  Sorry I've been lagging a bit on this blog... things have been fairly busy here in Spain but now I am on spring break!  I will be in Sevilla for the first 5 days and then I am going to Italy!  Anyway, a few weekends ago I met my friend Trisha from high school in Paris.  When I arrived, she surprised me with the most delicious macaroons!  I had one of every flavor; raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, and lemon.  After settling in we took a walk over to the Eiffel Tower.  Since it was nighttime it was all lit up and sparkling in the moonlight.  It was such a breathtaking sight and all I kept thinking was “Wow, I’m in Paris” and “I can’t believe I’m standing in front of the Eiffel Tower right now.”  I’ve wanted to visit the city for so long and to I was so elated to be there, standing in front of the famous monument I’d formerly only admired in pictures.  We also walked past the Arc de Triumph and then we went to bed. 

            On Saturday we set out to the Louvre and the D’Orsay.  The Louvre has the most magnificent architecture and such a wealth of beautiful art to see.  It is absolutely enormous to the point that it is overwhelming, so we really had to pick and choose what we saw.  We saw a lot of sculpture and some brilliant paintings, and of course Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.  I had heard that it is really small and disappointing, but I disagree with that entirely.  It’s not large but it is certainly not small.  Of course, it was jam-packed but the advantage of being small is that I could push right through and stand in the front.  It was an awesome experience to have such a famous painting right in front of my eyes.  After the Louvre we went to the Musee d’Orsay, which housed in an old train station and contains the finest collection of impressionist art in the entire world.  I preferred the structure of the Louvre to that of the d’Orsay but I liked the paintings within the d’Orsay more.  I love the Impressionist movement because I’m an outdoorsy girl and impressionist artwork depicts nature and people enjoying themselves in the outdoors.  I’ve seen so much beautiful artwork in Europe and I certainly appreciate it, but so many paintings I’ve seen reflect religious settings.  I enjoy seeing paintings like that because they show what was important during the periods in which they were painted, but I don't personally relate to them.  So the works of Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Claudel, Rodin, Sisley, Pissarro, van Gogh, and Courbet were more my cup of tea.  I was so excited to see the works of my favorite artists Monet, van Gogh, and Renior. 

In most museums you are allowed to take photos without flash except in certain exhibits.  There was one exhibit where it said to not take photos but everybody was anyway, mostly on their iphones.  I decided to be a little bit of a rebel and take some on my camera.  A man who works at the museum came up to me and started yelling at me in French and I had no idea what he was saying but assumed he was saying I can’t take photos so I put my camera away.  Then he continued to yell at me and flail his arms!  It was stressful because I couldn’t understand what he was saying.  Finally, Trisha said maybe he was saying that I had to delete the pictures.  I took out my camera and deleted a couple of the pictures that I took from that room and then he came behind me and stood over my shoulder and kept yelling something which I assume meant “delete again” or “more” or something along those lines.  It was incredibly rude and he was making a huge scene.  I deleted about 15 pictures until there was a blurry one and I told him that it was the last one, pulled away and put my camera in its case.  It really put a bad taste in my mouth but I refused to let it ruin my d’Orsay experience.  I know that he was treating me like that because I am American, because he didn’t make anyone else delete their photos and there’s no way that he didn’t see anyone else taking taking them.     

After the museums we stopped for a snack and I had the most delicious ice-cream cone of my life.  It had nutella in it, strawberries, a scoop of raspberry sorbet, and whipped cream on top.  After our yummy snack we went over to Notre Dame.  If you climb to the top you can see a gorgeous view of the city but it was pouring so we didn’t do that.  Instead, we walked in and saw a service which was really cool.  Of course I couldn’t understand anything they were saying but it was a really moving experience. 

The following day we went to Versailles, which I can barely begin to describe, as its ornate beauty is unparalled to any site I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Versailles is surrounded by golden gates which set the tone of luxury from the very beginning.  Every room is so unique and rich in color and architecture.  We also went to the apartments which were AMAZING.  The fact that people actually lived in such a beautiful, grandiose place is mind-boggling.  The one downside there was that there was another person who was rude to us.  A woman at the apartments kept yelling at Trisha and I in French and pointing to her watch to tell us that we didn’t have a lot of time left but we knew that and I was getting frustrated that people were treating us so unkindly.  After we saw the apartments we walked through the gardens, which I’m sure are beautiful when it’s not pouring out.

That night we went and got a delicious dinner and went to bed early so that we could wake up and climb up the Eiffel Tower.  On our way there I was absolutely freezing so I stopped to buy a beret and a scarf and then got a free mini Eiffel tower!  Like I said, we walked up and it was quite a workout!  We climbed all the way up to the second floor and saw amazing views of the city.  Right after that, Trisha had to catch her flight so I did a little exploring on my own.  I went across the city to the Saint Chapel, a tiny chapel with two floors.  Literally everything in there is stained glass, and it is so charming and beautiful.  I got lost on my way back to the metro so I asked a woman for directions and she walked me there.  She spoke English and was so kind, telling me how much she wants to visit New York one day.  It was refreshing to be treated kindly by a Parisian after having been talked to so nastily in the days prior.  She got me to the subway and I finally found home, packed up my stuff, and headed to the airport.

I had a wonderful weekend in Paris and really loved the city, but it made me happy that I was studying in Spain.  I hated not being able to speak the language and felt like a jerk every time I would speak to someone in English.  Paris is beautiful, but it doesn’t have the laid-back and friendly nature that Seville does.  Everything is so absurdly expensive as well, like 15 euros for a salad or a bowl of pasta.  I’m so glad I visited though, and it is a place I’d love to go back to at some point in my life.

Thanks for reading.

Au Reviour! (One of the few words I know in French)

Elyssa