Un Week-end à Paris et Versailles

The first weekend of February, a few people and I took a trip to France, specifically to Paris and a day trip to Versailles. It was definitely a very enjoyable trip as I was able to see and experience all the things I've only read about in my seven years of French language courses. I walked down l'Avenue des Champs-Élysées, walk under L'Arc de Triomphe, see la Tour Eiffel from every angle (even see it sparkle in the night), and of course practice my French!

Our flight from Rome to Paris was at seven in the morning, which meant that we had to be checked in at the airport between five and six. This meant that we had to be in a taxi going towards the airport by four in the morning. Of course, with all the excitement I was feeling the preceding night I found myself unable to get any sleep. As a result, I just stayed awake until our flight and took intermittent cat naps during the flight and our bus ride to the city center of Paris.

When we got to the city at around ten in the morning, it was cold and windy, but sunny. It reminded me of Chicago's winter weather. Of course, we didn't really know how to get around, so we spent some time trying to familiar ourselves with our surroundings. Perhaps it was due to oversight, excitement, or the fear of taking foreign public transportation, but we decided to walk to l'Arc de Triomphe, where we thought we'd be able to get a better handle of our environment. Yes, it was a tad bit cold, but since we were in Paris it didn't bother us that much. Walking on the tree-lined, cobblestone streets of l'Avenue des Champs-Élysées, it felt like a long-awaited awakening. It felt like I was living a dream.

We could see l'Arc de Triomphe from the distance and so we just walked towards its general direction. What's a better way of getting an authentic, intimate experience of Paris other than possibly getting lost in its streets? On our way to our first landmark destination we stopped at our first patisserie. Finally, I was able to utilize my French speaking skills. It was so exciting to speak in French to a French person, where we were able to understand one another. For my first snack in Paris I got a croque monsieur, which is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. I don't know what it was, maybe it was the feeling of success or excitement that I was in a country I had always wanted to visit, but that croque monsieur was damn good.

La Musée d'Orsay

After seeing l'Arc de Triomphe, we made our way to la Tour Eiffel. Again, all we had to do was look towards the distance and we could see the tower reach towards the sky,  so we just towards its general direction. After getting to la Tour Eiffel, my ability to withstand the cold seemed to diminish. Everyone seemed to feel the same way, so we made our way to the metro stop and figured out how to use public transportation to get to our hotel.

When we got to our hotel called Hotel Voltaire Republique, we took an hour or so to warm ourselves up before heading back out. Afterwards, we made our way to la Musée d'Orsay and le Louvre. I must say, I enjoyed la Musée d'Orsay far more than le Louvre. The way that d'Orsay was put together made more sense in terms of the experience of walking through each gallery. It also had a more private feeling to it, whereas le Louvre seemed cold, distant, and far more touristy. At d'Orsay, I was actually able to walk through the many different galleries and feel a certain connection with the paintings. I didn't have people rubbing against me or anything of the sort, I actually had a chance to intimately enjoy each and every artwork I saw.

Mona Lisa at Le Louvre

In retrospect, we did so much in such a short time. We saw l'Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel, saw two major museums, and even had some time to walk around while singing Someone Like You by Adele (considering that the video for the song was filmed in Paris, we thought it to be appropriate to pay homage to her). After a visit to both major museums, we made our way back to the neighbor where our hotel was located. We decided that we should have a nice dinner around the area and head back to the hotel afterward, considering that we had so many more things to do the following day. Of course, I helped my trip mates with pronunciations of the different food on the menu and taught them phrases they could use at restaurants. It was pleasure helping them out considering that back in Rome, I struggle with conversational Italian. I didn't feel as incompetent compared to being in Rome.

The next morning, we got up around 10:00 and took the train to Versailles. It was just three and a half euros to get to Versailles from Paris via train. Also, it wasn't as cold as the previous day (or perhaps we just got used to the cold weather), so that made the journey even more pleasant. It wasn't a long train right either, it only took around 30 minutes.

Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

When we first spotted Versailles from a distance, it was quite extraordinary. There it was, a palace that displayed France's wealth and power. It was definitely far more magnificent than I could have ever expected. My favorite area was definitely the Hall of Mirrors, which was this grand hallway with countless chandeliers with every wall fixed with either mirrors or large windows. It was definitely a beautiful place. I even tried to imagine how it would have looked when its noble inhabitants walked around such halls with their ostentatious attire. How marvelous it would have definitely looked! We wanted to also see le Grand Trianon, le Petit Trianon, and the Palace Gardens. Unfortunately, for some reason (perhaps due to the cold weather), the subsidiary structures of the palace were closed the day we visited. Nonetheless, what we did see of the Palace of Versailles was amazing.

Right around 15:00, we decided to head back to Paris as we had so much more we wanted to see on our last full day in France. Our next destination after Versailles was la Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. Again, this was a beautiful sight to see; it was an experience that no photograph can imitate. Along with the beautiful external architecture, the stained glass windows inside were awesome. Since we came during the afternoon, the windows were beautiful lit from the outside, not too dim and not too bright. As we walked around inside, music en francais echoed throughout the cathedral. It was a very moving experience that gave me a sense of realization towards the convictions and faith of man.

So glad that bird didn't poop on me.

Right after visiting Notre Dame, we made our way to the Metro. We wanted to visit la Cimitière du Père-Lachaise right before it closed at dusk. We knew that visiting Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf's last resting place was something we had to do before leaving Paris. It was a beautiful cemetery with hills and tree-lined, cobblestone streets. The shadows and burnt orange hue of the setting sun made the experience even more romantic and amazing. It was why I had imagined a walk through Paris would be, intimate, quiet, and a humble beauty that follows every ending. A gentle embrace of memento mori.

At dusk, we had dinner at a local diner close to the cemetery. It was nice to just sit with my travel mates, warm up with food and coffee, and discuss our adventures from the past two days. Once we had finished dinner, we dropped by a grocery store near our hotel and bought two bottles of wine. Our plan was to drink a few glasses back at our hotel room and warm up a bit before watching the light show at the Eiffel Tower. The conversations continued and it was nice to just sit and amuse ourselves with conversation. It was a pleasant contrast to our running around all over Versailles and Paris.

We headed out to the Eiffel Tower around 20:00. We could see the tower from our train window and it was so beautiful and awesome. When we reach the base of the Eiffel Tower, it started to sparkle and shimmer with its white and yellow lights. We went to the very center and did a terrible, but amusing waltz with one another. It was fun to just fool around and laugh the night away. After the Eiffel Tower, we decided to visit a gay bar in Paris's own little gayborhood near Notre Dame. The first bar we went to said that only gay guys could enter, which meant three of the girls in our group wouldn't be able to go in. We decided against that gay bar and went to the one across the street.

The gay bar we were all able to get into was interesting. It had dance music playing with a live DJ, but no one was dancing. People were merely sitting all around the wall, staring at one another, and cradling their drinks. Since it was our last night in France, we decided to start dancing. People seemed amused and some others started to follow suit. However, this man with the hugest uni brow I've ever seen (think Borat, but not as funny since it was real) rudely asked us where our drinks were. We pointed to the empty glasses on the counter right behind us (we all got two drinks each). He told us, "This is a bar. You must buy more drinks or get out." It totally turned us off and we left soon after since we didn't want to buy anymore drinks at 8.50€ each. It was definitely an interesting since everyone else in the bar had only one drink which they cradled throughout the night, yet we had actually bought more than one drink each and we were being kicked out. It wasn't the greatest encounter we could have imagined with a Frenchman on our last night in Paris, but considering what we had experienced and seen that whole weekend, we didn't allow it to negatively affect us.

As soon as we got back to our hotel, we realized how tired we really were from all our walking and sightseeing the previous two days. We went straight to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel since we had to be on the train back to the airport by 6:00. Overall, I loved my time in Paris. I definitely would love to come back on my own right before I go back to the U.S. in April and experience the city at a slower pace. Considering that I was with a group of people that had differing interests and tastes, I had to make compromises with what we were able to see. I would have loved to have seen Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge in Montmartre.Dommage. Oh well, perhaps on my next possible visit before I return to the U.S. this April.

Since I arrived in Europe a little over a month ago, it was only in Paris where I realized and could say to myself, "Wow. I am a long way away from home." Je l'aime.