When we weren’t eating, we were off exploring some cultural monument, artistic exposition, or just simply enjoying the beauty that is Paris. The first day we visited the Louvre, which is more like a city of art, than a museum, complete with frescos, paintings, sculptures, and of course, the famous “Mona Lisa.” It is something to behold this fortress turned castle turned museum, in all its immensity. After the museum, we went about in a double decker bus, taking in the main sights, disembarking to see the important ones. The first stop on the bus was the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the thing that is most impressive about it is the stained glass. Here you will find some of the most beautiful stained glass windows on the planet, and at the particular time of the afternoon in which we visited, the glass was almost glowing as I soaked it in. The rest of the afternoon was spent riding around a bit more, just sort of looking about, open-mouthed and in awe.
Wednesday night was the only night that we elected to go to a larger restaurant, and it was one of the neatest places I have ever eaten in my life. It was a rather fancy place, called Buddha Bar. It wasn’t very impressive from the outside, but as soon as I entered, I felt like I had entered another world. It had the ambiance of a dimly lit temple, a two level room with a balcony surrounding and overlooking the lower floor. The walls were covered with rich burgundy colored fabric and golden light fixtures that emitted just enough warm lighting to allow us to make our way to our table. The music was something oriental mixed with pulsating techno, the sort of music that lulls you into a kind of trance. It had all the marks of a Buddhist temple turned chic restaurant. The food? Sublime. Some of the most interesting and tasty sushi I have ever eaten.
That night we were all fairly tired, so we retired early, just enjoying each other’s company until we all went to sleep. The next day, we went to Euro Disney! It is a bit strange that we spent some of our time in Paris at Eurodisney, but it was a free trip, so I went along with it! That night we were fairly exhausted, but we found a nice little café and enjoyed some wonderful food in a small cozy environment.
The next day we spent most of our time in the Musée d’Orsay, which I absolutely loved because they have one of the largest and most complete collections of the impressionists (Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Sisley, Picasso(neo-impressionist), etc.). It was absolutely amazing to be able to see these famous works of art face to face. That night was wonderful as well, because, after we rode the giant Farris Wheel, we took a river cruise which pointed out all of the best sights in Paris as well as described each of the bridges in detail. Paris in the night is truly something to behold. There were also a couple of annoying germans who were being rather loud, but I silenced them when I stuck my camera and flash in their faces and snapped a pic. It was pretty grand, as well as funny.
My last full day in Paris was spent ambling around, trying to absorb all that surrounded me. We walked from where we were staying to the Eiffel Tower, where we took a few pictures. We played on a Teeter-totter next to the river Seine. It was an enjoyable and relaxing day of exploration. We finished the night with a wine tasting event, where we tasted 7 different wines, all of French origin. It was interesting, and our “Sommelier” was extremely informative, but also laid back.
I didn’t sleep much that night because I had to wake up at 3 in the morning for my two hour hike across Paris in order to catch a bus to the airport at 5:20 in the morning. But it gave me time to walk up the Champs de Elysées one more time and think about how much I had enjoyed my time in Paris. All in all, a rather wonderful and enchanting trip!
Sarah, Blair, and Jo- my Paris friends!
The Eiffel Tower!
