My Wonderful Hostel
Arc De Triumph
The Lourve Entrance from Inside
Notre Dame
Sainte Chapelle
The Eiffel Tower
A bridge in Paris
Another Bridge in Paris
Peugeot's Concept BobSled
Peugeot's Concept Kart-Up
Me in the Park
From the Second Landing of the Eiffel Tower
Hercules Hercules
View from the Eiffel Tower
Avenue Des Champs - Elysees'
A Statue
Our Gift to Paris
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On Thursday the 22nd of February I was sitting in my room talking to my girlfriend when a fellow resident came in and asked if I would like to go to Paris...in about an hour. I confirmed that the cost would only be about $200, that we had lodging, reluctantly said goodbye to my lady, hung up the phone, and began to pack. In about a hour I was on a 14 hour train ride to Paris. I could have gotten a sleeper for about an extra $60 but being the conservative cheap-ass that I am I opted for the most cost effective approach and took my nap in the regular seats of the train.
I had never been on a train before and found the ride quite pleasing, the seats were a lot more comfortable and more spacious than a plane, the ride was kind of hypnotic as the repetitive click clack of the tracks seemed to put you to sleep. After a rather uneventfully ride I arrived in Paris about 11 am on Friday morning. We were at the train station in what appeared to probably be a relatively bad part of town, this was the kind of street that has garage doors instead of windows for the store fronts and several hair and beauty salons nestled between low-end gift shops and tacky restaurants. Almost immediately after getting of the train I saw a middle aged man leaving a liquor store carrying a paper sack, I thought nothing of him until he began to look over his shoulder quite frequently and suspicious like. A few minutes later he reached under the light jacket he was wearing and removed a box of liquor and promotional glasses. Obviously the higher end of the liquor spectrum than he had purchased and clearly a wonderful first impression of Paris.
After a few wrong turns and several looks at the map we found our youth Hostel Bed & Breakfast, this was to our planned home for the next two days at the luxurious rate of 89 FF per night (including breakfast). After walking several flights of stairs in a hallway that looked to be early 1900's we arrived at a door which we entered to find three doors in front of us and to the right and a short hallway leading to a set of stairs to the left. After speaking with an individual than spoke some other language....not English, German, or French....we were roughly instructed to wait a few minutes for the 'boss'. Given the opportunity to check out our surroundings it appeared that the place was undergoing extensive second rate renovations that proved to be an attempt to add additional restrooms and shower facilities. We were shown to a room with 17 single beds stacked three high, all complete with very tacky bed spreads, pillows and towels. The room contained nothing but a wall mounted TV, a stereo and nothing more (talk about maximization of space) First and second impressions of this place screamed 'shady' and 'Lets look for a cheap hotel' but upon meeting the inkeeper, Micheal, all my worries were set to rest. Micheal looked to be probably Italian, stood about 6'2" and spoke very good English, after a brief tour he provided us with a map and drew us a route that promised to take us by all the main tourist traps of Paris and back home in on long winding circle through historic parts of town full of culture and intrigue.
Shortly after noon I began my first trip around Paris using the map and directions provided by Michael. The first point of interest that I came upon was 'Place De La Madeleine and then 'Place De La Concorde.' The latter is the place where King Louis XVI was guillotined. In the center of the 'Place' is the 'Egyptian Obelisk' that was a gift from the Temple of Luxor in 1836. I walked down the 'Avenue Des Champs - Elysees' at to the 'Arc De Triumph' (Ordered by Napoleon as a memorial to the Grand Army in 1806.) From here you can see the Eiffel Tower looming in the distance. I had this kind of 'Kings Island' feel to me now, like the Tower wasn't really THE TOWER and I was just in some made up imaginary land of bliss. On the way up the 'Avenue Des Champs - Elysees' I went into the dealership/showrooms for several exotic vehicles, including Masearti, Lamborgui, Audi, and Peugeot. 'Palais DE Challiot' was next on the list and was built by Paris in1937 for an exhibit, it now houses museums and galleries (all of which were closed either for the season or renovations). There is a short walkway between the two pavilions and then your right across the street from the 'Eiffel Tower'. Now I still had this 'Kings Island' feel to me because there are all these people with blankets layed out on the concrete and they're selling crap.. I mean real crap, like little miniature Eiffel Towers, stickers, scarves, thin T-shirts, and those old school bus driver hats that people think everyone in Paris wears when in reality the only ones you see are on the heads of tourists that are trying for that local-look.
The 'Eiffel Tower' was built in 1889 for the World's Fair and is 320 meters high, 7000 tons. You have two choices of what to do, pay 65FF to ride a series of two elevators to the top, or pay total of 40FF to walk up the first 115 meters through a maze of revolving stairs to the second level and then ride an elevator to the very top. Of course I went for the walk-up, not because I'm all about getting a good 'ol fashioned work-out while I'm in Paris and I see this as a great opportunity, but rather because I'm cheap. On the way up the stairs there are lots of little newspaper articles reproductions that are translated into English and give you a little insight into the history of the tower and some things that went on there....actually pretty interesting (plus it gives you an excuse to stop and read....no really, I'm not resting I'm reading.....) At the second level of the tower there is of course to viewing windows with the blown up maps below telling what your looking at, also there are little flags above the windows that tell you how far you are from certain towns or countries. (Like 3860km to New York) This is where it began to sink in that I was indeed in Paris, you have a view of the entire countryside and the city seems to sprawl out endlessly. Up the elevator to the top floor, this ride is pretty neat, the elevator is all glass and your moving relatively fast. Once you get to the top its a little adventurous as well because for a brief moment your in complete darkness (I think the light in the elevator shaft was just broken but Hey it was still neat). Once on the top of the 'Eiffel Tower' your begin to realize just how high up you are, people below look like little ants and you can see for what seems like countries and countries (in Europe so you probably could). Its really windy on all but one side and strangely enough the structure doesn't seem to be moving at all, I guess since the whole 'Kings Island' thing I was halfway expecting the tower to sway a little. Not that I'm anything but relieved that it wasn't but I just figured it would. Back down the Tower the same way I came up I begin to regret reading all the little signs previously, really could have used one of those...reading breaks.
Next stop is a little stroll down the riverside and past the 'Dome De Invalides' (where Napoleon is buried), the 'Louvre Museum', 'Sanite Chapelle', 'Notre Damn', 'Tour St Jacques' and the 'Porte St Martin'. I plan to revisit several of these in-depth in the days to follow. Back at the Hostel, the whole European thing setting in as I realize that its past 6pm and there is nothing to do, the Hostel is quiet and I'm ready to do something....I decide that although the film will be in French and I probably won't understand a damn thing that I will go see 'Vertical Limit' at the REX Theater across the street. I figure that since the movie is primarily an action one that if its any good I will be able to follow along relatively easily despite the language difference.
The REX Theater:
So I buy my tickets and wait in the lobby for the doors to open so that we can all crowd into the theater to watch the film...wait...wait...wait...and then finally these little red ropes are pulled back and we are allowed to go up these escalators...three to be exact (funny thing is the first one is wide enough for two people to stand side by side, the second one is only half as big so we have this huge influx of people that the second escalator can't handle and there's this huge pile up as more and more people are shoved into one another as they exit the first escalator and get sandwiched between the people boarding the second and getting thrown off the first) Finally reach our seats and I realize that the theater looks more like a concert hall or opera house then anything else, we are all on the upper level and surrounded by all this really nice fake outdoor surroundings, (very similar to the State Theater in Lexington if your familiar) balcony's and trees and such, fake stars glowing in the ceiling, really nice. Finally the previews begin on a screen down low above the stage, 30 minutes later and after several commercials the curtain is lowered again and we wait for a few more minutes until the music stops and the lights dim. A huge screen, hanging from the ceiling and hidden by what I thought was only a decorative curtain, lowers. This screen is all of 300 feet wide and 200 feet tall. The largest I've ever seen and explains immediately why no one is seated in the lower section of the theater. Everything was so big on the screen and it was as if you could just reach out and touch it.
Yeah so blah blah blah the movie was pretty good, all in French but I followed pretty well I think, let's see.....some dumb people want to climb Mount Everest.....hummm....guess what a few of them die and the rest get stranded, ...so....a rescue team is assembled and a few of them die and some of the survivors are rescued. Hummm, who would have figured??
The Grand Louvre:
I woke up early in the morning to beat the lines at the Grand Louvre and by 10 in the morning I was already inside. I went to this museum with the intentions of staying for a few hours and then going to two other points of interest that same day, little did I know the intensity of the museum. I arrived when the museum opened and there was still about 100 people in front of me, you have to go through a metal detector and everything, once inside you bought a ticket for the museum (40FF) and checked you coat for free. Next I paid about 20FF for a little headphone set that allowed you to punch in numbers of selected works of art and here a description of the artist and more importantly of the piece of work, what is symbolized, represented, meant, etc. Well worth the money. The first room that I entered was of the Greek sculptures, the pictures soon to come will show what I found interesting and possibly a little story under each. I spent nearly two hours in the sculptures alone and figured that if I wanted to see anything else that day besides the Grand Louvre I would need to pick a few rooms that I was really interested in and leave the others until my next visit. I decided to skip over the Egyptian artifacts and some of the jewelry and furniture and decided to go see Napoleons III Apartments, the Mona Lisa, and a few more sculptures. The apartments were awesome, nothing can really explain the lavish decor of these rooms, the ceilings were intricately decorated, the furniture and walls all covered in extravagant patterns, the carpet, moldings, everything was really old, impressive, and expensive. Next was the Mona Lisa, there was a great crowd in front of the sealed cabinet, upon close inspection you could see that the wall rotated when the museum was closed and you could see a few of the anti-theft devices in place, although I'm sure not all of them. It was weird looking at the Mona Lisa and knowing that you were in the presence of a priceless piece of work, possibly the most famous piece of artwork ever done. I mean everyone knows the Mona Lisa from upstate N.Y. to the slums of Boise (if they have any)...
Musee D'Orsay:
After leaving the Grand Louvre I walked through the gardens and headed towards my next museum of choice. This converted railway station housed some of the most famous painting of Van Gogh, several of his self portraits, Whistlers mother, a few Greek statues and several other fascinating paintings and sculptures. The museum was quite small and took only about two hours to completely view and left me oddly dangling with too little time to see the 'Dome De Invalides' and a lot of time to kill.
Statue of Liberty:
I decided to wander off the beaten path for a while in the general direction of the Statue of Liberty that America had given Paris. I passed several little junk shops, paid about $7 for a roll of film and fought to urge to sit and sip coffee somewhere. (Not too had, I mean I'm in Paris and all but I still don't like coffee.) When I finally reached the Statue of Liberty I was more than a little disappointed. They placed the Statue in the center of this walkway between the two rivers running through Paris. The only vantage points appear to be on the water in a boat or right up next to the Statue looking straight up at it and located only about 15 foot from the base. It's as if Paris really didn't want the damn thing and just threw it to the side.
To cap off the night I went back to the Eiffel Tower to view it at night, there are a few different light displays and its well worth the second trip around to see the changes the Tower undergoes while under lights. It was raining pretty steadily and I didn't feel like being any closer up in the sky to be pelted by rain. Not to mention that I had been out all day in the weather and was a little tired of being wet. I stopped by and internet cafe to catch up on some emails and experienced yet another strangely configured keyboard before heading back to the Hostel for my last night in Paris.
Sainte Chappelle:
Well after a 'bout with my travelling partner about whether or not this was the church that Michangelo painted to ceiling of (of course its not...but some people you just can't argue with...that's 'The Sistine Chapel' Not 'The Sainte Chappelle' adn in Rome and not Paris) We paid the fee to enter the church an viewed some of the most elaborate stained glass windows ever created. Dating back as far as the 13th century and wonderfully preserved the windows vividly depict every book of the bible. Very interesting place and well worth the wait in line even if there isn't any paintings on the ceiling ;)
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