Soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuvres!

Just returned from a group trip to Paris, the City of Lights. Besides minor hotel problems (murky cesspool of yellow water and proliferating bacteria in the bathroom of our first room), I found Paris to be absolutely delightful. The night we arrived was quite clear, which is a rare occasion for this city, as the subsequent days of gray nebulosity proved. The clouds still were not enough to take the beauty away from the city. Never have I seen anything so ornate. In Paris, each bridge, each lamp post, comes down to the finest detail. 

The Eiffel Tower was a convenient 10-minute stroll from our hotel, so we took advantage of the clear first night to see it up close. It stands at the end of an expansive park, reaching toward the sky. Its blue ilumination made it a remarkable sight. On the front side is a ring of glowing stars, representing the European Union's current presence in paris. Additionally, for five minutes on the hour, the tower twinkles in brilliant crystal lights (warning to the epileptic). 

Eiffel by day: me, Marisa, Joanna

Eiffel by night

The following morning involved a three-hour bus ride slash tour through the city. It was about as exciting as a bus ride can be, but we did get to stop at the Musee d'Homme for an uniterrupted view of the Eiffel! A visit to Notre Dame and Saint-Chappelle followed. We toured the Conciergerie, the old prison where the anti-Revolutionary folk were kept before losing their heads (pun intended). Unfortunately I had to take a break from everything since I wasn't feeling well. So while I was lying incapacitated in the hotel for 3 hours, Joanna, Marisa, and Jessie went to see the catacombs. 

Saint-Chappelle

The next day began with an utmost inefficient visit to the Louvre. After waiting around for about an hour and a half, we entered the museum and probably saw about 2% of it on our tour. But hey, I saw the Mona Lisa. If nothing else, the arquitecture was immensely impressive. We hopped on down to the metro to peruse Les Puces de St-Ouen, Paris most famous flea market. The little white tents went on forever, chock full of antiques and little knick knacks. We wandered our way over to a little ma-n-pa cafe for lunch, where the four of us ate Croque Monsieur (note: the decision to eat ham was purely for cultural enrichment haha). We took the Metro to Montmartre, the gigantic and seemingly only hill in Paris. A short hike brought us to the most spectacular view of the city and the impressive Basilique de Sacre-Coeur. Jessie and I spent the remainder of the evening wandering around Marais, a neighborhood with a plethora of cafes and very cool vintage stores. We ate dinner at a small sandwich shop and chatted briefly with the two workers. One asked if we were American, and when we said yes, he mumbled something that apparently was "Obama," when the other worker corrected his pronunciation. He gave us a big grin and thumbs up and said "Obama, good!" and the other (smilingly as well) did a thumbs down as said, "Bush, bad." We encountered nothing but friendliness in Paris, and I think the recent election (or maybe a little luck) had a lot to do with that. So thank you, Barack!

Sunday we spent the day at Louis XIV palace in Versailles. The palace was majestic. One hallway included room after room of brilliant jewel-toned colors of gold, red, green, purple. My only grievance is that the palace is currently home to a Jeff Koons exhibit, with awkwardly-placed contemporary art pieces (i.e. a giant, metallic-magenta balloon dog). We wandered around the expansive gardens, but I think the cool weather and general brown-ish tone of the landscape made us appreciate it less. I would love to see it in the spring time when everything is full-bloom. 

Well, that ends my trip to Paris. I think it's time for you to put a smile on: