I would say that Mallory and Amy felt the same way when we finally reached the Eiffel Tower on Friday night. As we emerged from the metro station, we looked up, and there the Eiffel Tower was, in all of its glory. It's great during the day, but at night... it makes the "city of lights" what it is. It was illuminated and and sparkling. Amy started weeping... Wanna see?
Weeping and laughing at the sight of the Eiffel Tower.
The Louvre is always a complicated situation. Do you study the art you are looking at and discuss it with those around you and only see 7% of the museum, or do you walk through quickly, try not to get lost, and still only see 20%? Well, we went for the latter. The Mona Lisa was a disappointment to some, as you can see:
It was agreed that it was a wonderful experience and everyone walked away with a new kind of appreciation for the art that they saw. Notre Dame was the next stop. This was my third time at the church and it never ceases to disappoint me.
I'm sure some of you have disappointed with the fact that I haven't really been living up to the name of my blog... "where have I not gotten lost." Well, can I just say that this post should make up for all of the boring stories of me getting everything right? The Paris trip in general went downhill from about 30 minutes after we stepped into Notre Dame.
Bonnie and Jennifer (the two interns that I'm not roommates with) ended up climbing to the top of Notre Dame without telling us, so, long story short, we ended up waiting and searching for them for almost an hour. I wish I could say that since we were in Paris that this didn't effect our mood, but I would be lying. Something about waiting for people in the cold and rain kills the mood for Mallory and I... Eventually we found each other and headed to the Eiffel Tower... JK. I led us in the opposite direction. So after 10 minutes in the opposite direction, we settled in for an unnecessarily long, half hour ride to the Eiffel Tower. So, when I say that Amy wept at the Eiffel Tower, yes she thought it was beautiful, but she was also using the Eiffel Tower as a reason to cry over the past few hours... understandably.
We crossed the bridge for the best view of the Eiffel Tower, which I would say that everyone definitely appreciated.
After some cappuccino to help us bear the cold, Mallory and I led us as we headed (in the right direction this time!) back to the apartment without a hiccup - and without a map, I might add. Feeling confident again, I directed Kelsey (who was staying about 20 min away by metro) on how to get to us.
We agreed to meet at the metro station near our apartment, and I was sure that there were only two exits from the metro station. Turns out I was wrong. This metro station had a secret passageway that led to an underground mall.
While Kelsey was wandering lost in the underground mall, a few streets (and many stairs) away - Amy was standing watch at one exit and I at the other. Of course, the exit that I was standing at was a sketchy street corner. Across the street from me, four homeless men sat in a circle passing around a bottle of whiskey... after a very uneasy 30 minutes of waiting alone (uneasy because I had left my mace at home!) I went to get Amy who had just contacted Kelsey.
Long story short, through the aid of wifi on both ends, about another 30 minutes later, we were able to find Kelsey who had gotten barricaded into the underground mall by the overnight construction workers, who graciously let her out. By this point it was 10pm, but we were determined to make the most of the night, so we lounged in the apartment with a couple bottles of French wine and dutifully made a solid plan for the next day... or so we thought.
But I should really go back to the beginning. Thursday night, we got to our Air Bnb apartment, that Mallory had booked for us, without a hiccup. The only issue that we had was that it took us about 20 minutes to figure out how the futon folded out, but besides that, the night went smoothly. Mallory had chosen a very nice neighborhood that was only a ten minute walk from the Louvre, so that was our first stop on Friday, after a delicious breakfast of omelets and crisaints.
The Louvre is always a complicated situation. Do you study the art you are looking at and discuss it with those around you and only see 7% of the museum, or do you walk through quickly, try not to get lost, and still only see 20%? Well, we went for the latter. The Mona Lisa was a disappointment to some, as you can see:
It was agreed that it was a wonderful experience and everyone walked away with a new kind of appreciation for the art that they saw. Notre Dame was the next stop. This was my third time at the church and it never ceases to disappoint me.
I'm sure some of you have disappointed with the fact that I haven't really been living up to the name of my blog... "where have I not gotten lost." Well, can I just say that this post should make up for all of the boring stories of me getting everything right? The Paris trip in general went downhill from about 30 minutes after we stepped into Notre Dame.
Bonnie and Jennifer (the two interns that I'm not roommates with) ended up climbing to the top of Notre Dame without telling us, so, long story short, we ended up waiting and searching for them for almost an hour. I wish I could say that since we were in Paris that this didn't effect our mood, but I would be lying. Something about waiting for people in the cold and rain kills the mood for Mallory and I... Eventually we found each other and headed to the Eiffel Tower... JK. I led us in the opposite direction. So after 10 minutes in the opposite direction, we settled in for an unnecessarily long, half hour ride to the Eiffel Tower. So, when I say that Amy wept at the Eiffel Tower, yes she thought it was beautiful, but she was also using the Eiffel Tower as a reason to cry over the past few hours... understandably.
We crossed the bridge for the best view of the Eiffel Tower, which I would say that everyone definitely appreciated.
After some cappuccino to help us bear the cold, Mallory and I led us as we headed (in the right direction this time!) back to the apartment without a hiccup - and without a map, I might add. Feeling confident again, I directed Kelsey (who was staying about 20 min away by metro) on how to get to us.
We agreed to meet at the metro station near our apartment, and I was sure that there were only two exits from the metro station. Turns out I was wrong. This metro station had a secret passageway that led to an underground mall.
While Kelsey was wandering lost in the underground mall, a few streets (and many stairs) away - Amy was standing watch at one exit and I at the other. Of course, the exit that I was standing at was a sketchy street corner. Across the street from me, four homeless men sat in a circle passing around a bottle of whiskey... after a very uneasy 30 minutes of waiting alone (uneasy because I had left my mace at home!) I went to get Amy who had just contacted Kelsey.
Long story short, through the aid of wifi on both ends, about another 30 minutes later, we were able to find Kelsey who had gotten barricaded into the underground mall by the overnight construction workers, who graciously let her out. By this point it was 10pm, but we were determined to make the most of the night, so we lounged in the apartment with a couple bottles of French wine and dutifully made a solid plan for the next day... or so we thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment