May 27: Paris

Heya!

I’m posting this about a week late due to lack of steady Internet access.

Quick note about why I’m posting about this day in particular - it is my first and only day completely alone on the trip (no friends to travel with, no access to the Internet).

After the spending the last three weeks staying in Osnabruck and visiting Amsterdam with the company of new and wonderful friends, I am finally alone for a day and challenged with the task of not getting too terribly lost or dying (I’m sure at least one of you has seen me almost get hit by a car during our time together). The day before, I arrived in Paris midday and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking around, so on the 27th, I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go and the general direction of it. Being my first full day in Paris, to me, the most logical place to go was the Louvre. My hostel was a short walk from the Gare de Lyon train station, so about a 45 minute walk north along the Seine brought me to the inner courtyard of the Louvre. Having arrived there shortly before 10am, I made my way into the museum itself in no time. I paid 20 euro to get in: 11 euro for the museum, an extra 4 euro to see a temporary exhibit, and 5 euro for an audio guide. In hindsight, I could’ve just spent the 11 euro and been as content - I was too overwhelmed by everything in the museum to even think about what the temporary exhibit was (I think it was something to do with Napoleon’s crown jewels, so either way I never did find them) and the audio guide I used for maybe 10 minutes, it was on a Nintendo DS and too much of distraction in navigating it alongside navigating the museum (that said, on my next visit to Paris, I do plan on using it). Anyways, as soon as I got past the ticket counter, I made my way to Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory). At 10am, there was already a huge crowd gathered around the statue, which sits on a pedestal at the top of one of the staircases. I stood there in awe for quite sometime, until the crowd bothered me enough to remind me that there were still countless works of art to be seen. I spent the next four hours lost in the museum, just walking slowly to admire every piece, while trying to make my way through all of the halls. I worked my way from the upper two levels down, but at the end of the four hours, I was still maybe half way done walking through the second floor. At this point, I decided to give my legs and mind a much needed break for lunch, so I could return and functionally admire all of the beauty. After a short lunch, I stayed at the museum until 6pm, at which time it closed, and I had only just started to walk the third (ground floor from the way I was doing it), leaving almost half of the museum unseen. Feeling somewhat disappointed that so much was left untouched, I decided to make my way to the Eiffel Tower. There was a long line to take the lift to the very top, so instead I climbed the stairs to the second platform and took the lift to the top, since the stairs to it were temporarily closed - probably in my best interest too. The view from the top was amazing, crowded, but amazing. You could see for miles around and point out landmarks. It was almost strange to be able to see so much of the horizon. At sunset, I made my way to Trocadero, across the Eiffel Tower, and watched the sun go down on the tower as well as some groups of street performers. At 10pm, the Tower was lit up in a light display that lasted several minutes, making it glitter for a time.

In the end, it was an awesome day and a rare chance to completely disengage from everything back in the States.

Anya