I flew out Thursday night to meet the girls. I arrived at Orly about an hour and a half before they did. After spending some time in the airport I heard from Rachel that their flight was delayed. No big deal. A few minutes later more news came: they were being rerouted to Charles de Goille, the other airport in Paris. Way to make things interesting. I went to the information desk to explore my options. Low and behold I had 2 choices: take a taxi to the hotel for $80 euros or take a bus to the other airport for $16 euros. I chose the bus. The driver told me the arrival terminal for Easy Jet and dropped me off there. When I didn't see their flight on the screen I went to information again. No need to worry, they arrive on the other side of the airport. After about a 25 minute walk across the airport (it's in a circle but you can't walk straight around- instead I had to go upstairs, downstairs, across, etc) I arrived at their arrival gate. I sat down to wait for their flight, which had been further delayed, when along comes a homeless man grunting in French. He walked up to the garbage can, turned the bag inside out, watched the trash fall on the floor, and laughing began kicking it across the room. When he was satisfied he found the other garbage can in the room. This time he dramatically picked pieces out of the trash throwing them over his back behind him onto the floor, the whole time talking under his breath and laughing in French. It was quite interesting. Soon after my adventure the girls arrived and we headed to our hotel. We had found the hotel online and were staying near the Arc de Triomphe...supposedly. It turned out our hotel was quite interesting to say the least. It was more on the outskirts of the city and I would by no means call it a 3 star hotel as the website did... The room was clean enough to spend the night and we decided to change hotels in the morning. We sat up talking and laughing for hours before finally falling asleep.
Friday morning we woke up and went to the Best Western at the Champs Elysees right by the Arc de Triomphe. We emerged from the subway into a gorgeous neighborhood in the heart of the downtown area. What a difference! We dropped our bags at the hotel and left to go to the Eiffel Tower where we planned to go on a bike tour of the city. After some fancy dance moves to get on and off the bike, Rachel got her bearings and we were ready to go. The tour took us around the whole city! Our tour guide, Graham, was 22 and had just graduated from Texas. In an effort to avoid a 9-5 suit and tie job (he was a finance major) he came abroad for one last horrah before heading off to law school. We rode around the city stopping at key land marks to learn about their history and significance. The tour was a great way to see the majority of the city in an efficient way while still learning about what we were seeing. The weather worked in our favor and we enjoyed riding around in the 60 degree and sunny weather! The tour ended around 3 near the Eiffel Tower. At this point we decided to go up the tower. I never could have imagined all that was about to unfold in front of my eyes. We stepped off the elevator and onto the platform. All 3 of our jaws dropped. The city is magnificent. It has a strange ambiance with a perfect balance of classic architecture paired with a new and modern approach. The city buildings are mostly white and the city is remarkably clean. Greenery surrounds the buildings and grassy areas and parks are common. The flowers had bloomed adding color and life to the already jaw dropping view. We left the Eiffel Tower and began on our way back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner. Graham recommended a local Bistro and had called to make us reservations. Ironically enough all three of us love escargot and the restaurant was known for this dish. We ordered a traditional French meal and weren't disappointed. The food melted in our mouth and the bottle of wine was a great addition. We had a long dinner and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. The perfect end to the perfect day: seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Wow. I've grown up seeing pictures, but the pictures can't possibly do it justice. The tower grabs you by the heart and pulls you in. It's nearly impossible not to be overcome and moved by its beauty. As I hit the fluffy pillow in my 5 star hotel room I couldn't help but think how lucky I was. Not only am I traveling the world, but I was in one of the most renowned cities in the world with two of my closest life friends. Life doesn't get much better than that.
Saturday was our museum day. First stop: the Louvre. We went here to see the Mona Lisa. As we walked throughout we saw some painters with set up stands replicating the famous paintings of the museum. They worked with such precision and intrigue. Each painter would paint a couple of strokes, step back and look, walk around, and go back to paint a few more. I was surprised to see that the museum allowed painters to paint inside, but it was cool to watch them at work. Some of the paintings took up huge walls, walls taller and longer than walls in many of our houses. Despite their grandiose size and explicit detail most people admired them in passing. What a contrast compared to the Mona Lisa, a small and protected painting, surrounded by people admiring it for long periods on end. Steph, Rachel, and I are not huge museum people so we saw what we wanted to see, as well as what we passed on the way, and then went on our way. After the Louvre we went to the Pompidoo, a modern art museum. You felt the modernity of the building the second it came into sight. The building's walls are unfinished, tubes are exposed, and elevators serve as central focal points. Your eyes wander in excitement and it's hard to pick which direction to look first. The art inside is as exciting as the structure of the museum itself. The set up of the exhibits is unique to the art in the exhibit. Light and darkness add meaning to the paintings, sculptures, etc. The art was very different than anything else I've seen in any art museum and was cutting edge modern art that provoked interesting questions, conversations, and discussions. At this point we decided to head to Versaille. The city, which is a 30 minute train ride away, houses a castle and gardens and was the grounds on which the Treaty of Versaille was signed. The trip took a couple of hours and was well worth every minute. On the way back we climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The circular and steep staircase of about 300 stairs made our legs burn. The stinging sensation was quickly alleviated when we emerged at the top. The city once again lay before us. This time the Eiffel Tower was apparent in the skyline and shone like a treasure in the distance. We took in the view and enjoyed the sun. On the way down we stopped at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was almost dinner time and we decided to walk around a bit before heading off to dinner. We has another traditional French meal coupled with much conversation and many laughs.
We saved Sunday to be our shopping day. We didn't realize, at the time, that this was a mistake as many places are closed on Sundays. The concierge told us which area to go shop in, an area which had open stores. It ended up being the Jewish Quarter area. One of the first things we came across was a Jewish bakery/ deli. Like 3 kids in a candy shop we bought a challah with raisins and tore into it. None of us have had challah since we've been abroad and we couldn't get enough of it. We tore into it and pretty much devoured it in the middle of the street. It tasted like a little piece of fluffy heaven. Most of the stores in the area didn't open until 11. We found a Judaica store with some very pretty pieces. I bought a beautiful hamsa necklace. We further explored the area and the stores began to open. We laughed our way through our last couple hours together in what had easily become all of our favorite city.
The weekend may have been my best to date. I feel oddly attached to a city that I never anticipated liking so much. The city, events of the weekend, and life long friends created memories that will last a lifetime.
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