On Parisian Time

Eiffel Tower
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Paris is amazing. That's the only way I know how to open this blog. My Uncle and I met up at the airport in Paris and hailed a cab to our hotel in the Marais district, literally a 5 minute walk from Notre Dame. Our hotel was this wonderfully cute building set in amongst the ancient buildings. The employees immediately greeted us and were immensely friendly the entire time. As a matter of fact, it was sometimes hard just getting in and out of the building because they would chat with us and tell us all the great places we should go while we were staying in Paris. The room was a modest size, perfect for our 4 day stay. The window reached all the way from the ceiling to the floor and could be opened like a door. It overlooked a small balcony with a view including an identical building across an alley, with similar balconies.

Glittering Eiffel Tower
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We took it easy the next couple days and then checked out some of the amazing places Paris has to offer, like Notre Dame (which has just recently undergone a huge cleaning of the stone and looks amazing, not black anymore), the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Saint Michele's, etc. And interesting thing to note about the buildings in Paris, other than how ancient they are, is that every single cafe or shop we went to, had stairs leading to an underground level, generally where the restrooms were located, that was carved out of the bare rock. Nothing was left without some kind of artistic flair either, including a urinal that was simply a waterfall against a wall (don't worry, this information came from my Uncle, not first hand). We saw so many amazing buildings and only had 4 days to do it! The second day we decided to take the bus tour so we could see most of downtown Paris in one of those double decker buses. It was a little chilly, but well worth it.

From the Eiffel Tower (2nd Floor)
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We probably spent most of our time either at Cafe's or in the Louvre. I do believe that the term on Parisian time, must have come from the Cafe's. There was hardly a meal that took less than 2 hours from seating to leaving. After we took our token visit to the Venus De Milo, Mona Lisa, and of course the Winged Victory, we spent the rest of the day exploring the Egyptian collection, until they threw us out at 6:00pm. I never before could imagine the extensiveness of the Louvre until I spent all day exploring one wing of it.

It was windy!
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We went to the Eiffel Tower on two separate occasions, throughout the trip. The first was at night. Probably, in my humble opinion, the best time to see it. We hopped on the metro, enjoying the variety of acts found in the long, winding tunnels on the way from train to train. Some violin music, a man selling toys, a not too terrible flautist. It didn't take long and soon we were walking across the bridge, very near the tunnel where Princess Diana died 10 years ago; a beautiful memorial placed at the entrance in her memory. We walked along the bridge admiring the Tower from afar; seemingly lit from within, two spotlights circling the top level. We both seemed to remember that there were some kind of lights or fireworks at midnight, so we stuck around a little longer to see if anything would happen. There were people sitting on the lawns towards the military school, so we headed in their direction, dodging persistent vendors selling tacky glowing neon Eiffel Towers and key chains. We were very glad we waited because we were soon rewarded with a gorgeous show of glittering, like thousands of glow bugs at sunset all up and down the length of the tower.

The Louvre entrence
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On the second trip to the Tower, it was a pretty nasty day and the visibility was low, so we decided just to go to the second level (there are three levels, the second being pretty much in the middle of the tower) to get a good view of the city. It took about an hour waiting in line, in between downpours and avoiding the ever present tacky souvenir vendors. After cramming into the elevator and wandering around outside a bit, we were fairly ready to be done for the day. The view was wonderful, and it seems wrong to go to Paris and not go at least part of the way up the Tower, but it is a most of the day affair and can leave you pretty exhausted after dealing with all the tourists and the weather.

The Louvre courtyard
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One more thing I must talk about Paris, is the food. The food was absolutely amazing. I honestly have never had food and coffee so good anywhere else. In Paris, you are hard pressed to find a bad place to eat. In our 4 days, we never found it. There was always a fun cafe with a great atmosphere, within a short walk of wherever we were. The cheese was to die for (goat cheese being my favorite, of course) and the salads were never plain. The wine was amazing, even the not so expensive stuff. The desserts, I can't even begin to describe. But the coffee. I will never enjoy American coffee again. Not once did my stomach ever complain from the coffee, nor did it ever smell or taste burned or cheap. My favorite thing to end my meal with, no matter what time of day, was a nice cup of espresso. And so concludes the wonderful city of Paris.