paris romantique.

So, last but not least, my romantic trip to Paris. Just first let me say, despite the miserable trip back, Matt Collins lightened our hearts by telling stories about his Irish Catholic family of 12. One of their family events was even going to see "Cheaper by the Dozen." They took up an entire row. I could never even begin to think about cooking for a family of 14.

Anyways, PARISSSSS. We took public transportation which is so cheap but a huge hassle. Took us about 2 and a half hours to the airport. We met a really nice woman on the plane who was studying Italian, but who had just ben in Namibia working with a program for a couple weeks. Since we were still unsure of where we were staying we hinted at staying with her, but she quickly informed us her place was even too small for her to sleep in. Bummer. We took the hour long bus ride into the heart of Paris where we met a young attractive and wasted french man. He was still in his suit and tie coming from a raging party of some ritzy looking bar. He informed us that every Thursday night the business workers of Paris go out straight from work and get drunk. Sounds like a good plan to me! He helped us find the metro which was nice. He was also a potential crashing place in the back or our oh so desperate minds. On the metro we met 3 more men all from South Africa. One was younger than the other two, and he had just won best young agricultural farmer. The two older men had brought him there to receive his award at the convention. I think he won the award for baby tomatoes? Who knows... anyways they didn't stop talking about how this young farmer (mind you young meaning early 30s -- NOT attractive) promised his mother he would come home with a wife. Suggesting either Lauren or I should wed this unattractive 30 some year old man. They even offered to buy us sushi at their hotel but we politely declined. The 50 year old + men were not happy about it either. "3-none offer, your loss" one of them said. Anyways we of course we proceeded to get lost in trying to find our hostel. Once we found it though the place was super cool. St. Christopher's hostel has a very young atmosphere, a bar and club scene within the hostel. Probably best hostel bed situation I have ever been to as well. We had curtains across our bed so we wouldn't be disturbed in the morning, and pull out crates for security purposes to put your things in. We were on opposite sides of the room, Lauren and I always feel strange if I don't sleep below her haha. Weird I know. Anyways, we went and got some delicious pizza. Pepperoni and green pepper! So good. Went home and went to bed.

We unfortunately missed free breakfast but met some of our roommates. Two really nice girls from Australia, they gave us some free alcohol as well. They had been traveling for a month, Paris was their last stop. They had already been to London and Dublin. Two places of which I do not plan on going to. We had some delicious shakes, reserved a hostel further south of the city because St. Christopher's was too expensive to stay at over the weekend, and were on our way to Versailles. This is when the chaos of the weekend begins.

The hostel told us that we could buy Museum Passes at the metro station. You pay 32 euro for a 2 day pass to get into all of the museums, the costs add up so it was definitely worth it considering all we intended on seeing. We asked a woman at the metro station and she agreed the "2-day pass." It was 28.50 so we thought we were getting a deal. This way you can avoid all the lines for buying tickets as well. We went on our way, and within a matter of minutes we realized we had just bought unlimited metro passes for the next two days. We tried for the next 2 hours to figure out if we could return them, even went back to the initial station we bought them at... It was extremely unsuccessful. "No es possible" is probably their favorite phrase in Paris. We heard it countless times over the weekend. In the process we were able to actually buy the Museum passes we had initially wanted, so within a matter of 2 hours we had spent roughly 60 euros. But since we had reserved this new hostel outside of the city in which we had to use the RER trains (trains that go to the suburbs) which are $2.90 per ride, we figured it might be worth it to use them after all. In the long run we did end up saving money on trains since we also had to use the RER trains out to Versailles. It was also extremely convenient, we didn't once have to buy metro or RER tickets again. So our initial frustration phased out eventually.

We finally made it out to Versailles by 1:30. The Chateau was incredible, built in the 14th century for Louis XIV and all of his royalty and servants. It also became the head of government conferences etc for an extended period of time. This palace was massive. Lauren and I probably both probably took a total of 300 pictures there alone. Louis XIV was a lucky man. His bedroom faced east to the sunrise every morning. He even had public ceremonies for the people to watch him fall asleep and wake up? How disturbing is that?? He was also an unfaithful bastard, he was known for his adutlress tendencies, in fact adultry became fashionable in court circles because of him. This Chateau was so elegant, europe is so rich in history and aesthetic beauty. I can't imagine just walking around that enormous place as my home. The Hall of Mirrors is 250 feet long and there are 17 arched mirrors matched by 17 windows on the opposite side. There are 24 Candelbras, which look like chandeliers but were lit by around 2,000 candles every night. From the Hall of Mirrors you can also see all of the extragavant gardens. Oh my god, then comes the Queen's bedroom decorated by Marie-Antoinette. There were 19 royal children born in this room over the years. There was a huge chest for her jewelry which was large enough to probably hold my entire wardrobe. The bed and decor was insane. The beds alone could make you feel like royalty by just being in their presence.

Once my camera was on the verge of death from taking so many damn pictures at Versailles we headed to Champs-Elysees. You walk east when heading from the Obelisk in front of the Louvre towards the Arc de Triumphe. It was about 6:00 by the time we began the trek down Champs-Elysees and the sun was setting behind the Arc de Triumphe and it was breathtaking. Lauren and I were a little taken back by the street, we thought it would have more of a historical feel but looked quite similar to Michigan Ave in Chicago. The Arc de Triumphe was built in 1809 to honor Napoleans soldiers who had a shocking victory against the Austrians. It symbolizes all of the French victories as well as having the monument of the Unknown Soldier beneath it. We climbed the Arc as well, gorgeous view. Paris is laid out so that every main straight runs into the site. If you walk around and see the lay out of the streets it looks like rays of the sun coming out of the Arc. Its pretty incredible actually. We saw Sacre Couer, the Eiffel tower for the first time, the Seine river, all of Paris in just one view! And since we had gotten there around sunset, we got to see the entire city during the day, and as the sun set when all of the lights came on, even on the Eiffel tower! Lauren and I both got a picture of us touching the top of it. We met a middle aged American couple who was had just come from Africa as well, we exchanged pictures of eachother-- a bit odd. We took the metro to the Eiffel tower but than realized we still had to get our stuff from St. Christopher's so we only took a couple pictures and got a crepe with Nutella and headed back. That warm french crepe was a good treat for our extremely productive and stressful day.

We hung out at the hostel for a while, saw a girl from the JFRC there and met a girl who was from the twin cities! She went to Southwest for 3 years and knows a bunch of friends from both South and Southwest. Smalllll world. We finally made it onto the right train (got on the wrong one a couple times) and were on our way with some minimal groceries we had picked up along the way by midnight. Then somehow we got stuck on the car of 20 drunk kids who the police were trying to tame. In fact one was so outrageous they had to physically pull him off as he held on to a poll inside the train for dear life. He was fighting and resisting the cops and they had to hold him down with a night stick. All of his friends then drunkenly tried to come defend him, which just made the situation much worse. Girls were crying and screaming and stomping all over the train car we were on. It was a huge dramatic scene that went on for a good half hour before they were able to arrest the one kid who could hardly stand. Lauren was super freaked out, she has never seen anyone get arrested before, much less a drugged up and extremely intoxicated kid resisting authority. The cops stayed on the train with the rest of the kids until we arrived at another stop where 30 or so cops waited to force all of them off the train and out of the train station. Once we finallllly made it to our stop we were lost in the middle of NOWHERE. We were in a smalll town, 45 minutes south of the city which was completely dead. Lauren thought we were going to die for sure. After a good half an hour of walking in the empty darkness with not a soul to be found we stumbled upon our hotel. No one as the reception desk, but there was an envelope left for us. We took the elevator up to our hotel room and the hallway was even dark and eery! Shit. What had we gotten ourselves into? We ate some snacks and went to bed by 3:30 am.

The next morning we were out by noon and headed to Notre Dam. I'm burnt out on churches after that one. It was absolutely gorgeous and massive but I think I've seen enough in the past 3 months. It was a beautiful day outside as well. People were having picnics outside of the Cathedral and all along the Seine River. As we were deciding whether or not to climb the towers a creepy man with SCARY face mask came up behind me and I screamed bloody murder - In front of 50 people who were waiting in line to climb the tower of Notre Dam. That was embarassing. After my face returned back to normal from its crimson flush, we made our way to the Picasso museum which we both lovedddd. There were some incredible Picasso pieces there. I had a couple favorites in particular. I have always loved Picasso but these pieces blew my mind out of the water; "The Three Figures Under a Tree," a specific portrait of Dora Mar from 1937, another portrait of Marie Terese, and lastly "A Woman Reading." Lauren and I really tried to analyze his art and figure out the development through the multiple periods and styles full of his complexity. We were able to point out his consistent love for music, women, and pipes. Women were always number one. Exactly how it should be. We were done with Picasso by 3:30 which hardly left us enough time for both the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay. So we decided to hit the Louvre for a couple of hours and see Musee D'Orsay the next morning (Sunday).

The Louvre is GINORMOUS. Its so huge its overwhelming. The pyramid entrance is pretty cool though it seemed a bit out of its element. Its such a modern contraption, triangular shape made of glass leading you underground? Sitting in the middle of a 800 year old building was a bit strange. But cool nevertheless. We decided to enjoy the beautiful day and sat out by the fountains for a bit to soak up the warmth of the sun. We saw the Mona Lisa where Lauren's camera died. FHerL. Mine was in the process of dying so I only captured a few good ones. Like our tour guide book said its not worth all the hype and is slightly disappointing. It is much smaller than you would expect it and is behind a pane of glass, or more like a large glass box over 10 times the size of it. We went through and saw a lot of Italian art (which I am also over) then proceeded to the French art and tried to compare the two. Italian art is all religious based full of gods and godesses, angels and other fantasy things I have no idea about it. It depicts much lighter and brighter colors which I appreciate; the light hearted Italian spirit and potentially endless faith. French art on the other hand was much more realistic and dark, with animals and portraits of people in everyday life. It beautiful and extensive. Lastly we saw Apollo's apartments. Oh. My. God. Thats all I can say, I thought Versailles was luxurious, this was straight out of a Disney movie, potentially where sleeping beauty, or maybe even Cinderella (once she married the prince of course) could have possibly lived. We were in awe walking through his endless beautiful, glorious, and royal filled home. I had been searching for Venice De Mailo all the way through, but we got kicked out before we could make it there. So one more stop we needed to make the next morning.

We finally ventured to the Eiffel tower and found a quaint place to eat and relax for a solid 3 hours. It was delicious and a quite pleasant dinner that Lauren and I shared under the Eiffel tower's beastly self. Very romantic. Around 8 or 9 we went to climb the Eiffel tower but I guess you can't actually climb it after 6pm. So we took the elevators up up and away. Every hour on the hour the tower has a light show which I was not aware of. It almost looks like cameras flashing at every inch on the iron of the Eiffel tower. Its intense and crazy cool. At this point neither of us had our cameras so I got limited photos in, on, and or around the Eiffel tower. It was frustrating beyond belief but we survived I guess. We headed to see the Moulin Rouge next, we figured it'd be at its peak during night hours as well. The scene was "poppin" and I quote Lauren Harriett. Everyone was out partying but because we were worried about missing the last RER train back to our ghost town hidden hotel we just stopped into one bar for an over priced glass of champagne. The bar was a riot and so much fun so we were bummed we couldn't stay. Entertaining, good energetic live music which everyone was fully enjoying and participating in.

This step is where we begin our second horrific but extremely lucky adventure to Hotel Creepster. We rushed from the metro to the RER train only to find that they no longer run south after midnight?? We had been told several times the RER trains run until 2, so we rushed back onto the metro to another RER train in hopes that this train station had no idea what they were talking about. Guess what? No more RER trains to southern France. So we found a metro line that went the farthest southeast we could possibly go, in hopes that there would be a taxi would could catch from there to our Hotel. Wrong again. We got off the train only to walk into a dark large empty parking lot. Fortunately there had been others on the train and after some major convincing, Lauren asked them to please help our helpless souls. The guy we talked to spoke english which was a plus, he was from Senegal. We met so many people from Africa which was really neat. Anyways after a walk to his hotel with a group of his friends (including a girl who was not happy about us tagging along) he made the call for us to a cab company to come pick us up from once again the middle of no where. Where we had put ourselves this time was even more deserted because it wasn't a town, it was a high way with a few hotels and rundown skyscrapers. Essentially no place to turn to besides this generous young man who got yelled at by his girlfriend for using all her minutes. We waited, and waited, and waited (mind you our friends had gone to bed considering it was already 3 am). While waiting we contemplated how we could possibly get to our Hotel, hitchhiking seemed like our only option. Hitchhiking on an open highway=extremely safe and not terrifying at all. After 45 minutes the cab finally came. We were still at least a 20-25 minute drive from the Hotel which robbed us of another 60 euro. All this hassle to save money which prohibited us from going out both friday and saturday night and instead allowed us to 1. See wasted teenagers get beaten by cops, and 2. Be stranded in the middle of nowhere twice! Priceless memories. Let me tell you.

Home and in bed, relieved of all distress we fell asleep around 4:30 am. Pure exhaustion left us little time to accomplish our goals on Sunday, but we made it all happen.

Musee D'Orsay was our first stop. My mom has always told me that this museum changed her life for the better in grasping and conceptualizing art in a meaningful way. I felt exactly the same. Impressionism has become my new found favorite artistic style. First of all the museum is an old train station which is fascinating within itself. But on top of that, the way the museum is laid out you can see the transformation from more simplistic and traditional paintings to the emotional and textured art. The rhythm and movement and depth of the strokes in the Impressionist paintings were indescribable. Lauren and I were taken a back. It was truly a growing and exponentially rewarding experience. Monet, Van Gogh, Sicily, seeing their progression over time. Each brilliant individuals way of expression themselves through art it was incredible. I thought about one my best friends Kevin San Juan the entire time. He recently painted me a painting as a going away gift which contains all of the qualities and beauties Impressionism embodies. Kevin if you read this you are an incredibly talented artist, so thank you. This historical background for Impressionism was also interesting. It supposedly came about shortly after photography was invented. Because photography could capture moments in a realistic way with no movement painters had to find another way to express themselves and keep the beauty and appreciation of arts historical form alive. Musee D'Orsay is definitely my top recommendation for anyone who goes to Paris.

Because it was the first Sunday of the month, and all the museums are free monthly on this special day we cruised into the Louvre to see Venus. Goddess of either sex or the sea. Because her arms are missing there is no way of telling which god she may be. Arms and hands are what expressed, symbolized, and communicated the type of goddess represented in each statue.

We were crunched for time per usual so we grabbed a sandwich, briefly watched a symphony playing outside the metro and made our final trek back to the airport. Although it may seem stressful, chaotic, and totally absurd Lauren and I agree it was our best trip so far. We saw and learned so much, and it would have been no where near as exciting or adventurous without the many many memorable ridiculous experiences. And not once during those crisis moments did we freak out or get upset, we just laughed in hopes everything would work out in the end.

All in all it was a wonderful trip, and I loved Paris even more than I expected to. I will get to Tunisia soon but jesus lord that is going to be a LONGG blog. By the end of 10 whole days in Africa you will all hope that I just shut up already.

Happy Spring, and Happy almost Golden Birthday to Haley Slaferrrr. She turns 21 tomorrow!

love.
noraclaire.