C´est bon

Studies show that nearly 60 percent of Paris smells slightly, nearly, or completely like urine. Even so, Paris was amazing. I never really had a desire to go to France, perhaps I had given in to the popular notion that the French are rude and hate Americans, or that the Eiffel Tower was overrated. Either way, I could not have been more wrong. At the last minute, I chose Paris over staying in Germany, and do not regret it for a second. Our trip wasn´t all rainbows and butterflies and sunshine however. We, (Chrissy, Prissy, Kristen, Kit, and myself...there are only 5 guys and 17 girls on this trip) had arranged to meet at the Eiffel tower at 10 so we could coordinate for the weekend. After arriving on time, neglecting to buy a credible map or reserve a taxi, we took off on foot towards the tower, because hey, Paris isn´t THAT big, right? Stupid Americans. After trying to find our bearings and being snubbed by a taxi driver, finally finding a taxi which only took us partway due to a road block, and finally arriving at the Eiffel tower 30 minutes late, we were in for a surprise. The roadblock, as well as the onslaught of traffic and tourists, was a product of Bastille Day, an important holiday for the French. We did not know this. As we walked towards the lawn around the Eiffer Tower, a fireworks show the likes of which I´ve never seen erupted in the sky, accompanied by classical and opera music. I was dumbfounded, staring slackjawed at the massive show which lasted nearly 40 minutes. We left before the finale, which sounded like world war 3 and probably looked like the sun and a rainbow mated, and tried vainly to find the others, should they have actually waited for us. However, the sea of people never really subsided, so we headed back towards our hotel, hoping to catch a taxi farther away from the avalanche of parisians. After a failed attempt at using a taxi, several people´s wrong directions, and 6 hours of walking, we finally made it back to our hotel, thanks to a cab driver with a GPS system. The next day totally made up for the first night. We woke early and headed to the Louvre, probably the most amazing experience of the trip. The museum´s architecture and rooms themselves could have been an exhibit, but the art inside was incredible. We saw the main attractions (the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo) as well as Cupid and Psyche. The Mona Lisa was strangely captivating. It was quite small, rather simple, but somehow I couldn´t look away. There´s something one can´t quite put their finger on...pictures can´t do justice to the sly, knowing, almost playfully smirking smile. Even so, I snapped a quick picture and was quickly told by at least 5 people that I couldn´t...even though I had read the signs that said so all over the exhibit. Oops. The picture came out blurry, so the transgression was for naught. I was even more amazed by the other paintings and sculptures around the museum, pieces of art which were not as famous, or even well known, but still amazing. Next, we headed towards the Musee D´Orsay, only a short walk away, and stopped at a small cafe overlooking the Seine river. After an hour and a half of incredible food, including french onion soup, mozerella and tomatoes, pike fillet with vegetables and a white cream sauce, and homemade creme brulee and espresso for desert, we left for the museum, only to find a formiddable line. Deciding it would be easier to come back the next morning, we then walked to Notre Dame. The cathedral was beautiful, but having already seen the Kölner Dom, a much larger church of the same architectural style, it was not as impressive. Still very beautiful, however. We didn´t get to go up to the top, which required booking a guided tour, so that will be left to the next time I come to Europe, whenever that may be. Afterwards, we hopped onto the Metro, which we had thoroughly mastered by the second day, and stopped off at the Opera house, which Kit had wanted to see. We had walked by it on our 6 hour trek the night before, but went inside for the first time. I suppose that since you couldn´t walk a block without seeing some kind of beautiful monument, building, or piece of art, I grew a bit used to it after a while. The outside was quite impressive, the inside as well. Not my thing, but still good to see. Next, we headed towards our hotel, stopping at a few shops and markets to procure some goods for a picnic under the Eiffel Tour. This was incredible. Two bottles of wine, French cheeses, pastries, croissants, fresh strawberries, chocolate...stereotypical French picnic food. This was a close second to the Louvre for highpoint of the weekend. Afterwards, we headed towards the plaza underneath the tower to survey the lines. Again, we decided on going the next morning, and headed off to the Moulin Rouge. This was more of a fly-by, since we found it, along with a long line and an entrance fee of 72 euros for dinner and a show. We headed back to the hotel on the Metro and promptly crashed. The next morning, by the time we headed out, we had decided we could only do one thing, the Musee D´Orsay or going up the Eiffel Tower, and since the other two, Kit and Kristen, wanted to do the tower, I missed out on the Orsay. I´m still kind of sad about this, especially since I´ve heard it´s even better than the Louvre, but again...hopefully I´ll be able to come back some time. We didn´t get to go to the top, due to the fact that 20 minutes away from going up the elevator, the electronic billboards changed to say the top had been closed due to overcrowding. We were still able to go up to the second floor, which was not so amazing as going to the top would have been, but still impressive. We were really cutting it close with our time, since we had to catch our train at 12:55 and had left the tour at 12:00. We hurried as fast as we could, hoofing it to the Metro station, checking out at the hotel, and then back to the metro station to the north train station. We were all stressed and worried about missing our train, and arrived at the main station at 12:50 with no clue where we were supposed to go to catch our train. I had looked at the ticket and seen "track 2" in the column for the platform, but hadn´t realized that it was only for our arrival station, in Köln. After sprinting past all the tracks, we nearly panicked when the tracks stopped numbering at track 3. Luckily, as we were running back, Kristen noticed the Thalys train, and the marquis showed Köln as the destination, so we ran and jumped on the train, literally seconds before it departed. I suppose the 2 euros we each gave to the nun in Notre Dame were well spent. We made it safely home on time, in first class, no less. I already started missing Paris as soon as we had gotten settled on the train. The city had a completely different feel to it than anywhere I have been so far. I suppose that´s to be expected in one of the most famous cities in the world. I was surprised by how nice the French people were with regards to none of us speaking any French. We never had anyone be rude to us (except for a taxi driver, who said something in French and drove off from the line at the train station with a fare), and most were quite accomodating. Still, I felt bad for not knowing any of the language, even though I hadn´t planned on going until 2 days before. This whole trip has made me want to learn more foreign languages, just so I can travel more of the world and communicate with more people. This weekend was unbelievable, and I´m so fortunate to have had the experience.