Paris Encore!!!

Next and final stop: Paris!!! Of course Christophe couldn't go to France for the first time and not go to Paris!! And I was excited to get to see some of the things I didn't see when I went there with my dad, as well as to see some things again! Paris is amazing, I think you could visit a thousand times and still never see everything there. Once again, I must recommend listening to this song while you read/skim. :)

 We arrived in the late morning and figured we would walk around a little before finding and checking in to our hotel. I would like to take this moment to brag that I got us from the Paris Est train station to the Cathédrale Notre Dame with no map. That's right, I used a combination of Parisian savoir-faire and sheer intuition to get us there.¹ We had to use the metro and everything, it was cray-cray.² 

Anyways, Notre Dame was, of course, beautiful. It's going to be 850 years old in 2013, but all the stone is impeccably clean, and the statues and the incredible stained glass are all super well-maintained. The Notre Dame is kind of different from other European churches in that there are so so so many people in it that instead of just wandering around, you kind of follow the flow of visitors around the set path. And try not to get people's  heads in your photos! After checking out the inside, we decided to climb up the tower, since the line wasn't too long - and who doesn't want to see gargoyles?! Even though it was all cloudy and gray outside, the view was still really pretty. And I love the gargoyles! There are like hundreds up there, in all sizes (some of them are even bigger than me) and they're all different! I especially liked the one eating grapes and the ones sticking their tongues out. :]

Then we checked into our hotel, which was kind of far from the center of Paris, but new and clean. And the shower head lit up neon colors!!! It was the coolest shower I've ever seen in my entire life. Ever.

OMG

Archives Nationales

Next, we saw the monument at the Bastille³ (French Revolution, anyone?!) and Place des Vosges, which is was the first city-planned square in Paris. Today, it's more of a park, with lots of souvenir shops and cafés in the surrounding buildings, which are where a bunch of rich aristocrats used to live. We also stopped at the Archives Nationales but decided to just look at the pretty building instead of going inside.

Bastille

Place des Vosges

Aaaaaaaand all this walking was to get to the Centre Pompidou!!!!!! I went to the Centre Pompidou when I went to Paris with my family four summers ago.⁴ And it is the most amazing thing ever! The concept behind the building is that it's inside-out - all the pipes and vents and escalators are on the outside. It looks super awesome. And inside is a huge modern art museum! The art is all really cool, not just I painted this white canvas white, wrap your head around that one, buddy.⁵ And making the Centre Pompidou even more amazing is that right next to it is this huge fountain filled with all these sculptures by Niki de Saint-Phalle, who made the Sun God statue, which is kind of the unofficial mascot of UCSD. We saw some of her pieces in Nice too! But in the fountain, there is this one sculpture that looks just like Sun God! And the fountain was empty for winter, so you could step in and go right up to the sculptures. It was not as pretty with out the water and all the sculptures turning and spraying water, but it was really fun to go around taking photos with all the sculptures. And besides, I saw it all filled and animated last time.

Most awesome couch ever.

Statues in the fountain by Niki de Saint-Phalle

French Sun God and UCSD Sun God

We visited the inside of the Centre Pompidou for a while, and we got to see the Centre all lit up when we left, and it was so cool-looking!!! Then we got pizza (me) and pasta (Christophe) at a restaurant nearby. Not very French I guess, but it was good.

Centre Pompidou at night

The next morning, we visited Versailles! I won't go into detail, since I already wrote about going with my dad. Even though I had visited only like a month and a half before, it was still really neat to see everything again! And this time, we were wise enough to save our energy and only see the main palace. And most importantly, we went to that amazing crêpe shop outside the gates!!!

Next stop: la Tour Eiffel! We took the stairs all the way to the second level! We did stop at the first level, but it was exhausting! So. Many. Stairs. But of course the view is worth it!! Even though it was overcast, it still looked amazing. Christophe was a little agitated because he doesn't like heights,⁶ but he surprisingly wanted to go the rest of the way to the top floor. Oh so unfortunately, you can't take the stairs to the top floor, so we bought tickets for the elevator, in which Christophe almost had a panic attack.⁸ We got to the top right as it was getting dark, so we saw all the lights around the city and on the Eiffel Tower itself come on, which was so pretty. If you ever go to Paris, I would definitely recommend going up the Eiffel Tower around dusk so you can see the view both while it's light out, then when it starts getting dark and all the lights come on, and then when it's completely dark out. And as Christophe said, "You can't get much more French than this!"

Then, in a feat of near-superhuman strength, we walked all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed that too. I was so tired, but I really wanted to go up it again at night because it's such a great spot to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Afterwards, we walked down the Champs Élysées a little and got sandwiches, then headed back to the hotel. Oh man, I was épuiséeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Aaaaaaaand this post is too long, so day 3 coming soon!

À bientôt!

1. Also the fact that I remembered it was on Ile de la Cité, which is not very big, so looking for a giant cathedral is not that hard. And there were signs but whatever. No map, okay??!!! It was impressive!!

2. For my older readers, "cray-cray" means "crazy."
3. There used to be a prison there, which was stormed on July 14, 1789 during the French Revolution. The prison was destroyed during the attack, and the event became a symbol of the revolutionary movement. Today, July 14th is like France's Fourth of July.
4. Wow so long ago now!
5. Okay, there were a couple like that. But not very many.
6. I told him he looked a little "on edge." He was not amused.⁷
7. Bahahahahaha how many times have I told that joke now?? Not enough!
8. Only a very slight exaggeration.