Suddenly, Paris!

Ah, sweet internet how I have missed you. The trip is over, I am home in Pau. It seems like it’s been so much longer than 10 days. Anyway, since I’ve last talked to you, I hung out in Paris with C.W., who flew in from Rome for a couple of days. I didn’t really go anywhere new while I was there, but I got to see the city lit up at night. I’ve got to say, Paris transforms into another city after the sun goes down, it’s pretty awesome. I picked C.W. up at about 4 in the afternoon, and by the time we got back into the city, it was already dark and all of the sites and museums were closed, so we decided to just start walking around. We started, of course, with Notre Dame.

At night, everything looks like it's a painted backdrop instead of an actual building.

 We walked around a bit near Notre Dame then walked through the Louvre courtyards, which were illuminated and virtually deserted. The Tuilerie Gardens were locked up, so we walked along the Seine towards Place de la Concorde from where we could see the Eiffel Tower. I’ve got to admit, it was cooler than I expected during my first trip to Paris, but it was freaking amazing all lit up.

Perspective. I has it.

 We walked all the way up the Champs Elysees and I stopped in the Virgin Megastore and bought the new Evanescence CD (hey, after a week alone in France I was in pretty desperate need of some Americana). We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe, and accidentally found our way directly under the arch. We were looking for the metro, but found the underground passage to the arc instead.

The road around it still terrifies me...

 The next day we woke early and headed to the Louvre. It’s really an amazing place when you have time to spend there. We were there about 3½-4 hours, and we saw maybe a quarter of the museum. I didn’t know they had some of the stuff that they had there. (Beware of photodump!)

 After the Louvre, I took C.W. to the Army Museum, where I quickly dragged him through the “Swords & Armor” section before allowing him to drool all over the Napoleon section. We got to see Napoleon’s hat and coat at least.

Napoleon's hat and coat.

Not Napoleon's hat and coat.

 We returned to the hotel for a brief rest before grabbing dinner and heading out to the Eiffel Tower. It’s pretty cool up close, plus we got to see the Jules Verne restaurant menu, which included 88€ fish dinners and 300€ bottles of wine.

 

 I meant to go with C.W. to Sainte-Chappelle and the Catacombs on Tuesday, but I had to catch the 10 o’clock train back to Pau or spend an extra 50€ for the trip. I was one of the last people on the train, so I got the uncomfortable folding seat in the baggage area for the whole 5 hour trip. And when I got back to Pau, I missed the bus by 1 minute, which meant I had to carry my 45lb duffel bag the mile and a half (uphill!) back to campus instead of just riding. I’m kind of exhausted at this point. I think I need a vacation.