Parlez-vous français?

Paris-Day 1

Well the last day we spent in Brugge was really just a morning. We woke up at 5:45 am to a dark sky and empty streets with the exception of a few French and English men coming back late from the bars. There was a little bit of fog obscuring the belfry as we walked down the cobblestone streets to the train station. 

It was an interesting time. We both had a good amount of adrenaline flowing through us from waking up and being in the cold so early and we could see all the places we had been before minus the crowds and open stores. Early mornings like that tend to get eclipsed by the events of the day, but seeing the sun rise from the train station over the trees was a really cool experience. 

We got into Paris after a quick train ride and checked into our Hostel, ARTY, which  had some left over coffee and bread from that mornings free breakfast. After a quick conference and game plan we headed out and began to realize just how completely inadequate our french was. While pretty much everyone in Paris speaks English, I (Gabe) always become very aware of just how much of a tourist I am when I horribly butcher "bonjour, parlez-vous anglais" which is probably not the correct way to say it anyways. Then, after I say the phrase in my thick American accent, the person who I am trying to communicate with gives me a pitying look and nods while closing their eyes with a soft "oui".  So we went out and after a brief talk with the person behind the information desk we left to the Musee d'Orsay. This museum is a beautiful transformed railroad station that contains a huge collection of impressionist art along with collections of other work from that time period.

 Paris is really cool because every first Sunday of the month they open a bunch of their museums and national monuments to the public for free, allowing even those who can't afford it on a daily basis to enjoy the art and culture.  Since it was the first Sunday this museum was free for us. It was really astounding the work that was in this museum. Some of my (Gabe) favorites were "La nature se defoliant a la science", 

Vincent van Gogh's "Self Portrait" 

 and Claude Monet's "Study of a Figure Outdoors" (Facing Left).

 Just about everything in this museum blew me away and it is by far my favorite art museum. *Note these pictures have been lifted from the internet and are not our own. We could not take pictures of the art inside and there was a little old man scrutinizing us along the way. 

Hoping to take full advantage of free museum access we made our way towards the Louvre.  

Before going in we took a moment to enjoy the beauty of Tuileries Gardens.  

It was so neat to see how people of the community were coming together to enjoy the great weather and beauty of the outdoors.  Everywhere you looked you could see friends, young and old, spread out on the grass, lovers hidden away, and children playing together. 

Inside the Louvre we knew our time was precious.  We were prepared to fight through the crowd to see all that we could in the 2 hours we had to do it. In case you didn't know, the Louvre is GINORMOUS.  If we were to estimate we saw (maybe?) 1/32 of it. We ran to see the Mona Lisa. We had already seen it before and had been disappointed so we weren't expecting much besides large crowds; however, when we got up close and looked at it it was surprisingly better than we remembered.

Venus de Milo (still doesn't have arms)

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

and as many other wonderful things we could.

(There were a lot of naked men in the Louvre)

After exiting the Louvre we made our way towards Notre Dame.  

It was just as beautiful as we remembered.  The imposing effect that it had when we were last there was somewhat dimmed due to the fact that the courtyard was full of  paraphernalia celebrating its 850th anniversary. Touring the inside was an interesting experience for the both of us because while we were inside they held mass. It was odd to be there, observing others in their intimate moments of worship. It felt obtrusive and neither of us wanted to stick around, detracting from others sacred time.  

After the long day it was time to get some dinner and Paris had a ton of options. Unfortunately our budget did not leave us with a lot of options but we still managed to get one of my (Gabe) favorite things in Europe, gyros….oh yeah! For those of you that don't know a gyro is pita bread wrapped around meat with some other stuff in it. What the other stuff is is less important. The important part is the meat, the pita, and in this case, the french fries…oh yeah. These are the two that we got. 

here is the meat slab in all of its glory. 

So basically these guys take what amounts to a giant electric razor and they run it over this piece of rotisserie meat. What kind of meat is it you ask? I'll answer your question with another question, does it matter? It's a giant piece of meat on a metal rod being cooked and shaved off. Oh my god it was good. 

I know what you're thinking from this picture; "Wow, Amanda ate a lot faster than Gabe did, that's weird." No no no Gabe bought a second one. 

By the time we got back to our hostel with our bellies full and blood pressure high we only had enough energy to take a show before passing out.

Paris-Day 2

We took our time getting around in the morning, stopping to enjoy the complimentary breakfast that our hostel offered. We picked up items for a picnic that we were planning later in the day (baguette, brie, bananas, and toblerone) and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. 

 We had every intention of going all the way to the top but it was closed! We managed to get to the 2nd level and were greeted with a nice view of the city.

 We chose to take the stairs ALL the way down (an equivalent of 21 stories) and found a place in a nearby park to enjoy our picnic. 

Others may disagree but while enjoying our lunch we came to the conclusion that the Eiffel tower is best enjoyed from afar and the architecture of the city of Paris is best enjoyed up close.  After finishing our lunch we took a walk along the Seine.  

We walked through a district of immense wealth to find our final destination of the Paris Opera House.  We're talking names like Chanel, Tiffany, Jimmy Choo, Cartie, Rolex, and Armani. If you can think it we probably passed it. People were exiting those shops with plain brown bags to hide the store bag that would give away the monetary value of the merchandise inside.  I (Amanda) am perplexed as to how a label can be a sole indicator of value (especially in terms of clothing). I guess durability, functionality, and comfort are more my speed on most given days. I watched a woman clad in fur and high heeled boots film a pigeon for over 3 minutes in its attempt to open a packaged muffin. This was entertaining for her. Meanwhile a homeless man passed by when the show was over, pocketing that same muffin for what was no doubt his dinner.  I see these things and they reiterate that I want to do more, be more. Why do these scenarios play out in neighborhoods so full of excess? Why do these scenarios play out at all? 

Speaking of excess...

The Opera House. 

Decadent. 

Ornate.

 Beautiful.  

What I wouldn't give to view a show there. The entire place is just unbelievable.  The master staircase had me fighting to contain the urge to belt "mascarade". 

 We weren't allowed to take pictures in the theatre because a full dress rehearsal was taking place but the chandelier...I understand what the producers of the Phantom of the Opera were getting at.  They also had costumes from previous performances on display and they were absolutely stunning.

We finished our wanderings of the Opera House and, feeling worn out, opted to make our way back towards the hostel. We got to sleep early knowing that Versailles was going to be another busy day tomorrow.