Too little time in Paris

Bonjour!

I am a bit disappointed in myself to only have one post per city; there's just so much to do and that takes up more time than telling you about it, so it shouldn't be that difficult. However, since I'm writing this blog knowing most of the people reading it, I spend a lot of time editing things in and out with certain people in mind. 'So and so' will love hearing about this, but this person will think it's dumb, and then I have to censor for the family 😁. It takes more time than you think. And now I have people from Russia and Canada reading my blog continuously! Hello there! (I can only see the country pageviews are from, not specific people.) My goal is to post more often so I don't have to write so much. 

Anyway, on to the good stuff. 

I arrived in Paris late Sunday night, after having to change my train because of the French rail strike. Just my luck to have a major strike on the one day I'm traveling into France... It's still going on now, but my train out is undisrupted despite the government's unwillingness to absolve to the unions. I arrived two hours later than it normally takes, no harm done. I am staying with a great host through AirBnB in the neighborhood of Gambetta, northeast of the center of Paris. Tons of great food places and easy to get around on the tube. Although I have yet to find an area of Paris without tons of great food places!

My first day in Paris was difficult to say the least. Since I was in a new city, it was easy to forget that everything doesn't reset and I had been walking nonstop in Barcelona. So when I went for a walking tour (definitely recommend those!) I spent most of the time thinking about how tired my legs were. Not the best way to listen to the history of Paris. It's a long one. I still got to see plenty of attractions (including the fountain Anne Hathaway threw her phone into in The Devil Wears Prada) and hear all about the French Revolution. But after that, I bought a bunch of macaroons and hightailed it back to the apartment to go to bed early. After about twelve hours of sleep, and a hearty breakfast of duck, I was finally ready to tackle Paris. 

Funny story about the Devil Wears fountain; there are two in the square where the guillotine was during the mass executions after the revolution. They are a matching set, but the city doesn't even turn on the opposite one because no one ever goes near it. That seems to be a common thing in Paris, lots of famous things but never for the right reasons.

Including this one:

 

I did all the normal touristy Paris things like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame of course. But to be honest, it really feels like I've hardly scratched the surface of this city. Everyone always says that when they have little time to spend somewhere but there is a depth to this culture I never even imagined. Not to mention the food! I feel as if I have gained weight just in the three days I've been here, but my host keeps saying "who cares who cares?" Because if I can experience at least one thing here it should be the food. 

I wish I had taken pictures of everything I've eaten here to show you how much and how well, but I was too busy stuffing my face every few hours to be bothered. Tried macaroons for the first time. How was that my first time!?!? All you people that have tried macaroons and are my friend, those are now mutually exclusive states of being! You have not told me of these wonders! Also, Nutella crepes are amazing. Eating one on the lawn beneath the Eiffel Tower while reading and drinking wine is probably the most French I have ever felt. 

Not really sure about any other instances when I have felt French, but you get the idea. 

I attempted the Louvre. Look how happy I look, all smiley and excited to see the biggest museum in the world. It started out great, I got to see some Egyptian relics and Napoleon's apartments. But then (this is when you say dun dun dun in your head) it got very frustrating. I know that you are not supposed to try to see the whole museum, which I was not expecting to do in the slightest. But this place is confusing and gigantic! Two hours in I realized I was spending more time trying to figure out where to go rather than seeing works of art. It's frustrating walking quickly past so many beautiful things just so you can see what you want, and trying to avoid getting lost. So I left. I know, I know, "Ally I can't believe you left the Louvre! It's only the greatest collection of art in the world! You're in Paris, you have to see the Louvre!" Deal with it. That's the beauty of traveling by yourself, you can do whatever the (censored) you want. Instead, I went to Museo L'Orangerie which I am so happy about. It houses the famous water lily wall-sized paintings by Claude Monet.

There are two rooms with four paintings each, reflecting the light of every time of day. It was magical. I sat there for about two hours. Cezanne was there as an exposition as well, one of my favorite artists. 

He is known as the father of modern art. At the beginning of his career he was doing his thing, hangin out with Renoir and all the other warm and fuzzy painters. Then he was like, 'nah I'm done with this lets try something exciting,' and in the middle of everything changed his style completely.

I've always admired that; being able to change so drastically just because you feel like it. It's not as if he wasn't already doing great things and impressing students or collectors, he just wanted something new. 

So the L'Orangeria was much more manageable and they gave me a student discount so today was successful. Plus I had an amazing dinner of lamb couscous. The food so nice they named it twice. Tomorrow I hop on another train to Bath to stay with some family for a few days and then on to London!