#ubertourist

Paris was an interesting trip because it was a return to the first place I visited in Europe. I went with my French class as a high school sophomore and was curious to see how my memory would mesh with the city now. Geneva to Paris is a three hour train ride mostly through the countryside. There was snow on the ground in Southeast France, but it disappeared as we moved north. I decided to buy a Paris Pass while in the city. It provides entry into all major sights and allows you to skip lines – less of an issue in January, but it still saved time. My thrifty side wanted to get as much as possible out of the card, so I did way more than I would have otherwise. My Airbnb was in the Marais, a 15 minute walk to the Seine. I spent my first afternoon wandering around the neighborhood including coffee in Place des Vosages, Paris’ oldest square. I walked by the river and to Île de la Cité where Notre Dame is located, visited the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, and had a crêpe and glass of wine at a small restaurant on Île St- Louis before walking back.

My first full day is when I got down to business, starting with a marathon walk that went pretty far east to pretty far west in the city. I visited the Jardin du Palais Royal and Jardin des Tuileries and stopped in the Musée de l'Orangerie to see their massive Monet water lilies. I continued along the Seine, popped by the Grand Palais and Petit Palais (both built for the 1900 World’s Fair), then grabbed lunch to eat in the Champ de Mars beside the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t climb the tower since I did so before, plus there was a line despite being the off-season. Instead I headed to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top of that structure before walking down the Champs-Élysées. After dinner, I visited the Centre Pompidou as it was luckily a short walk from my studio. The Pompidou is a modern art museum and is, in my opinion, ugly as sin. It was built so things like air ducts are on the exterior, maximizing the interior space available for art. It’s maybe a good idea (I don’t even know) but still, just ugly. I did like the collection, though, and there are balconies that provide views of Paris. I saw the fun and cheesy Eiffel Tower light show the city does every hour on the hour.

The next day I took it relatively easy, starting with the impressionism-focused Musée d’Orsay. I love the building, it’s located in an old train station. I also recognized two Monet paintings that I wrote about in some college essay. I had lunch nearby and found a café where I sat and read for a bit before heading to the Musée Rodin, which has a lovely sculpture garden. Then I headed to the St-Germain neighborhood for general wandering and dinner.

My final (very) full day started at Notre Dame, touring the inside plus a failed attempt to climb up one of the towers. It was closed on account of the wind that didn’t exist on the ground, but I guess things were different 300 feet up. After, I went next door to Saint-Chapelle which has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to stained glass windows. I made a quick stop at the Panthéon to see the Foucault pendulum and the burial sites of Marie Curie, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Victor Hugo. I then walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg before grabbing lunch in the Latin Quarter. After, I crossed the city (feeling grateful for public transit) to climb up to Sacré-Cour and Montmartre, probably the area of the city I most romanticized after my first visit. They’re still pretty lovely, through the neighborhood is a lot smaller than I remembered. I finished the day with an evening visit to the Louvre which is as confusing, overwhelming, and impressive as I remember. Even with a map and audio guide, I managed to get turned around and had trouble finding a way out; not necessarily a bad thing, though my feet were angry with me by that point.