...And when you're hungry, you see crépes everywhere! Paris, Part 2

Saturday (Day 3) we decided to head to Versailles.  For my fellow Kentuckians, this is pronounced Ver-sigh.  I pronounced correctly the whole time, so this was just a public service announcement.  It was pretty cheap to get there, less than 5 euros.  It was also very close, roughly a 20 minute train ride.

We got there, and it was, of course, beautiful.

And cloudy, apparently.  I don't remember it being rainy...

Golden gates.

Back of the Palace and some of the gardens.

More of the gardens.

Okay, so sad story here.  We got to Versailles fine.  We started to get in line to go in.  Then we realized it was 8 euros to get in (which we would have paid), but the line was 2 hours long.  And that was just to get a ticket.  Then you had to get in ANOTHER line to get into the palace itself.  THAT line was another 2 hours.  Thanks, but no thanks.  Louis XVI can have his opulent palace, and I'll save some time.  I did want to see the gardens though.  We were under the impression that they were free (that's what Lonely Planet said!).  LIES.  10 euros to get in.  Good grief.  Let them eat cake, I ask you....

So we walked through the small town of Versailles for a while.  Its pretty and not very commercialized, which was nice.  After that, we went back to Paris.  Carly and I split up, as she wanted to go shopping and I wanted to do some more sight seeing.  I went back to the Latin Quarter.  I first went to the cathedral of St. Sulpice.  And I'm slightly ashamed to say this was also in the Da Vinci Code.  Seriously, I'm not obsessed with the book or anything! It isn't that well written but the history and plot are really cool!

Saw this on the way, and I really have no explanation.

I also got a macaroon on the way to St. Sulpice.  Its hard to describe, sort of like a Moon Pie, but more....French?  Two cake-like things with a chocolate filling.  Lots of different flavors to choose from.

St. Sulpice was, sadly, under construction, so the outside shots weren't the best.

Fountain in front of St. Sulpice.

Ceiling just before going inside.

More ceiling.

Altar.

Obelisk, marking the location of the original Prime Meridian.  Also one of the rumored locations of the Holy Grail.  Seriously, somebody stop me!

Next, I headed over to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were beautiful.  It was a former palace for the French Royalty, but now it is home of the French Senate (ironic...).

Louxembourg Palace.

Gardens.

Catherine de Medici was a Queen of France, but her son banished her to...Italy?  She (well, her money) built the gardens and the palace, and all she got was this corner of the gardens and banished.  Geez.

Gardens + People

There's a little gazebo in the gardens that is for free public concerts.  There was some kind of school jazz band (I don't know where they were from) and they were great.

More gardens and palace.

Next, I went to the Pantheon.  It is not at all like the one in Rome.  For one, its not free (bummer).  Also, it wasn't designed by Raphael and it doesn't have a big hole in the ceiling (as far as I know, anyway.  I didn't go in).

The Pantheon is in the heart of the Latin Quarter, right next to Sorbonne University.

A lot of famous people are buried here: Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  I guess its France's answer to Westminster Abbey.

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.

Yay! Rene Descartes! I think therefore I am!

After the Pantheon, I headed back to the hostel.  Carly and I had a big day ahead: MUSEUM-ING!!!  

I forget where Carly went Sunday morning (maybe more shopping, I can't remember), but I went to Musee d'Orsay, which houses the French National Collection.  This is probably blasphemous, but I probably liked the Orsay better than the Louvre.  There aren't as many famous works there, but it is no less awesome.  Because it was free for everyone, both places were pretty well packed.  We could take pictures of all the art, so I don't feel bad for posting some of them here.  I decided that I really like French art, but particularly peasant realism.

Musee d'Orsay, a former train station on the River Seine.

This is a good example of that peasant realism.  Millet was one of my favorites.

Inside the Orsay.

I really liked these busts, because they aren't directly facing you.  And they have a lot of expression.  Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was the sculptor, I think.

French Impressionism is also cool.

This is possibly one of my all time favorite paintings (and I'm no art geek).  It was ENORMOUS, over 6 feet tall.  Painted by René-Emilé Ménard.

There was a whole lot to see in the Orsay.  Pastels, impressionism, sculptures, etc.  I was running around like a crazy person trying to see it all and get back to the Louvre by noonish to meet Carly.  Whew! 

Carly got to the Louvre a little before I did, so she got a spot in line for us.  The line moved pretty fast, so we were in there in about 45 minutes.  The Palace of Versailles could take a few tips from them.  The Louvre is MASSIVE.  They say that if you spent 30 seconds at each and every work of art at the Louvre, you'd be in there for 3 solid months, no eating or sleeping.  So it was a little daunting. But we saw the Mona Lisa!

The woman herself.  It really is small and its encased in bullet proof glass.

That's Napoleon crowning himself emperor.  I might have seen that in a history book.

As most of you know, I'm in a sorority at UK called Ceres, named for the Roman goddess of agriculture (we're a bunch of farm girls, essentially. lol).  While we were in the Louvre, it occurred to me that there was probably a statue of Ceres somewhere.  Only, I didn't have a clue where to look.  I told Carly to look for a statue of a woman holding a sheaf of wheat (the symbol for agriculture).  We were in the Italian sculpture gallery, so we had to be close.  Just when I was about to give up, lo and behold, we stumbled upon the woman herself!

YAY! I found our namesake!

After we had our fill of the Louvre (except there is no way to get your fill of the Louvre), we headed up to the Arc d'Triomphe.  The Champs Elysées is decievingly long.  

High stakes frogger.

Looking down the Champs Elysées.

Carly hadn't been to the Pantheon yet, so I tagged along with her as we hiked back down to the Latin Quarter.  Along the way, we decided that were starving.  Carly's lifelong dream was to eat a crépe in France, so we told ourselves that is what we'd do after we got done at the Pantheon.  Only, we kept seeing creperies everywhere.  I told her, "You know when you have to pee really bad and you hear water everywhere? When you're hungry you see crépes everywhere!"  We saw the Pantheon again (we were under the impression that it was free, like most things on the first Sunday of the month, but nooooooo) and then found the. best. crépes. ever.

Here is the guy making them.  Ho boy.  I got a nutella and banana one and it was heavenly.  For those that don't know, a crépe is just a really thin pancake that you put a filling in, it can be sweet or savory.  Sweet is better, obviously.  Carly got a nutella, banana, and Gran Marnier one.  She said, "I didn't want it to end!"

So. good.

Later that night, we went back to the Louvre to see it light up.

I swear, last Da Vinci code reference in France.

THAT'S WHERE THE HOLY GRAIL IS! (not really, but still)

Kind of underwhelming, light-wise.

Monday was our last day in Paris.  We decided to take it a little easier, as we'd been running around like crazy people the whole time, trying to see everything (I think we accomplished it, for the most part).  I sat around and read in the Tuleries and then Luxembourg Gardens.  Very nice, and I even got a little pink (but nothing compared to the next day).  We caught our late afternoon flight to Nice, and all the remains shall be in the next post.

George IV and his plastered friends: Paris, Part 1

Here we go with the documentation of my two-and-a-half week backpacking trip around Europe.  Paris is going to require two posts, but I hope to get all of France written and posted today.  Buckle up!

I started, technically, on April 29.  Like when I went to Italy, my flight to Paris left early in the morning from Liverpool, which meant, yes, that I got the privilege of sleeping in the airport.  I managed to get a collective total of 3 hours of sleep that night, but I got to Paris in one piece, so its all good.  I won't lie, I was a little (OK, a lot) terrified of making it from the airport to the hostel without getting hopelessly lost.  Luckily, signs are amazing, especially when they're in both French and English.  Carly left a few days before me and went to Barcelona, so we met in Paris.  She got to the hostel a little bit before I did, and the cell phone did come in handy! St. Christopher's (the hostel) was a chain hostel, but it had free breakfast, which is always a plus in my book.  The hostel advertised a free walking tour of Paris, and it came recommended by a friend, so we went.  The tour guides work on a tips basis, so that is how you can ensure that you get a good guide, because they go out of there way to be awesome.

We managed to conquer the Paris metro system, and because our hostel was WAY outside of the city center, we kind of needed to.  So we made our way down to St. Michel, where the tour was to begin.  We had a fantastic guide, from Australia, named Jacqueline.  She was super enthusiastic about Paris and hilarious.  She might have glossed over some of the history of Paris (I think I noticed some inconsistencies and errors), but overall she was great.  The walking tour was 4 hours long and we really did get to see everything.  And it was a good way to see something and then go back later to see it more thoroughly, which is the point, I guess.

St. Michel, banishing Lucifer to...hell.

St. Michel is in the Latin Quarter, so called because it is home to Sorbonne University.  They used to speak exclusively in Latin at universities, so they called the area the Latin Quarter.  Also, because it is a student area, food is cheaper.  Woohoo!

Notre Dame!

See the bullet holes?  These are practically the only scars that Paris has from WWII, because the Nazis got smart and decided that Paris was too important culturally to destroy.  Well played.

Jacqueline, our super-enthusiastic and hilarious guide.

So this was my favorite part of the tour, Pont Neuf.  The story goes that the king of France at the time, George IV, was a good time Charlie.  He had a bunch of friends over in the palace, all sipping champagne.  They proceeded to get hammered, and drank ALL the champagne.  George IV ordered wine for all the guests.  Now, I don't know this from experience, but I hear that wine after champagne is not the best idea.  So everyone then got PLASTERED.  Following an enormous hangover, George IV looked back on that night fondly and ordered the bridge, Pont Neuf, to be built.  He wanted to memorialize the night somehow, so he got the designer to make likenesses of his plastered friends and put them on the new bridge.  Hence, George IV and his plastered friends. hahahaha

That's my favorite guy, he looks like he's about to vomit.

George IV himself!  Jacqueline told us a bit about equestrian statue lore: if the horse has one front hoof raised, the rider was murdered.  If it has two front feet up (like he's rearing), the rider was killed in battle.  If all 4 hooves are on the ground, the rider died of natural causes, like old age.  So George IV was murdered.

Are you ready? The Louvre!

Ahhhhh! Dreams really do come true!

The old Prime Meridian, Rose Line, whathaveyou.  I think I have officially been almost everywhere mentioned in the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. hehehehe

This is where the French Revolution started.  I think.

Cool, right?

Rue St. Honoré, second most expensive street in the world (after 5th Avenue in NYC).  Every major fashion house in the industry has a store on this street.

The only McDonald's in the world to have white arches.  You can order a Royal with Cheese there.  But I haven't seen Pulp Fiction, so it means nothing to me.

The Tuileries! And that is the Mussee d'Orsay in the background (it used to be a train station).

You can *just* see the Sacre Coeur between those two buildings.  We went there the next day...

aaaaaaaaand, our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower! WHY can't I open my eyes during pictures?! Srsly.

Luxor obelisk.  It was a "gift" from the Egyptians (riiiight).  It is located at the bottom of the Champs Elysées, in a square known as the Place de la Revolution.  There was a guillotine there before the obelisk.  Lovely.

Fun fact: this is the fountain that Anne Hathaway threw her cell phone in during the Devil Wears Prada.  Also, that hotel behind the fountain is super duper expensive, but it gives the winner of the Tour de France one free night, and they get to fly a flag of their choice on the roof.  Lance Armstrong chooses to fly the Texas flag. Nice.

The Champs Elysées, with the Arc de Triomphe at the end, home of the most dangerous roundabout in France, possibly the world.  Fact.

This is the Grand Palais, I think.  The Petit Palais was right next to it.

The Hotel des Invalides, I think it is a bunch of military museums, but it used to be a home for retired and injured veterans.  Nice digs, though.

So, we had a pretty packed day, you might say.  After that walking tour, I was pretty much swaying on the spot, having only gotten 3 hours of sleep.  So we headed back towards the hostel, and got some sustenance for the next few days (read: bananas and muesli.  This can be surprisingly filling.).

We got up early-ish the next morning, got breakfast, and went to the Eiffel Tower for our ritual photoshoot.  Carly and I have developed a tradition (of sorts) of setting up her camera on the self timer, so we can both be in the picture with something awesome in the background (like that one in Pisa, in front of the tower).  Carly still has those pictures, but I'll post the results when I get them.  I still took a lot of pictures there, though.

 There it is!  Perfect sky!

And again. Beautiful.  Jacqueline (the tour guide from the previous day) told us that there are something like 5 marriage proposals A DAY at the Eiffel Tower.  Could you get any more cliché?

After we took approximately 100 pictures at the Eiffel Tower, we headed up toward the Montmatre area, where the Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge are, and it is the birthplace of the Bohemian movement.  Very artsy and vibrant.  And it was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG walk.  Took us about 2 hours.  And we're not slow and lazy.

Clearly, I was excited about being at the most famous cabaret in the world.  Site of one of my most favorite movies, though.  Carly and I decided it would be inappropriate to whip out Flat Stanley here.  heehee

The Sacre Coeur.  It is in the most northern tip of Paris, and there was a TON of people there.  My teensy bit of agoraphobia nearly got me.

Excellent gargoyles and flying buttresses.

The very tall bell tower at Sacre Coeur.

We then walked back toward the city center.  We stopped by the Opera Garnier, where the Phantom of the Opera takes place.  After reading through some of my posts, I have decided that the only reason I came to Europe in the first place is because of books and movies, not entirely for historical or cultural reasons.  This is a little embarrassing, but its the truth.

The phaaaaaaaaaaaaaantom of the opera is there, inside your mind.

Back to the Tuileries, right outside the Louvre.  They're racing sailboats, how awesome!

We had heard that the Louvre was free on Friday evenings for people under 26, so we were going to take advantage of that, BIG TIME.  Except we were thwarted: it was a bank holiday.  But no matter!  The first Sunday of every month is free for everybody, and (guess what) we happened to be there for that.  WOOHOO!

We then went back to the Eiffel Tower, because Jacqueline had told us that it lights up at night and sparkles on the hour.  No way were we going to miss that!  So to kill time, we went over to Notre Dame.

Clearly, I have not seen enough movies, as I did not understand the movie reference on the tour.  Its from the Bourne Identity.  Apparently, Jason Bourne is hiding behind the "M" on the Samartaine Hotel, waiting to kill someone.

Notre Dame, again!

Famous rose window.

Jean d'Arc.

Rose window again.

I do a shot like this at every cathedral.

It was about twilight at that point, so we headed on over to the Eiffel Tower.  There weren't as many people there at night (surprisingly).

Kind of awesome shot on the way there.

I got a video of the Tower as soon as it started sparkling!

SPARKLES!

Whew, so that was day 2 in Paris.  Days 3, 4, and 5 will require a separate post.  Then I'll do Nice.  Hopefully by this evening?  We'll see.

OH! I got ALL the pictures up on photobucket!  They're hopelessly out of order, but it'll give you a good preview of what's coming here.  Also, I finally figured out how to embed videos.  Snazzy, right?

Wilkommen á mi life

I'M BACK Y'ALL!  I made all my flights and trains, had a great time and took over a thousand pictures.  I am sunburnt to oblivion and my head is a very strange mix of Spanish, French, German and English.  My blogging for these past few weeks will have to come in several posts, so get ready!