Paris weekend

I chose to go along with some British Studies Program people to Paris for the first weekend we were here--unfortunately, the time that we needed to catch the bus to Paris interfered with our class' tour of the British Library, so some of my classmates and I missed out on that tour. Fortunately, we're going back to tour the library's conservation studio on our last day of class, so we'll get to see the treasures that the British Library has then, which includes the Magna Carta, manuscripts of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and others, Gutenberg bibles, and some of the earliest printed books from Europe and Asia.

We left late for Paris after a delay due to traffic in Leicester and Trafalgar squares (the Harry Potter premiere was the same night), so we were in for a long night. Luckily we made it to Dover in time to catch our ferry, and then made it to Paris around 2 am. We arrived at our hotel, which was in the Latin quarter on the left bank of the Seine. The next morning, we were given a tour of the Rue Mouffetard and the Rue San Michel by a professor who was originally from France. We also witnessed our first mugging within the first 10 minutes--luckily none of the people from our group was the victim of the mugging. I was kind of on edge the rest of the time we were in Paris; it didn't feel as safe as London.

Louvre

After we were finished with our tour, we went to the Louvre, where we saw some great works of art including the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and some Vermeer paintings. The Louvre was an interesting collection of sculpture and paintings; however, it was difficult to navigate due to how large the building was and the way in which the floors were set up--there was only one staircase that would take you to the second floor, which housed all of the paintings.   Also, the building itself (a former palace built in the Middle Ages as a fortress for the French monarchy) was very beautiful with painted ceilings and intricate stonework. The Louvre became a museum in 1793; after Versailles was built, the interest of the monarchy in the palace waned, and the public was given a chance to see the royal art collections by making it into a museum.

After the Louvre, we walked to the Eiffel Tower--which looked a lot closer than it appeared. I think I probably did more walking in Paris on the first day than I did in three days in London. I didn't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but in general, it was a lot bigger than I was expecting--it was also a lot prettier at night. We went to dinner at a cute little French cafe that evening, where I had canard confit (duck) with roasted potatoes, an apple tart (and of course, red wine!) It was one of the most delicious meals I've had in my life.



The next day we went to Versailles, which was the palace of the French monarchy, and was greatly expanded by Louis XIV. During the French revolution, the royal family had to flee to Paris due to the Woman's March on Versailles. The palace was large and very beautiful, with velvet walls, gorgeous furniture, and gold everywhere. However, the greatest part of the estate, in my opinion, were the gardens surrounding the estate.

The gardens were very beautiful, and contained a large canal, on which people could rent rowboats. According to Wikipedia, the gardens comprise 800 hectares of land, and they also contain the estate of Marie Antoinette. There were also many sculptures and fountains surrounding the gardens, and everything was very colorful and well-manicured. The flowers were all blooming and it was just a great place to spend the afternoon. I could have spent the whole day just touring the gardens. We only had a short amount of time before the bus was leaving back to Paris, though, so we were only able to spend an hour or so there.

The highlight of the trip was being able to go to Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral in the morning. Although I couldn't understand any of the homily, the Mass was structured in the same way, and the setting and surroundings were all beautiful. Because of all of the tourists taking part in the Mass, there were translations of the readings into English, Italian, and German in the church program and there were also translated versions of the hymns to make it easier for Catholics (and people of other denominations) to take part in the service. It was also interesting because they allow tourists to walk through the back of the church while Mass is taking place, so there would be camera flashes going off throughout the service. There were also people who were attending Mass that were taking pictures before and after the service--the ushers were trying to get people to be respectful of what was taking place, but their efforts were to no avail.

One thing that made being in Paris much more difficult was the language barrier--although I know some very basic French, it was difficult to try to get around and to understand many of the signs throughout Paris. For example, a friend and I were shopping in a store, and several people tried to tell us that the store was closing, but we didn't understand what they meant, and they didn't speak English.  Finally, we realized when the woman pointed at her watch, that they were trying to shoo us out. Overall, I am glad that I took the time to see Paris and see many of the landmarks in the city, but I think that I have felt safer and have just enjoyed the city of London more than Paris.

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