We started the next day at 3 in the morning, and said our goodbyes to Raven and Katsu as we made or way to the bus to catch our flight. We got to Paris around 9 that morning, but didn't get to our hostel until 4 that afternoon due to the hostel being about 4-5 miles away, also due to us taking our time getting there. We passed by the famous Arch de Triumph, a massive Virgin Entertainment Megastore, the pyramids by the Louvre, and Notre Damm along the way. Once we got to the hostel, we decided to just nap and relax until about 8 that night. We found an off-the-beaten-path diner next door that had some of the best food/probably the most unhealthy food we had all trip. After dinner, we stopped by the train station to figure out the easiest way to travel while in Paris. After leaning more about the metro, Andrew decided that he would venture to the Eifell tower, while John and I stayed back at the hostel. Overall, a fairly uneventful first night.
The next day, we work up to the lovely sounds of some random guy in a mask running through the halls banging on the doors, telling everyone to get out of the hostel. Apparently, its a rule that between 11 and 3, everyone has to leave the hostel so they can clean the rooms...not only is that a long time to clean a few rooms, but when we got back that night, all they did was put our sheets on our bed and take out the trash. Not really any cleaner then when we left it that morning. While we were gone, we decided that we would try and find the Tim Burton museum exhibition at the Cinematheque Francaise. When we were at the train station, we were told that the cinema museum was next to the Louvre, so we took the metro to the Louvre station. After asking around the Louvre, we found out that the cinema museum was actually closer to our hostel, which was practically on the other side of town. I guess it was a form of serendipity though, because we found out that all of the main museums are closed on Tuesdays (the next day), so that day was our only day to see the Louvre.
After waiting in line for what must have been close to an hour, we made it into the Louvre. I have been there before back in sophomore year, but this time around I felt as if I was able to appreciate more of the art work, and all of the other exhibitions they had. We spent easily about 4 hours in the museum. One cool, but crazy fact I heard was that if someone was to spend 1 minute at each painting in the Louvre, it would take them 5 years to get through it all. After aimlessly walking around the museum for a while, I finally stumbled across the Mona Lisa, which, to me, isn't as great as it is cracked up to be. It is definitely a great thing to see, so you can say that you've seen it, but I feel as if there were paintings in the Louvre that were more entertaining and appealing to the eye. For example, the Mona Lisa is in the middle of this gigantic room (which I later found out is called the Mona Lisa room). It has it's own wall dedicated to it, but there are more paintings on the walls around it, along with an incredible, enormous painting behind the Mona Lisa called The Wedding at Cana, which is the largest painting in the museum (262in x 390 in). Despite this great painting being right behind the Mona Lisa, it seemed as if no one really cared about it. Also, apparently, there is one curator for the Mona Lisa, whose entire job and responsibility is to make sure nothing happens to the painting.
When the Louvre closed, we decided to go to the Notre Damm for one of its afternoon services. Even though I didn't understand anything they were saying, it was still nice to be there, and be a part of a service in such a historical place. It is hard to think that people go there every week for a normal church service though. During the service, there were tourists walking around the church taking pictures and talking the entire time. You would think that it would be distracting, but everyone seemed to ignore it. I guess that the congregation (especially those who have gone to the services for a while), just get used to it.
After the service, we thought we would venture to the Eiffel Tower so we could see it at night. Every hour, there are shimmering lights that cover the tower for about 15 minutes. Once there, we sat under the tower, waiting for it to light up. After the light show, I decided to walk up the tower so I could see the incredible view of Paris at night. Even though, I have been up the tower before, it was a completely different experience at night. At the top, you could see the streets and the lights below go on for miles and miles. After being up there for about an hour, or so, I met up with Andrew and John so we could get back to the hostel and prepare for another early morning.
We started the next morning bright and early, so we could get to the French Pantheon. While we were waiting in line, we met a French teacher who was on a school trip with her class from Minnesota. After talking to her for a while, she let us join her class so we could get into the Pantheon for free. I've got to say, it was pretty cool to be back in high school for an hour. While we were with her group, she told us about Foucault's pendulum, a pendulum in the middle of the Pantheon that is supposed to show the rotation of the Earth. It was really interesting to learn more about it, since we have a pendulum back at Hendrix that is supposed to do the same thing. Shortly after, the teacher showed us the crypt that was under the Pantheon. In the crypt, we found the graves of philosopher Voltare, and scientist Marie Curie.
Our next stop was the Musee d'Orsay, which was an old train station that was renovated into a museum. We spent about 2 hours there looking at the Van Gogh and Monet paintings, along with the crazy amount of sculptures and other paintings they had on the different floors. One thing that I really like about Paris is that they are very proud of the different kinds of art work and the museums they have. Majority of the museums in Paris are free to students, which is something you don't really find back home. They want people to appreciate art, and learn more about it, hence why you can go and see Van Gogh and Da Vinchi paintings all for free. After closing, we decided to have a "healthy" McDonalds dinner, where we celebrated John's birthday with a McMuffin and cappuccino. After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel and got packed up for our next day flight back to Chester.
Overall, it was definitely a memorable spring break. By seeing all of these difference places while abroad, I would definitely say that I have a bad case of the travel bug. I can already predict that it is going to be weird to be back in Conway next year. I just hope that sometime in the future, I'll have another opportunity to see more of these amazing places.
No comments:
Post a Comment