Day 6 – Paris: Typical Tourist and Not-So-Typical

1.   Sara: “You can write another novel. [To you all DEVOTED READERS] Ready for Miel’s birthday novel?”

2.     Joyeux anniversaire à moi! The downside of turning 18 in Paris is that suddenly you have to pay to get into things (we had two “one adult, one under-18” ticket orders today, despite the fact that we’re a month apart… it’s amusing). The upside of turning 18 in Europe is that a) we now know for certain that we won’t have trouble at customs and hotels and such and b) EIGHTEEN IN EUROPE. BEST EIGHTEEN EVER. (Sara: YOU’RE SO OLLLLDDD.)

3.     Random things we forgot to include in yesterday’s post:

a.     Often signs or even ads are in English; frequently, they are in three languages, with the third language being Spanish. (When they want to branch out, they include Italian and German.) We’ve also heard a bit of Spanish, which is exciting for Sara (“except it’s usually on the métro, when it’s too loud to catch more than a few words”).

b.  By la Tour Eiffel yesterday, two tourists came up to us while we were eating our sandwich/crêpes and asked us if we spoke English. MAIS OUI! Anyway, they wanted to know where the métro was, and I’m afraid we weren’t very helpful, because we’re tourists too and we had just gotten there and… yeah. Anyway, according to Sara, the situation was amusing because they were asking us if we spoke English and we were the native English speakers (they were not). 

c.     Yesterday, as we were leaving la Tour Eiffel, we asked an employee how to get to the métro (or rather, I did). He asked if I was Russian… um, no? That was amusing, and then I told him I was American, and then we did our little Franglais conversation as per usual. So apparently as long as I don’t speak for too long, I can pass as Russian in Europe.

Now for the real post.

Today started out with breakfast at the hotel as per usual. Yummy. Then we went to the Louvre, where we saw… many things. Many important and well-done pieces of art (painting, sculpture, les objets d’art, etc., etc.) by influential and great artists. We saw galleries that featured French paintings, Northern European painters (mainly Dutch), Italian paintings (lots and lots), Spanish, Greek and Roman sculptures, sculpture from various African countries (mainly western Africa but also some central and southern), sculpture various American countries (including Canada, the U.S., Mexico [Aztec, Mayan], Columbian, from Easter Island), and English paintings. Sara wants to note that the “building itself is as cool as the art” (and I agree).  [Sara just called herself a “backseat writer.”] Anyway, the Louvre, for three hours. Then we had lunch at one of the cafés inside (including mousse).

Painting-ception

Ceiling! (Louvre)

The most famous art museum in the world still has intense pictures of random food in the cafeteria.

After this, we attempted to find le Musée de l’orangerie, only there was a line, and it wasn’t on the schedule (I must say that I think I’ve been pretty good about being fairly loose about the schedule), so I vetoed it. I don’t actually like art museums, but one must go to them, so that one can return and say “Oh, why yes, we went to the Louvre and this other museum and this charming little one on rue – etc., etc.,” and seem cultured. So, anyway, we are now officially more cultured and educated, and it was cool to see paintings/painters that I studied in Euro (for example, at the Louvre we saw a Caravaggio painting that Kate and I used in our Euro art history project last year; I took a picture for uploading purposes, but the internet's being slow, so perhaps at a later date). 

We stood in the middle of the road* to take this picture.

Rather self-explanatory... 

Next, we walked along les Champs-Elysées towards l’Arc de Triomphe. There were many stores along the way, and many shoppers. In short, very busy street/sidewalk. There was a short line for tickets, but it moved fairly quickly, so it was fine. The ground level was interesting from a historical lens, in that I could trace French wars by the plaques in the ground, and also there was one featuring Charles de Gaulle’s appel from London, which we read in French class this past winter. It was definitely fun to see it on the ground in REAL LIFE somewhere VERY COOL AND IMPORTANT. After that, we walked up to the top. We took pictures of the various landmarks we went to yesterday from the Arc. The weather at this point was absolutely perfect, so we hung out a bit up there. Blue skies, light wind, lovely temperature, sunny.

On the top of l'Arc de Triomphe

The end of l'appel from Londres; the flame of the French resistance will not go out! 

After this, we took the métro to le Parc de la Villette. It wasn’t exactly clear from the métro where to go, but our instinct led us there very well. (Sara: follow the small children on bikes. Slash, when you see a carousel, you’re in the right place.) I didn’t really know what it was before going there, but it turns out it’s a real park, with various playground type areas for children, a carousel, a large metal sphere that reminded us of Chicago’s Bean, and some open green spaces in which people were playing football (“soccer”). Not actual organized games, but passing the ball (which came fairly close to us a few times) and such. Also very nice weather there. On the way back to the métro, a young woman started speaking French to Sara, who looked alarmed and pointed to me. She wanted to know if I knew the quartier; I did not, and told her so. Hopefully she figured out how to get wherever she needed to be! Regardless, yay, exciting moment! (Sara is skeptical about this exciting nature of this moment, but I hold that it was exciting even though I couldn’t help her because she thought that it was worth it to at least try, and she asked in French, and I replied in French, and thus… exciting.)

Once back by our hotel, we stopped and got dinner at a café. Then, we went to a different café to get crêpes au chocolat, and they were warm and delicious. This brings us back to our hotel. We have to turn in our room key each time we leave the hotel (I guess to ensure they don’t get lost/stolen), so every time we return, we have to tell them our room number, which I always do in French. I had another short Franglais conversation with the employee, and he said I spoke French well, which was a lovely birthday present.

Day trip tomorrow. I’ll say no more now, but just note it has to do with one of the many fandoms to which we belong (“courtesy of me,” says Sara, who introduced it to me). As such, bon nuit to our MUCH LOVED AND APPRECIATED READERS.

- Miel & Sara


* Note to parents/concerned adults: We were actually standing on one of those center islands, so we weren't actually in the road proper.