Paris, Paris, Paris! - Part One

I went to Paris thinking, "Oh man, I've already been here, I've already done this, and I'm just going to hate it again." I admit it was a bit pessimistic, but to be fair, my first journey to Paris hadn't gone very well. The first time was characterized by jetlag, miserably cold weather, a tragically comical series of dragging huge suitcases up and down the Metro steps, and the stereotypical rude locals. While I found the architecture and the Louvre beautiful, I had been so put off by the rest of the experience that I was simply not very excited to go to Paris again.

And then I got there. Six hours by train - the same amount of time it takes to get from Tucson to L.A. by car - and we were stepping out of Gard du Nord and into one of the best weekends I've had since I arrived overseas.

After checking into our hostel, my travel companions (Rachael, another American, and Alfie, an English flatmate with near-fluent French skills) and I decided to wander around, find some food for dinner, and see the Eiffel Tower at night. We braved a late-night Japanese restaurant, needing to try things out based on how they looked in the glass case since Alfie's French didn't reach as far as Japanese cuisine. Luckily, everything was quite good (except some strange shrimp dumplings).

The Eiffel Tower at night is beautiful. It's actually kind of beautiful all the time, and I probably snapped over a hundred photos of it in the end. But at night, it is especially beautiful. Glittering on the hour, changing colour... We admired it, sidestepping the "bling bling?" vendors and craning our necks to get a better look. It became, for the weekend, our monument. It was our geographical landmark, our stop every night before going home, and, every night we were there, it offered us something different.

The next morning, we had to go up it. After croissants for breakfast (of course!) and a short walk to the Tower, we stood in a surprisingly short queue and bought tickets to the summit. Breath-taking. Absolutely breath-taking. It's the entirety of Paris shrunk down to a panoramic view by the miracle of upright steel. You can see everything. I couldn't believe how 'worth it' the experience was and how much it wasn't just a tourist attraction, but a necessity in visiting Paris.

After leaving the Tower, we tried to book it to a free walking tour. Unfortunately, we missed the tour by fifteen minutes. But in the spirit of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel, we renovated our day's plans and decided to hop over to the nearby Louvre to spend the afternoon in there.
Three and a half hours in there flies by too quickly. We wandered the corridors, forcing Alfie to translate the placards when we wanted to know more about a certain painting (which was often). It was nice - perhaps not enough time, but I felt like I was able to sit and really absorb the paintings which spoke to me without being rushed by a big group (ala the last time I was in the Louvre).

If it hadn't closed, I don't know that we would have left. Instead, we were back out on the streets of Paris. And this time, we were hungry. There was no question - we wanted French food and we wanted lots of it.
It seemed like we wandered forever, gazing into designer shop windows and salivating over impossible heels and more-expensive-than-my-car gowns and handbags. Finally, there was a place we wanted to eat at. We started with a miniature tower of mozzarella and tomato, accompanied by foie gras on toast. And in the end, foie gras isn't really my thing (though mozzarella and tomato on a baguette is always delicious). It isn't a bad flavour, just... different.

And as for other things that 'aren't really my thing', I took a risk and tried steak tartare. I love to try new food, and I knew it was going to be raw steak, but I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought perhaps it would be marinated strips or... well, I'm not sure, but I wasn't expecting something which looked like grocery store mince. It tasted okay - cold, understandably - but in the end, I think I prefer my meat cooked. Fortunately, we'd had the good sense to order a bottle of red wine to go with our red meat and it was a delicious addition to the meal (better than the meal, in my humble opinion). And to do the restaurant justice, Alfie's meal (cooked beouf) and Rachael's (scallops! yum!) were very tasty.

But dessert. Oh, dessert! It came with a demitasse of espresso and, for each of us, a miniature crème brûlée, a small slice of pound cake, and the most delectable little cup of chocolate mousse. Divine.

We walked back to the hostel, stuffed to the brim, and what do you know? It's the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower and, to honor it, there was a really cool light show put to some fun music. I told you our journey revolved around the Tower! We stood and watched it until the end, marveling once more at the glory of the building. Then it was back to the hostel to sleep for the next day.



Part Two will follow shortly. =)