Day 3 - Paris (Part 2/2)

Yesterday, we were saw Paris from high and were insulted by a sad French man. Today, we travel to the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, and Notre Dame.

Behold, the Arc
After leaving Fnac, we walked up Champs de Élysées -- the equivalent of Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive -- all stores we can't even think about affording. So Em was allowed to ooo and ahh, but rarely actually go inside said stores.

The avenue is quite striking though -- huge and wide sidewalks with cafes and their annex 30 feet away near the street and a tangible energy and spending of cold cash. It's also the site of past military parades and the last leg of the Tour de France.

'Bout a mile of walking later, we come to the Arc de Triomphe. Massive structure. Just huge. Much bigger than I thought it'd be (it stands 50 meters high; 164 feet).

Let's put it this way -- it's so big that somebody's flew a plane through the arc in 1919. Photo is here if you don't believe me...

Equally stunning is the roundabout ...around... the arc. Twelve different streets feed into it, and with no lanes, watching cars navigate their way around the monument is pure panic and terror.

So it goes without saying that we didn't walk across the street Frogger style to get to it. Instead, you walk underground, under the roundabout and come up in the middle. Walking up the stairs, you look for the sunlight, breach the top and suddenly you're staring up at the arc -- amazing.

The reliefs on the arc facades -- there are six of them -- are so detailed and ornate; fairly impressive for a monument built by Napoleon back in 1836. The same goes for the inside and ceiling of the monument -- decorated with art and the names of some 500 French military figures.

For a small fee, visitors can actually go into the Arc's attic/museum, and then up to the roof for a view from the top. But this trip carried a theme wherever we went -- no lines. So we avoided lines and rarely went inside anything, anywhere. This was no exception.

Instead, we sat down outside, admired the scenery, scoffed at the traffic, observed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and reflected back on how many people stood in the same place -- Napoleon, Hitler, JFK and wife, Charles de Gaulle, and countless others -- all under very different circumstances.

Onward to the Louvre
After spending our share of time in and around (but not on) the Arc, we walked back across/under the street to where we'd enter the Champs de Élysées metro station.

My agency background was at a firm that dealt exclusively with public transportation agencies. So I'd by lying if I said I'm not a bit cocky about easily using public transit and planning trips.

And then we got to Paris. And the Paris transit system slayed me.

It's not that the system doesn't go everywhere, it does. It's more that the routes and vehicles aren't blatantly apparent.

I'm a guy; I require 'blatantly apparent.'

Before we left the country, I found the subway line we'd need to go to the Louvre. I'd mapped it out, knew how  many stops it'd take to get there.

So when we arrived at the station, we easily paid our fare, we easily followed the signs to the correct platform, and then we probably stood on said platform for 15 minutes -- watching subway cars fly-in, hundreds of people disembark, and fly-away.

I'd never seen a system move so quickly. But the trains weren't branded and they didn't have any exterior signage where they were going.

My hesitation being, I didn't want us boarding in haste and confusion only to find out we'd boarded a train out of the city.

We finally just boarded a train, and once inside, there was signage galore confirming that yes, this was indeed the right train. ...woulda been nice to have that same signage near the platform... ya know, for this lame American travelers...

Ten minutes later we'd arrived at the Louvre.

First, you should know that I was among the hoards of people who read Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code years ago, and then saw Ron Howard's silver screen version -- in which the Louvre plays a fairly large role.

So walking through one of the Palace's arches to be greeted by the Louvre's iconic (whether the French like it or not) pyramid was breathtaking.

The palace, which houses the museum, was used as a fortress (the Louvre is a stone's throw away from the Seine) beginning in the 12th century -- think about that. This place (or select pieces that remain of it) are medieval. It wasn't until around 1800 that the palace was converted and used as an art museum. Then in 1989 the icon pyramid was built -- the entrance to the monstrous museum.

In the courtyard stands the pyramid entrance we all know too well as well as fountains and pools. It made for a nice place to rest and take in the sights; which is something we found repeatedly throughout Paris -- a clean, safe place to sit, nothing more.

Just like our trip to the Eiffel Tour, the queue to get into the museum snaked long throughout the courtyard. But with our prepaid tickets, we skipped the entire thing and immediately entered the museum.

We probably got to the Louvre around 4:00 p.m.; we were tired and hungry and hot. So being the great, understanding and compassionate husband that I am, I led my wife through the museum on a trek to find Mona Lisa.

As one of the museum's most popular pieces, ya'd think they'd have a prominent exhibit for her, instead, it was a marketer's dream location -- kind of like putting milk in the back of the grocery store. We probably followed signage through the museum for 20 minutes, a new walking tour.

Before we'd left, I also downloaded a podcast and PDF map from Rick Steves to help us through the Louvre on a short timeframe. We resigned ourselves that there was no way we were going to see everything, so we'd see whatever we could.

So there we walked, through one of the world's most amazing museums with iPad in hand, leading the way and pointing out some of the most famous pieces.

We made our way through the Grand Gallery, which is filled with Italian painters (only Italian painters I believe), took a right into a room, and there before us was Mona Lisa -- behind plexiglass, behind stantions, behind a crowd of packed people.

But still, there she was. And then, we had to remind ourselves, that, there we were too.

After taking the same photo 3 times and raising our elbows to ward off spatially-challenged tourists, we continued walking through the Grand Gallery -- Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo (not the turtles). As we walked, I took photos, Em manned the iPad, showing where the next piece was.

The shocking part to us, was the amount of flash photography being used. It was everywhere. And people would stand there in front of a plexiglass frame, using a flash, and wondering why there was a glare in the photo; so they'd try again and again and again. Idiots.

As we walked through the gallery, I woman our age came up and asked Em if she was using an iPad app to get around the Louvre with the iPad. Em responded that it wasn't an app and that it was "just a map that some guy drew."

The girl looked down at the iPad again and said, "Oh! That's a Rick Steves map!" I hadn't exactly told Em who drew what and who Rick Steves was, so she was appropriately puzzled.

The girl continued, "Rick Steves is here today, I saw him downstairs eating a carrot!" And thus concluded our awkward conversation of the day...

After walking the entire gallery, we also went downstairs to see if Rick Steves had anymore carrots; we were hungry and cranky. Rick must've hopped away, so we visited the Louvre cafe instead. Here, we shared a sandwich, a pastry and a Coke.

This would be a pattern for us, we'd share a meal and wonder why were were so hungry. We'd also think any and all food we had was "the most amazing ever. We're still unsure if this was due to hunger, or if in fact, everything was the most amazing ever.

Before we left, we went up to see the Greek sculptures -- Venus de Milo and Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss among them. But the piece that shocked me was Winged Victory.

Installed at the top of a staircase, Winged Victory stands by itself, headless, armless, but gorgeous and powerful. This piece completely made the visit to the Louvre for me. Ya know...cause the hundreds of thousands of other priceless works of art just didn't make the cut.

More walking
It was 7:00 p.m. and we had a choice. Either we walk North for a mile and a half to the Ritz Carlton (Em's mom stayed here years ago and it was our hope to find her room from the garden cafe -- the same view seen in 1904's painting by Pierre-Georges Jeanniot) or we could walk Southwest for a mile to Notre Dame.

It came down to a matter of which we wanted to see more, or be upset if we didn't see. So on to Notre Dame we went.

It was a nice walk along the right bank through a part of town that wasn't as touristy and busy as the Trocadero area.

About 20 minutes later we took a left, saw the Seine on the right side, and in front of us stood Notre Dame's towers.

When we arrived, it was closed, the doors were locked, the gates shut.

So we admired the architecture from the outside, doing a lap around the property starting with the west facade, noting the detail used throughout, as well as the number of gargoyles.

At sunset, it was stunning -- the light, the Seine, the architecture.

When we'd completed the lap, somebody walked out from the church, unlocked the gate and began letting people in for a special video presentation.

So in we went, not for the presentation, but to admire the stained glass and interior with what was left of the day's sunlight.

The setting sun added a different feel to the interior, it was subdued, but still brilliant. Quiet, but still demanded your attention.

How do we get back?
It wasn't really a question, just a statement.

We were 4 miles away from our hotel and it was nearly 8:30 p.m. We hadn't eaten since we'd shared a sandwich at the Louvre and the sun was setting.

So we hailed a taxi and had him take us back across town -- well worth the 11 Euro price tag. It was pretty much the first time we'd sat down all day.

But as relaxing as the taxi ride should've been, it only reminded me of the Bourne films. We were speeding along the Seine in a taxi. Across the river was a European-sounding siren, and vespas seemed to be scooting past you at every turn.

I full expected Matt Damon to jump into our cab, break our driver's neck, and ask to pay if he could use our taxi. Sure Matt Damon, go ahead, but could you kindly stop at 3 Boulevard de Grenelle first? We're awfully hungry.

We dropped into the room, freshened up a bit and headed down to a different cafe on the corner of Boulevard de Grenelle and Quai Branly.

Here we had (shared) a salami pizza and green salad. And of course, after we dropped by to see our crepe friend and ordered another chocolate crepe with chantilly -- which melted extremely fast but tasted oh so good.

Over dinner we agreed that we could live in Paris. Its energy and personality are appealing enough to make me want to move to a smaller pad with two dogs and no doubt, new French men to insult me.

The next morning was an early pick-up for our flight to Barcelona, so we took a look at the lit-up tower once more and headed to bed.



NEXT
Paris -> Barcelona
Day in Barcelona