Keine Frische Luft in Paris

My fellow CBYXer, Emily, had told me that she found Paris to be a rather dirty city and the only thing in Paris that was spotless were the public toilets. Well, based on my first impression, (I can't account for the cleanliness of the toilets) I did find Paris to be not so clean. However with further exploration of the city, I found out that only certain parts are not up to par. But I'll get to that in a moment. But I should provide some background information before I start ranting about my weekend. My family is very influenced by French. Claude's parents live on the border of France; Barbara has the equivalent of a Master's Degree in French; Claude and Barbara both speak fluent French; they are both practically experts on Paris as well. And when I moved in, Barbara promised me that they'd take me to Paris because "you haven't seen Europe until you've seen Paris." And I believe Barbara is right on that one. Paris is an incredible city.

So now I can start to describe all that we did this past weekend. We arrived in Paris late on Friday evening. I was the only lucky one who had no school on Friday. So we saw the major attractions of Paris on Saturday. We started with the Eiffel Tower. Barbara and I went up the tower; and like typical Germans, we used the stairs. Marie-Claire and Claude waited underneath and Claude ended up getting an Eiffel Tower keychain in exchange for a cigarette. And guess who Claude the keychain? We continued next to the Arc de Triomphe. Barbara and I, again, went to the top of the Arc and I found the views (from here) of Paris better than from the Eiffel Tower. The Arc de Triomphe is also basically the center of Paris, with a wicked traffic circle surrounding it. And the city of Paris was not destroyed during the war; therefore, it's an old and what I found to be a dense city. Some parts and views looked more like they belonged in the Middle East (that's the impression they gave me.) We all walked along the Champs Elysées, which is the main shopping street in Paris (similar to 5th Ave. in NYC and High St. in London). We continued further along the Champs Elysées through the square called Place de la Concorde with an Egyptian Statue called Obélisque. After that came the Jardin des Tuileries (basically a park that connects Place de la Concorde to the Louvre. We continued through a gate that looked almost identical to the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin. This brought us to the Louvre.
After getting a glimpse of the Louvre (a museum that could take a lifetime to go through), we went to a small island (separated by the Seine River) known as the Ile de La Cité, or better known as where you find the Notre Dame. Along the way to the Notre Dame, we came across these antique book sellers, along the Seine River known as in French Les Bouquinistes. And after a break at the hotel we ate dinner and walked to the top of the sector, Montmartre. This is the highest hill in Paris with the Sacré-Cœur Church on the top. It was still light out at 10pm, and when it finally got dark, I photographed the illuminated Eiffel Tower. Having that conclude an exciting Saturday, before heading home on Sunday, we went to the Centre Ponpidou. A unique exhibition building that was literally built from the "inside-out". And there are many creative fountains and artistic groups all over the square. The ride home concluded an awesome weekend. This brings my list of cities/towns that I've visited this year to 55 cities in 7 different countries. I felt like Paris was a great way to conclude my travels. With two weekends remaining, that means 5% of the year is still remaining, and I'd like to make each percentage count!


Where I've Been 2009-2010 auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. To explain a little about the title: Paris doesn't know "fresh air" like the Germans.