Paris, France in a day

Monday, July 28, 1997
5:00 PM

Paris has thundered by like a rocket and now it is just about over. I wish I had written with my observations earlier in the day, but this is the first time I have had time to catch my breath.

Last night was a glorious night of sleep for me. I slept ever second of the seven hours that I was on the Eurorail train and it was much needed rest. I had not been sleeping well for most of the trip, but with the stresses of getting to Germany now out of my mind, I was able to sleep comfortably and calmly all night.

When we first pulled into France, the first three hours were spent in administration. A shower, currency exchange, and a luggage storage problem made our initial preparations costly to the tune of a large chunk of the morning. Combined with the problem that for the first time we would not be departing the city from the same place we were arriving and you have a good number of time consuming issues to address.

The subway system in Paris is excellent and I was able to get to a tourism bus where Shola and I took the obligatory "once around the city tour." I didn’t care much for the tour as a whole, but it did give me a focus as to what sites I wanted to see during the day. I discovered that I wanted to do a lot of things.

Two of a kind?

The first place I went after the bus tour concluded was the Louvre. Perhaps the world’s greatest museum, there are so many pieces of art in the Louvre that it is said if you were to spend five minutes looking at each item, it would take you over a decade to view everything. It was filled with absolutely every form of art you could imagine from sculptures, to modern art, to my favorite art form : oil paintings. The Louvre is most famous for its two signature sculptures, Winged Victory and Venice de Milo and perhaps the most famous painting in the world, Mona Lisa. I found each of these to be extraordinary although I felt far too much attention paid to the Mona Lisa. It did not appear to me that it was even the best painting in the gallery it was in much less in the entire world.

While at the Louvre, I became attached to several paintings including the Coronation of Napoleon, Le Deluge by Girodet Trioson, and a painting of Napoleon on horseback by Paul Delarouche. I only had an hour or two to spend at the Louvre, but it was well worth the price of admission.

From the Louvre, it was off to Notre Dame. I was taken by the utter size of this church and of course its legend. As I was walking up to the church, I saw a young American kid walking away from the church with a Notre Dame hat (of the Anne Arbor variety) and it invoked a descent chuckle in me.

The church was undergoing major renovations and there was a noticeable color differential between its upper and lower portions. The interior of the church was very beautiful and the famous stain-glass windows truly lived up to their reputation in every sense of the word. I only spent a short time at Notre Dame as there were other things I wanted to see that I felt took precedent.

Next stop was the Arc of Triumph which was one of the highlights of my entire trip. Nothing could prepare me for the utter size of this monstrosity. Built to celebrate Napoleon’s military victories, it symbolizes power and dominance. There are wonderful sculptures that adorn the sides of the structure and the names of Napoleon’s victorious battles are engraved on the interior walls. Under the arch lies a tomb to an unknown soldier with an eternal flame.

The arc lies at the end of the avenue of the Champs-Elysees in the circle of Charles de Gaulle. Just one day prior to our arrival, the final stage of the tour’ de France took place at this very same location. I was upset when I heard that news because it would have been really neat to have seen the conclusion of the greatest bicycle race in the world. However, I was also told that the volume of people in the city yesterday was three to four times the normal number and it would have been nearly impossible to see all the things I desired. So from that standpoint, I feel like I really lucked out (as I did in Munich yesterday.)

The magnificent Arc of Triumph - There are several people walking around on the top of the Arch which give you some sense of this structures enormous size.

	When it came to the Eiffel Tower, Shola kept his distance	It was a short subway ride from the arc to the Eiffel Tower. Shola is afraid of heights and had no desire to go up to the top. So he left me there and opted instead to do some shopping. I went up to the top and enjoyed the view. The air was pretty clear today and it seemed you could see for miles. The Arc of Triumph was the sole landmarks in Paris that I could see with any detail from the elevated tower. Just about everything else was too small to make out. I did manage to see the smaller version of the statue of liberty from the tower. It sits on an island in the middle of Seine river. I took lots of pictures of Paris from the Eiffel Tower, and each photo tells a different story. While standing in line halfway up the structure gazing out into the beautiful skyline, I heard some girls speaking very good English nearby and decided to strike up a conversation with them. They attended Georgetown University which is not far from where I live and work. Upon further communication I discovered that one of the girls was the best friend of someone I work with. What a small world. Thousands of miles from home, atop one of Paris’ signature landmarks, I run into someone from my own backyard. After reuniting with Shola, we decided to have dinner at a little café nearby and that is where I presently sit. I am eating at the Champs de la Mars, a small upscale Café that is literally in the shadow of the Eiffel. I find the restaurant has a unique ambiance that I revel in! I feel such a strange emotion overcome me as I sit here. I feel mature, I feel independent, I feel privileged. Here I am in downtown Paris, France watching the traffic as it turns toward the Eiffel Tower, eating Escargot at one of the city’s fine cafés. As far as a vacation scenario is concerned, I’m not sure it gets much better than that.
	The Seine river from the Eiffel Tower
	This ain't King's Dominion - It's a long way down
	The city of Paris is both large and beautiful. In the foreground, the Palais du Royal

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