Printemps à Paris Day One

We kicked off our Spring break extravaganza in Paris. I had horrible memories of Paris from when I was there in 1999. There were no bathrooms everywhere. The whole city was subject to public urination. They ate frogs. It was dirty. Dog poop was everywhere. So I was really setting up Beth, who had dreamed of going to the City of Lights ever since she was a little girl, for disappointment.

Fortunately for both of us, I was totally wrong about Paris. It was gorgeous, beautiful and magical. The food was delicious, the buildings were lovely, the grass was green and the sunlight glittered on the surface of the Seine. Trés Romantic.

Beth and I triumphantly got off our exhausting night train and navigated the metro to find our hostel. We fet very successful. First things first, we walked to the Notre Dame, eating so many pastries and bread on the way. Our hostel was in a very hip neighborhood with tons of bars, bistros, crêpe stands, and a market with stalls full of delicious things and disgusting looking seafood. There was also a bubble tea house, where we indulged in bubble tea twice durring our stay.

Notre Dame on the inside looked remarkably like the Cathedral in Prague, only much more enormous and cavernous. It took us an hour (although we were walking slowly) to see everything. Every nave was stuffed full of carvings, stained class, paintings and decorations. I took my first two graphite etchings, where I laid a thin piece of paper down on some texture and rubbed it with a stick of graphite. I did this all over Europe and was terrified that I would get yelled at for publicly defacing a bunch of 500 year old churches. Fortunately, nobody said anything.

Afterwards we went for lunch in a tiny little bistro and felt very fancy, especially since they don't really serve Fanta in Paris, they serve Orangina instead, and it came in the little glass bottle. Beth really was happy to feeling so French.

The Musee d'Orsay was next. We stayed there until closing. I was jumping for joy at every corner, particularly to see one my favorite paintings in the world, Manet's Olympia. Other highlights included seeing Manet's Luncheon on the Grass, and Matisse's Luxe Calme et Volupté. There is nothing in the world I love more than seeing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, and for that reason, the Musee d'Orsay is number 2 on my list of top 5 favorite Museums in the world. (Number one is Art Institue of corse.)

I was so tired and sleepy after the first day I fell asleep at 9:30. This becomes a theme of the trip.