What better to start off that same night than a crepe right below the Eiffel Tower? My favorite thing since I've been in Europe has been nutella so I had to get a nutella crepe. The little crepery stand had a guy making them fresh right in front of you. He handed me a steamed folded up creme with warm nutella stuffed inside gushing out of the top. Hesitantly, I paused from devouring my crepe and looked up, it was exactly 6:00 p.m., the first time of the night that the Eiffel Tower's sparkle lights go off(They go off every hour on the hour for about 5 minutes in addition to the normal lights that light up the tour at night) I thought I just about died and gone to heaven. Not a bad way to spend your first night in Paris.
The next morning Christina and I headed off towards the Palace of Versailles. As we headed towards the palace I was greeted by enormous, lavishly decorated gates. Everywhere I looked the palace was outlined in gold. The inside of the Palace was marvelous, every room was decorated magnificently. When I walked into every room the first thing I would do was look up because every ceiling either had a breathtaking painting or an exquisite chandelier. Everywhere you looked there was gold, whether it was a bed, mirror, painting, window, chair or desk. Although the inside was beautiful, nothing compares to the gardens of Versailles.
As I walked outside I felt as though I was entering a scene of Pride and Prejudice.(Which by the way happens to be my favorite movie of all time, Mom and Karrina you both know this) At the moment I was Marie-Antoinette strolling outside for the day, possibly to have tea by the lake or perhaps stroll by one of my many fountains. I walked down the center of the garden between two ponds to look out upon another few ponds lined by gardens ending in a large lake. I decided to walk down a particular row which ended up leading me to a separate private garden to the side of the main walking area(which no one happened to be in while I was there). The garden had trees with leaves colors ranging from green, to red, to orange to yellow. It started to rain just a little, not enough to the point that it was uncomfortable but just enough to that the water sparkled off every tree, bush, leaf and flower. It was probably one of my favorite moments of being in France.
After Versailles, we headed back to the main city center of Paris. We went to the Orsay Museum which is the impressionist museum. This museum had some of my favorite paintings I've seen in Europe. It had rooms full of Monet and Van Gogh which was like nothing I had ever seen before. The colors of Monet's paintings seemed to jump out of the frame as if he had just painted the scene that very day. Van Gogh's paintings were amazing to see in person, the museum had an incredibly impressive collection of his works and I thought were placed together very well in the exhibition.
The following day Christina and I met up with two of my good friends from the Rome program, Kiara and Sean. The four of us started the day with the Lourve. Since we arrived about twenty minutes after it opened, we were fortunate that there weren't too many people. Since the museum is so incredibly large we mapped out what main pieces of art we wanted to see. First, we headed straight for the Mona Lisa. It was amazing to be able to see Da Vinci's work in person. I had seen this masterpiece in multiple books, but the real thing was something else. The look on her face was so intriguing, if it wasn't for the crowd surrounding the painting I probably could've stood and starred at the painting for hours. Other pieces of art that I saw included the Venus de Milo, The Seated Scribe from Saqqara (dating to 2600 B.C.), The Nike of Samothrace (190 B.C.), Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, numerous sculptures by the great Bernini and paintings by Caravaggio and Gentileschi. We spent about three and a half hours in the Museum, and even then I felt like I had only seen about half of the whole thing. It is the most overwhelming yet fascinating museum I have ever seen.
After the Lourve, we headed to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We walked all the way to the top of the cathedral where the wonderful gargoyles of Notre Dame peered out towards the view of Paris. The gargoyles were by far my favorite part of the cathedral, every one was different and all had a different facial expression. We walked to the bell tower where the great bell was on display. It was much thicker than I pictures and I can't even imagine attempting to ring something so enormous.
That night the four of us decided to a buy some wine and what better than to drink it by the Eiffel Tower? I sipped wine on the steps overlooking the Eiffel Tower and just about pinched myself. Eleven o'clock struck, the sparkly lights went off, and all four of us cheersed to the beauty of Paris. Now I can officially say, bucket list item number one -- check.
Paris was the number one city I wanted to visit while in Europe. Overall, I think it was my absolute favorite city out of every one that I have visited so far. Although I feel as though I say this after every place I visit, I'll say it again. Paris was an amazing city, but I can't picture myself studying there for four months. Rome still feels like home to me and the more I travel the more sure I become that I fit in just fine here :)
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