The next morning dawns, hot and hazy. We head out early in search of breakfast, armed with a better sense of the city and enthusiasm for the upcoming day. Our goal is to do the Louvre and la Tour Eiffel –a bit ambitious, but it’s me. I have to maximize my time in Paris – no sitting around unless it is doing something distinctly Parisian. We take a bus back to Ile de Cite, planning to find a bite to eat and walk to the Louvre. We wander through…and wander…and wander…and don’t find breakfast. There are places that advertise le petit dejeuner (incidentally, instead of calling me “ma petite amie”, Jason takes great delight in calling me “ma petite dejeuner”), but they are expensive – a coffee, an orange juice and a croissant for ten euro. Even if I had the money, I’d have a hard time spending that much just on principle!
Over an hour and a half pass – I’m tired, stressed, sick, hot, hungry, and haven’t yet had coffee. Dangerous state of mind, that one, and Jason isn’t much better off – you can imagine that we weren’t exactly getting along. We finally find a nice bakery and stuff ourselves full of flakey, buttery croissant, laced with apricot or chocolate. I down my espresso and we begin to make our way towards the Louvre. The food kicks in pretty quickly, but our moods need a bit more recovery time. I have to admit that at this point, I am feeling disillusioned and a little despondent – not my normal chipper, happy self. Luckily, Paris has something at every corner, such as the Louvre, that reminds me how amazing even a bad day in Paris can be.
How many times have I seen that glass pyramid and imagined wandering through one of the most amazing museum collections in the world? And here I was, passing down through the filtered sunlight and into vast palatial expanse of the Louvre! My excitement grew as I began to grasp the extensive history not only contained within the collections but built into the museum buildings themselves. We first encounter the excavated foundations of a fortress that was built on the site in the 13th century, just before one of the crusades. I love the feeling of walking in the footsteps of history – it is one of the perks of being an archaeologist, as I can indulge that feeling often.
Everywhere I went in the Louvre, there was something more astounding to see. I turn a corner and voila! The Venus de Milo! I walk into a mostly empty room, only to be stared down by the seated bulls from the palace of Sargon. I know that means nothing to most of you, but I nearly fell over in delight. Normally, museums seem to focus on a particular topic or region, but in the Louvre, we saw exhibits on Egypt (including the seated statue of Ramses II), Greek and Etruscans, a history of sculpture, Renaissance art, Medieval tapestry, and Mesopotamia/Babylon. We skipped a lot of the paintings, because I wanted to see all of the archaeological collections and Jason prefers sculpture as a medium for art.
Our final stop in the museum involved the most famous piece of all: the Mona Lisa. Crowds of people stood and stared, some there to say they had seen one of the most famous pieces of art, immortal even before Dan Brown and Hollywood, some to appreciate it for the talent that went into creating it. Me, I wanted to look at the canvas and bask in the aura of the master himself. Five hundred or so years ago, Da Vinci picked up a paintbrush and created a work that captured one aspect of his genius, and now I get to stand in front of the same painting. Again, my fascination is with the history of the art, not so much the art itself, because I believe art has the meaning that we give to it.
Five hours later, we emerge back into the sunlight and heat of the Paris afternoon. Our next destination is another aspect of Paris that has captured my imagination for years as the icon of the city – la tour Eiffel. I had caught several glimpses of the dominant feature of the Paris cityscape, most notably from our hotel window. After five hours of walking in the Louvre, plus the walking earlier in the day, we are both pretty exhausted, but Jason has the luxury of comfortable shoes. When packing my small carry-on bag for three days in Paris, I decided that I could live without my running shoes and packed a pair of flats and my stylish Balinese flip-flops. As I repeatedly reminded Jason when he pointed out the impracticality of my shoes, I was not about to wander around Paris in my skirt with running shoes! When in Paris, one must consider fashion. And it is true – Parisian women dress to the nines, even at nine in the morning. I went into a drugstore, and I was surprised by the amount of creams, masks, powders and other substances for firming, toning, buffing and perfecting every part of the female form. I thought we were concerned with image in North America, but apparently France has the market cornered.
Anyways, we took a moment to sit and eat our snack and drink a bit of wine (in public no less!) before braving the crowds at la tour Eiffel. I wanted to go up, even if Jason is a wee bit leery of heights. We fight our way through the crowds milling about under the structure and tried to avoid the clouds of exhaust produced by all of the tour busses, only to get in a long line for the next 45 minutes. About fifteen minutes into our wait, a sign flashes above the ticket booth, informing us that the top level is temporarily closed due to “affluence”. By the time we get to purchase our tickets, the top is still closed, so we are only permitted to buy a ticket to the second level. We board the tram – a great piece of technology that I don’t think has been replaced in some time – you can see the gears and counterweights. The view is amazing, but it was very crowded, and in order to get up to the top, we would have to wait in line for another ticket and then wait in line to go up. By this point, it’s 7:30 and I’m hungry and ready to call it a night.
Unlike our stressful attempts to find food in the morning, we have a bit of luck finding dinner. The Eiffel Tower is right on the Seine, so we wander down to the water’s edge and discover a restaurant on a boat. We eat dinner floating on the river as the sun sets on our second day in Paris…
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