My first stop was the central train station. There actually was not a Central Station, like there was in Germany, but my first guess seemed lucky enough. There, I was led on a bit of a hunt to find the ticket office for international trains. But, once there it was fairly simple to book my train to Switzerland. Unfortunately, the ordeal was enough to tire me out a bit... so tired of dealing with reservations...
Anyway, I went back to the subway and headed to The Louvre. What a massive building! I walked like 3 blocks and was still walking next to the building! Luckily, my walk next to this museum, down the Rue de Rivoli, had a few sights of its own. The first of these was the Hotel Regina. While I never went in, it was prominent in the film, The Bourne Identity. There was also a cool statue of Joan of Arc outside of it.
My next stop was even better though. I went for "lunch" at the Angelina, which lived up to it's hype. I ordered the Le Chocolate a Lancienne Dit "L'Africain", and a Le Mont-Blanc. The prior is their old fashion french style hot chocolate, and it was the best I'd ever had. It was creamy and bitter, yet still sweet. It was also that awesome kind of warm, think and creamy where when it sits for a few minutes you need to stir it to prevent it from filming over... so good! The pastry was a meringue with whipped cream cheese covered in a sweet chestnut paste. I actually thought it was a bit overwhelming, and with the hot chocolate would have gone with a more fluffy dough pastry. That said, it was all pretty delicious!
From the Angelina, I finally found my way into the Louvre, and again must comment on its size. I'm sure some of this effect is created by it's non-compact shape, but its still really big. Either way, I walked around its courtyards for a while, and saw around all the pyramids and fountains before making my way inside. There, it was the most overwhelmingly chaotic museum ever. This is again I think a result of the size. But, there were lines and lines of people st different ticket machines, informations centers, shops and more.
But, I got myself a map, and a ticket, and headed inside. Not being a huge art fanatic, I did a brief Louvre tour. That is, I visit all the sites specifically noted on the map, so 3 things per floor. Most prominent of these were The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Mona Lisa, The Wedding Feast, Code of Hammurabi and the Venus de Milo. The Winged Victory stood at the top of the steps to the first floor. It was a sort of eerie beautiful, due to its location and damage, and yet still held so much beauty. I then went around this floor to the room that held the followingly mentioned paintings. Here I had a fun thought. In the case of The Wedding Feast, you know a painting is impressive when it is the wall. But, you know the Mona Lisa is impressive because it has a wall dedicated to it. Unfortunately, I think that to get a truly good experience with the painting you must be there at a much quieter time. For me the room was packed as people forced forward for pictures. It made it very difficult to just see the art. The Code of Hammurabi and the Venus de Milo were similar. Very beautiful, but you still had to fight the people.
So yea... some of the crowd issues were my own fault for seeing the sites specifically mentioned on the map, and I accept that. But, the museum itself... belongs in a museum. There is so much architectural work on the building, with tiled floors, carved pillars and painted ceilings. The building is really beautiful.
I then left and headed through the connected gardens. This took me to Cleopatra's Obelisk, standing in the center of Paris as a reminder of Egypt. A bit strange, I'll admit, but pretty none-the-less. It was also very pretty to see it with the Eiffel Tower standing in the backdrop. I then walked the length of the Champs Elysees, all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. I wanted to say, "I walked down the Champs Elysees and watched the people go by" as my title, but feared the relativity joke might need context... whatever...
Anyway, for a breather I sat on a bench when I arrived, and as I did I received a message from Connor (my cousin from Alaska). They were meeting at their hotel for dinner and were then heading to this very Arc. So, I'd be back! I grabbed the subway and headed down to the location Connor described, where I met up with him, his 2 teachers and class of 13 kids. They were a lot of fun. We went to some local place for dinner, and then went out on the town.
We took the train back to the Arc, where we all went to the top for some great views! While I don't like that Paris is not organized as a grid, the idea of road branching as a star from the arch is quite pretty. Impractical... but pretty. It was nice to be able to ask questions to the French teacher and be able to have a guide of sorts. We then went down and returned to the Louvre via a return walk down the Champs Elysees. Through dinner and the walk I had fun catching up with Connor and just chatting with the teachers. It was a relaxing way to end the evening.
As we got close to their hotel I bit them all farewell and a safe trip home as I hopped onto the subway again. I headed back to my hotel where I now write and am about to promptly crash into bed.
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