Once again, I found myself with a buzz and a full stomach last night. I’m writing this on Tuesday morning at 8, with Theresa sleeping next to me and an Evian bottle at my side. The wine here is fantastic, maybe that’s why I can’t resist. It could never hold its own against the housemade Italian wine I had in Pofi, but I’m not sure anything could.
Monday was just as epic of a day as I could hope. Theresa and I went to the school where her classes are held to stop in the library. It’s actually a business building downtown. Paris was mainly built out instead of up, so even the big time business buildings are shorter than what you’d find in the U.S. After that visit, we began working our way back to the more touristy part of Paris (versus the business part where the school building is) near the Opera. The Opera is such a beautiful and grand building. You can totally just get lost looking at it. The busy streets and constant push of traffic all around the area stops that lure as soon as you realize you have to be on guard for pedestrian unfriendly motorized vehicles. The sidewalks are extremely crowded most everywhere so that has been one of the major challenges of getting around the area. After a short walk through the streets and some window-shopping, we stopped at a Starbucks. I know that seems like a cop out, going to Starbucks in France, but we had our reasons behind it. We were headed to the Gardens outside of the Louvre and wanted to get a drink to go. The Cafes are not drink to go kinds of people so we went with big American business. The Starbucks was set up identically to the ones at home… same drinks, color scheme, cups, and furniture. It was oddly comforting to be somewhere that hit so close to home. With our drinks to go we headed to the Louvre. I really can’t even begin to describe the place as a whole… I think the only way is to describe it in parts. We sat in the Gardens and ate a lunch we had packed earlier. The Gardens are these huge flat plains of grass with rows of carved square trees, massive round fountains, and white marble statues. We just sat admiring everything for quite some time. We moved on to the inside of the Louvre next. Simply entering the building is an experience on its own. In order to get inside, you have to go inside this massive glass triangular structure and take an escalator a few fights down to the main level. Once we were on the main level we found some maps and started out in search of the Mona Lisa. The amount of artwork they have is incredible. All of the descriptions and titles are in French so we just walked from room to room looking at everything and wondering what the stories were behind each piece. Once again, I got that strong fly on the wall feeling. Just being connected to the artwork, instead of being concerned with its historical connection. This gave my mind the freedom to wander around while I stood in front of these major pieces. We found the Mona Lisa and just stood I front of it for a while. I was told by a handful of people that the painting did not personally impress them. I think the historical impact of the painting hits home for me more so than the actual picture. It’s not shiny or huge like most of the other pieces, but it is iconic and represents a culture, a time, and an artist. Maybe it wasn’t his greatest work, but it opens the door for people to look into history and discover a little more about life. I hope that makes sense. I just think that if you really examine the impact of the painting on top of what it actually looks like, then there is no way you could remain unimpressed.
We stayed in the museum for about four hours, until it closed at 6. We began walking back towards the Arc de Triumph and stopped at George V for dinner. We were eating outside when suddenly it started pouring. We were covered, but as the rain got worse the seam in the tent began letting water out next to our table. We moved to a different table about 30 seconds before a gush of water dropped down on our previous table. It was kind of funny. We were planning on seeing the Eiffel Tower at night, but the weather just stayed rainy. We headed back to the apartment on the metro and decided to grab another dessert at the bakery and some wine. Both were amazing of course. When do I start believing that I’m actually here?
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