Paris- à la Germany and à la Disneyland

It is quite busy here in France right now, with exams and getting ready to go home, which means goodbyes and farewell parties. I, however, found enough time to make it to Paris the past two weekends. I mean, I know that I should have studied more, but experiencing the cultural and social heritage of France is just as important for my French studies as maybe spending a few more hours on the French Constitution. I mean, which one will likely make more impact on my future. I can give you a hint…not the Constitution!

The first weekend, I met my German friends, who I had met in Washington DC. It was so great to see them again and a little surreal, I must say. I mean, how wonderful that people who I met in DC, I saw in Germany and then again in Paris. The world is small and people can get around so quickly; sometimes it blows my mind. One of my friends, who later came back to Angers with me, had never been to Paris beforehand, so we had a lot of fun showing her around the city. I must say, though, four people are a little difficult to handle. We made it work in any case, and had one day where we all stayed together and one day where we split off, two by two. For some reason, it worked much more smoothly. I do not know if I have said this before, but I am not much of a group traveler. I love big dinners and dinner parties, but walking around the city is a little difficult with four people. However, it was just so wonderful to see them all that I loved the fact that we were all together.

Seeing Paris through the eyes of a newbie is really fun because Paris is always moving and changing. Every time I go to Paris, I notice something new. This time around it was the “tip of the island” and Montmartre at sunset. I love my “tip of the island” experience; my other German friend, who was with her boyfriend, said how much she would love to see the end of the Isle de la Cité, which is where Notre Dame is found. I had no idea what she was talking about until we descended some steps to walk right alongside the Seine and noticed that in fact, the island does end. There is a small willow tree that marks the spot, which literally comes to a tip. It is hilarious. We hung our feet over the side and gazed at the towering buildings rising around us. It really was a magnificent perspective. Two of the most memorable moments from Paris this time around are of a horrible but funny situation - now that I look back on it - is our contact with the vicious pigeons of Paris. I had two experiences that I hope will not repeat themselves. We brought cheese and ham from the apartment into Paris, so all we needed to get was some good bread…not a problem. We also found one of the best places to eat a picnic lunch in Paris – the steps of the Opera House; however, the pigeons of Paris also thought so. They gathered around us, trying to steal any possible morsel of food they could find, and even flew onto my friend’s sandwich, attempting to snatch it away from her. It was not until I accidently dropped the metal knife that they scattered and left us in peace. The other time, I was in one of my favorite places in Paris – la Place des Voges – again with some great baguettes and a wonderful chocolate mousse cake. The thing was that the pigeons again found us and decided to settle in around us, waiting until we accidentally let something drop. I tried to kick them away, but they got the best of me when one flew in my face and made me drop the camembert. Now, that made me a little angry. I mean, I hate to waste food! I was able to save the majority, but it was regardless, an interesting experience – Man v. Parisian Pigeon.

The other element that I discovered was Montmartre at dusk, well, at least the base of the Sacré Coeur, which is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever visited. It possesses one of the best views of the city, in my opinion because it is the highest natural point of the city and plus, it is situated so that you can really see the whole city from its lookout point. I was there on two different days, and the difference was quite interesting. I went on a Friday and on a Saturday, and not surprisingly, the Saturday was much livelier. There were many musicians, combining violin music with “Let it Be” and a variety of spectacles from a shoeless and practically topless yoga man to a guy who climbed a pole with a soccer ball on his head.

Paris is normally an extremely expensive place to stay, but I fortunately found us an apartment for 15 euros per night, per person. That is practically nothing; of course, we did have to take a 45 minute train and walk 10 minutes to get to it, but hey, that is not too bad in my mind. It was simply perfect for four people. I was in charge of getting the food (not a surprise, right? I am always thinking about the food) since I was the only person willing to get up early and fetch it. I do love mornings for the most part, especially when it means getting up to get some food. You know the image of people waking up to the smell of bacon (well, not particularly appetizing for me, a vegetarian) but it is the same concept. Normally, very few people have trouble getting up when they know that good food is on the table. We had such limited things with which we could cook, but we made it work and even had a party with a total of 10 people there. What a night that was!

We were all supposed to get together at about 8 or 9 pm. We figured that it would be closer to 9 pm because it is a little difficult to get to the apartment and a lot of people were on their way. Well, 9 pm came and went…9:30 pm…10 pm, and I started to get a little nervous. I mean, I know that my friend from Washington is always late, but this was unusual. I called him up and found out that he was lost. I couldn’t believe it. By the time they found their way to the apartment, it was a little after 11 pm. I started making dinner right away with one of the other girls (fried plantains and sweet potatoes with ground hamburger for those who wanted it). We had previously, while waiting for the group to arrive, made one package of pasta, which ended up making a mountain full of cooked pasta. We dubbed this macaroni, magic macaroni since it appeared as if the enormous quantity magically appeared. Finishing the cooking around midnight, we ate a little after, which goes down in my books as the latest dinner I have ever eaten (not counting a few late night pizza and Chinese runs I have made!). What was really great about the get together was the fact that it was really a reunion of a bunch of people who I had met in DC; four of us from the same class, then three others from different programs, one of whom also happened to be visiting Paris the same weekend. How interesting life is, when you meet people in one place and then find yourselves reunited somewhere completely different, somewhere that is really a world away from where you had been at the last point in your life. I love those moments, and this memory, I will surely treasure.

The next weekend, after only four days in Angers (I swear, I am actually never in Angers), I was off on another Parisian adventure J This time I planned to do some of the things I had been wanting to accomplish for a while. There are so many things to do in Paris, that you can surely not do them all at once. I am almost done with my list of all the places I wanted to see in Paris before leaving France! This time around, it was the St. Chapelle and the Conciergerie, the lights of Paris during the Christmas season, the Basilica of St. Denis, where all the kings and queens of France are buried, and Monceau, a small park where there are some really neat Roman ruins (I found this out after having visited it).

The St. Chapelle is known for its grand room that seems as if it is made completely out of stained glass. However, upon entering the building called the St. Chapelle, you would not really know that this breathtaking room exists. I was a little disappointed to find on the bottom of the chapel only a small, dark room with no evidence of spectacular stained glass. Boy, was I flabbergasted when I walked up the stairs and found myself in the middle of an incredibly fashioned room, such that I had never seen beforehand. Listening to a morsel of a guided tour, I found out that the windows had been completely dismantled during World War II, which seemed just impossible when looking upon the ravishing detail of the windows. Wow! The Conciergerie was nothing spectacular, I must say, since it was really only a bunch of posters explaining how it used to be, which was in fact a detainment center for people about to be executed, some famous people include Marie Antoinette and Robespierre of the French Revolution. It was interesting and a little grotesque to see all the names of those who had been killed by the guillotine during the Revolution; there were thousands of names listed.

Off we went to the very posh center of Paris, to the Boulevard Hausmann, known for its sheik large department stores, the windows of which are now decorated for Christmas. I felt like I was in Chicago, except for the French coming out of my mouth and surrounding me. I did love the windows and enjoyed the fact that there was a small ramp right in front of them where the small kids could go, entranced y the beauty of these curious creations. A little outside of the city is where we decided to have lunch and take a small stroll around Monceau, which I found in my guide to Paris; it had been given two stars, meaning worth a visit. I thought it was a very lovely park, although I could not really figure out why it was two stars…I think it had to do with the Roman ruins; my guide thinks highly of old things (and there are plenty of them in Paris). I think that the best part of Paris is its parks; I think I have one or two left to explore.

Taking a metro to the far corner of Paris (I would say the direction if only I could figure out which it actually is) where the Basilica de St. Denis is located. St. Denis is one of the poorest and most crime ridden departments in France. It is the department 93, which is infamous for all that is poor and dysfunctional. Amazing that this is also the location of the royal burial place of the kings and queens of France; what it must have been like at the height of the monarchy! Funny thing about this little trip to St. Denis was the fact that I had no idea why I actually wanted to go to St. Denis. I saw it in my book, three stars, and I think I heard the name somewhere else, so I just decided that I needed to go there, but I did not realize what made the church so spectacular. Upon discovering that you had to pay to get into the back part, I told my friend that I really do not like to pay to get into churches (it just seems wrong to me), but she insisted and said that it would be really interesting – not to mention that she had a very strange regard on her face as if to say, “Why are you backing out now when we came all this way to see it?” Come to find out that that back part of the church is actually an immense crypt where all the French kings and queens are buried since the time of Clovis I, then first king of France around 500 AD. I was stunned to find this out and so glad that my friend had really maintained her interest in this historical site. I saw the graves and boxes of partial body parts (weird, I know) of all the famous people about whom I have learned in school: Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII (the Dauphin whose heart was recently discovered and tested), Catherine de Medici, Henri IV, Clovis I, and Anne de Bretagne. Interesting how you don’t really even realize what you are seeing, at least, the death aspect did not really even hit me, it was almost like going into a wax museum…somehow history come alive in places like this even though the people are dead.

By the time we got back into Paris, it was getting dark, which worked out perfectly for us since we walked from the Arc de Triomphe, streaming with the flags of both the European Union and France herself, to the Place de la Concorde, where a huge ferris wheel, glowing with white, brilliant lights, stood tall, tilted towards heaven. It really was magnificent to see it all lit up like that, almost illuminating the whole square.

Arising the next morning, we left the house, off on an adventure to Disneyland or Eurodisney – I am not quite sure which name is more proper, but anyway, it is a Disney park. An unbelievable quantity of people greeted us; we were stunned. Upon walking into the park, I heard Christmas music for the first time, which was so lovely. I started to sing and realize how close I was to the Christmas season. We really made the best of the morning, going on most of the rides in the first section of the park, but as soon as we left this section, we were almost mauled by the crowds. I mean, the lines were unbelievably long and the waiting times interminable, some up to two hours for a ride that lasts 30 seconds. Okay, I do not really understand the whole concept of Disneyland or parks like it. I mean, I was there with my friends who invited me to go since they live close to the park. Had they not invited me, I would have never considered going there; I just find it to be a waste of time. So I tried to understand why everyone else was there. From a logical point of view, it does not make any sense. People pass about 10 or 12 hours at the park. They likely spend about six or seven hours in lines, stamping their feet, looking anxiously down at their watches as if something is going to go horribly wrong if they do not get up to the front as fast as they can, trying to keep their restless children in tow. The other 4 or 5 hours, they are spending waiting in lines to order food or watching spectacles which they likely cannot see anyway because they were waiting in a line for another ride or something of that nature, and then these same people maybe have about 10 minutes of actual “fun” on the rides. Does that seem ridiculous to anyone else? And the mothers with their strollers….oh, goodness, how silly and ridiculous can you be? I would rather stick needles in my eyes than take a two year-old in a stroller to Disneyland.

All that being said, I enjoyed myself, even though we did exactly what I just described; we stood in lines for a 30 second blip of “fun” a “rush,” we stood in lines for food, we watched parades (although we had great spots because we got to them about 45 minutes in advance). For me, I enjoyed watching the people in the park with their families and their friends because it really is fascinating. Oh, humans and our desire to be transported for even just milliseconds to a place that thrills us in some way different that just a normal event could do.

After the world of Disney and the waiting in lines that gets so boring after a while, I was blessed to go to Fontainebleau and its gorgeous forest the next day. I wish we could have spent the day there instead of just a couple of hours. Granted, the castle was not that great, well, great is completely relative, but let’s just say there was nothing extraordinary about the building and in fact was a little dirty and unkempt. I have never seen that much dust in a famous place before seeing Napoleon’s hunting lodge (that is what the Château de Fontainebleau was at its height); normally, well-known places like Fontainebleau, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, are well-kept and lovely. I was a little disappointed, but whatever, fortunately, it was free and we did not have to be concerned whether we got our money’s worth. The gardens looked great though. Apparently, there is an 8 km circuit around the grounds that I would have loved to have done had I had the time, but one can never do it all. It just gives me a reason to go back to that area so I can walk it.

We explored the forest of Fontainebleau, which is filled with curious rock formations on which one can climb and dink around. Unfortunately, they were quite wet because it had just rained and with the cold and all, they were slippery, which meant that we were not able to do much climbing. Oh, well, I just enjoyed being in the solitude of the forest. For me, the forest is where I feel most alive…well, the forest and the mountains. I feel closest to my Creator and closest to the earth I am trying to protect. I would be content to have a small cabin, in the middle of a forest or stuck between a small chain of mountains. It is nice to have images like that, but I would never actually move to the forest or the mountains to live for a long time; I could not support a life like that, one characterized by solitude and silence and such a massive peace that one forgets the world around you. The forest was beautiful, and its solemn beauty was just what I needed to repose after the bright and glaring lights and sounds of Disney had bombarded my head the day before.