In which we walk and climb (or Paris, Part Un)

At the end of October, I had a nearly two week long vacation, during which another language assistant and I decided to go to Paris. I believe I am actually already one entry about Paris in your debt, since I never wrote about my trip there with g² in 2009, but I think I still have a half-finished entry hanging around somewhere on my computer. As it's a little late now to write about that, I will instead tell you about this time. We were there for about six days total, and saw all the main Paris sights (because one must, and also because Christine, who I went with, had only been there for a brief weekend bus tour). We also managed quite a few things I hadn't yet seen, so I will talk a bit about what stood out for me. I may also slip in some stuff about the last time I was there. Who knows.

We stayed at a hostel in Montmartre, in fact, in the same hostel we stayed at when I went with the g's. For those who have never been there, Montmartre is built on a hill, so walking anywhere requires lots of climbing stairs - you even have to climb out of the Metro station. In addition, our room happened to be on the top floor of the hostel, hence we also had to climb just to get to bed. Because, of course, there is no elevator. It's still a nice place, though Christine took to cursing the stairs every time we had to go back up. Anyway, our first day there we didn't do much, except walk about a thousand miles. We went first to the Basilique de Sacre Cœur, being in the neighborhood and all, and decided to go up to the dome. I don't actually know how many stairs we climbed, but my legs were not happy with me afterward, especially not after going back down. But, we did get a great view of Paris!

Yay, STEPS!!!!

We proceeded to spend the rest of the day walking from the Opéra Garnier to the Tuilerie Gardens, then up the Champs Elysées all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and back, about four miles in all. For no apparent reason. Oy.

Another impressive climb was when we visited the Pantheon. I had never been here before, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who goes to Paris, because I thought it was pretty cool. The Pantheon holds the tombs of many of France's grands hommes, distinguished or important men (and woman). I saw the tombs of Voltaire, Hugo, Zola, Rousseau, and the Curies (I believe Marie Curie is the only woman buried in the Pantheon, but I could be wrong). It also houses Foucault's Pendulum, from his famous experiment demonstrating the earth's rotation. It's also possible to climb to the top of the dome there, and we were just in time for the last tour, so up we went. We got another great Paris view, and, best of all, as we were wandering around up top the weather cleared up, and we were able to enjoy the sun for a while.

Foucault's Pendulum

Afterward, we went briefly to les Jardins du Luxembourg, another place I'd never seen. Next time, I may go into the palace.


Our last day in Paris was another big walking day - we began at the Eiffel Tower, walking under it and through the massive crowds which are forever gathered there to Les Invalides, the former military hospital which now houses the Army Museum and Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb. We saw the museum first, actually just a part of it. There are several sections, one devoted to arms and armaments which we did not see, another for temporary exhibitions which we also did not see, and one on the two world wars, which we did see. It was, as are all museums and memorials about those times, a sobering experience which I find difficult to put into words. I think that's why I never wrote about Normandy, either, when we went on an excursion for the study abroad. I failed to mention above, but Christine is German, so it was enlightening to see the wars a little from her perspective as well, and to hear how they're regarded now in Germany. Anyway, it contained a lot of uniforms and propaganda posters among other things, but I don't have any pictures.

After that we went into the other part of Les Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is. That was something else. It is probably the most ostentatious thing I've ever seen, in keeping with Napoleon's general legacy. It is absolutely huge, and all around it are bas reliefs of him dressed as Julius Caesar commemorating good works he did for France. Also, I'm pretty sure the entrance was flanked by lions. Or kings. Or Transformers.

Napoleon's tomb

Transformers would've been better

"My single code, by it's simplicity, did more good in France than the entirety of laws that preceded it." Nope, not too arrogant...

After Les Invalides, in a fit of madness or invincibility, we thought we could walk from there all the way to Notre Dame or Victor Hugo's house in order to save our remaining Metro tickets. Problem is, everything looks much closer on the map, so after making it all the way to the Musée d'Orsay (which we'd already seen), we gave in and took the Metro to Hugo's house, where we climbed some more stairs, and didn't see much of interest. To finish off our nice day of walking, we returned to the hostel to collect our bags, and drag them through the Metro to the station, and then home once back in Nevers. And I think I shall leave it there for now, and talk about more stuff in my next (hopefully coming soon) post, where I shall recount our other major activity in Paris - waiting.