The first weekend my friend Noah joined me as we headed off to stay with our two good friends Emily and Janet. However, as we waited for our bus to the airport to come things began to go wrong. First, the bus we had got tickets for didn't come. Then the next bus showed up 25 minutes later but the driver said he was doen for the day. Finally when a bus did show up it was 5:05 pm and our 7 p.m. flight wasn't looking so hopeful even after we negotiated our way on to the bus. This was because we were flying out of a cheap regional airport called Luton which is about an hour outside of London. But at this point that hour long drive was going to be at least an extra 30 minutes because of the rush hour traffic. When we did arrive at Luton it was 6:43. We had already been told by easyjet that we'd need to be at the airport at least 30 minutes before takeoff and that there were no other flights that night. After frantic phone calls we also realized that train and bus weren't really an option either. There was a moment where I resigned myself to staying in Britain for the weekend but then the Parisian on the bus with us told us that he was going to try and make the flight.
So we ran. We leaped from the bus and began sprinting through the terminal to security where an employee assured us that we could make this flight. After he waved us through to the front of the security line (which caused another older employee to heckle me the entire time) I made it to the other side of security with my shoes and my belt in my hands and my toothpaste confiscated by security. At this point I realized that Noah was already ahead of me and I had about 4 minutes till takeoff. So I started running. This time without the assistance of a belt or shoes. When I finally reached the gate the stewardess unhappily waved me through and I started down the stairs to the tarmac. At this point I would have liked to put my shoes on but a man then started yelling at me about holding the plane up. So I ran across the runway to the stairs leading up into the flight in my socks. When I entered the plane finally my feet were soaking wet. My shoes were in my hands. My pants were falling down because my belt was also in my hands. But I was grinning from ear to ear in sheer bliss at the fact that I had somehow miraculously just boarded this flight.
And then I arrived in Paris. And it was beautiful
We began by walking a lot and I think I took this on the edge of Luxembourg Gardens which I had wanted to visit because of what Hemingway wrote about them.
Along our ambling we made it to the Louvre with its grand glass pyramids. The following weekend I went back to visit the Louvre and spend a few hours in the gallery. I also made it to the Musee D'Orsay, the Paris Dali Museum, and the Center Pompidou. While wandering around Saint Germaine de Prés on Sunday with my friend Emily we also stumbled upon a sign for the 'Museum of Everything' which turned out to be this strange and wonderful museum of mostly American folk art that was held in an empty apartment building. Below is a picture of people looking at the Mona Lisa which was possibly more interesting than the painting itself. All over the museum were signs leading to the Mona Lisa. This conveniently drew many of the other tourists away from the French paintings and sculpture I spent most of my time at.
Below is the view down the street from Montmartre where the Dali museum was. I went there Saturday morning after meeting up for coffee and carrot cake with my good friend Ida who is studying in Paris.
During my first weekend here I walked around Montmartre and went up to Sacré Couer (the church whose steeple is in this picture). From the front of the church I got a lovely view all over Paris (because Montmartre is the highest point in Paris). My friends are wandering around the foreground of this photo.
We also went to Pére Lachaise, which is a cemetery where a great collection of characters from history are buried such as Moliere, Peter Abelard, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, and Jim Morrison are buried. The cemetery was quite interesting and many of the graves were beautiful. The weather was also nice as the photo shows.
Paris was fantastic in so many ways. The food I ate there was especially great. I had the best apple tart, pan au chocolat, baguettes, escargot, duck confit, macaroons and falafel sandwiches that I've ever had in my life. The apple tart at Poilane was especially great and . I cannot even quantify how good (and for the most part affordable) everything I ate was.
I also really liked this statue that I found in the gardens outside the Louvre. I hope I return to Paris some day because it was so absolutely beautiful.
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