Europe 2004 Day 4

I guess we were really tired from the day before, because we accidentally slept in a bit too late. No matter, we were soon on our way to the Tour Eiffel. We got off the Metro across the Seine from the Tower, and crossed to get over to it. It was quite an approach. Underneath, we saw that we could take elevators to the top, or pay a little less and take the stairs. So we got a bit of a workout out of the deal. It was chilly and windy out, though, so before heading up we each bought a knit cap, which helped my ears out tremendously. We didn't end up going all the way up, just to the 1st "story" of the tower, which was plenty high for me. There were a lot of neat exhibits and things up there, on top of the great view.

After making our way down, we headed for the RER and it brought us close to the Louvre. We had lunch in the pyramid area before tackling the museum. Of course that place was huge so we couldn't see it all, and I don't think any of us really wanted to, so we did the touristy thing and basically made a beeline for the Mona Lisa.

Although I had been told beforehand, it sure seemed small! I don't think it helped matters that many of the other paintings in the area are freakin' huge, so by comparison... Not to mention the building itself. Not being a huge art person myself, I was very impressed with the building, particularly the portions that were not modernized- the old palace ceilings and walls were magnificently detailed, which is no small feat in such humungous spaces. Several times I was taken aback by the grandeur.

We poked around for a while longer, Trevor was particularly interested in seeing the Van Der Meers. However a few hours of a museum goes a long way so we soon headed out and made our way up the banks of the Seine to the Ile de Cite. We wandered around a bit and came upon Notre Dame. We didn't go in, as it looked like mass was about to start. However, it was quite grand to behold from the outside.

We headed south again into the Latin Quarter and wandered around for a good while again, went into some interesting-looking stores, and finally stopped for dinner at an Italian restaurant. The menu had a mix of French and Italian names. I was pleased that I knew that champignons are mushrooms. Like many things in Paris, this meal seemed awfully expensive. I mean, cokes are at least 2 or 3 euros everywhere. I stuck to l'eau!

After dinner, Brent had to get back to Gare du Nord to get on the Eurostar for London. Trevor and I saw him off at a Metro station and wandered some more, back across to the Ile de Cite, wandering there, then across to the Hotel de Ville, which I think means "City Hall." On the plaza in front of the Hotel de Ville, they had put a temporary ice rink out. We enjoyed watching Parisiennes of widely varying skills skate for a while before continuing our wanderings.

We walked past the Centre Pompidou, which is the building with all of its systems on the outside. A modern piece of architecture houses a collection of modern art. We continued wandering around this neighborhood, and around some area called Les Halles, where some guy was trying to sell us something saying "hashish? hashish?" And I was all, "non, non." and Trevor was all "We don't speak French." That was very funny to me. It was late so we hopped back on the Metro and went back to our hotel for the night.

January 18, 2004 11:59 PM

Comments (1)

01/20: shebly said:

am soooooooo jealous of you and your european travels!