November 5, 2008
So, how did YOU celebrate Halloween 2008?
I went to the Parisian Catacombs, meandering the burial site of where 6 million people’s remains are arranged in walls and rows of columns and other designs. It was creepy! Every 20 feet there was another inscription in French, which sometimes I could understand but others had no idea. We had run into Madeline’s friend Harris in Madrid last weekend, and met up with Harris in Paris. We are staying at the Peace and Love Hostel on the top floor in Jaures, close to Montemarte, which is incidentally where he lives. So we went to the Catacombs, waited in line for an hour before descending the 83 steps to the bottom. Through the dark and twisty caverns we went, Harris sometimes leaning due to the height of the ceiling, seeing some of the construction marks and memorials constructed. Finally, we reached the entrance to “the empire of death” and I saw the first skulls and bones. It was so surreal! And unnerving. After a while, it was downright creepy to think about what kind of lives these people lived and how their lives played out. Once upon a time, they had faces and names and were animated – now they are anonymous, detached, limb from limb, head from ribcage and pelvis to form patterns in walls under Paris. It was a 1.7 kilometer underground labyrinth that took us over an hour to make our way through.
We soon walked back up the 83 stairs to the surface, emerging like a vampire would after a long nights sleep. At this point, we said goodbye to Harris (he was meeting up with his friend) and we headed towards lunch. (I got a croissant sandwich with salad). After that, we hopped on the metro. Harris suggested getting off the metro 2 stops past the one recommended for the Eiffel Tower so we did – catching our first glimpse as we crossed the river. My reaction? OH MY GOD IT”S HUGE! We got off and began to walk, finding ourselves at this lookout over the Eiffel Tower. I just could not believe it, that I was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. IN PARIS. Not Disneyworld. Not Las Vegas. PARIS. THE REAL DEAL. And it just grew as we walked towards it until it was completely overwhelming, obscuring all. I could see the dark steel of the structure, the way the mechanisms worked and the sheer industrial nature of it hidden inside ornate curls and blocks. I could see why the Victorians hated it, but that didn’t stop me from appreciating it. I was so overwhelmed that I was actually here, standing in front of THE Eiffel Tower, that I literally jumped up in down with joy after a few moments of awed wonder and silence.
Although it was foggy, we decided to pay the 12 euros and go all the way to the top. While Harris had suggested walking to the first level, we took the tram – good for me because I am so scared of heights I would have turned back around! But we could see for miles, the arc di triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Couer – all visible as we walked around the level. And then the moment of truth – the ascent. I was so scared, and being in a glass elevator as it happened? NOT helpful. Then we entered the cloud, and could see nothing. We emerged on an enclosed observation deck, and then went up the stairs to see if visibility was better, and near the end of our visit it started to look better as the city lighted up. Suddenly, we saw lights reflecting on the clouds as the elevator descended – we were INSIDE the tower as it lit up! Oh man, it was sooooo cool! We spent a bit longer up on the lower level at the tower to now look at the city lit up before deciding to leave. We crossed the Seine, checked our watches, and realized we had a measly 20 minutes to wait until the tower lit up again. So we split a crepe and sat on the stairs of the lookout point waiting for it to alight. And it soon did, and was SOOOO beautiful! Like really, the white lights danced and contrasted with the blue of the tower and the black night sky, the tower light spinning – so surreal. After this, we decided to head to the Arc du Triomphe, and probably the WORST intersection I have ever seen, with 13 streets converging in the circle. We went underground to get to the arc, realized there was a museum, and went up the 295 stairs into the Arc. We went on top of the arch, saw the Eiffel tower light up again (!) and then decided to take a stroll down the Champs de Elysses. After a while, we ducked into a cheap(er) Franco Italian restaurante where we had fantastic red wine and penne pasta. After dinner, we headed back to our hostel, which is right above a bar of the same name. [A side note about our hostel: when we checked in, we encountered a toga party. Exhausted, we climbed the 128 stairs to the top level where our room was and went to sleep immediately.] This night, there was a Halloween party in full swing, with people writing on each other in marker and wearing trash bags. We were exhausted, and the following day was All Saint´s Day, so I checked what was going to be open online [slipping and falling down said ridiculously narrow and windy steps in the hostel so that I created lovely bruises on my elbows and back - yet my computer remained unharmed!!] and we created our game plan. We were going to Versailles.
We left the hostel at 8:45 AM to go to Versailles. We arrived at 10:15 AM amid the fog and rain. Still, the gold sparkled and we were excited to be there. We paid for the all-day pass, and saw the Hall of Mirrors, the bedchambers of the King and Queen and the apartments of the Princes and Princesses. We were in the palace for 4 hours! It was gorgeous and spectacular, but there was a modern art exhibit by Jeff Koonz in the rooms. I´m sorry, but statues of balloon figures as well as Michael Jackson and ¨Bubbles¨ do not belong in Versailles.
We then meandered the gardens, finding a food stand for lunch (Panini, yumm!!) As it started to lighten up a bit, we headed towards the Petit Trianon and the Domain of Marie Antoinette. Her little village was so cute in the autumn light! (It was also uber refreshing to see leaves changing color and not just on the ground). I was thrilled, it was almost like autumn in the US. The outsides of her village structures were quaint, with thatched roofs and stuff, but the insides were completely MARBLE. Reality check! Afterwards, we went to the Grand Trianon, which had become the quarters of Napoleon and his wife after the revolution. It was easy to see how the monarchs needed the escape outside of Versailles. Madeline became fascinated with Louis the XIV, because "he is the state!" and the Sun-King, but really, did he conquer half of Europe? I think not. Napoleon may have been short, but the guy had game. And style.
We left for the Latin Quarter, and had a fabulous Menú del día type dinner (I had salad, coq au vin, and crème brule with a lovely blush wine) before heading back to the hostel around 11.
So we´re sitting in the bar, using the internet when we are approached by a couple of slightly [we believed] inebriated Australians. They´re like, what are you doing on the computer? Party with us! We´re like, we´re un poco tired cuz we got up uber early. They were wearing trash bags like the night before. James and Joe (their names) ask us what we did, we told them, and then they showed us pictures of their adventures with a pumpkin called Pierre Francois. It was actually hilarious. They introduced us to some of their other friends, including two Canadians named Ian and Mitchell, and then we soon went to sleep, for the next day we were getting up at 7:30 AM:
SO: the big day: the Louvre, Musee de Rodin, and the Musee D´Orsay. The first Sunday of every month, the museums were free, so Madeline and I were determined to make the most of it – especially since most of the museums are closed on Mondays. We left the hostel by 8, and the guy working was like, why so early? So we told him our plan, he wished us good luck, and we were at the Louvre waiting in line by the little pyramid downstairs at 8:30 AM. We were let in at 9 and made a beeline towards the Mona Lisa. There was no one there! And it was beautiful. I couldn´t believe I was actually standing there in front of it! We wandered the Louvre for 4 hours before heading out, seeing other DaVincis, the Winged Victory, Venus di Milo, crown jewels of Louis XV and other works. The building itself was a piece of art, with its elaborate ceilings. However, it was HUGE and you could easily spend 2 weeks inside!
Next stop: lunch. I had ham on a baguette with wonderful raspberry chocolate cake and an Orangina. We soon found the Musee Rodin and saw the Thinker and the Kiss. Incredible! It took us an hour to see the whole museum, and actually had a line to get in as we were leaving. So we then headed to the Musee d´Orsay, which is a modernist museum set inside an old train station. We waited 45 minutes in line, but then got inside and just SAT for a while. After two straight days of walking, we were exhausted. We managed to see the Mask Exhibit on display (Medusa masks were so cool!) as well as some other masterpieces, including Monet´s waterlillies, Van Gogh´s self portrait, paintings and sculptures of Degas and some art of Toulouse Latrec, Manet, Seaurot, etc. We were in the museum until we were kicked out at 6.
Basically, we were at museums from the time they opened till we were kicked out. And we both never wanted to walk again.
We went back to the Latin district for a French dinner, again doing a set-menu type deal. Madeline and I split another jar of Blush wine (not as good as the previous night) and I had the BEST calamari rings as an appetizer (ughhh so buttery with the best French Onion dressing to dip in!), Steak in a wine and mushroom sauce, and sugar crepes for dessert. Yum! After a while, we headed back to the hostel.
We were greeted by our new-found-friends who in turn introduced us to more people, Australians named Cameron, Phil and Karin. It was Karin´s birthday. Tonight´s theme was cross dress. Madeline participated, but I didn’t! After calling my dad to wish him a happy birthday, we went back downstairs, danced a bit, drank a bit, and went to sleep around 2 as the bar began to shut down.
I had to get up at 5:30 to register for classes. I went downstairs and there were STILL people hanging out by the bar. The others left, I was registering and chatting with Jesper, the guy who we had returned our key to earlier. He was from Denmark, and living in France. At 6:30, after 4/5 success in registering, I chatted a little more with Jesper and then headed up to catch a few more hours of sleep before heading out on our next day of adventure.
We slept in the next day, and decided to go to several of the famous cemeteries, the Pantheon, and Notre Dame. It was a beautiful day, and the others in the hostel were going on a 4 hour (which became a 5 hour) walking tour of the areas we had already explored. We saw the tombs of Chopin, Georges Seurot, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. We then tried to see the tomb of the Marquis de Lafayette, but it was closed, much to our disappointment. So we headed toward the Pantheon, stopping at a street vendor for lunch on the way. I had THE BEST Panini, bologn-something with cheese and it was incredible. We soon were at the Pantheon, a beautiful building reminiscent of DC. There, we saw the largest/longest pendulum in the world, as well as the tombs of Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Rosseau, and Voltaire. Sooo cool!
We made our way to Notre Dame, just missing the tower tour times. We walked around the inside, and it was incredible. The stained glass was just magnificent, more so because the sun was just beginning to set and the patterns could be seen on the walls. The candles illuminated the inside. It was fabulous! We sat outside the cathedral for a while, staring at it, and listened to some troubadours sing songs from the movie Once and a beautiful rendition of Wonderwall. We then meandered, I got a chocolate and banana crepe, and we headed to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge.
The Sacre Coeur, we climbed a lot of steps to see, and it was beautiful. The view from it was beautiful too! Soon there after, we headed to that classy place the Moulin Rouge to see it lit up in all of its glory. We passed the famous Le Chat Noir, and it was in Montmartre that Madeline bought the Maginot Line (aka cannons she can line up) to bring back for a friend.
So we headed back to our hostel, ran into Cameron and Phil who informed us of tonight´s theme (pj party) and we had a nice Italian dinner with white wine. Cameron and Phil invited us for Kebab, but we wanted to celebrate our final dinner in style. We did party with them later, we were the only girls in the bar and it wasn’t as crazy as previous nights. Cameron got us fire shots, where you swish the alcohol in your mouth and the bartender (Julien) lights it on fire, Absinthe, where it is lit on fire, caught in a glass, and you snort the fumes through your nose before taking the shot with coffee beans that you chew, and then fire shots that are already on fire and you take with a straw. We all hung out (with everyone) and then went for kebab and met more people. We were up all night, and then went to finish packing at 3:30. Two of the guys, Carter and his friend whose name I never caught, carried our bags for us, really sweet. Everyone wished us farewell with hugs and words, and at 4 we got in our cab for the airport. There, we ran into Ashlee from school. We swapped stories, but as soon as I was on that plane I slept all the way to Madrid.
Weekend = so much fun, and one that I will never forget.
