Paris, Part Three: A Good Night

My second real day in Paris began with the Louvre. The couple from St. Louis had told me to use the metro entrance, which I did, and I was able to walk right in at ten. I had arranged to do a walking tour at one, so I only had a few hours to check out the museum. Once again, not nearly enough. I opted to see the most famous pieces and went directly to the Mona Lisa. Honestly, the fiasco around her was more impressive than she was, herself. Here's how it went: directly in front of the painting was a very thick pane of bulletproof glass, which caused a bit of a glare. Three feet in front of that, was a large wooden barricade. Another fifteen feet beyond that was where people finally stood behind yet another barricade. So much for a close look. I waited my turn to get a good photo and continued to wander the labyrinth. I had not realized that the museum was formerly a palace and spent more time investigating the building itself than the artwork inside before leaving.

My free tour started at the Fountain of Saint Michel. Although I had already seen many of the sights on the tour, it was one of the best I've been on. Especially for being free. The tour guide was very excited about the city and its history and was very informal, which made for a much more comfortable tour. Even pointed out a few things I hadn't seen, such as a well known English bookstore known for housing people that can't afford a place to stay. The tour lasted three and half hours and ended at the Obelisk, a 3000 year old gift from Egypt at the end of the Champs de Elysse. I decided to wander up the street to the Arch de Triumph.

The street was lined with the most expensive places in Paris. Eats, shops, banks, you name it. The Nike Paris store even had the bike that Lance Armstrong rode during his first race back on the bike. Peugot had an entire storefront with super futuristic concept cars. Louis Vuitton had an entire building! And at the end of the street was the Arch de Triumph.

You can't imagine the size of this military monument until you've been there. Huge does not cut it. Massive does not cut it. It is the largest single monument I have ever seen. Though it's not really that interesting, the sheer size of the thing made me hang around for a while and watch the traffic chaos going on around. (It's surrounded by a 12 lane roundabout without lines!)

My last stop for the day was the Eiffel Tower. Aside from being the most well known monument in the world, this monstrous structure was even more impressive than the Arc de Triumph. I was not at all expecting what I approached. It was a wonder of engineering. Made entirely of iron, the first level towered over my head. The top of the tower is higher than Sacre Cour. I stood in awe for a while before heading home, the happiest I'd been since I'd arrived in Paris.

At dinner, I discovered one of the girls, Nadine, (ha...girl. She had just turned 30) was leaving Paris the next night and wanted to go out. We rushed to find some wine to drink for the night, but everything was already closed. As we were sitting around the table, another girl, Andrea, (32 this time) suggested that we go up the Eiffel Tower at night. Neither Nadine or I had done this (I was actually going to skip it) but it sounded like a better idea than sitting around, so that's where the three of us went.

I can't believe I had considered not walking up the Eiffel Tower at night. The lighting on the structure was amazing, it gave me a true view of the beauty of the architecture. We took tons of photos of ourselves, the tower and the city. Paris at night is quite a view. There are no high rise buildings, so you can see down every little century old street. To top it all off, I was able to experience it with new friends, welcome after spending the last couple days by myself. I'm not sure I wanted to leave Paris.