A Day (and a Night) in Paris

Hi again, everybody!

As I'm writing, we are about to bid Paris a fond au revoir.  We will be visiting the Louvre this morning (we didn't actually visit the museum yesterday--that will teach me to check the itinerary before I tell y'all where we're going).  Then we'll board the high-speed train for our journey to Nice.

Yesterday was a truly unforgettable day.  We began with a coach tour through Paris, narrated by a very knowledgeable and entertaining guide.  Roger, our bus driver, was truly a professional, amazing us with his precision driving skills throughout the tour.  I've driven in Boston, and I can tell you that I wouldn't drive a car in Paris for a million euro--even at today's exchange rate.  We saw the sights of Paris that we've all seen in movies, heard about, or read about all our lives, from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc d'Triomphe to the Louvre.

We spent the afternoon at the Musee d'Orsay, which is located in a former train station that was built around 1900.  The building itself was breathtaking, and the works of art exhibited there were even more impressive.  Everywhere we turned, there was a Monet, a Van Gogh, a Rodin, a Manet.

We next took a boat ride down the Seine and ate dinner, and took another adventurous trip through the Metro (easily our least favorite part of our Paris experience).   I'd like to say we're now seasoned Metro veterans, able to move smoothly from station to station with exquisite calm.  However, it appears that nobody--even Parisians--can manage this feat.  We all rush through the passages, up and down the stairs, and along the moving sidewalks like corks caught in a torrent.

I wish I could find words adequate to describe the experience of ascending the Eiffel Tower last night.  Several of us--myself included--were apprehensive about traveling nearly 1000 feet off the ground.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  The sight of Paris spread out around us as dusk fell was unbelievable. 

As we walked back to our bus, the clock turned to 10:00 PM (it was barely dark at this point).  Suddenly, the tower was covered with twinkling white lights.  We stopped to watch the lights dance up and down the tower, a display that lasted for five minutes and left us "ooohing" and "aaahing". 

I wish I had time to write more now, but in 10 minutes we'll be off to the Metro again and off to tour the Louvre.  Thanks for reading (and commenting)!  I promise to find time to add some of the pictures Chris has been taking soon. 

Chris