That first day, we went for a long walk and ended up staying out until almost midnight, just exploring. We walked down to the river, saw the Opera house, stopped by a few chocolate shops, passed by the Louvre, Notre Dame, had a long dinner, then walked for over an hour along the river at night to the Eiffel Tower. We were all exhausted - I had been up since 4am and them since 5, but Paris was so, so beautiful. Over the few days I noticed that at the same time, it is a teeny tiny dollhouse but also a huge city built for giants. The architecture is all monumental, and the city is HUGE! We kept trying to orient ourselves on the map like we were in Rome, but the scale was much grander so we ended up walking way farther than we thought every time.
Notre Dame
Inside Notre Dame
On Friday, we went shopping for a bit, then stopped by this famous pastry shop, called Laduree. They are famous specifically for their macarons, a French delicacy - a little bit of magic in the form of two tiny circles with different flavors of ganache in the middle. Always expensive but always worth it. Then we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is full of impressionist paintings from Monet to Cezanne, Manet, Van Gogh, Gaugain, art noveau, Toulouse-Leutrec, Rodin.....so many incredible pieces of art, I enjoyed it all. My feet were almost falling off from all the walking though! Katy, Astrid, and I sat by the river for awhile, then got dinner and walked down the Champs d'Elysees, supposedly the most beautiful street in the world. It's like 2 miles long - it was light outside when we started down it, and dark by the end. At the end of the street is the Arch of Triumph, a massive piece of architecture that we climbed inside to get to the top. We had a panoramic view of Paris at night, and it was downpouring rain with hurricane feeling winds! Somehow my poor little umbrella survived.
The macarons...be still my heart...
Saturday we all woke up early to see Mass at Notre Dame, except it wasn't quite what we expected...it was super small and the complete opposite of what we saw the first day, where the mass was held in the main part, the organ was being played, there was a singer and incense being burned...oh well, Katy, Astrid, and I ended up climbing the bell tower to see the best views of Paris, the gargoyles of Notre Dame, and the big bell. Then we went to St. Chapelle, which is another cathedral known for its stained glass - breathtaking.
After that was an adventure to the Louvre! There was a line, but it went surprisingly fast. There was a special exhibition showing the duc du Berry's Book of Hours by the Limbourg Brothers, and I also saw the Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, and a few Caravaggios. The Louvre is literally massive. It's like three city blocks long by two wide, and would take a week to see the entire thing, so you really have to choose what you want to see. I didn't have much time there, but it was still a great experience to be in one of the most important museums in the world.
That night, Katy, Astrid, and Molly flew home a day early, and Jamie was staying with her friend's mom just outside of Paris, so it was just me, Susie, and Jess for one of the most incredible dinners. We strolled up to Montmartre, the artistic district of Paris (also the redlight district). This was the Paris I had been dreaming about - it was directly from a film, every street was perfect and filled with young people our age. We splurged for dinner - Jess and Susie had awesome starters, then Jess and I had duck and Susie had pork cheeks. I also had a cream & chocolate dessert with some red wine. The food in Paris was soooo goooood, I didn't have a bad meal the entire time. After dinner we wandered down through Montmarte to see the Moulin Rouge lit up at night.
Sunday was the icing on the cake of this week of perfect days. The woman that Jamie had been staying with, Mary, offered to drive us to Giverny, where Monet's house and garden is located. First we had to lug all of our luggage through two stops on the metro to the RER train for another 45 minute ride to a suburb just outside of Paris called St. Germaine en Laye. Mary met us there with Jamie, and we set off for an hour drive through the countryside. Funny coincidence - Mary is actually the mother of a girl who goes to RISD (Jamie's friend) who I share some mutual friends with - small world! We got to Giverny around 12:30, had lunch (Mary brought us chocolate chip cookies, I almost died of happiness), then went through Monet's gardens. It was so beautiful. It rained in the beginning, but got sunny eventually. There were so many flowers, all in bloom, we saw his house, and the lily pond and bridge that's in all of his paintings. After seeing his residence, Monet's paintings just...make sense.
We had another hour drive to Auvers sur Oise, the location of Van Gogh's last residence. We had tea in a little cafe, then toured the room that Van Gogh was renting when he committed suicide, the room where he died. It felt so...heavy, like you could feel what he was going through. There was just a single chair there. Then we walked up to the church and fields he painted, and finally to the cemetery where he is buried. It was all very full circle, after seeing his paintings in Musee D'Orsay on Friday....I could just imagine him sitting in those fields and painting. There are no words to describe the feeling.
And then, Mary, aka the Saint of the Day, drove us all the way to the airport - so grateful! The flight went smoothly, and the four of us were back to the Cenci in Rome a little after midnight.
All in all, the past 10 days were an unforgettable experience, a challenge in traveling alone but also a joy when I got to spend time with friends, those who I see often and those who I hadn't seen in years, a learning experience in being independent and adventurous, and it was fulfilling in so many ways. Now it's time to buckle down on studio work, and run the rest of this 6-week marathon!
So far on EHP:
Flights: 5
Trains: 4
Buses & Metro: Too many to count
After that was an adventure to the Louvre! There was a line, but it went surprisingly fast. There was a special exhibition showing the duc du Berry's Book of Hours by the Limbourg Brothers, and I also saw the Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, and a few Caravaggios. The Louvre is literally massive. It's like three city blocks long by two wide, and would take a week to see the entire thing, so you really have to choose what you want to see. I didn't have much time there, but it was still a great experience to be in one of the most important museums in the world.
That night, Katy, Astrid, and Molly flew home a day early, and Jamie was staying with her friend's mom just outside of Paris, so it was just me, Susie, and Jess for one of the most incredible dinners. We strolled up to Montmartre, the artistic district of Paris (also the redlight district). This was the Paris I had been dreaming about - it was directly from a film, every street was perfect and filled with young people our age. We splurged for dinner - Jess and Susie had awesome starters, then Jess and I had duck and Susie had pork cheeks. I also had a cream & chocolate dessert with some red wine. The food in Paris was soooo goooood, I didn't have a bad meal the entire time. After dinner we wandered down through Montmarte to see the Moulin Rouge lit up at night.
Sunday was the icing on the cake of this week of perfect days. The woman that Jamie had been staying with, Mary, offered to drive us to Giverny, where Monet's house and garden is located. First we had to lug all of our luggage through two stops on the metro to the RER train for another 45 minute ride to a suburb just outside of Paris called St. Germaine en Laye. Mary met us there with Jamie, and we set off for an hour drive through the countryside. Funny coincidence - Mary is actually the mother of a girl who goes to RISD (Jamie's friend) who I share some mutual friends with - small world! We got to Giverny around 12:30, had lunch (Mary brought us chocolate chip cookies, I almost died of happiness), then went through Monet's gardens. It was so beautiful. It rained in the beginning, but got sunny eventually. There were so many flowers, all in bloom, we saw his house, and the lily pond and bridge that's in all of his paintings. After seeing his residence, Monet's paintings just...make sense.
We had another hour drive to Auvers sur Oise, the location of Van Gogh's last residence. We had tea in a little cafe, then toured the room that Van Gogh was renting when he committed suicide, the room where he died. It felt so...heavy, like you could feel what he was going through. There was just a single chair there. Then we walked up to the church and fields he painted, and finally to the cemetery where he is buried. It was all very full circle, after seeing his paintings in Musee D'Orsay on Friday....I could just imagine him sitting in those fields and painting. There are no words to describe the feeling.
And then, Mary, aka the Saint of the Day, drove us all the way to the airport - so grateful! The flight went smoothly, and the four of us were back to the Cenci in Rome a little after midnight.
All in all, the past 10 days were an unforgettable experience, a challenge in traveling alone but also a joy when I got to spend time with friends, those who I see often and those who I hadn't seen in years, a learning experience in being independent and adventurous, and it was fulfilling in so many ways. Now it's time to buckle down on studio work, and run the rest of this 6-week marathon!
So far on EHP:
Flights: 5
Trains: 4
Buses & Metro: Too many to count
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