The "Chalice" at the LouvreYesterday morning Aleesha and I decided that learning about the history of Paris might be helpful, so we met up with a free guided walking tour of the city. First of all, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone going to any major city (it's a group called NewParis/NewAmsterdam/New___ tours). I learned way more about France's history, included crazy details about the Revolution, than I ever learned in years of social studies in high school! Also, our guide was a student living in Paris and currently going to mime school - how cool is that? We were guided around Paris by a mime!
The craaaziest thing, though, was WHO we saw on the tour. Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned around, and it was Galvin and Dave! I couldn't believe it - what are the chances that old friends of ours from 1st year at UBC would show up in the same city, on the same tour, at the same time of day?! Ridiculous. Anyways, it was really fun seeing familiar faces and catching up!
After the walking tour I hit up the Bastille and Notre Dame. Notre Dame was beautiful - so much stained glass and amazing architecture. In the evening (post-Louvre revisit), we ascended the Eiffel Tower. I've gotta say, though, it was sort of underwhelming. Way too crowded, overpriced, took way too long to get to the top, and though the view was nice, it didn't blow my mind. I guess it's just one of those must-do's.
Inside of Notre-Dame
This morning we trekked out to the Chateau de Versailles but decided (upon seeing both the line up and the admission prices) to skip the indoor tour in favour of outdoor wandering. We ended up wandering all around the land and discovering a bunch of cool sights that I bet most people don't know exist - lots of beautiful gardens and fountains, tons of farmland (horses, cows, sheep!), and pretty archways. We also somehow found our way to Marie Antoinette's estate, which was nice.
Random ad in a metro station - Inside joke for the Quebecois that are reading this!I'll only say one more thing about Paris: I'm laying off the carbs for awhile. I haven't been eating terribly bad food or anything... but I've been eating pretty much only bread. I do love bread (as most of you know) but I think I'm actually sick of it...
So, we're now in Belgium, in a smaller (but still touristy) town called Bruges. It's such a nice change from the busy-ness of Paris! The houses are small and cute and have a ton of character, and everyone seems to cycle rather than drive around the town. I think we'll rent bikes and ride along the canal tomorrow. No plans for tonight - just relaxing and recuperating after exhausting ourselves in France.
Bruges city centreAnyways, to sum up: Paris = great history, crazy drivers, expensive and crowded, but fun. Bruges (so far) = quaint and relaxing (except for the language barrier)
Talk soon!
4 comments:
I cannot believe you saw people you (and I) knew!! Bonkers!!! That's awesome though.
Sounds like you're having fun - I'm sure you'll do just fine with the language - there's always charades!
Is Bruges your new Kokomo? (That's where you wanna go to get away from the cold). Sounds like you're having an exciting time there! Fyi, a girl from work told me to tell you to make sure that you book a seat on trains because certain ones actually fine you 15 euros for not booking it. Look into it...When you're back in England, send me back a frying pan with "Peter" on the back of it.
Ahh yes...our good ol' science one friends. Those were the days. hehe. Hot dog.
That's insane - what a small world. As for Paris, you know there are some tourist traps but what the heck, how often do you go there? You can't very well go to Paris and not do the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, or eat baguette and cheese. You should be thankful that you and Aleesha are doing so much walking so you can afford to enjoy the many delicious foods you are bound to encounter. Well, love you lots - have fun the rest of the way. Hopefully, not too many more pay toilets.
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