Step, step, step, step

 Paris has been an trip consisting entirely of walking. Ella and I come home at night and almost immediately pass out, not before taking our shoes off our aching feet. Our third day and Paris all we did was walk! From monument to monument was around ten miles, not counting the actual walking we did around each site. Our first day in Paris we had some trouble on the train and since then we've been avoiding public transportation even when it would make our lives much easier. We've also been walking because it's been a great way to see the city. Each arrondissement is like entering a different world, a new neighborhood to explore.

Our third day in Paris was Bastille day, France's Independence Day. We walked leisurely over to the gardens of the Louvre where we sat for a while by a pond and watched a duck and her ducklings swim effortlessly through the water. Our stomachs lead us to the park's edge where we had an overpriced snack of cafe au lait (ole!) and split a chocolate and banana crepe. We then made our way up to the Cathedral of Scared Heart without using a map, just using the church on the hill as a guiding beacon. Sacred Heart lies at the top of a large hill, meaning the views of the city are spectacular. Its all white facade makes it look so pure and pristine standing alone on the top of Montmartre.

After spending time in the shade of a tree looking at the view and some failed attempts at selfies, we descended the hill with our sights set on the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triumph. We hadn't been that interested in climbing monuments, but we decided getting to the top of the Arc was a must. It would have been an incredible place to watch the Bastille day fireworks, but it closed early for the holiday. After we started walking to the Eiffel Tower to find a spot to watch the fireworks. Seeing the fireworks next to the Eiffel Tower was picture-perfect. It's what I've always imagined when I pictured Paris. Everything about Paris is romantic, from the people to the city itself. It truly is a magical city, just waiting to be explored!

La guitare

(All photos by Ella)

The second day in Paris started out very much like the first. We had a game plan of where we wanted to go that day, but Paris always seems to have little welcome detours. On our walk to Notre Dame, we stopped to get free massages (right outside a bakery so the smell of baking bread was heavy in the air), buy some old photographs from a street vendor, pop our heads into a church and puruse through postcards of Paris at what seemed like every kiosk. We also took a detour through an outdoor market that had been set up overnight with vendors selling meats, cheeses, fresh fish, flowers and goods. We did finally make it to Notre Dame and it was as beautiful as ever. I studied the cathedral this past semester in my medieval architecture class, so it was a revalation to see it again after learning more about it. 

After we poked our heads into the famous Shakespeare & co, which was closed last time I was in Paris. It started out as a boarding house for famous writers and turned into a small scale lending library. It was a place that was immediately inspiring. There were little notes everywhere left by visitors and it was filled with small nooks and comfortable chairs. A desk overlooked the Seine with a beautiful view of the Notre Dame. Ella and I have the same taste in literature and we're constantly trading books and comparing thoughts on the books we've read. It seemed a very fitting place for us to explore together.

We continued along the Seine to the Musée d'Orsay, which exhibits impressionist and post-impressionist works in an old railway station. The huge windows allowed for a lot of natural light. The museum housed so many beautiful artworks, it was such a pleasure to walk around. The highlights were Manet's Luncheon on the Grass, Degas' bronze dancer, self-portraits of Van Gough and all of the watery Monet paintings. 

After we headed to the Eiffel Tower for what we assumed would be a couple hours, armed with a baguette, brie, wine and speculoos. Speculoos is a cookie paste made from biscoff cookies (sort of like gingerbread) that is all over Europe. I was introduced to the magical food by Chloe back in Italy. It's unreal how good it is. Well we ate all the brie and bread, put a sizable dent in the speculoos jar and drank all the wine. Needless to say, it was a disgusting sight. We set up our picnic near the concert stage that had been erected for the Bastille day celebrations that would take place the next day. The opera singers and orchestra practicing for the big day served as the background music. 

There were men walking around the crowd peddling beer, wine, champagne (the last word being pronounced so it rhymed with wine). After saying no to countless, we finally broke down and bought a bottle of champagne. We ended up getting called over by a man and a woman playing the guitar because of our purchase. We moved our camp over to the couple and spent the rest of the evening listening to the guitar, drinking champagne and speaking in French and Italian. With the exception of the occasional exchange between Ella and I there was no English to be said. At one point Ella reluctantly took the guitar after our chants to play. We kept telling her to just do it, witht the expectation that enough prompting would allow her to release a Jimi Hendrix-type solo out of a girl who has played a guitar exactly 2.5 times. 

Ma petite chouchou

(Sorry for the picture overload, but these are only the ones taken by Ella)

On our first day in Paris, Ella and I walked around until our feet hurt and after a while they just turned numb. We are both adamant about trying to see as much of Paris on foot as possible, which means except for the occasional sitting break - we're up and about. After setting down our bags yesterday we went to a cafe to get a glass of wine and something to eat. I got a crepe (what else is new) with salmon and shrimp. The wine we ordered was terrible, so we were happy we only got one glass.

We were so tired after we ate, but we decided to push through it and walk to the Louvre, which is free on Friday nights. I still cannot fathom how big it is. It would take at least a week to get through it all. We tried to see as much as we could while still trying to appreciate it. It's hard to find a balance between getting to see what you want to see and not just breezing by the lesser known pieces. My art-nerdy side definitely came out (there were a couple screams of delight when I was surprised by artwork I didn't know was there). It's a good thing we had a time limit, otherwise who knows how long we would have stayed there, wandering around the long hallways in hopes of finding gems.

After the Lourve our childish souls drew us to the ferris wheel. We were pleasantly surprised to discover an entire carnival! I love the atmosphere of carnivals - ride goers screaming, people carrying the prizes they've won (always a stuffed animal, never the iPod they hope for), and of course the food since I'm a sucker for anything fried. When we were at the top of the ferris wheel we got a picturesque view of the Eiffel Tower lit up with flashing lights. It gets dark so late here, even at ten the sky was just barely getting dark and lights were beginning to turn on. We bought a big beer and wandered up and down the carnival, stopping once and a while to observe people on rides. We wandered home late and stopped by to get street crepes (I swear I eat other things) before passing out in our beds.