This past weekend, we went to Paris. It had all the glitz and glamor shown in movies and TV, but was chaotic and bursting by the seams with tourists like ourselves. Every monumental sight had no less than a few hundred people there at any given moment. We were prepared for this, and therefore did not have high expectations for Paris. Even though there were just as many people and tourism as we expected, we were still pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed the city. Our first glimpse at the massive crowds was the first night at the Notre' Dame Cathedral. This crowd included a rowdy group of mourners holding a memorial for Michael Jackson who had died the day before. This was the happiest bunch of mourners I had ever seen, as they were singing all his songs and chanting "We love you Michael!" over and over again, donning a large American flag that had a big picture of Michael Jackson on it. This made me wonder- does someone own something of this nature already? Or did they quickly put it together the morning of especially for that night? The next morning we woke up, tried the disgusting instant coffee, then started our full day. We began at the famous Louvre museum, where we were again met by a huge group of tourists. The largest group was of course swarming around the Mona Lisa which was held behind ropes and a glass case. It was the type of chaos you see in New York when a celebrity walks off a movie set or something. The museum itself is huge, and impossible to go through and read every caption in a single day. After spending most of the morning there, we walked around then got lunch. In the afternoon we walked around more until we landed at the Arc de Triomph. On the way there we took the busiest street in Paris, the Champs-Elysees, that is lined with many luxury shops such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton. Going into the Louis Vuitton store was also an intense experience. It is stocked full of employees watching every single shopper, including two people at each entrance and exit to make sure no item goes unpaid for. All the bags are on display around large desks that are armed with attendants who actually get the purse for you. Roy had no idea exactly how much the label ran for, and while I knew, I was still shocked to actually see the prices in person. There was a small LV key chain that actually ran for 200 Euro! (281 US dollars). I don't know what the key chain does but for $281 it better make my car fly or turn it into a Ferrari or something! We continued on our way down the street to the Arc de Triomphe. It's so cool to see something right before you that you've only seen in pictures or media. Everything is so much bigger than you expected (except for the Mona Lisa). The coolest thing about the arc was seeing my last name on it. Right at the top on one of the main columns in big letters reads Wattignies. From research I learned that this is not actually attributed to a person, but to the Battle of Wattignies (a town called Wattignies in northern France near Belgium). We then went on a long climb up the 283 steps to the top. It offered a beautiful view of the entire city of Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in close sights. This was our next destination. The Eiffel Tower was a short walk from the Arc. There was, of course, more people here than anywhere. We ran into Roy's classmates and professor there, where were waiting to go to the top. We stayed there for about an hour and a half just hanging out on the green space near the tower. Once 10pm rolled around, it still wasn't dark but the tower lit up anyway. By 10:20 it was fully dark and the Eiffel Tower shown like a golden oil derrick in the sky. At 11pm we were finally leaving to find a full French dinner when we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the sky. After dark, the tower sparkles at the top of the hour for five minutes, making it seem like it's covered with beautiful sparkling diamonds. It's a very impressive sight. Our search for food was successful as we found a great little restaurant still serving food. Roy had a starter of snails in garlic butter sauce, which actually turned out to be quite delicious. They give you two utensils that you've never seen before: one to hold down the spiral shell, another short two prong fork like utensil used for wrestling the delicious little mound of flavor out of the shell. For someone who is not quite as picky about food as I used to be, I was shocked at how much I liked these snails. After dinner, fully stuffed and tired, we walked back to catch the metro and got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle one last time at 1AM. After tracking down a metro entrance, we were dismayed to find out that the metro was closed already- on a Saturday night in Paris! It was at the point where I suggested hailing a cab, and we were quickly back at our hotel. The next morning was relaxing, just going out for lunch and some souvenirs, and ending at the train station. It was the perfect short weekend trip, and I guess I now see what all the buzz is about the famous Ville de Lumiere.
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