Paris Day 3
I am usually rushing my blog entries (ticking meter in Euro!!) so I haven't gone into as much detail as I would have liked. I finally got smarter today and am writing the 1st half of this entry at the gardens of Musee Rodin, opposite his famous sculture "The Thinker," while I munch on my tartine - which is really just a fancy French word for buttered croissant.Ok... where do I begin? I am living in 1 of the many youth hostels in Paris (sorry for bursting your Carrie bubble Jac. Nothing remotely as glamorous as that :) called BVJ in the Latin Quarter. It's nice because all the people living here are about my age or even younger; I am walking distance from Notre Dame, St Michel and Blvd St Germain (for great nightlife and shopping) and when I'm not too lazy, I can even walk to the Louvre. For 28euros a night, I even get breakfast!!
What's not so nice is sleeping on an army bed that creaks everytime I turn or that I don't even get towels. Plus I'm on the 6th floor WITHOUT an elevator. And I have to share the room and the bathroom with 2 other girls (thank God there's only 2 though there are 8 beds).
I guess I wanted to get the ultimate backpacker adventure. Either that or I'm just cheap. I don't think I can do this again though... the bed and the sharing I can take -- the open bathroom I cannot. And by open I mean you shower with nothing to cover you - not even a shower curtain!! Too much sharing I think as I've seen Megan's ass 2 nights in a row now.
I spend my day going from 1 museum to the next, and as may be obvious from my previous entry, jumping on buses whose destination I have no clue. Generally though believe it or not, I walk to most of these places, which also means I get lost about 5x a day on the average.
Sometimes, I just sit for an hour and watch Paris move by from a cafe or brasserie or my favorite, sitting on the steps at Quay de Montebello beside the Seine. The cafès in Paris all seem designed for people-watching with the seats facing the street.
Most museums close at about 6pm so that's when I scavenge for food. I like St Severin or Rue de la Huchette off Blvd St Germain because it's so lively and as it happens, I get free beer / cocktails everytime. Paris is wonderfully kind to a girl.
Today I feel spent. My entire being is completely exhausted. My body and particularly my calves and some other muscles I didn't even know I had, are feeling the effects of walking up and down 6 flights of stairs... and all over Paris.
I WALKED from my dorm to Musee d'Cluny to Musee Rodin and Hotel des Invalides to the Louvre (and of course the Louvre is huuuuge) and then to Pompidou (where I am now taking advantage of the free Internet). My pedometer would have died and gone to heaven, disbelieving a human being could conceivably walk that far.
My brain and my soul are suffering from sensory and poetic overload -- too many paintings, sculptures, reliefs, friezes, artifacts, names and dates. But I enjoyed today even though I should have paced myself - particularly eliminating Pompidou from my itinerary (more later).
Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed Musee Rodin. I didn't really expect to since I'm more of a painting kinda girl, but Rodin's works up close are really powerful. Of course, "The Thinker" was the highlight, though his other works like "Ugolino and his children," "The Kiss," "The Walking Man" and "The 3 Shades" are amaaaaazing.
And the Louvre!! I thought I would stay till the Museum closed at 945pm but even without Ahia dragging me running through the halls, I finished walking almost the entire thing in about 4-5 hours. I even got to see some new things we missed the last time -- the Dutch / Spanish paintings, Egyptian antiquities, Napoleon III's apartment (over-the-top!), de la Tour's paintings and some Mesopotamian artifacts like the Code of Hammurabi. Of course I stayed the longest in the Italian / Dutch painting section with my dates, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Veronese, Titian, Rembrandt and Vermeer.
Pompidou I didn't like. This museum just affirmed my complete lack of understanding and appreciation of modern art and architecture. I hated the building and the contents (save for a few Matisse) and I would only go back for the incredible view of Paris from the 6th floor.
One last thing about Paris. The people I've met here are definitely characters - some I'd rather forget but still. There's...
- Megan, my room mate who came over from Boston to teach English. She also ran the Paris marathon which explains why she doesn't mind flashing me every night.
- Ivan, the half-Swedish guy who tried to kiss me after giving me directions to the Conciergerie (I swear I'm not kidding... it was surreal!).
- Tony, who kept following me around and finally shouted his marriage proposal, which everyone thought was real (ugh).
- Jacques, my Senegalese friend who gave me a bracelet for good luck.
- Mr. X who ran with me in the rain for more than 5 blocks to show me the Metro.
- the waiters / owners of Mythos and Le Harpe who kept giving me free cocktails every night.
I leave for Florence tomorrow and henceforth resolve to:
- not kill myself to make sulit the Museum pass (5 museums in 1 day is too much),
- eat something other than bread / baguettes for meals,
- not see Megan's ass anymore tonight.
posted by moan @ 5:05 AM
4 Comments:
Since we're practically experiencing Paris vicariously through you, I'll have to ask: do French men (in general) look more like Olivier Martinez.... or Gerard Depardieu? =)
Are you taking pictures??
ok... there are definitely cute french men and they're somewhere in the middle of Olivier and Gerard. nothing quite as hunky. :)
i think italian men have more of that 'í'm sexy' vibe going for them and they're much much friendlier (if that's even possible).
sigh... no pictures. the perils of traveling alone. :)
Kamusta ang Europe? Enjoying yourself I hope. And not being tooooo adventurous.
So far, so good naman. No problems while you're away. Stay focused on your vacation, and block out work for now. You'll have plenty of work naman when you're back, hahahaha.
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