I experienced a bit of culture shock when I first arrived in Paris. Since I understand and can speak Italian, I am used to being able to communicate with people here but since I do not understand French and can only speak a few words of it, Paris was extremely overwhelming at first. However, I quickly adjusted, bought a ticket for the metro, and made my way into central Paris. My friend Morgan was visiting Paris with her friend Abby during their mid-year break from Princeton and Morgan's parents, who live in Paris, graciously hosted me along with Morgan's brother's friend Chad, who had traveled to Germany the previous week for work.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, my wonderful hosts!
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur's flat was amazing; I felt like I was staying in a five star hotel. It was located on the fifth floor of a corner building overlooking a large and grand intersection. The flat was extremely spacious and it had a balcony that wrapped around the entire flat with views of Paris in every direction, including a view of the famous Saint Augustin Church.
The view from the balcony!
Saint Augustin Church
Part of the balcony surrounding the flat (it had three sides)!
Aside from the culture and the language, Paris is very different than Rome. Instead of having numerous small, narrow streets, Paris has large, grand boulevards that were built when Georges-Eugene Haussmann redesigned Paris in the 1860s. The boulevards lead to each of the major sites in Paris and they all come together in Place de la Concorde, the largest and most impressive piazza in all of Paris. One of the most famous boulevards in Paris is the Champs Des Elysees, which has all the high-end designers and other popular stores. On my first night in Paris, we walked to Place de la Concorde, strolled down the Champs Des Elysees, went out for an authentic Parisian dinner (where I ate duck confit, soo good) , and then went to the Eiffel Tower to see the dazzling light show. It was a great introduction to Paris!
One of the boulevards in Paris
Ferris wheel in Place de la Concorde!
Center of Place de la Concorde!
The whole gang! From left to right: Chad, Me, Morgan, Abby
The Eiffel Tower by night!
Eiffel Tower light show! Mr. Arthur didn't tell us about it ahead of time so it was extra special!
The whole gang once again!
The next day, we had a rather full day of sightseeing. We began the day by going up the Montparnasse Tower, the second-tallest building in Paris (second only to the Eiffel Tower). It was unfortunately a little foggy so we could not see the Eiffel Tower and the rest of Paris that well but I still was able to take some decent pictures!
Eiffel Tower!
You can't really see it too well but the Eiffel Tower is back there!
After going to the top of the Tower, we went to Notre Dame Cathedral, which is a World Heritage Site. The Cathedral was extremely impressive and absolutely beautiful! It is also celebrating its 850th anniversary. The architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral is very different than the architecture of most of the churches in Rome in that the style is Gothic. The Notre Dame Cathedral is distinguished by five towers and flying buttresses, which line the top of the outside of the Cathedral.
850th Anniversary!
A closer view of the doors and detail on the front of the Cathedral
Flying buttresses on the side of the Cathedral
The back of the Cathedral, which is just as impressive as the front!
The nave of the Cathedral
A small model of Notre Dame Cathedral located in one of the side altars
In honor of the 850th anniversary of the Notre Dame Cathedral, a large box has been installed in the back of the Cathedral. Visitors to the Cathedral are able to write their own message of peace and place it in the box. The messages are written in various languages by people of all ages. The box is already filled with thousand of messages and I wrote one of my own and put it in.
Most people who enter the Cathedral go to the box and write a message of peace
There were so many messages and they were written in all different languages!
After saying a prayer and spending some time taking in the beauty of the Cathedral, we stopped at a nearby French bistro for lunch where I tried foie gras (duck liver) for the first time. I was a little hesitant to order it but it is one of France's specialties so I decided that I had to try it. It definitely has a strange texture and flavor but I really liked it! After we finished lunch, our next stop was the Galleries Lafayette, the biggest and most beautiful department store I have ever seen. The decor was so intricate and beautiful, I honestly could have spent days in there but alas, there were too many other sites that I wanted to see in Paris.
The dome alone was absolutely beautiful!
And so was the rest of the store!
To be continued...
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