J'adore Paris

After two and half days in Roma, we flew to Paris. As soon as we arrived in the center of the city, I was in love, especially with the vernacular architecture of Paris: cream-colored buildings with tall windows and iron railings. Pristine and lovely, especially in the sunlight.

 Our hotel was in Montmartre, a neighborhood north of the Seine, and just a short walk from Sacre Coeur. We decided to go there first. The cathedral is high on the hill of Montmartre, and has a large open space with stairs weaving down the hill in front of it. These reminded me so much of the Spanish Steps, especially because of the way they alternately curved to the outside (allowing for periodic overlooks) and then went straight down. Also, like the Spanish Steps, many people chose to hang out there, and it was a wonderful location for people watching.

Sacre Coeur

We spent the rest of our first day getting a feel for the city and seeing some of the famous sights. We took the Metro to Champs-Elysees, saw the Arc de Triomphe, and then walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was perfect timing: we crossed the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower just as the sun was setting.

Sunset over the Seine

We spent most of our second day exploring the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine. Again, I couldn't help comparing Paris to Rome, since both cities were founded on islands in the river, and each island has Christian churches built over ancient pagan temples. In fact, one of the most interesting things we saw on the Ile de la Cite was the Crypte Archeologique, where some of the original foundations of the ancient buildings and defensive walls of the island are still preserved underground.

The Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge to the Ile de la Cite and
the subject of one of my favorite paintings by Renoir

 While on the island, we climbed the bell towers of Notre Dame and saw Sainte Chapelle. Both were beautiful, but the upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle, with its enormous walls of stained glass made me say, "Whoa," out loud as I turned the corner and walked in. The colored light that bounced around the space was incredible.

Sainte Chapelle

On our last day in Paris, we climbed the Eiffel Tower. The view from the top was amazing, but the slanted elevator ride up the leg of the tower was an entire experience in itself. It was interesting to see the mechanics of the elevator exposed, to watch the ground and the counterweight get smaller as the wheels turned and the cables pulled the car up.

In the elevator, looking down the leg of the Eiffel Tower

Afterwards, we walked to the Louvre, which is enormous. We spent somewhere between two and three hours there, but I doubt we even saw 10% of it. I was really impressed by I. M. Pei's Pyramid entrance, which was so much more effective than I had thought it would be, allowing an amazing amount of light into the lobby space below.

Looking up and out of I. M. Pei's Pyramid at the Louvre

After we left the Louvre, we took a walk around the neighborhoods along right bank of the Seine. We stopped in the square in front of Centre Pompidou to eat crepes, observe the inside-out facade, and watch the strange street performers that gather there. Then we continued to walk East to Place des Vosgues, a very symmetric square (literally) with a parklike area at its center. It was nice, but for me, the square was almost too perfect. It made me really miss the quirkiness of many of Rome's piazze.

Place des Vosgues

In the evening, we walked back to Notre Dame to see it lit up, but we were surprised to see that the cathedral was actually still open. Eager to see the interior one last time, we went inside, where we were surprised to see the end of Mass on a Wednesday evening. Then we noticed a banner by the altar: it was Ash Wednesday! As the priest processed out, we took in the mystical atmosphere of the cathedral in the evening, with eerie organ music echoing through the nave, bouncing off the stone walls. We waited until they kicked us out to leave, and then we walked around the Seine and up to the Opera Garnier before we said au revoir to Paris.

Notre Dame, as I had always imagined it, at night along the Seine