Paris Day 2: Jordan

Our second day in Paris was really nice. We started out early hoping to avoid the mad rush of tourists that is Paris in summer. First we headed over to Notre Dam, which is actually located on a little mini island. We get to the cathedral around 9:30 thinking we are fairly ahead of the game, and find it packed. There are people everywhere, outside the cathedral. The square in front of the cathedral was packed with people and chairs, policemen and French boy scouts (which i thought was kind of funny). We walked around confused for about ten minutes until i finally decided just to ask one of the boy scouts what was going on. It turns out they were ordaining 10 new priests in a private ceremony. We figured we would come back later and made our way to the Musee d'Orsay.


We managed to make it to the Musee d'Orsay while it was still fairly quiet. The museum is a beautiful converted train station with a giant ornate clock on one end. The way the museum is designed you wander the ground floor, then go to the fifth floor and work your way down. The first floor had some absolutely incredible sculpture work set up in a style very similar to a sculpture garden. Branched off from the sculpture area are different galleries containing all different kinds of works. There was a really neat exhibit on Italian architecture and one on the French opera house which was probably the basis for the original Phantom of the Opera (which was in fact French).

The real gem of the Orsay, however, is its impressionist collection. The works by Van Gogh, Matisse, Pissarro, Gaugin (technically neo-impressionist i think), Manet, Monet, Degas (who i'd never heard of, but really enjoyed), and Renoir. It was absolutely incredible. I had never quite seen anything like it.

I finished up the museum first and decided to wander the area around the museum (its a bad habit, this wandering). I ended up running into the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education which, me in all my nerdiness, thought was really cool. After my quick walk, we grabbed lunch at a little pastry shop (know i will not even attempt to write it in french) and grabbed a spot on the ground to eat before heading out. After lunch we decided to go to the Bastille. When we got off the metro the first thing we saw were rows of French national police. They're only slightly intimidating. Then we saw a car with a Palestinian flag on the front. Naturally we were both a little concerned and a little curious. We were even more curious when saw a man in the truck bed wearing a leather belt and pretty much nothing else, followed by a rainbow flag hanging out of the tail end of the truck.

Somehow we had ended up at the Paris gay parade. We figured it couldn't hurt to stay (unless of course the national police covered in riot gear got bored). It was crazy. There were people everywhere ranging from dressed normally, to half dressed, to completely costumed out. There were giant balloons, loud music, people everywhere. It was a lot of fun and something that was purely natural and Parisian, not touristy. We had a really good time.

I enjoyed Paris and I think its a beautiful city, but I feel the need to go back when it is not being invaded by giant tour buses. There were just too many tourists there, and yes I know I'm one of them, but still, I need to see it when the Parisians are still there and haven't gone to their summer getaways to escape the craziness.

Next up: Barcelona.