Paris Day 1: Jordan

I arrived in Paris semi well rested after a full night on the train. I have to say this about night trains, they're very cramped. I slept in a tiny third tier bunk in a room of 6 people, two really nice Swedes about my age who loved music and theater, a French grandmother, and her two grandchildren. Somehow I made it in one piece.

After arriving in Paris I quickly found my way to the hotel where the reception desk asked me if I minded a non smoking room and if a cemetery view was ok. Yes, to the non smoking, no to the cemetery. So I get to the new room, unpack, and immediately decide to go exploring. I spent a couple of hours just wandering the unknown (to me anyway) streets of Paris, until I met up with Nathan. After that we went to the Eiffel tower, a must see in Paris. The tower is huge and very imposing, along with touristy and expensive. It was really cool to see though.

After the Eiffel tower we headed over to the Arc de Triomph a beautiful monument to French servicemen and the location of the French "tomb of the unknown soldier." I would have liked to have gone up to see the view from the top, but the flood of tourists made that nearly impossible. After enjoying the relative shade of the Arc we walked down the Champs Elysee towards the Louvre, which turned our to be a much longer walk than I thought. We ended up pulling over at the metro (hooray for student metro tickets) and taking that to the Louvre stop.

The Louvre is absolutely massive, and incredible. The building itself is a work of art. Word of advice: when you go to the Louvre look up, the ceilings are incredible. The Mona Lisa was small, but it was really cool to see. I felt really bad though because everyone crowded around the small glass case and completely ignored the exhibition hall full of incredible Italian works. I can now say that I have seen the Mona Lisa, the Venus d'Milo, Michaelangelo's Dying Slave, and Ishtar's gate. Aside from those famous works, there were other incredible works. My favorites were the Italian artists, the sculpture work, and the ceilings of the Louvre itself. (I want to post all of the pictures I took on facebook, so keep an eye out for that).

We left the Louvre at 9:30 pm (sunset in Paris), and I was amazing by how beautiful the buildings and pyramids were when the sun hit them just right. After a nice dinner down the street (which was good, but not Paris good), we headed back to the hotel for the night.