Paris! WHY ARE YOU SO HUGE? I was in Paris last week for two days and I had forgotten that you really need an entourage to carry you on a litter unless you want destroyed feet, which I have. But even though everything is large and far apart, you can't fault Parisians for putting gold wherever gold would go. Click through for great big buildings and plenty of gold leaf!
The Louvre! Note the brave little cleaning robot on the pyramid.
I was only in Paris for two days so I decided to just wander about and see where I ended up. I did want to go to the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay (but the line was crazy) but otherwise I was just happy to drift. Tuesdays are a great day to go wander around the Tuileries and outside the Louvre because its closed, and there are far fewer touring families to get in the way of your exterior shots. Even though the weather was terrible it was nice to just poke around the Seine for two days. Also, I figured out where all the good shopping is, so you KNOW I will be back to buy all the things.
More Louvre!
Only the bravest can fight their way to the Mona Lisa.
It is totally worth it to stand in line for two hours in the cold to see Napoleon coronating himself in Cinemascope.
The only thing that Paris has that really shames London for me is the Metro. Double decker buses are awesome but double decker trains are incredible. The Metro stations have vending machines and you don't feel nearly as murderous when you're underground because the platforms are nice and roomy. Also, Paris has more Octopi per station.
I have to confess that I soon as I got on the Eurostar I missed London. London feels tiny in comparison but it is still perfect. The Tube might be tiny and crowded and infuriating but it's OUR tube, dammit. There are afternoon teas by the hundreds, horse-drawn carriages with real royal people inside (I saw one in Knightsbridge), dark cosy pubs with overstuffed furnishings, and food markets so life-changing you cannot comprehend it.
But of course I'll be coming back to Paris to do dissertation research and to look at a thousand more paintings, sculptures, objects d'art, and ENORMOUS estates. Fontainebleau, this means you!
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