Paris was pretty

I gave my talk at the conference in Rome on a Friday and bright (well, dark, actually) and early the next morning we flew to Paris. Because we were flying RyanAir, we flew from Ciampiano (Rome) to Beauvais (Paris). Beauvais was seriously an 80km bus ride to a metro station in Paris. We were warned that the Paris subway system was a mess and very dirty. We walked down the stairs to purchase tickets and were pleasantly surprised by the Paris metro. In fact, we loved it. We figured it out quickly and found it fast, efficient, and 14 times cleaner and less crowded than the Rome subway.

Our first wait in line at a ticket kiosk in the metro station was an experience. The line had Americans, Italians, Germans, French, and who knows who else. Unfortunately, the kiosk didn’t take certain credit cards (like, American ones…) and no paper money (like Euros). All it took was a French metro pass and coinage. So as we waited in line and watched the spectacle of people waiting and then realizing they couldn’t buy a ticket, we struck up a conversation with the guy behind us. He was a young guy and I asked him, “Do you speak English?” He responded in the affirmative and I quickly learned he was a college student from Boston (Bentley University) on a study abroad in Dublin on a long weekend trip in Paris. We chatted for a while about the Red Sox’s choke in the playoffs until it was our turn to  purchase tickets. Turns out we didn’t have quite enough coinage in Euros to buy two tickets. We were like 15 cent short — yes, ‘cent’ is singular here because apparently Europeans don’t say ‘cents’. The college student behind us gave us the extra coins we needed, after which Jen said, “If I ever see you again, I’ll pay you back, plus interest!” We laughed and went on our way.

We stayed in the Hotel Concorde Montparnasse and enjoyed the bigger room than Rome afforded. We were close to a metro stop and used it to get around town. We visited the Arc de Triumph first, then walked to the Eiffel Tower. We skipped the long lines and took the stairs up 41 flights to the “2nd” story of the tower. From there, we jumped on the elevator and rode to the top. If you’ve got the knees and heart for it, you’ll save a ton of time by following this approach.

The next day we went to the Louvre and saw a bunch of cool stuff. The coolest thing? As we walked into the museum, both Jen and I saw a familiar face. “Boston!” we both yelled out. The guy saw us, recognized us, and came over laughing. Jen promptly paid him back plus interest and we departed. We didn’t see him again. We also didn’t see 3/4 of the museum because it’s so friggin’ big, but we did see Venus di Milo, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, plenty of famous paintings, enough naked statues to make a teenage boy blush, and secret passageways and clues that would lead us to figure out the Jesus-Mary Magdalene mystery. Just kidding. I didn’t see Tom Hanks anywhere.

After the Louvre, we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral. That thing will be 850 years old in 2012. That’s like real old. The Salt Lake Temple is like 160 years old. We ain’t got nothin’ on the Europeans! Lucky for us, the weekly organ recitals started shortly after we got to the cathedral so we sat down and enjoyed the music and sights of the cathedral.

We flew home the next morning on a direct flight from Charles De Gaulle to Salt Lake City. We were very happy to be home but boy, what a great trip!

Loved the French bread. Hah, get it? French bread?

The happy couple at the Arc de Triumph

Guess the landmark behind me

Some of the detail on the Eiffel Tower

A mall of sorts – taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Paris

Some palace in Paris

Lots of naked statues in the Louvre

This, my friends, is the Mona Lisa. A bit underwhelming.

Winged Victory. Some victory, eh? She’s missing a head and both arms. I’d call it a Pyrrhic victory.

The line to get through security at the Louvre

My little red riding hood. In brown.

The famous Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral

The organ at the cathedral

This was the view of the Eiffel Tower from the street corner where our hotel was located.

It was a bit windy and chilly, but still a great night to see Paris.

Remember, I didn’t bring a tripod so I had to be creative while taking this 8 second exposure.

Advertisement