Before I get to what we did and what we saw I want to start off by saying that the bad rap that Parisians get in regards to being rude or smug couldn’t be farther from the truth in my opinion. Each of the people I had interactions with were friendly, kindhearted and genuinely willing to help.

/Begin Rant
I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason they get this bad rap is because of us, North Americans. We expect service a certain way, the servers to be ultra attentive and nothing to go wrong. Meanwhile when the person serving you comes even one too many times you immediately think they are infringing on your god given rights to be left alone at dinner. We (North Americans, and not all of us) created this paradox for ourselves. Yes, service is important, but unrealistic expectations are of no help to anyone. For this, I will provide an example.

This is eyewitness testimony of a situation that occurred yesterday at a cafe. I’m the eyewitness, in case that was not immediately evident *wink*. Picture this, a square near the Opera House in central Paris (more on this later, I have my rant to finish, be patient). A single cafe on that particular side of the block. The outdoor seating, as with most cafes in Paris, have small tables, cramped spaces, and chairs all facing towards the street. Cue the single, solitary server that has been assigned to the twenty or so tables outside, by herself. She is visibly flustered, trying desperately to clean tables while taking orders and getting people their bills and make change. Next, cue two women from the southern United States (accent guaranteed this, not hating on the US or their splendid women) who crammed their way into the last two tables in the corner to my left. The tables were not cleaned yet, so they grumbled about that immediately. Meanwhile I ordered my salami and bread and espresso from the same server, who also had yet to clean my table. I told her not to worry about it as I knew that she was working her ass off and hell, its a coffee and sandwich, how much room did I need?

She started to clear a table directly behind me and dropped a wine glass, it shattered and the previously mentioned women scoffed about it in her general direction, calling her clumsy and such. The server likely noticed this as she went right over to them without dealing with the glass situation. They asked for the two tables they were at to be pushed together and cleaned as soon as possible and told her that they were getting tired of waiting. She apologized, left to get her clearing tray and was caught on the way back by someone wanting coffee. These two women weren’t having that, it would seem. They waited for her to clear the two tables by about ninety percent, got up, told her she was terrible at her job and squeezed their way back out of the seating area. My mouth was agape and I was stunned. How could these women, seeing the shit storm this girl was in, be anything but understanding? It was crazy. We made sure to give her some kind words and a good tip, she was earning her pay that day, and likely most others.

Why tell you this story? Because it lends itself to what I was saying before, about expectations. We have expectations that things will be like they are at home, that we will have all of our creature comforts, that we don’t need to adjust how WE are in another country. That’s bullshit to me. When you go to another country have the courtesy and wherewithal to learn some basic words and phrases, some common customs, do some research about where you are going and gear your expectations to meet the things that are the norm there. Paris, and much of the rest of Europe so far, has slower service. This isn’t to screw with you or make your life harder it’s just the way it is. Guess what? You do some of the things I listed previously and you won’t be disappointed and the people of the place you are visiting might just appreciate it.
/End Rant

Now, on to the non-ranty portion of our program.

Paris, is confusing at times, huge, overwhelming at first and great all at once. We stayed at an apartment in an area called Montmartre.
This was apparently the usual hangout of artists, poets and musicians back in the day. Today it’s a trendy spot full of cafes, bistros, small fruit and vegetable stands as well as seafood and butcher shops. Its quaint, while busy and small but feels massive. Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart), a splendid, white stoned, Gothic church is a short distance away and was pretty busy. We also visited the Dali museum in the area. The art was beautiful and thought provoking.

We arrived at the catacombs under Paris around nine in the morning, coffee in hand, and waited until it opened at ten to go in with our tour group. These underground tombs hold approximately six million people’s remains. I was awestruck while walking through the hallways made of bone.
We then made our way to the military museum that houses Napoleon’s tomb and a ridiculous amount of weaponry and armor from the twelfth century to World War II.
I’m big fan of anything from the middle ages, so I thoroughly enjoyed this visit. We were both pretty tuckered out after doing these two things so we came home and enjoyed a small nap (these are way easier to have in Europe) then headed off, once again, into the void that is the Paris subway system. As a side note, the subway here is amazing, fast, and well planned, not a bad thing to say about it. We arrived at the docking point of our boat ride around the river. We were served food, which was terrible and had a warm beer, equally terrible. The real treat here was getting to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night.
Cecile and I had no desire to actually go to the tower itself, as crowds are horrendous, but we got to see it in all it’s glory from our sparsely occupied boat. With the day and night complete we hopped back on the train and headed home to a peaceful sleep.

The next day we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe, snapped a quick picture then went right back down the stairs to the subway in order to make our appointment to see the Paris Opera House (told you I’d come back to it). The opera house was fairly busy and everything appeared normal. Marble stairs, some sculptures and things of that ilk. Then we walked in to it, the single most opulent, shiny, gold, silver, art filled room I have ever witnessed in my life. The sheer magnitude of wealth of this room both in history and objects actually made my jaw drop and say, “Holy shit”. A first on this trip. This was another place I desperately wanted to see in Paris, and it did not disappoint or fail to impress.

After the Opera House we went to the Luvre. The crowds here were super intense, which I half expected, but it was difficult to get in to see any of the obligatory things such as Venus De Milo and the Mona Lisa. We did get there eventually though, through a sea of people all cramming in to get a look (thank you zoom lens, you saved me).

The museum is gigantic and it is unlikely that you can visit it all in a single day. We managed to see some of the Italian painters, some Greek and Roman sculptures, a myriad of trinkets, baubles and artifacts from the 1700’s. There were egyptian relics we were able to discover and eventually we made our way to the Napoleon apartment displays. After being there at that point, approximately four hours, we decided to head home after a long day. I must say that the crowds were huge to see the two famous objects I mentioned above and barely anyone was around in the other wings. It’s kind of sad really, that so many people that enter the Louvre don’t seem to care about the other wonders you can see in its vast collections.

Paris is certainly an experience and a half. It has things to do to suit the tastes of anyone that visits this city. We only had three full days here, and accomplished a lot. I think I would have liked to slow it down a bit and explore maybe one exhibit per day over a longer period of time, perhaps a week instead. It was really great today, after the Dali museum, just walking around the streets in the area, getting lost, having to ask directions and then recognizing something we had seen before while wandering another day. It was fun to wander and I liked it.

Au revoir mes amis!

Next up is Poland where we will be for only one day to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Keep your eyes on the horizon!