Our crazy plan depended on our train from Prague arriving on time in Münich. If we arrived late by even a few minutes, we would most likely have to stay in Münich for at least 8-10 hours before catching a late train to Paris. Because of this possibility, we didn't buy our tickets for the Czech-German border. Instead we bought the tickets for Münich directly. Had we more time, we could have done what some Americans in our car did--buy their tickets for the border, then use their Eurorail Pass for the travel in Germany.
As luck would have it, we arrived early in Münich by 3 minutes. We jumped off the train and ran to the train leaving for Paris. Seven minutes later, the train started moving for Paris. We also decided that we wanted to sit in first class, so we got a first class compartment. Many people in 1st class and the conductors looked at us strangely, but we just smiled. We had first-class tickets because I was over 26 years when we bought our tickets and couldn't qualify for the Eurorail Youthpass.
We arrived in Paris just before 11:00 PM. We called our parents to let them know we were okay, then headed to find a hotel to stay near Gare d'Est, where we had arrived. We finally found a place and the manager gave us a room for 300 F. I suspect that he may have pocketed this money as the rooms were listed for double, but...oh, well. We got our room.
We also headed to the metro station to find out where we were and how to get around. The metro person was very helpful in telling us to buy a Mobilis pass instead of the 50 F tourist ticket, saving us 20 F. The tourist pass is a rip-off because most tourists will never leave the main zone for which the Mobilis covers. After grabbing something to eat, we headed to bed.
Suhad, visitor to Paris many times, was unfamiliar with this area of the city and we also didn't have a map nor guidebook on Paris. But we figured it out and decided to head towards familiar ground. We got off of a metro stop near the Paris Opera House. Inside are marble busts of most of music's most famous composers. There was a tour, but we decided to walk to the Magdalenae, a pseudo-church built by alternating French rulers from Louis XVI to Napoleon to the Bourbon dynasty.
We then took the metro to the Champs'Elysee, where Suhad had remembered that there was a supermarket. We stopped there and got breakfast. We then walked to the L'Arc de Triumph. From there we walked down to Notre Dame. I was surprised at how bland the building looked because of its restoration. It's surprising what a building will look like after centuries of grime are removed. Well, they're not finished and like every monument in Europe, it too is covered with scaffolding. The interior of Notre Dame is very beautiful with its rosetta windows.
From there we went to a place I had remembered from high school French class, the St. Chapelle. Suhad had never been there and we were not disappointed by the incredible beauty of the stained glass windows. Afterwards we decided to do some shopping and sight-seeing in the Latin Quarter. There we visited the outside of the Sorbonne University, but we were unable to enter because they were checking for student identification.
Of course, when you visit Paris you must visit the Louvre. It is one of the greatest museums in all of Europe. Suhad, who had been there several times, took me through the whirlwind tour of the Louvre--a tour which has never been done before. Since we only had three hours before closing, we hit all of the major artwork in that time.
We started with the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Well, after seeing how small it was and how many people were thronging around the see it, I believe it has to be the most over-hyped piece of art in the world. I don't doubt that it is a masterpiece, but there's a helluva lot more to see in the Louvre.
Next was the Venus de Milo, the famous statue with no arms. Very nice. Then we saw the Winged Victory. Also very nice to see such famous works of art. But what makes them different from other Greco-Roman sculpture from the same time period? Marketing? At the Vatican we saw sculpture just as old, in better condition, and very beautiful. Anyway, enough of my harping.
I must say that many of the oil paintings in the Louvre are incredible. I never realized how large Delacroix's paintings were until standing next to them. It's very funny to think that we have no idea about the size of many famous works of art because you see them in books or on television and have no idea about what scale they are viewed as.
But I digress because what I really wanted to see was the antiquities sections, from the Greco-Roman period and the older Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. And I wasn't disappointed. To actually stand next to Hammurabi's Code, the stone column on which parts of the Old Testament may have been based upon is mind-boggling. Many of the items are so close you can touch them, although you aren't supposed to touch them. Beware, there are alarms!
Well, all good things must come to an end. If you visit Paris, you must visit the Louvre and you should schedule alot of time there. After the Louvre closed, we decided to see that famous icon of Paris, the Eiffel Tower.
We took the metro to a station near the Tour Eiffel and walked to the tower. There are both elevators and stairs, both of which I was not inclined to take (although the stairs were closed). There were also alot of security forces in the area as I believe this was during the time of the American embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The tower has a lighted sign counting down the days to the end of the millenium. The area is very beautiful at night because of all the parks and lights.
Well, it was time to head back to Gare d'Est. In our less than 24 hours in Paris, we probably had done more than most people do in several days. But it was time to head back to Germany. I have family near Cologne and we were going to visit them. We arrived at the train station and found many backpackers there. There were many Americans, Canadians, and Australians, all headed for Oktoberfest in Münich. Not necessarily a bad thing, except they were all trying to catch the same train we needed to take to Stüttgart. Since our train wasn't marked, nor was the train identified on the main board, I decided to try to find our train early, so we would be guaranteed a compartment. As I headed among the trains, I asked a conductor in perfect French if this train was to train to Münich. When he said yes, I walked back and got Suhad. Moments later, a horde of backpackers started running to get on the train, but by that time we were already settled in our compartment. An interracial French couple settled down in our compartment with their cat. We tried to communicate with each other but neither of us spoke either language well. We finally settled down for the night.
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