It’s hard to describe Paris, it’s simply overwhelming. One could easily remain in Paris for years without seeing all it has to offer. The number of museums, churches, parks, and neighborhoods of interest are innumerable. Even the apartment buildings look important!
So, instead of trying to see it all in our three and a half short days in Paris we focused on a few things and spent as much time as we wanted. We hit a few of the major tourist attractions our first afternoon there- heavily jet lagged our enjoyment level was probably lower than it should have been, but with so many tourists it’s hard to get the full impact of these great sites anyway.
The Tuilleries aren’t necessarily a tourist attraction. It’s a huge area of gardens were all sorts of people hang out. We arrived here Friday afternoon. I couldn’t get over how many people were just out in the park, enjoying the sunshine, a good book, or a picnic. I wish I would have got a picture of the first thing I saw when we walked into these gardens from the subway: a line of trees offering a line of shade, each tree with it’s associated bench, each bench with its accompanying person. It was on the far reaches of the gardens and there was no flow of people, flashes of paintings from Monet and Renoir flashed before my eyes, I was witnessing their inspiration!
Champs Elysees.
France has a long history of powerful leaders– think Napoleon or King Louis XIV. They got a real kick out of controlling even nature, and throughout Paris the trees are lined and sculpted in these rectangular forms. They provide stunningly seemingly eternal vistas, such as this one to the Arc de Triomphe. 
After the French Revolution the rebels turned Versailles- the palace of the Kings into a museum for the common man. This building proudly proclaims this intent: To all of the glories of France. I was hesitant about going to Versailles. I knew there was so much to see in Paris, and wondered if the gaudy interior decor would really be worth the day trip it would take to see it. However, considering the amount of music history that took place here, I thought it would be important to go. I’m so glad I did. This was one of our favorite days in Paris, even Tom who had seen Versailles before and felt like he had got his fill was completely surprised at how much more he enjoyed it this time than he did during his quick run through last time. 
Our enjoyment was certainly added to by two audio tours- one supplied by the museum the other downloaded to our phones free from Rick Steves. Together they gave us a deep appreciation and understanding of the history of the place and the extent to which the French royalty had cut themselves off from the reality of the world around them. I have always felt disgust towards the way the French revolution played out. However, after seeing so many gaudy palaces and churches I can see why the poverty stricken and ignored French citizens decided to make an end to the corrupt government and church that suppressed them. 
The gardens outside of Versailles are amazing, and like everything else in Paris overwhelming. There are 250 acres of formal gardens- which make up only a small part of the 2,000 acre estate.
Just to prove to our little fella that we brought him along to France
The Temple of Love
The Queen’s Hamlet or Hameau de la Reine
Queen Marie Antoinette wanted a place to get away from the formality of the Chateau and so had this hamlet built, where her and her friends could live a pretend peasant’s life. The hamlet is kept just as she would have had it, goats, sheep, and chickens are still raised, and vegetable and flower gardens of great variety are planted and harvested every year. After seeing the excess of the Chateau/castle, and seeing paintings of the heavily dressed queen’s you can understand why Marie would want to flee to this simple place of quite and solitude to down a straw hat and simple white dress. Though from a royal Austrian family, her family maintained a private life in which they lived a bourgeois existence, where they played with non-royal children and dressed in bourgeois attire. She tried to replicate this relaxed lifestyle in her hamlet. Despite this inner desire for simplicity Marie often dealt with her complex and certainly stressful lifestyle with excessive spending and gambling. She became the poster child for French indulgence and was guillotined during the revolution. I felt a certain sadness for her, this girl who at 14 was married off and consigned to a lifestyle of public exposure- even her first labor was witnessed by a room full of courtiers. As we see so often in young superstars today, too much public exposure and wealth rarely results in a healthy individual. 
Eiffel Tower as seen by night from Sacre Coeur
Mmm! mmm! How I love boulangeries!
Notre Dame
We went to Notre Dame after a disappointing morning of finding that the address for our church was no-longer current. It was a Sunday, and I wanted some spiritual enrichment. I sat down in the middle of mass in this huge historic church and as the room filled with the organ and the cantor sang
, a sweet spirit fell upon me and my eyes teared. Music is so powerful.
Sainte-Chapelle
Pictures can not capture the beauty of this small stain-glass lined chapel. The colors are spectacular and the intricacy of the work, well, overwhelming.
The Louvre
The Winged Victory- one of my favorites in the museum. What a summation of feminine power and beauty.
Madame Recamier -Jacques-Louis David
The Astronomer- Vermeer
I was really nervous about the Louvre. I had heard so many people talk about how it was just too big and overwhelming. So rather than try to rush through we spent the whole day there, taking a break halfway through to grab lunch. The museum is breathtaking, both as an edifice and as a collection of art. Yes, there is more than one could possibly take in in a month, but seeing the expanse of human creativity is inspiring. I loved it. It was interesting to note, that while we were at the Musee d’Orsay the day before we saw very little religious art, however at the Louvre we saw tons. However, of the hundreds we saw there was perhaps one that I spotted that featured the Resurrection- just an observation. 
Atop the Eiffel Tower
We saw the Eiffel Tower the first and last day we were in Paris. The last day however we went all the way to the top. Our timing couldn’t have been better. We got there in time to see the 360 panorama of the city in the light, then watched the sunset and got to see the whole city light up. Pulled down by hunger we descended the tower and as we were walking it suddenly lit up with thousands of sparkling lights, I gasped in surprise and wonder and everyone on the grounds let out a sigh at the beauty. We found a place to sit down and watched for five minutes as the light show commenced. Apparently the city put up the lights for the 2000 millennial celebration and the city loved it so much they proposed the tower light up every night on the hour. After grabbing a pizza and bowl of French onion soup for dinner we made our way back to the tower to watch it sparkle again an hour later.
Eiffel Tower Sparkling at Night
2 responses to “Paris in one word: Grand”
Hey Kjirsti!
I was wondering where you went! Sounds like a fantastic trip. Also, so excited for your little boy.
Wow, that’s ridiculous. You seriously took all of these pictures?