Pardonnez-moi, parle vous coquine?

Sunday, 10 August 2008

European Adventure Travel Day 8
Paris, France

I was pretty sick my first day in Paris. However, recognizing that I was, in fact, in Paris, and not wishing to bring upon myself the shame that accompanies staying indoors all day on one's first day in Paris, I spent the morning napping and then struggled out into the August heat, down the street in the direction of the pointy spire visible above the apartment buildings.

Said spire belonged to this building:

Notre Dame de Paris

Didn't want to face the multitudes alone while ill, so I wandered around the booths of the street vendors hawking everything from miniature statues of Parisian landmarks to postcard knock-offs of famous artwork. I sat in the sun on the stone walls banking the Seine for a bit and watched the riverboats chock-full of tourists pass under the bridges connecting Île de la Cité to the rest of Paris, listening to people chatter in a host of languages.

I like the back of Notre Dame the best. I love the flying buttresses, and even though I understand that the front is both majestic and imposing in the tight visual frame that it was designed to fill, the back is much more graceful and pretty. I also adore gargoyles.

Since it's confession time, here's another: I didn't know I was going to love Paris. I lived in Boston for a year and liked it, but I'm not fond of New York. Since New York is the quintessential American destination city, I assumed that Paris was the French equivalent: dare I say it? overrated. Far from it. However, I know from experience that how much you enjoy a place is greatly influenced by who you experience it with.

I really didn't do much that first day, except soak up the atmosphere of the city. After a week of hardcore sightseeing, it was an absolutely relaxing, perfect day. Except for being sick.