rencontrez-moi à Paris

Sorry for the blurred spots in the photos, but I just had to take pictures of my pictures again! Today, exactly 10 years ago, the Americans staying at our hotel in Paris wished us, "a Happy Independence Day" and to enjoy ourselves in France. I'll never forget that moment; how we Americans celebrate this very special day in history, and outside of that bubble, the rest of the world doesn't care. They have their own celebrations, but how truly we lucky and fortunate we are for our independence. What better way to celebrate that luxury by climbing it! It truly is the "City of Light" and is goregous.

Mom and I climbed every single step! The Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition in 1889, held in celebration of the French Revolution in 1789.
The construction was only meant to last for the duration of the Exposition, but it still stands today, despite all protests from contemporary artists who feared the construction would be the advent of structures without 'individuality' and despite the many people who feared that this huge 'object' would not fit into the architecture of Paris.


Here is the "Sabrina" spot. Remember from the 1995 version with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond, where she is helping a photoshoot after she arrives in Paris? That was shot at this location. It was so cool!
We laid on the rocks underneath the Tower, and took this picture.
Notice the 547 on the Tower? It was a countdown until the new millenium, the year 2000. They also hung a picture of Gustav Eiffel to honor him. What a truly remarkable story about this monument.


Musee D'Orsay! It was spectacular! The museum contains 2300 paintings, 1500 sculptures and 1000 other objects. It covers a period from mid 19th century till mid 20th centuries and contains works from Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and others.

Notice the teeny, tiny clock just above and to the right of my head? It's small from here...


But it's HUGE! We're actually inside of the clock.

Notre-Dame was so cool. I loved the gothic arcitecture, and inside houses the most intricate and beautiful stained-glass circular windows I have ever seen.

We enjoyed the view when we climbed to the top of The Sacré-Cœur Basilica located on Montmarte. The massive building has managed to keep its beaming white color even in the polluted air of a big city like Paris. This can be attributed to the Château-Landon stones which were used for the construction of the Sacré-Coeur. When it rains, the stones react to the water and secrete calcite, which acts like a bleacher. It is an amazing place.


We also visited Hard Rock Cafe and ate a good burger, drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana famous and tragic accident took place, signed her wall where "her" flame is. Ate chocolate eclairs in the Louvre, admired the famous parquet flooring, and got to see the highly overrated Mona Lisa painting. (among other things) You can't even get close enough to really see her.






Another HILARIOUS thing that happened to me...I was so tired when we were taking tours of all these museums and historical sites that out of the corner of my eye I saw a bench so I went and sat down on it.
I had only been there for a couple minutes while the group was admiring some masterpiece, when I heard something like this.
"Hé! Descendez de cette œuvre exposée immédiatement! Ce n'est pas un banc. Levez-vous en ce moment!" Which as you probably guessed means that I should get up immediately. Come to find out, I WAS SITTING ON AN EXHIBIT! I got up and looked down, and it was just a big stone slab. Who knew that was ART? ha

All-in-all it was tremendous! My favorite part of the trip is yet to come though...tomorrow's ITALY!

Oh, as a small note, the World Cup was going on. France vs. Italy. Today we were in France and tomorrow we will be in Italy (10 years ago, of course) and it was very very very obvious who won...