Viva la France and a Sweltering Hot Madrid

We’re finished with our time in Paris, and it definitely has been a different experience from what we had in Germany, or from Belgium and Holland, for that matter.  People seem to be very expressive and up-front here, as opposed to in Germany which may or may not be a good thing.  Some people come off as downright rude, while it’s actually entertaining to watch other people go about their daily lives because of the amount of emotion that you can see them express doing every day things, like catching a bus or dealing with a faulty subway ticket machine.  I guess that could be part of why the café culture is so prevalent and embraced here.

We took the train in from Düsseldorf last Saturday which took up a significant portion of our day.  At night we found a nifty little neighborhood Chinese restaurant where we have been able to eat relatively cheaply (much to the dismay of our stomachs). We took a quick visit to the Eiffel tower and enjoyed some French wine in the shadow of one the city’s iconic buildings on the Champ de Mars, along with about 10,000 other people.   Sunday we went to the Notre Dame cathedral, which definitely lived up to my expectations.  It’s a big beautiful church with gorgeous stained glass windows and massive vaulted ceilings.  Best of all, in spite of the throngs of people waiting to take a look around inside, the line was no more than 15 minutes long – it moves quite quickly.  For lunch we indulged in something we’ve seen in a few places in Europe, but none done as well as we had here in Paris – a greasy hamburger with a fried egg on top, with a side of even greasier fries (again, much to the dismay of our stomachs).  I was really skeptical when we first ran into this dish in Amsterdam, and when I tried it there I liked it, but it didn’t blow me away.  When we had it here, it was a totally different story.  The egg and the burger were perfectly done and the whole thing, simple as could be, was excellent.  I’m actually probably going to try and cook this one on my own when we get back to the States.  This is a great example of what I was talking about before – the Parisians seem to care so much about everything they do, including their food, that you can tell that great care was taken in frying the burger and the egg to make a great dish.  Anyhow, enough with that.  The rest of the day we spent looking through some clothing stores (some relatively cheap, actually) and going through the Luxembourg Gardens, which were gorgeous.  We ate dinner at a local Italian place with great food but god awful service. 

Monday we got up early (!!!) to beat the crowds and climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  680 stairs later, on the 2^nd platform, we found out that the only way to the top was via elevator.  It was a little disappointing because we were hoping to climb the whole thing by the stairs, but the views from the top were certainly worth the ride and lived up to the hype.  After coming back down, we dropped by the Arc de Triumph, and then had lunch on the Champ de Elise.  We then made our way to the Louvre, where we were again very lucky to wait only about 20 minutes before getting in.  We focused mostly on the works by Greek, Roman, and French sculptors housed in the museum, and of course took a quick look at the Renaissance art wing including the Mona Lisa.  To be honest, while I of course respect the history and significance of the work, there are other paintings which are far more aesthetically pleasing to me.  I think it’s mostly that I just don’t have much of a taste for Renaissance art in general.  Maybe one day I’ll come back and appreciate it more. 

We also went to the Paris catacombs.  The chambers under the streets of Paris are filled with the exhumed remains of (supposedly) over 6,000,000 people that were removed from cemeteries in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  It was pretty neat and chilling to see all of the bones neatly stacked and lined up underground, but after waiting 2 hours outdoors in 100°+ heat, the 45 minute walk through the tunnels was a little bit disappointing.  Worthwhile for a shorter wait though for sure.  We took it easy and rested up at night then took a day trip to Versailles to go see the palace and gardens.  The whole thing is obviously over the top ornate and gaudy, as one would expect from Louis XIV.  If you can get over the ridiculousness of it all though, the art inside is pretty fantastic and it’s a great example (actually, the prime example) of the opulence of pre-revolution French opulence.  The gardens are no different – I don’t know how many acres they occupy, but it’s actually obscene how well cared for they still are, and how meticulous the planning and execution of the landscaping is.   Thursday afternoon we took it easy to prepare for a night train trip to Madrid, which was a little low on space to say the least.

 

Madrid is quite hot.  Really really hot actually - it’s been close to 100* both days we’ve been here.  Yesterday we took a free walking tour of the city (similar to the ones offered in Berlin) and then did a self tapas tour at night.  The tapas here are much different from how they’re done in the states – more bar snacks than anything else, but they’re awesome nonetheless.  Today we went to the Spanish naval museum, which had a great collection of artifacts from the armada all the way up to modern times.  We then took in some works of Dali and Picasso at the Reina Sophia museum. 

I wrote in the beginning of this post about how expressive the French (specifically the Parisians) seem to be, and how they can sometimes come off as rude as a result.  Some people defend all of this by saying that in America we just have different customs from France and that what might be considered rude in New York might not be rude at all in Paris.  I have no problem with this explanation, however, even in light of this, there are some elements of rudeness that remain.  Obviously there are rude and snobby people in New York as well, and plenty of very polite, very helpful and friendly people in Paris, but back home I rarely run into the attitude of superiority with which I am treated here by the locals.  It’s the tone of voice they use, their body language, their facial expressions – all add up to my feeling of being treated as a peon tourist who is soiling their beautiful culture.  It’s a shame, because like I said it’s a gorgeous city full of plenty of very warm, friendly people, and I certainly don’t mean to call all Parisians rude, but the few bad apples can definitely sour your experience.