Paris: Day 2

Our first full day made up for any of the previous day's difficulties. One of my friends discovered a program that offers free walking tours throughout various neighborhoods in Paris, and we decided that it would be a good orientation to the city. The tour was given by a native Parisian who was in the process of getting a masters in history. He spoke English very well and gave us an insider's tour of the area, complete with a lot of funny stories about Parisians. The tour finished just in time for lunch, and we found a cute sandwich shop close to the Louvre. After a few months of Tuscan bread, the thought of a 60 cent baguette was almost too much to bear. Make no mistake about it...the French know how to do bread. 

Outside view of the Opera Garnier.

 

After lunch we headed back to the Opera Garnier in hopes of touring the interior of this impressive theater. Garnier was Paris' first opera house, and was the inspiration for “The Phantom of the Opera” because it was built over an underground lake. Though we were unable to enter the opera house at the time, we found some cheap last minute tickets to a Balanchine ballet that night. 

Ceiling in Opera Garnier.

The grand staircase of the Opera Garnier.

 

The ballet was performed by the French National Ballet Company, and was accompanied by an excellent orchestra. My favorite piece from the show was a dramatic reinterpretation of the Prodigal Son. It was a fascinating interpretation of the story, and I was very excited to find that I was able to understand the storyline by watching the dancers and listening to the music. I thought the orchestra and the dancers worked brilliantly together and I was amazed by the amount of coordination that this type of collaboration required. Despite having “the worst seats” I was able to see the entire stage and really enjoy this fantastic production. It was a very classy night in Paris. 

 

Paris: Day 1

During the middle of our semester here in Italy, we were given 8 days to do some independent traveling throughout Europe. It's always been a dream of mine to visit France, so I decided to spend the break in Paris with 7 other friends. We were giddy with excitement before the trip and couldn't wait to spend the week in the City of Lights. Though we spent a good deal of time trip planning, getting to Paris was a bit more difficult than any of us expected. I'll spare you the grisley details of the ill-fated adventure, but it involved pouring rain, broken suitcases, missed trains, more missed trains, forgotten visas, misread train boards, and some major group bonding. It it weren't for some good Samaritans along the way, our jolly group of 8 might have spent the night in the Pisa airport.

A view of the Louvre from the park.

I had some of the best travel companions. There was never a dull moment :)

However, from the moment our plane landed in Paris, things started to go our way. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the trees were bursting with fall colors. After dropping off our things, we went scavenging for our first Parisian dinner. We ended up getting Japanese food, which of course was not the most authentic of first meals, but it really hit the spot. After having our fill of rice, soy sauce, and sushi, we found a small crepery and stopped inside to have our first (of many) crepes. To our surprise, the waiter got a little upset when we placed our order for three dessert crepes. Unbeknownst to us, we had just walked into a very serious crepery and just ordered dessert. I guess it would be like walking into Olive Garden and ordering a piece of cake. Oops! Luckily, the waiter took pity on us and overlooked this faux pas. And am I ever glad he did. Nothing says “Welcome to Paris” like delicious crepe filled with melted dark chocolate. And the trip only got better from there!

The Seine.

View from the Arc de Triomphe.