Paris

The Paris trip was wonderful. Absolutely s'wonderful, to quote a favorite song.

As soon as I found my way out of the airport and on to the train, I felt myself waking up from something. Maybe I was waking up from the "Jewish geography" talks that have plagued and taken over many of my conversations since coming to Florence. I found myself eavesdropping like crazy, on interesting conversations, on interesting people - in English! Often, in Florence, I feel like I am surrounded by really interesting conversations; in Italian tho, I can't understand!

As soon as I found my way out of the metro station - this took about 10 minutes; I couldn't find any exits - I was really in awe of what was in front of me. It was loud, cars were speeding by, people were packing the streets; in front on me there were lights and tall buildings and cafes (with people inside and out) and, in the distance, I saw a bridge. I was shocked at how old the buildings looked (not really sure why this surprised me), how grand and palace-like they were, how wide the sidewalks were.

I walked to the bridge, to the river, the Seine. It was a beautiful night. I finally saw the Eiffel Tower, which was blinking on and off. I walked up and down the sidewalk next to the bridge, passing what I think was Notre Dame and plenty of other beautiful buildings, cafes, and people. People crowding coffee shops, and cafes, people crowding and waiting to enter theatres. It was loud and noisy and crazy and wild. I loved it.

I went to Paris to visit my great friend Lindsay, and we had quite the weekend. Each day was a big day and I really got a good look at Paris.

A highlight was, after a Schwarma stuffing at a phenomenal Falafel restaurant -that looked like it was set in an 80's porno film (...not that I've seen any, of course...) in Paris' Jewish section, we visted Pere-Lachaise Cemetary. Easily one of the coolest places I've ever been, the eery and creepy vibe of the cemetary (the deteriorating graves, the cobblestone streets, the skinny trees with no leaves) combined with the dark and gloomy weather of the day combined to create, somehow, an extremely charming vibe and fresh feel.



We did the musicians tour that day, wandering around the cemetary to visit, among others, Chopin, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison.

Along the way, we stopped often to look at intriguing grave stones. One particularly interesting standout was a grave whose words were only, "Enfin suel," which means, "Finally alone."



There was something really charming about the cemetery, and, on a return to Paris, it is definitely a place I'd want to revisit and spend more time.

Next we to an exhibit at the Grand Palais. It was exhibition of work by an apparently very well-known artist of today, Christian Boltanski. An exhibit that Lindsay has since labeled "the laundry that Joe left in Paris," it was a wide spread of clothes throughout the floor of the Palais. In the center of the Palais stood a huge pile of clothes; each minute or so, a crane would come down, pick up a pile of clothes, bring them up in the air, and then drop them back on top of the pile.



Although I really didn't understand the exhibit, it was a very interesting thing to see, and while it didn't connect with me emotionally as it obviously had with many others, there was something about it that made it hard to look away. And while I also couldn't tell you what I enjoyed about it or why I liked it, I did, and am very glad I went.

We went to the Louvre next. We only had an hour or so to have our go at it, but we made the most of it, wandering through the underground caves, Napoleon's apartment, and even made our way to the famous Mona Lisa (although I must admit I enjoyed the painting directly across from it more).

While I didn't find the Holy Grail per se, I did find pancakes at the Louvre's Starbucks, which were delicious.

On Saturday we went to Versailles. A really jaw dropping place, I don't even know how I could possibly go about describing it; I've got a pretty good vocabulary, but you wouldn't be interested in my description or my talkin' 'bout. A place I've always wanted to visit - I've google-imaged it quite a few times over the years - I'm glad I got to see it in person.



A highlight for me was, walking to dinner that night, we passed a coffee shop. Everyone inside was dancing. They weren't grinding or hip-hoppin'; they were dipping one another, spinning eachother, dancing and laughing to the romantic, accordion-laced french music playing inside the cafe. The whole scene was very charming and exciting to me. I felt like, in some way, after seeing that, I could say I saw Paris.