PARIS!

This past weekend, a few of my classmates and I went to Paris, France.  Paris was a lot more fun than I thought. It definitely corrected many of the stereotypes I held against France and French people in general.  Some of my previous thoughts were: French people are all rude, they hate Americans and will not like you if you don’t speak French.  This trip certainly debunked these inaccurate stereotypes.  On the contrary, French people were actually kind and welcoming, were hospitable towards us as Americans, and greatly appreciated our attempts at French. Although we only knew a few basic words and phrases in French, everyone we came into contact with spoke English pretty well.  After mastering the metro, the first place we went was the Louvre Art Museum, which is arguable the most famous art museum in the world.  It is the home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.  I had seen the Mona Lisa several times in books and posters, but never in person.  Honestly he work was a little bit of a let down.  It really does look exactly like is does on posters you may have seen and is not very big either.  It was definitely the center of attention, as there must have been nearly a hundred visitors surrounding her to catch a glimpse.  Also, there were four guards protecting here, along with thick glass in front of the portrait.  One thing that is true, however, is that she really does make eye contact with you no matter where you are in the room.  The three of us made it a point to walk around the room to see if it still appeared we were making direct eye contact with the famed portrait.  In every location, it seemed as if she were only looking at us, it was quite impressive.

The next major monument we witnessed was the famed Arc de Triumph.  This arc was much more impressive than I had anticipated.  After seeing several arcs around Spain, I assumed this one would be much of the same.  However, I was proved wrong.  These arcs around Europe were built centuries ago in order to welcome soldiers returning home from battle.  The Arc de Triumph on the other hand, has another purpose.  It was completed in 1836 and it serves as a monument for the generals that served in Napoleon Bonaparte’s army.  Each of their names are engraved at the top of the arc.  Inside the arc is an eternal flame, serving as a monument for unknown fallen soldiers.  When we were there, the monument was covered with flowers.  It was pretty neat to see.  Another neat fact about the arc is that it connects TWELVE streets as a turnabout!         

Another major monument we visited was the cathedral of Notre Dame. This cathedral was extremely pretty!  The first thing I noticed upon entering was the amount of stained glass!  Literally every window in the building had stained glass and was very impressive!  The cathedral was filled with visitors as well as clergy members.  One thing I did not see however was the hunchback of Notre Dame!