I Could Wander Paris After Dark

The first sight that I saw after arriving in Paris was the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling as I passed it while riding on the metro to my hotel. Somehow, after all of my years of dreaming about the city of lights - I had arrived. Ever since I was small and in primary school and learning about Monet in art class, Paris has been on the top of my list to visit in this big world of ours.

Thanks to my Daddy and his gazillions of Marriott points, I was welcomed with open arms to the Marriott Rive Gauche when I arrived at 12:30 AM. Immediately I headed up to my room, watched a bit of CNN (!) in English (!!), and proceeded to pass out in the gigantic bed with all of the down comforters and pillows I could ever want. I wanted to take a picture of me jumping onto the bed like Carrie Bradshaw when she was was in Paris, but no one was there to take the picture, so this one of the room will have to do.

After an incredible night of sleep I woke up in the morning, showered, and went downstairs to ask the concierge where to go and get pastries. He sent me to a patisserie only a few blocks away where I proceeded to spend 8 euros on pastries and a can of apple juice. Not only did I buy the stuff, I ate every last crumb in the bag. Ever since Le Cezanne opened around the corner from my house when I was in middle school I was always partial to French pastries, now I really just can't imagine eating anything else.

Following my "piggy-ness" Laura, one of my pledge sisters who happens to be spending the semester in Paris, met up with me at the hotel. from there she took me to Jardin du Luxembourg where we met up with her friend Molly. After eating some warm chestnuts and frolicking through the park the two of them took me on a magnificent walking tour of Paris. We walked by the Seine, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Hotel de Ville, and we finally wound up in the Jewish quarter so that the two girls could eat some traditional Israeli falafel.

I wasn't hungry because of my earlier love affair with the pastry, but I was happy to sit and help eat the tomatoes out of Laura's Israeli salad while she and Molly enjoyed their balls of fried chick peas. It was almost like being back in Israel, you know, minus the who it being cold thing and everyone around me speaking French. But other than that, I could have been on Ben Yehudah street with all the black hats and orthodox women around me. It was my own little corner of Paris where I could feel perfectly at home. A big thanks needs to out to Laura and Molly for introducing me to this little corner of the city.

From there, the three of us got on the Metro and headed for the Champs Elysee to see what all the fuss was about. Sure, it was a very nice and wide street with lots of shops lining it, but overall, it failed to impress me. I guess it had a lot of live up to after talking about it so much in French class when I was in middle school and high school, but it just didn't make my heart go pitter patter like I thought that it would. The best thing about the entire road was making it to the end and seeing the Arc de Triomphe. No, we did not climb it, but I certainly took my time and walked all the way around it. What Napoleon was trying to say when he built this massive structure is quite apparent - he wanted to be perceived as the head of the next great empire, or equivalent to the former rulers of Rome. The arc is very skillfully designed after the Arc of Titus and the Arc of Constantine. This is when my newfound knowledge about the Art of Rome comes in handy...

The next stop on our tour was Les Tuileries, the garden that stretches for a number of blocks outside the Louvre. It was such a beautiful fall day, so the three of us chose to sit outside at one of the cafes and treat ourselves to some cappuccino, and I decided that I had to try my first crepe in Paris. Done and done. It was a great snack, and there was some enjoyable people watching that went along with it. I don't know what it is about Europe, but no matter what the weather is, I always seem to be willing to sit outside, and this was no exception.

From here the three of us took a nice leisurely stroll along the Seine, and I had the chance to cross over the famous Pont Neuf bridge for the first time. At this point, Molly went home, and Laura and I found ourselves a seat on the bridge where we sat and talked until the sun went down. From there, Laura had to go back to her host family's house to eat dinner, and I went back to the hotel to take a bath, a nap, and watch some more CNN.

By the time Laura finished dinner, it was too late for her to come back into the city to stay with me, so I once again asked the concierge for some advice as to where to go to dinner. They sent me to a cute place no more than 3 blocks from the hotel called Alouette. I had the most wonderful salad that had chicken, sweet corn, olives, hard boiled eggs, and a melody of other ingredients. It was probably the best salad that I have had since being abroad!

I decided to turn in early so that I could be up early for a long day of sightseeing. I came in knowing that my time in Paris was limited, and I needed to do as much as possible in the little time that I had available to me.