Paris

I knew before going to Paris that it was a city that many people loved and there was a lot of hype about it, but for some reason my expectations weren't that high when I got there. I think compared to the other cities I had been to up to that point it seemed way bigger and I had the impression that it would feel huge and dirty and overwhelming. In some ways that was true but overall I liked it way more than I expected.

It is such a beautiful city! I loved the style of the buildings in the city and how cohesive the architecture was, and it seemed like there was something breath-taking around every corner.

The fist day we mostly just wandered from our hostel along the river, and we ended up seeing more than I expected. Some of it was just beautiful buildings we stumbled upon that I didn't know what they were, but we also saw Notre Dame and the Louvre and the area around there. 

That night we moved from our hostel to our couchsurfing host's place. We decided to stay in a hostel the first night because our last night in Amsterdam we still hadn't heard back from anyone who could host us in Paris so we decided we just wanted to know where we were headed before we started traveling. Luckily we found a host for the rest of the nights so we didn't have to stay in the hostel the whole time. Our host didn't live in the center of the city unfortunately so we had to take a commuter rail for about 15 minutes to get to his place but it was still pretty convenient. 

The second day we decided to get to the Louvre early because it was the first Sunday of the month, when they have free admission! The line was ridiculously long when we got there 15 minutes after opening time, but it moved fast so we only waited for about half an hour. The first thing we did was see the Mona Lisa so we could try to beat as many people there as possible. It was cool to see it in person, but as with many famous works of art it's not clear to me why the Mona Lisa is so much more famous than any other piece of art. What makes certain pieces like that stand out so much for so many people? Clearly I'm not an art expert, but it was a good experience to see it anyway. After that we spent a few hours wandering through the museum without any real agenda, just seeing what we came upon. To me the building itself was just as much of an attraction as all of the art inside of it. Even if there was nothing inside the building I would still be enthralled because there is so many beautiful rooms and ornately decorated ceilings. 

Then we went to Luxembourg Gardens because a friend of ours from Vermont just happened to also be in Paris that day and we were going to meet him there but the timing didn't end up working out so we left before he got there. It would have been so cool to see someone else from Vermont randomly in Paris, but sadly we missed each other. Once we left the gardens, we moved on to what I had been looking forward to most during the trip: the Eiffel Tower! And it did not disappoint. It was amazing to see it in person and up close. Like so many things in Paris, it is so beautiful and grand (which we decided is the word that best describes everything in Paris). 

The third day we saw the Arc de Triomphe, and went up to the top of it to get a view of the city (which I didn't realize you could do before I got to Paris). I really enjoy seeing cities from above and Paris was really cool because of how cohesive the style is, except for a few places that had some high rises and skyscrapers.  After that we took the metro to the Moulin Rouge, which was underwhelming but we didn't actually go in so all I had to go on was seeing it from outside. From there we walked through Montmartre to Sacre Coeur. It's such a cute little neighborhood,although very touristy, and Sacre Coeur is beautiful!

Our last day there, we didn't have anything else we really wanted to do within the city so we decided to take the train to Versailles. Since we're trying to do this trip very frugal, and since we didn't get there until afternoon, we decided to just walk around the garden instead of paying to go inside. Even that was well worth it because there is so much to see. The garden is enormous, and even though none of the fountains were on and the main one in the center was removed for renovation, it was beautiful. And since I have started to get a little antsy being in cities for so long, it was nice to be near lots of trees, which is the most nature I have experienced since leaving Norway. 

Here is a taste of the things we saw in Paris:

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Me in front of Notre Dame

The river, with my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the background!

The Louvre

The inverted pyramid inside the Louvre while we waited in line to enter the museum

The Pyramid, taken from inside the Louvre. You can see parts of the huge line to get in. 

Me at the Louvre

The Eiffel Tower up close!

I was really excited!

Danielle and I at the Eiffel Tower

Lit up as it was getting dark

Arc de Triomphe

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Me at the Arc de Triomphe

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur

Versailles

Versailles from the back

View towards the gardens

View back towards the palace as we wandered through the garden

Another view back towards the palace

Versailles selfie!

One issue that being in Paris made me think about more so than the other cities that I have been to so far is poverty. Out of all of the cities I have been to on this trip, Paris seemed to have the largest number of people begging on the street. Other than Salzburg, everywhere else I have been I haven't seen much of it at all, and I think it probably has to do with the differences in social welfare programs in each country. Yesterday I gave most of my small change, which added up to about 65 cents, to a homeless man who was sitting at the exit of the metro, and it really got me thinking about how unfair it is that society just seems to ignore the people who need the most help. I can't imagine ever ending up in a situation where I saw no other option than to sit on the street and hope passersby would feel sorry enough to give me their measly pocket change, but that is the sad reality for the numerous people I saw doing that in Paris. Maybe that 65 cents will help him buy his next meal, but after that the cycle starts all over again and he just has to hope he survives. And after I had given my change to that one man, I saw 2 more who also needed help on the next block, and even people like me who care and want to help can't help everyone. In that moment I got so mad that governments don't make more of an effort to help those people who are down on their luck. It seems like homeless people are more likely to be herded away from wherever they are sitting by police in an effort to make the street look more desirable to walk on instead of actually getting help from their government. How can societies feel proud of their achievements and progress if not everyone is included in the prosperity? Capitalist societies put such a high value on personal success from hard work that they assume that when people don't succeed it's their own fault, or assume that someone who is homeless got there because they are addicted to alcohol or drugs, therefore somehow are less worthy of help. Even in the situation of addiction, I don't think anyone should be left out in the cold without any resources. There should be government programs to help people overcome their addictions and give them skills that they can use to find work, and there should be more of an effort made to make sure there isn't such an income gap between the very rich and the very poor. Something needs to change but I have no idea when or how politicians are really going to wake up and realize that instead of just listening to powerful interests who have all the money they need to finance political careers for the corrupt people who will vote in their favor, who will vote for tax loopholes that allow muilti-million dollar corporations to get away with paying almost no taxes while allowing the people who have the least to suffer. 

I feel like I need to help do something about things like this, but it's hard to know what I can do as one person or where I would start. As I've noted at many times in the past year or two, I'm incredibly fortunate. Even though I've never had a full time job that paid more than minimum wage, I've never felt like I was really struggling or that I wasn't going to make ends meet. I've always had money for the necessities and I've had a comfortable life. I've been thinking a lot on this trip about what I want my life to be like and what I want to do after this, and when I think about the future I see many options and opportunities for myself. I'm almost overwhelmed by the number of things I feel I could do if I wanted to, because there simply isn't enough time to do them all. I don't feel as if I'll be held back from what I want to pursue, I'll just have to save up money for certain things, but that is doable, I did it for this trip. I don't think anyone should have to feel like they don't have the opportunity to do what makes them happy, and I think it should be a priority of societies to make sure that everyone has opportunities and can be happy. 

Thanks for listening to my rant. I have one more blog post after this that is typed up but not edited, so I will do my best to post that one soon, and then move on to a post about what I'm doing now. I'm in Spain at a farm doing more WWOOFing, so stay tuned for an update on that!