I’ll be honest, Paris was never at the top of my priority list when I decided to do a semester abroad. Sure it seemed like a beautiful place with a lot of interesting history, but I had dreamed of going places like Rome, Venice and Florence my whole life. However, when the opportunity to go there and meet up with friends from school presented itself, I couldn’t help but recall the movie “Sabrina” and Audrey Hepburn’s wise words, “Paris is always a good idea.” And with that, I booked my flight.
Paris took me by surprise, and quite quickly too. I instantly felt a fondness toward it; the gothic architecture, the seemingly random rivers and bridges and the smell of crepes everywhere. Even the dreary weather looked good on Paris. After settling into our charming little hostel (a former aristocratic residence) just a few blocks from Notre Dame, we had a wonderfully French lunch of onion soup and crepes at a local café. I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with my friend from school and after a free entrance to the Louvre that evening (because, once again, my bargain hunting came through) and a visit to the Mona Lisa—which is much less impressive than you think it will be—we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Once it’s dark, the Eiffel Tower has a little light show every 20 minutes. Actually, light show is probably a gross understatement; the Eiffel Tower sparkles. And really, what more does a girl want than to see a sparkly, glittery Eiffel Tower in Paris?
The next day was dedicated to Versailles, and being the history buff that I am, I couldn’t have been more excited to spend the day at the greatest palace in the world; exploring the halls once roamed by Marie Antoinette, getting lost in the gardens and even spotting the desk where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Other than exploring the main palace and spitting out random historical facts and figures to my roommate, one of my favorite parts of the day was walking through the Queen’s Hamlet where Marie Antoinette’s husband, King Louis XVI, was kind enough to create a small French village on the grounds of the Petit Trianon, her favorite hideout. The village has a few houses, a farm, a mill and the cutest little bridge where I read she used to play peasant with her friends to escape the pressures of life as a royal. It’s hard to sympathize with a bored queen who feels the need to escape from the greatest palace in the world, until you remember that she was beheaded. Eek.
Other noteworthy sites I explored included Moulin Rouge, the Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame and countless crepe and hot wine stands. One of the highlights of my trip was definitely Notre Dame, and being inside the cathedral during a mass was a humbling experience; surrounded by overwhelming gothic architecture and the echoing sounds of an organ and a French choir. We later go to walk (more specifically, climb and pant and complain) all the way to the top for an incredible view of the whole city. With such an amazing view of the city and the Eiffel Tower it would almost be easy to overlook all of the gargoyles surrounding the cathedral. I never realized how frightening and unique they all were but, to be fair, my only prior knowledge of gargoyles or of Notre Dame for that matter came from Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”—which I learned is actually a much more depressing and gruesome story than the one I remember seeing at the movie theater with my grandparents. If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have begged my mom for an Esmeralda costume with the matching tambourine when I was 10. But apparently the gargoyles are so frightening because they are supposed to ward off sinners and evil spirits…and small children and tourists from Tokyo. But seriously, I thought the woman from Tokyo was going to cry.
The funny thing about Paris is that, since it’s so commonly the setting of major Hollywood films, I felt like I had already seen so much of the city through movies like “The Devil Wears Prada,” Mary-Kate and Ashley’s “Passport to Paris,” and even “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” But I was so mistaken; I guess it’s hard to capture the essence of a city in a few wide angle shots, or computer generated graphics. Even though I only knew 5 French words (two of which were croissant and Sarkozy), I bonjour-ed my way through Paris with a hot wine in one hand and a baguette in another, secretly developing a love for a city I had no real prior interest in visiting. It just goes to show Audrey is always right; Paris is most certainly always a good idea.