Just when my dream of returning to London for a holiday was becoming a reality, my brother Nate's hope of going to Europe came true. He was asked to come out to work in Germany for the month of June, which was convenient due to that being the end of his work contract at Cal-State Fullerton and also due to having a German girlfriend. He didn't know how long he'd be in Germany but we thought it'd be nice to meet up somewhere midway. Paris was the place!
He had been traveling for a few weeks around Sweden, Finland, Italy and Greece and was more than a little maxed out on seeing things. Neither of us had been to Paris. It was his last stop before going home and a few hours from London by train for me.
I arrived before him and settled in at the Hotel Petit de Louvre near the Eiffel Tower. I cleaned up, bought some fresh bread and cheese and met some college friends beneath the Tower. They had been to Paris before and gave great suggestions on places to go. I walked down the Champ
de Mars, through the Hotel des Invalides, past the Grand Palais, down the Champs E'yses, around the Arc de Triomphe, to Victor hugo's house and finally to Rafael's Hotel to meet Nate. He, his friend and I walked to the Latin Quarter for dinner and ate in the square of St. Germain. I had mozzarella cheese with basil leaves and tomato, a tender piece of lamb, along with champagne and wine. It was a beautiful place but I was a disappointed to hear American music being played while eating-I would have preferred a more French ambiance. It was an amazing dinner, I feel horrible for not having the vocabulary to describe it.
I joined Nate and his friend for breakfast but the rest of the time it was just Nate and I. After moving his luggage to my place, we went to the Basilque de Sacre Caeur on a steep hill overlooking Paris. There were pathways 180 degrees around it, with shops and parks and crowds of couples-reminding us that Paris isn't a normal place for brothers to meet up. We walked to Notre Dame, dropped in the Shakespeare Book Company, and ate dinner off Mabillon in the Latin Quarter, which was almost completely empty! Evidently most citizens of Paris were on vacation.
We walked to Rue Cler and had crepes for breakfast, banana & nutella:) The market was actually anticlimactic after all that I had heard and read about it from chefs-wrong season I guess. From there we went to the Louvre, to which Nate responded, "What? a museum Ben, seriously?" When he walked in, he began to realize its significance but still declared "Going to a museum with you is like going shopping with Stephanie" (his girlfriend). The Louvre was immense and overwhelming but lacked the diversity and clarity of the Vatican Museums in Rome. After 2.5hrs, my senses had hit "overload" and we went down to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was larger than I expected. I told Nate he could choose a place for lunch since I had taken so long at the museum, assuming he'd soak up the opportunity to have good French food. Instead, the moment he saw someone eating McDonalds, he rushed over and found out where the store was. So in my final hours in Paris I sat at a window with a McFlurry and Spicy Chicken Burger, not what I expected but definitely memorable!
random highlights:
-observing the high commitment to fashion everywhere, even a 60+yr old woman wearing 5in. wedges down the street
-making faces with children in the park or train, seeing the light in their eyes, speaking an intl language of humor
-preferring the steep, narrow, winding streets of Montmartre over the busy streets of central Paris
-soaking up the freedom of a holiday, being able to ask "what do I want to do today?"
-getting time with someone who knows me well
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