PARIS by Lauren and Shannon

Thank God for Shannon and her French skills. She will no doubt refute this as soon as I pass her the keyboard, but she is far too modest about her impressive foreign language abilities. Many a time I have stared blankly at some gent or other who has decided to accost me with rapid-fire French. At times like this it is quite lovely to have someone to close the language barrier and keep me from looking like a total dolt.

As Lauren said, I refuse to say that my French was spectacular, but I did okay. I think my Italian skills are much better so we'll have to compare after we go there. Anyway, Lauren and I have been having a fabulous time in Paris and have managed to survive so far. It has been so beautiful here; sunny and warm and wonderful. The first day we did a free walking tour as we tend to do in a new city. It wasn't the best we have ever experienced, but it helped us get our bearings in this huge city. We are staying in Montmartre which is in the quieter, northern part of Paris and is an easy Metro ride into the big city centre. Back to the tour...we saw the big sites like Notre Dame, the Seine river, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower bien sur (of course). However, it was the lesser known trivia that interested us. First there was the Artist's Bridge where there are artists (crazy logic I know), but more interesting are the locks that cover the iron railings. The theory is that you and your love buy a lock and lock it to the bridge and throw away the key into the river so that your love will stayed locked in Paris forever. Awwwwww.... The other fun fact was the French Institute which is a special group whose purpose is to preserve the French language, especially against English. Stupid English. So we heard the story about how they refused to accept that the French word for computer was going to be un computer and so came up with a new word, l'ordinature, which is what is used. They also have the fun task of deciding a word's gender since nouns are either masculine or feminine in French. After three months of debate, they decided the iPod is masculine.

Hay Hay Hay! Back again! What would an adventure in Paris be without a description of the food? Every morning the hostel provides us with croissants and many crepes have been ingested, mostly of the chocolate variety. Pan e fromage is a daily staple as it is cheap and everywhere. Why, I grabbed a cheese sandwich at a kiosk the other day on my way to the most amazing bookstore. Horrible segueway, but whatever. I'm tired. And writing on a French keyboard...which is difficult. Soooo...the bookstore. Right. It is GROOVY! It's called Shakespeare and Co. and sells only English books. It has played a prominent role in a few films and its charm lies in its complete individuality. There are books from floor to ceiling with ladders used to get at the particularly musty ones up top. Very reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, and I must say that I'd like to emulate Belle's example and start singing lovingly about the written word while swinging wildly about on a ladder. Anyhoo, there are random nooks and crannies that contain beds where aspiring artists are allowed to bunk for free. Way cool, huh? And in a fort-like area there is a typewriter for those overwhelmed by their creative muse. A piano available for anyone to play provides a perfect soundtrack to this lovely store.
Ze Eiffel Tower. Hoh hoh!! Shannon and I arrived at this incredible monument just as the sun was setting. This provided the perfect backdrop for overzealous picture taking as well as truly profound (and by that, I mean mundane) conversations. I was fully expecting Shannon to propose her love to me under the brilliant glow of the tower, but she forgot the ring. A sad night for me, no?

As a quick note to Lauren's comment, I would have proposed had we gone to the top of the Tower.

Yeah, right. You jilted me. It's fine. It's not like I'm hurt or anything...

Well then, you should have proposed to me. But no, I have to do all the work....like leading you around the city as the fearless leader once more.

Whatever Shannon. You're in the doghouse. We'll discuss our domestic issues later. Just talk about the museums, ok?

Fine. We went to four museums and got into all of them for free. Hells to the yes. This is because if you are between 16 and 25 and are a student in the European Union you get into museums free and we had our London student cards. Awesome. Anyway, we of course went to the Musée D'Orsay and the Louvre. The Musée D'Orsay is really cool as it used to be a train station and they just left it as it looked before and put some art on the walls and sculptures in the middle of the room. Lauren and I liked it because it is mostly Impressionists paintings, so Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, and Renoir. The Louvre was also really cool albeit enormous. We spent about 3 hours in there seeing the big masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory and the Rubens Room. Lauren dragged me to the Napolean apartments which were very pretty and also much quieter as they were far from the Mona Lisa.
However, our favorite museums were the two smaller museums we went to. The first was the Musée de Cluny which was by my insistance as it houses the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. I read a historical fiction book about them and have wanted to see them ever since. So I was hyperly excited while I'm sure Lauren was rolling her eyes at me. But she liked them too. There are 6 tapestries of the Lady and her Unicorn and although they were made in the 1400s, they are in wonderful condition and have always been kept together as a set. The first 5 depict the 5 senses while the 6th one is called Mon Seul Desire (My soul's desire) which is supposed to show the 6th sense, the sense of the heart and emotions. I loved loved loved them and Lauren loved that they were housed in an old monastary complete with secret, winding staircases. The last museum was Musée de l'Orangerie which was in a greenhouse in the Jardins des Tuileries behind the Louvre. It is known for having Monet's Waterlilly paintings (and it does) but it also has more Impressionist paintings that made us love this collection as much as we loved the Musée D'Orsay's collection.

Phew, this is a long post! If you're still reading, you get a gold star!
Perhaps my favourite part of France has been reveling in the Parisian atmosphere. I love walking along the bank of the Seine or sitting in one of the many gardens observing Parisians at large.
Today Shannon and I are off to Le Sacre Couer and the Moulin Rouge before taking a train to Amsterdam. Who knows what adventure this next locale will bring!

Lots of love,
Lauren and Shannon