The sixth day that we spent in Paris was a well welcomed free day. This was the first chance that I was able to sleep in (which is always nice) and explore the city at my own leisure. Since the free day fell on a Sunday, a group of the other students and I decided to spend a Sunday morning as the Parisians do. After a quick stop at the pastry shop for tarts and quiche we walked to the Luxembourg gardens near the hotel to enjoy the morning. The gardens were a decidedly good choice for a way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. The gardens were full of Parisians reading in the sunshine or just sitting on the lawns, this was a great experience to see how the residents of the city spend their free time. The most notable difference in the Luxembourg Gardens and parks of that size in America was the relaxed and quite attitude of all of the people in the park. Other than the occasion excited child, the park was blessedly quite and relaxed. No one was on their mobile phone talking loudly, no angsty teens being loud just to be noticed. This is one thing that I have noticed about Paris that is a striking difference than life in the States; people are not yelling to be heard over one another all of the time. Even in a park full of people it remained surprisingly tranquil. While we strolled in the park (how clique of me, but that is what we did!) we came across the large fountain in the middle of the gardens, in this fountain children sailed model sailboat in a ridiculously picturesque fashion. Really it seemed like something out of a movie romanticizing the city, but there they were with their little boats guiding them along with long sticks.
After the morning in the park the group decided to go to Montmartre to do the incredibly touristy thing and look at the sites from the film Amelie and to see the rumored incredible views of Paris from the Sacre Coeur’s look out point. After about 200 steps straight up from the metro stop we wandered into the artist’s square at the top of the butte. This was another of those iconic places in Paris that seem so familiar from seeing them in countless movies, artists sketched tourist men played accordions and everyone was outside in the square laughing, drinking and eating. We stopped and had lunch in a small café and all felt very French while we ate out crepes and watched the activity in the square. The activity of the square was however no match for the bustle of people around the Sacre Coeur basilica’s base. On the steps around the lookout point there were countless numbers of both tourists and Parisians alike enjoying the view and listening to the musicians play on the stairs. After seeing the view of the city from the top (not to mention the basilica itself) I can understand why it is such a popular stop, to top of the butte gives you a wide sweeping view of the city and many of the landmarks can be clearly seen in a spectacular panoramic. One thing about Paris that is both strange and somewhat enduring is the mix of emotions that so many of the places evoke. While enjoying the views of the city and the beauty of the basilica, I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of tourist based activity all over the city. It was hard to make your way down the stairs to the base of the park by the carousel due to all of the people snapping pictures (I am guilty of that as well) and the hawkers pushing you at every step to buy their Eiffel tower figures or to let them braid a string bracelet on your wrist (for a mere 10 Euros that is). I guess that this is the double edged sword of any city that has embraced the tourist culture. It is a fine balancing act to maintain the beauty and nature of the city that the people are coming to see and still make it somewhere that caters to those looking for the Disney side of things.
We headed back to the hotel and joined the group going to Notre Dame to see the sights and make a stop at what is possibly the greatest bookstore of all time, Shakespeare and Company. After I realized that I cannot buy everything in the shop we ended the night by drinking enough wine to make us giggle and going on an evening stroll through our neighborhood. The neighborhood turned to the block and from there we just walked. Our night time adventure lead us to find a beautiful building, complete with a moat (very exciting to tipsy American eyes) and to be able to see what the city does outside of the tourist spots. Our winding through the nighttime streets did result in what may have been the best part of the trip. We turned a corner and found ourselves at the base of the Eiffel tower; we didn’t even know we were on the correct side of the river to see it. We had just enough time to settle onto the grass before it started to sparkle. I will again say that it is the accidental discoveries that made Paris so amazing, no matter what corner you turn there always seems to be something magical to see.
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