Paris, Paris

A panoramic shot I took from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

I've been thinking about the posts I've been doing, and realized that for these "I went ___" posts, anyone who reads this probably just wants one thing: pictures! So I'll try to keep this post mostly about what I saw and did in my weekend in Paris! I joined Morgen and her family on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday evening. It was a short trip but I saw a lot:

Paris definitely has a theme to it's architecture. The city looks very uniform, but with enough slight variation to be beautiful. The stone buildings and wrought-iron balconies are typical of the entire city.

This piano player kicked a lot of ass.

The metro system in Paris is great, and very similar to London's. It is one of (if not the?) densest subway systems in Europe. Given how ridiculously dangerous it looks to drive in Paris, it's a good thing they have the subway. Morgen's dad (Mark) actually said he was afraid while driving around, something he said he has never felt before while driving. Paris also includes the most dangerous area to drive in Europe, the roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe.

This was maybe the coolest thing I saw. There were several cars like this. They weren't common, but I loved how casual it was that there were just cars parked on the street, chargin' up!

Luxury.

YELLOW BATMOBILE

There is a pretty cool tradition in Paris that our tour guide told us about. I don't remember exactly, but the gist is this: You come here with a padlock (not a combination lock), and your lover. You write your names on the lock and lock it to the bridge. Then, as a symbol of the everlastingness of your love, you throw both of your keys into the river below! We found this out AFTER we wrote all of Morgen's families name on a lock with "Greetings From the USA!" on it. We kinda missed the whole point.

It seems cool, and it is..But we later found out that all of these locks are clipped off the bridge about once a week. Kind of ironic considering the theme of everlasting love -_-

Now, I don't have a lot to say about them, but just as proof that I went, here are the big landmarks!

Notre Dame

Arc de Triomphe (it is worth every penny to go on top of this. It is the best view in the whole city)

MY GIRL MONA

Some giant metal thing we found, I forget the name.

To the Louvre!

I didn't have my camera with me, but on Saturday we saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Stadte de France. It was a great show, they played all of the classics, and only the best songs from their new album. The one funny thing I noticed was that, even though the French loved RHCP, France isn't well known for being English-friendly. So Morgen and I were basically the only ones singing the entire time, until the chorus of a really popular song came on, and all of a sudden the crowd goes wild! It's strange because I don't have a good feel for what it would be like for the biggest bands in the world to sing in a different language.



So, I had a great time in Paris and it is definitely on the must-go-to list of European cities. I'll close with my favorite picture from the whole trip: A few of the Grand Palace in the distance as a river boat goes down the beautiful Seine River:

I love the way the French flag sticks out against the dusk!