The metro. The Louvre. The Palace of Versailles. The Arc de Triomphe. The Opera House. The Eiffel Tower. Notre-Dame de Paris. Sainte-Chapelle. Champ-Elyssees.
We saw so much. I am still processing the impressions... but if I had to use a single word to describe impression of Paris, it woudl be "Effortlessly Grandiose". Wait, that was 2 words. Well, that's Paris for you - it doesn't fit into meager single-word descriptions.
The metro would be "Terrifically Efficient" (for those who manage to figure out how to navigate it). There are endless tunnels going every-which-way beneath the city - it's a 3D maze-with-a-purpose.
The Eiffel Tower would be "Weightless Art-in-Motion". It is gorgeous. (And much bigger than I expected). We walked up the stairs to the second level. It didn't feel as hard as I thought it would - the stairs were quite spacious (unlike the stairs for Arc de Triomphe).
We only saw a small portion of the Louvre (The Louvre was so, so much bigger than I expected) - we decided to spend time visiting just a few works of art and not be overly ambitious. Mona Lisa was amazing (and while there were quite a few people trying to take photos in front of the painting, the room wasn't as crowded as I feared). I've been told to expect to be underwhelmed, but the portrait was absolutely breathtaking. Some works of art just have this magnetic pull, and this one - I couldn't take my eyes off it. Enigmatic, and ironic, and so much feeling trapped on the canvas.
And speaking of raw extreme emotion - there was Liberty Leading the People. I've seen reproductions many times, but standing in front of the original - I couldn't walk away. I kept studying the details. So many layers, so much horror, and violence, and hope. Monsenior Delacroix could have reached out and hit me on the head, and I would not have been more affected. If I had to pick one favorite thing that I saw in Paris - this would be it.
And then there was Musee d'Orsay. Once again, I only saw a small part - I didn't want to rush through it, I wanted to give things proper attention. At the end of the visit, when my brain was fully saturated with the art and couldn't take another painting, I was just causually walking through the first floor, glancing at various sculptures. And I saw this (below) - and I was in love.
I am already making a list of things I want to see when I go back to Paris.
Is there a place that you want to go back to? Would you try to visit your old favorites there or see something different?
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