So, i am skipping Amsterdam for right now.. not because i didnt enjoy myself there or loved the city, but rather because i forgot i hadnt uploaded pictures of it yet! So i will be doing that in a few days i suppose. I was so excited about my time in Paris that i just started editing pictures and i forgot about the ones from amsterdam. Anyway! I arrived in Gare du Nord and maneuvered my way through the subway ( which is huge and somewhat confusing for a virgin to their system.. no worries as i quickly picked up most of the lines) We had rented an apartment (we being my family) that was located in the latin quarter.. about a five minute walk away from Notre Dame (which was awesome!) I arrived late in the day to Paris where it was really f'ing hot (having just come from Copenhagen where the lows were in the 50s) I arrived, greeted by my mom and brother, happy to have found the place. I unpacked a bit and took a reprieve from the heat. We ventured out later in the evening, walking towards Notre Dame.. and grabbing some dinner right by the apartment.
The next day we arose and enjoyed some delicious goods from the fresh bakery around the corner. We shared the coconut flan, but i had an apple tart for breakfast. MMH. Our first stop was to head towards the Pantheon..which i knew little about before my trip to Paris, but i was soon to find it outs past history as a funerary complex for members of the Paris elite. including Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, and Louis Braille among a myriad of others.
"with martyrs unaware of death"
So i thought i would explain the picture above. That is my brother Andrew, and he is indeed wearing glasses.. i noticed they were magnifying something.. THE EIFFEL TOWER! so i tried to get a picture of it being magnified but it didnt really work... you can kind of see a faint outline.. but otherwise, it didnt work. Our next stop that day was the Louvre.. which was gargantuan. I am almost positive i could get lost in there and probably be never found.. it could be kind of fun actually.. like that book where the kids slept in the museum... but they were kids, and sundaes cost 5 cents..so things are looking grim for me. Anyway.. this was the first of two visits to the louvre.. i decided to see the two most annoying (touristy) things to get them out of the way.. so i went and saw the venus de milo and the mona lisa... which both left me with the question: WTF? The Mona Lisa is much ado about nothing.. yes its by da vinci, and yes their is intrigue about who it actually is, but come on.. thousands of other paintings have a similar story but they dont have a gaggle of tourists surrounding them blinding all those walking by with their cellphone cameras. WHICH also begs the question.. who the fuck takes a picture on their cell phone? i mean honestly.. that has to be the shittiest camera and you are taking pictures of some really gorgeous things with it. ITS INSULTING. i probably could defecate and that would still be a better camera then a cell phone camera. anyway.. i forgot how much i detested that. The Venus de Milo was much more worthy of praise in my view, but still, i am not sure what all the interest is about.. Just did a little research.. apparently the only reason it is SO famous is because of french propoganda in the 1800s? I thought there were way more interesting things in the Louvre besides these two things so i am glad i got these two gems out of the way: like this first picture.. i loved this sculpture.
After the Louvre we started walking back towards our apartment (we spent a lot of time there) with the intention of getting food along the way. As we did most nights, we stopped by Notre Dame as the sun was setting. There will probably be about 4 or 5 more installments on Paris.. and then Amsterdam.. that will probably be the last thing blogged about on here before i saddle up and move on to another venture.
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