the eiffel tower is red, and other startling revelations

For my twenty-first birthday a friend from Wellesley, Katie, and I wandered very far, over land and sea, all the the way to Paris. We have abstractly talked about going together since we realized that our loves of food and art respectively make it an ideal destination and as a result we had a very long list of places to see. Highlights included:

Riding through the Chunnel, which made me realize that all the fuss is not about the actual experience but rather the lackthereof. We had gotten up at 3:30am to make our train so when I roused from a daze and asked Katie when we would go into the tunnel she just laughed - we were already in France.

The very warm welcome that Paris gave us, with the sun breaking through the clouds just as we came into courtyard of the Louvre. Even if I hadn't just come from rainy London I think I would have been blow away by the bath of golden light that shone on the cold city.

Standing in the proper middle of Paris, and making Katie's sister Julie, who was on a school trip to France and Belgium - we managed to catch up with her for the afternoon at Notre Dame, laugh with my ridiculous face.

This plate of crepes, obtained in a restaurant in the gardens of Versailles. Even in February I could imagine why the palace is so famous. And even though I found the overly-controlled landscape comical with its perfectly square trees, I appreciated it all the same.

Watching the sun set over Paris, and making it to the Arc de Triomphe just in time to catch it between day and night. Unfortunately, by the time we figured out how to get past the eight unmarked lanes of traffic to the base of it the sun had finished setting. Then again, thats 284 stairs less for me.

In the Musee d'Orsay I saw the largest collection of Toulouse-Lautrec's work that I have ever seen altogether. Fitting, as we stopped at the Moulin Rouge earlier that day. Also earlier that day I experienced Angelina's bakery, the one place Katie insisted we stop, and had some of the best hot chocolate of my life.

Walking across the Solderino Passerelle Katie spotted all of these locks. It was such a sweet surprise to find them.

And on our last night in Paris, after a delicious steak dinner where we toasted my birthday and officially marked the end of a very successful trip, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. At precisely 8 o'clock the tower lit up with glimmering lights that make it appear to sparkle. I had read something about it lighting up for five or ten minutes at the beginning of each hour, and I was happy to have my suspicion confirmed, although it made it difficult to walk away.

Other highlights were the nine croissants that I managed to consume in just four days, successfully seeing everything on our list, and sailing into the White Cliffs of Dover. I wasn't able to get a picture which really did them justice but you can see them here, with the rest of my pictures.