Day 8 started off with a class trip to the Eiffel Tower, which I know I was excited to see for the first time up close. Of course, a lot of my family members were telling me “Make sure to get a ton of pictures of the Eiffel Tower!”, so I had a lot of responsibility going into it. It was impressive up close, but overall I would say underwhelming. Going up the tower, though, was a different story. I thought the view from the second floor was gorgeous, and the wind created an atmosphere that seemed typical yet exciting. I wish we could have gone up farther, but it was apparently never within the plans of Mother Nature to allow us to do that.
After a nice little visit at the Musée de l’Homme, we had lunch at what I think was an American themed restaurant that was pretty good. They were able to split the bill too, which is something I will make sure never to take for granted again here in the states. We visited a few more huge cathedrals, and I was yet again amazed at the effort it had to take to create such beautiful architecture. I was also surprised at the sheer number of large cathedrals in the city, but after thinking about it I shouldn’t be that surprised.
We reconvened as a class in front of the Pasteur Institute for a guided tour that not many people get to experience. I thought it was cool going in, as this institute was mentioned in a book I am currently reading (The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton). The lady giving the presentation was incredibly nice, and it was evident that she was passionate, but in all honesty I couldn’t understand most of the things she was saying. I was able to make inferences based off of prior knowledge from class and the movie, but I feel as if it would have been much more enjoyable had we been given a better tour guide. Most of the class was obviously tired as well, so I felt slightly bad for the tour guide, as none of it was really her fault, but I was just hoping that she didn’t notice. It was still fascinating to see so many of the things we have been talking about this whole semester, and yet again just getting to witness the environment in which this extraordinary scientists was subject to work in will make for a great memory, along with future appreciation for my working conditions (hopefully!).
The next museum we visited was the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which I had a great amount of appreciation for. I am a huge technology guy, so seeing how technology has advanced over the centuries was really fun to me. I also think technology is the most important factor in advancing as a society, so hearing our guide’s opinions on the internet were a bit alarming. I’m not a fan of going back to “the bucket system”, but if that is what needs to be done then I guess it will be done. Our guide had a great sense of humor, but I wish we had more time for both a tour, and more importantly some time on our own to venture around and look more into each showcase they had, because I feel like there was a lot of history that we missed out on.
Overall, day 8 was one of the most informative, yet definitely was one of the most exhausting. It would have been more enjoyable had these guided tours been spread out a bit more, and I would have loved to have more time in the Musée des Arts et Métiers.