Paris, city of lights. Unfortunately, I spent almost half of my time there sick in the hotel. None the less! I did get to see many of the hallmark Paris sights, and what I did see was quite nice. Paris is also a city deeply steeped in its own history and its own unique culture.
The first sight we visited was actually the sight that I had been most excited about, the Notre Dame. Now you can laugh all you want, but one of my favorite Disney movies growing up was Hunchback of Notre Dame. And to be at the cathedral itself was breathtakingly beautiful. When we happened to stop in at the Notre Dame there was a choir preforming and it sounded very lovely. I sat down and listened to them for a bit before continuing on to view the rest of the cathedral. The Cathedral was pretty standard but still had a very appealing sort of old charm to it. I know it might sound strange, but I very much enjoy old churches (lucky for me considering how many are on this trip).
After the Notre Dame I actually almost got lost in Paris. This happened when I turned around for one second and realized soon after that my group seemed to have moved on without me. I spent about thirty minutes looking around the plaza just outside the Notre Dame for my group. I was a little terrified because I was in a large city that I had only been in for half a day and that I did not speak the language of at all. Luckily I was able to find my group and reunite! After almost getting lost halfway across the world, I decided that it would be best to go straight home. Of course going straight home, meant trying to navigate the underground of Paris. Which was a nightmare. At least that day it was, when I was new to the city and beyond tired, if I recall correctly. That day taught me that Parisians are not very talkative in general, and often won’t try to help strangers.
Remember when I said I went straight home after the Notre Dame? I lied. We had a quick layover at the Eiffel Tower first. It was nice. Got to see the Eiffel Tower. Which was cool but, I don’t know. At the end of the day, it’s just a radio tower (albeit a cool looking one).
That day was the most sight-seeing I did in Paris not related to the trip. I feel like I didn’t really get a good chance to experience Paris as fully as I could of, but at the same time I don’t really feel as though I missed out. One of the biggest revelations I’ve had on this trip I think is this, a city is a city. There might be a different people occupying that city, but when you get down to it, most people are pretty similar and so are most cities. Paris is just a city the same way New York is just a city. We may have slightly different ways of doing things, but that doesn’t make either way necessarily better than the other.