As the bus pulled into the station in the village of Bercy, the 18-year-old version of me was having a small fit. FINALLY, here I was in Paris! Something I'd been dreaming of since I'd started taking French in the 7th grade. What would I do first? Moodily sip espresso at a cafe? Pair cheeses and wines at a farmer's market? Wander le Cathedrale Notre Dame in search of a clandestine hunchback? Get rained on?
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| I love Paris in the summer when it pours a deluge on my head |
Yeah, it was bloody soaking during the drive down. Fortunately, the majority of the storm had passed by the time we got off, but the journey to my next hostel was still a bit wet.
Auberge de Jeunesse Le d'Artagnan (or lit. D'Artagnan Youth Hostel) was not quite as swish as the Stayokay, but still pretty nice. Not dumpy, but more simple and "hip", and generally speaking, a bit more in line with what I was expecting with a hostel.
It was pretty late when I arrived, and I had to be up early the next morning, so once I checked in, I ate and settled for the evening. My first full day in Paris was slated to be a pretty packed one, starting with a cityscape photo shoot at 8 AM, so after a quick cordon bleu at the hostel, time for bed.
I'm obviously not bad about taking photos when I am out and about. However, I do tend to not take pictures of myself out of forgetfulness, often relying on travel buddies to get candid shots of me. Oh, except, I'm solo now, so what's a girl to do? I refuse on principal to buy a selfie stick, and frankly, normal selfies tend to make me feel self-conscious, too. Maybe it's that it screams vanity, or that nothing could more quickly peg me as a tourist, or more likely that I'm just a huge weirdo. So, my absolutely not insanely vain solution? Get a photographer.
I learned earlier this year that, in addition to shared housing, AirBnB now also provides local "experiences." Hosts can now advertise things like walking tours, classes, food tastings, anything that might appeal to a tourist, but from a local's perspective. Back in March, while on a trip in San Francisco, I came across someone who did a walking photo shoot of visitors in the city. No need to worry about pulling out your phone to take subpar insta pics. Someone with proper equipment and know-how about the most scenic views would do all the work for you. That had been really cool because, not only did the pictures look fantastic, but the photographer was really personable and had a fun time telling us interesting stories about the city.
So, when I booked my travel for Paris, I decided to look up a similar experience here. I came across Felik, who'd advertised that he'd won a short film competition and had been living in Paris for about 7 years now. Sounded legit to me. Thursday morning, in front of the St. Andre Cafe, I met him, as well as the rest of the tour group - a young recently married couple from Macau, and a lady from Seattle.
The benefit of being in the city so early in the morning was that we avoided the usual crowds that tend to congregate around the more popular tourist locales by 9:30-10ish. And, to be sure, our route encompassed a number of these landmarks - the Seine along Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Seine within view of the Eiffel Tower.
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| Notre Dame |
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| Notre Dame by the Seine |
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| The Louvre |
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| The bridge from Ariadne's second foray in Inception |
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| Yeah, I'm a bit of a creeper. |
I have to say - while I enjoyed the walk itself and collecting personal photos of my surroundings, I have to say, I wasn't that impressed by the professional photography. Obvi, his equipment was great, and the shots turned out ok with very pretty views of the city, but otherwise, it was no better than when my uncle would pose us in front of his DSLR. Essentially, very not-dynamic, static posing, with a lot of, "Stand there. Look left, look right, look forward. Ok, let's move on."
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| If I wanted someone to tell me to do the sorority pose, I would have gone to a college formal :\ |
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| Still quite static, but one of the few I really liked, thanks to composition |
I get that we had a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short time, but the hastiness dampened the experience a little for me. Still, I can't complain too much. I got my obligatory tourist photos, and pretty good quality ones, too. With that out of the way, I was conveniently placed in the city center, I could enjoy the sights at my own speed.
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| Refueling |
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| Obligatory Tour Eiffel - I mean, how could I not. |
After a quick nosh and a jaunt around the base of the Eiffel Tower, my first stop was the Musée d'Orsay.
Admittedly, I don't really go for fine art. I'm not that versed in it, and while I have an appreciation, after about an hour of staring at paintings, I tend to get a little lost. If there's one thing that I really love, though, it's sculpture.
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| Bronze sculptures depicting anthropomorphized female versions of the continents |
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| North America |
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| Yes, I count paper relief, too. |
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| Not a sculpture. I just like the silhouettes against the sky. |
Something about the capture of life in a medium that lacks it, I suppose. That's not to say I don't think paintings have a life of their own, and indeed there were some works there that were truly vibrant and awe-inspiring, but I'm somehow more consistently drawn to an expression birthed in marble.
I probably could have spent an entire day in there, but there was more of the city that I wanted to see. My next stop was the Jardin du Luxembourg, so named for, ah... not really being a garden.
That was kind of the extent of what one might charitably call a garden. There was certainly a LOT of greenery around, but I would probably be more likely to call this Le Parc du Luxembourg. Regardless, it was a beautiful way to spend the remainder of the afternoon.
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| Complete with senior citizens playing bocce ball |
As the evening drew near, it was time for the last item of the day, one more AirBnB experience, this time an Argentine tango class in the streets of Paris.
As I've mentioned before, I've been taking dance lessons on and off since college, but I've not done much Argentine, mostly because I think it's really freaking hard. Keep in mind that I'm not anything close to an authority on the subject, but I've always found Argentine to be sort of... free form, which is to say, incredibly improvisational. There is an opening step, but I'm not sure I'd really deign to call it a basic step. Otherwise it just tends to be... lead stays on beat and follower makes sure they pay attention. This is both really cool and really daunting, IMHO.
Having said that, the class was wonderful. Our instructor, David, led us through some exercises with timing and reading a partner, all the while keeping things fun and light-hearted. We started on the steps of the Musée d'Orsay, possibly to the embarrassment of some of the other students, but after a bit, we got so into it that we didn't really care. Plus the people around us were totally eating it up. Museum-goers would watch us for a spell, take a few pics, and then be on their merry way. A few even tried to mimic us.
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| These guys watched us for a good half hour before they tried to join in. |
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| That's David in the black polo. |
And when that was all finished, he took us to an actual milonga (a dance where Argentine is exclusively danced) on the Seine where we danced beneath the sunset. Good golly, it does not get more romantic than that.
^^^Ok, this guy. This guy was the definition of cool. Seriously. Look at him. That layered collar. The beret. Those glasses. Also, he was an incredibly patient dancer who stood up with us silly beginner ladies. There's every possibility that he was blowing smoke up my ass, but when we were finished, he complimented me on being able to follow and for picking up steps very quickly, and really, there's nothing more encouraging for a beginner to hear.
It was well past 10 PM when I started feeling like I needed to head out. I'd done a fair bit of walking, and with the dancing on top of that, my feet were aching and I was bushed. After a fond farewell to my other dance-mates, it was back to the hostel for a well-deserved rest.
Tomorrow: the palace of the sun king
Until the next.
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