Parigi... I mean Paris - part II

The next day, Eve and Ian both had class, so I was on my own for most of the day. I headed straight to the Eiffel Tower to actually go up. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, I realized I was in the wrong line and went to go wait in another line for another 5 minutes to buy a ticket to walk up. The ascension was terrifying. I was clinging to the rail and walking very slowly the entire time. On each level, I was able to recover. I realize that I have no problem with heights as long as I can’t see down right next to me. I don’t like to be able to look straight down. I took the elevator to the top and crammed myself into the middle of all the people to get as far away from the edge as possible. The view was somewhat compromised by a low layer of fog, but it was beginning to clear up and the view was phenomenal. I can’t recall being able to see so much of a city at one time before. It was great. I was terrified, but it was great.
When I got down, I took the metro to the Maurais, the Jewish quarter and ate some of the best freaking falafel of my life. Really phenomenal. I then ate a giant Baklava and bought some challah. After wandering through various churches and parts of the city, I met up with Eve at the Louvre and we did our best to see as much as possible in four hours. Let me just say, the Louvre is the biggest freaking building I think I’ve ever seen. You could house a small country in that freaking building. Not to mention the park in front of it that we didn’t even go to. The building itself is enormous! I still can’t believe how extensive the art is there. They had everything from Egyptian Sarcophoguses to Italian Renaissance paintings to Hammurabi’s code of laws and an Easter Island head! One of the coolest parts was Napoleon III’s rooms. They re-created part of what his palace would have looked like. There were less people there, so it was sort of like a break from all the madness of the rest of the Louvre. Oh and the Mona Lisa, way more hype than it’s worth. Not that great of a painting.
After that exhausting experience, I got Kebab with Eve and had a drink with Ian before retiring for the evening. Early the next morning I left for Amsterdam. It was among the most exhausting two days I’ve ever spent in my life. But it was amazing. My French wasn’t terrible and kept getting better as the trip went on. It ruined my Italian, however, which I am still in the process of fixing. It’s cool though.

AJC