I will, however, talk about Versailles. Ever since first learning about the French monarchy in AP European History my sohpomore year of high school, I've wanted to go to the Palace. And I am so happy I did. We arrived in the modern day town of Versailles (which is a lot like a nicer, more upscale and French Huntington Village) via public transportation. I'm not sure mere mortals can come up with words to describe it- I refuse to believe that mere mortals built it- but I will do my best.
Pick up a thesaurus. Go to the word "big". Read all of the words that are more eloquent and that are usually used for things that are bigger than big. Then say all of those words out loud in a row, as if it were a sentence. That is my description of Versailles. It would take days, maybe weeks, to go through it and look at every single thing there is to see, and in detail. If you've ever taken a White House tour in D.C., imagine that, but a million times better. Not only is the Palace filled with big, beautiful and grandiose things, but its own physical construction and decoration is in and of itself big, beautiful and grandiose. I'm not so sure that anyone other than French royalty could have ever pulled it off. The whole complex is pretty ballsy in its size, decoration, and sheer grandeur. It pretty much screams "Look how rich and powerful I am!". It really put the anger of the hungry French peasantry I'd learned about in school into context.
A rare winter visit to my summer home.
Yes, the museums and historical sight seeing are interesting. And they are important, because they put all of the other things you experience in Paris into context. And the same is true for any city one visits, really. I think travelers, and no offense but especially American travelers, forget the importance of context. How can you really develop an appreciation of a city and its people without knowing at least a little bit of how they developed into the present? Every potential conversation, whether with a waiter or bartender, hotel concierge, taxi driver or local you ask for directions, becomes so much more meaningful when it isn't a question and answer session. So as much as I enjoyed Versailles (both the Palace and the modern day town surrounding it), and the other famous sights we saw during our stay, I think my favorite part of our time in Paris was the walking we did to get to these places, and the destinationless meandering we made time for, because it allowed us to put what we had learned and seen into context. It's also how we found some really great food. Speaking of which...
Eating in Paris is dangerous. Because it is SO good. If you are dieting, or a light or picky eater, pick a different city to visit. Paris is not for you. I was especially pleased because apart from the high quality of the food which we consistently encountered, I was eating what I don't eat in Florence: red meat. I should remind you all that my host mom is a fabulous cook, but sadly she has some kind of inexplicable and unrelatable opposition to red meat, and by the time I arrived in Paris my inner carnivore was going mad. My diet for the trip consisted predominantly of paté, some kind of potato, red meat and red wine. I had missed steak, and I was getting my fix. And, I ordered all of my steaks rare. Because I was in Paris, and I figured if anyone knows how to properly cook a rare steak it's the Parisians. I was never disappointed.
One thing about eating in Paris which (pleasantly) surprised me is that even the more touristy restaurants we ate at managed to remain much more true and authentic to the cuisine, which is a lot more than comparable places in Florence can say.
Almost every night we took advantage of the mild winter weather the city was experiencing during our stay to have a drink (or a few), at one of the numerous bars and cafès that feature outdoor seating. Most of them are enclosed in a kind of heavy duty plastic curtian, and have outdoor heaters, and I was happy to see that the weather doesn't kill the vibe.
This This post really does't do the city of Paris or my trip there justice. But it was too intense, emotionally, spiritually, gastronomically, to accurately describe. The one thing that I feel I have to say is that I have absolutely no clue where the stereotype of rude, nasty, unwelcoming Parisians comes from. I was greeted with more welcoming smiles, patience, kindness and laughter than I've ever received in Florence. And the baguette was better than the schiacciata.
Mandatory Eiffel Tower selfie.
No comments:
Post a Comment