Paris: Day 1

We arrived in Paris in the early afternoon. It was odd to leave England. By the end of my time there I'd really started to feel at home (for the first time in my life) in a foreign country. Arriving in another foreign country, especially one that speaks a different language and was so different from the UK, was a little shocking. I had gotten comfortable with living in Europe but I hadn't had to deal with the "different language" part of it. This was all accelerated by the fact that a couple hours previous I'd been in, what had come to feel like, my home and now I was in a totally different culture. I guess Europeans deal with this all the time. A three hour train ride can drop you in another country with a different language, history and culture but a similar trip doesn't get you very far in the states.

After some confusion in getting our metro tickets, we finally made our way to the hotel. The Paris metro is pretty easy to navigate and (for someone as tall as myself) much more comfortable than the London Underground. After a quick breather at the hotel, we started walking to the the Pantheon.

It wasn't too far away and we made our way in without any waiting in line. While there, we bought a Paris Pass. This card gets you into most attractions and allows you to skip the lines and go straight in. Below are a few pictures of the Pantheon. It was a very impressive building. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it. Usually large, ornate churches or temples are centuries old but this was fairly new. I don't think it makes it any less impressive, in fact, it left me wondering why more countries or cities no longer build public works like the Pantheon.





After looking around the Pantheon and the crypts below, we were able to get tickets to the last tour up to the top of the building. They limit the number of people that can go, so we were happy to get on the list. It offered some beautiful views of Paris that you can see below.




After making our way back down, we walked through the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Gardens. It was really beautiful and seemed quintessentially French. There were people lounging and enjoying the sun, performers playing music and people picnicking.



After getting back to the hotel we met up with one of Jamie's friends who had been living in Paris for the past three years. It was nice to have someone who knew their way around to join us on our first night in Paris. She gave us a lot of tips that would prove very useful.