The post from Friday

Got a late start on Friday because I stayed up late talking with Christine and watching the French version of Survivor, called Koh-Lanta. (Television won't suck your soul if it's in a different language.) I was excited to go see the Tuileries Gardens in front of the Louvre, but was in for disappointment. (Actually, that sums up Paris so far, I hate to say. It simply cannot compete with London or maybe it's that I'm always tired and therefore unable to enjoy it like I should.) The Tuileries is made up of wide, dusty paths that create squares for vegetation. Visitors may only enter the squares with trees. There the arrangement is like so many overgrown seedlings in potting soil. All other vegetation, the grass, the flowers around the fountains, are in forbidden territory. Coupled with the American-style carnival running the length of one side of the garden, the effect keeps you moving, if for no other reason than there aren't any inviting places to stop.

Reluctantly, I went into the Louvre, mostly to see I.M. Pei's entrance. Too many museums in too short a time frame have drained my excitement for touring the world's masterpieces. It's awful to say, but I was bored. I left shortly after entering to get some food, (it's an all day pass) thinking that I might be in a better mood for it if I weren't so cranky. I went to the Opera district, had lunch at a sidewalk cafe (3.65 Euros for a tea! One tea!), and then rode a bus through the city to the end of the line at Pont de Levallois. Then I took the Metro to La Defense and walked around a bit. Standing inside the arch looking west, there's a lawn of perfectly spaced tree tops below. I couldn't find a bus back into the city so I went back on the Metro.

I walked from the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde, up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. I, of course, kept hearing the song Au Champs-Elysees in my head. I don't like being negative, honestly, but I don't see what the big deal about this shopping street is. All the major chains are represented, like any mall. Maybe that's it: it was the best shopping street before malls existed and now it's just another mall. That's a shame. The French are so good about passing laws related to the preservation of their language that they should pass a law dictating that every shop is the only one of it's kind.

I went back to the Louvre and made myself walk through a good portion of it, because it was expensive to get in. I didn't go see the Mona Lisa and I didn't go see the Venus de Milo mostly because I've seen them, and, well, I have this general malaise. As the sun went down, the west-facing rooms had that "magic" light I've heard some professors go on about in school.