One day in Paris

Hmmm, that wasn't too bad. For those not in the know, my birthday was fairly recent. I don't generally bother with it, and most of my friends don't even know when it is. In fact, I had actually forgotten about it until my mom reminded me.

Ok, this is going to be a complete mindless travelogue. Nothing deep or thought-provoking here.

So, anyway, this one was alright. I got as a present the most utterly hilarious thing I have ever seen. Sometimes that girl gets me. Too bad it's only sometimes though. I also managed to start off the day right, getting slightly drunk and talking loudly about old movies in the middle of the night, irritating the hell out of my neighbours. Then I decided to stop work for the day, and headed off to see a little of touristy Paris.

I hopped off to the Louvre, raining though it was. The place was kind of humid, but not as crowded as I thought it would be, so it's all good. Managed to totally fall in love with Fra Angelico. The fellow was a genius. Seriously, I need to learn more about him and his work. Well, mostly his work. I don't really care about long dead artists who were (I think) monks. But as a professor once told me, two hours is about as much of a museum as anyone can take at one go. I lasted three hours, but I was completely out on my feet near the end.

Headed off to have one last late lunch at my favourite brasserie in Paris. I totally love that place. The food is old fashioned, and not exactly mind-blowing, but very reliable and comforting. Nothing to really distract you from a newspaper or a book or a conversation. Sartre and Camus used to go there for dinner and argue for hours. Maybe I sat in the same seat as Sartre once did. I am a sucker for such things.

I took a walk to the Pantheon after that, and was fairly underwhelmed at first. I think I've been in Paris too long. Monuments no longer impress me. The Pantheon is a fairly impressive piece of architecture, big and imposing, but nothing special. Foucault's experiment was kinda cool though. Leon, by the way, not Michel. The pendulum that proved the world spins on an axis. Is that cool or what?

It was when I descended to the crypt that I totally geeked out. I walked in, looked around, and saw a statue of Voltaire. Then I realised that Voltaire's tomb was right there! Turned around, and saw Rousseau's tomb directly opposite! Come on, is that cool or what? Then I went a little deeper in, and saw Pierre and Marie Curie's remains, and saw the room that the coffins of Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Emile Zola shared. Now this was the kind of touristy Paris I could get used to.

Climbed the stairs after that to the top of the building and managed the best views of Paris I've seen so far. Not the highest spot in Paris, but perfectly situated. You can see Sacre-Couer set beautifully against the hill, a decent shot of the Tour Eiffel, and Notre-Dame, the first time I've seen it from above. Tout Paris was laid out pleasingly about me, and I was calm and chill for the first time in a long long while.

After paying tribute to the heroes of modern France, I slipped over to the church of Sainte-Genevieve. I may not be a Catholic, but I paused to pray (not to the saint) before the coffin of Genevieve, the exact same spot where Pope John Paul II had, then lighted a candle to the patron saint of Paris for the people I've gotten to know in her city.

Rounded off the day with a gorging on seafood. Some of the finest oysters I've ever sampled had me at a loss for words and reduced to cursing incoherently. La Coupole. Excellent place for the cold seafood done so well in Europe. Try their special Number 1 oysters. Even better than their non-special Number 00 oysters. Pretty good crabs and wakles too. Even had a pretty good bottle of wine, which, unfortunately, got mostly forgotten in the assault upon the shellfish.

Oh, btw, continued my journey to visit the resting places of great men in Paris today. Went to see Napoleon's tomb. Very impressive place. I tell you, that is the way to be buried. Build an entire cool-looking church, with a gigantic golden altar, and an immense coffin in the middle of a circular depression, relief carvings of your deeds all about, statues of angels surrounding you, the place names of your famous victories inscribed in the floor. Then charge admission to come see it. I still don't know why Napoleon needs seven layers of coffins though. Maybe it's to protect him from the ornery relatives interred in the same building.

Ok, done with this mindless ramble. Bloody tired now. Going to find some food and wine, then chill for the night.