Thursday February 24th

Thursday started early and ended late. Natalie and I woke up a four in order to catch a plane to Paris. And after many different forms of transportation (and subsequently sleeping on each of them) we arrived in a city that, for me provided some culture shock. The streets and buildings were huge. The metro system was extensive. The cars were significantly larger. We successfully navigated through the city and met up with Natalie's friend, Brooke, who is studying in Paris for a semester at NYU, and the touring began. After marveling at the aristocratic architecture we headed for a small museum that had once been the town house of the Marmottan family. Seemingly hidden in this suburb of Paris, was a museum chock full of an array of impressionist paintings. The son of Monet had donated his personal collection of his father's works to the "villa" turned museum, and turned out to be a great introduction to Paris. We headed out to see more of the "City of Lights." What struck me the most was the size of the buildings and how majestic they seemed compared to the architecture in Rome. The city sprawled out around us and though the city is beautiful, I found myself missing the quaint, narrow, cobblestone streets of Rome. What I did enjoy was the pastries. The eclairs and paris-breast that Natalie and I saw and salivated over were absolutely delicious. This is one thing that I want to transport back to Rome with me to add to my favorite gelaterie and pinoli cookies. After wandering around some more and getting further acquainted with the metro we dropped off our bags, took a quick nap, and grabbed a delicious gyro before heading out to see how lively the night was. We ended up at an intimate party at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore for the launch party for an intellectual fashion magazine. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in books ranging from Shakespeare himself, to fantasy, to history. The hallways were filled with lively taro card readers, fortune tellers and people eager to have their palm read. Exiting the famous bookstore, the three of us were confronted with Notre Dame lit up by the night lights. Despite my initial shock and "Romesickness," Paris provided its own allure and showed how diverse and also intimate it can be.