Paris

We have been in Paris for four days now and it has been lovely. Paris is beautiful and full of culture and style. It is a much more comprehensive city than Boston and is quite easy to explore. I had always heard how magical it was, and it has so far lived up to that colorful, diverse reputation. Though generally people here seem to only wear dark colors they all look fantastic, and rock their Style. This combined with the gorgeous stone buildings adorned with metal balconies, and the gorgeous little boutique stores makes Paris feel so classy and splendid. 

This past weekend I stayed with an old friend from home and also got to see another high school friend who is working in the south of France. We spent the weekend wandering, eating, and catching up. The friend I stayed with lives in oberkampf, a friendly bustling little young  neighborhood, that isn't far from Norte dame. Now we are staying in a hostel by the gare du nord. It's a very nice hostel with gray beds and showers and wifi, though In a more touristy are so we don't spend much time in that neighborhood. It's really well run though, coats less than 20 euros a night and it includes breakfast. It's a chain called St Christopher's Inn, and if you are ever traveling and looking for a place to stay I would recommend it.

So far we have seen many of the classic Paris sights. We have seen the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, and today Musee d'Orsay. My favorite of these has been the Musee D'Orsay ( an art museum that is in a stunning old train station). Right now there is an exhibit on the nude masculine in art from the 1800's to now. The exhibit was extremely well done, the paragraphs and set up was very cohesive and enlightening. The theme was how the idea of male nudity has changed over the past few decades and how it has been pushed aside by the female nude. The artwork ranged from post impressionist expressive painting to photo-shopped picture from last year. it made me realize how few art exhibits I've been to lately and how I need to change that. Luckily paris is chalk full of muses and galleries. The amount of art and imagination is inspiring. A visit to any parisian museum, and Throw in a famous Parisian cafe and you have the recipe for an artistic awakening in anyone. 

Most of Paris seems to be a well curated exhibit. From the streets to the weekend markets everything is beautiful and tied together by this thread of elegance. I really do like Paris but I miss the mountains of Chamonix. I think that the metropolitan life is lovely to take the occasional dip in during a vacation from time to time but its a but much for me. The same elegance of Paris that makes it magical, such as the perfectly orchestrated gardens, makes me miss the less organized world of the mountains. We have four days left and I think that is the perfect amount of time to get to know Paris without killing the magic. I look forward to visiting the louvre and champs élysées and all the other famous landmarks. We have taken to walking around the Latin quarter, an area around the Jardin Luxembourg, and I hope to explore that further. Paris is a magical place to be and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to visit as a young person, while prices are nice and cheap. The rest of today will most likely be spent in a cafe reading, as it is raining here,