Watkins is in Paris with Jessie!! (Days 1-3)

Katie Anne and Jessie Mae are finally back together again, this time in Paris!! Jessie is my first and oldest friend- literally. She was in the delivery room when I was born. We haven't seen each other nearly enough since I moved away from Virginia, so the fact that we get to spend 20 days in a row together exploring Europe together is absolutely surreal!

Day 1 (In Sevilla & Paris)
My flight got delayed, and it took forever for me to get to the hostel, so by the time I finally arrived we really only had time and energy to go grab some Vietnamese food on the way to bed. It was so nice to see her after all this time!! It´s been a year since I last saw her, and it was at least 6 years before that. ALL THE HUGS.

Day 2 (In Paris)

Front gate of Versailles

Starting early, starting strong! We made our first morning a day trip to Versailles , which is quite a bit outside the city. We wandered all over the grounds and in and out of the buildings for about 5 hours! And that was in the winter, when the gardens are bare and the sculptures covered (kind of a let down. Even though there were still trees and paths, you could only see the skeleton of the landscaping. I can't imagine the kind of splendor they must be in during spring and summer!).

The palace itself was massive! room after room of ceiling to floor silk damask, statues, portraits, and mirrors. Truly incredible. I can see why the people were ticked off at the luxury of the throne! We bared the cold to wander the gardens a bit, but soon we gave up on the wrapped up statues and turned our attention to the Petit Trianon. It is better known as Marie Antoinette's estate, although it was built for Madame de Pompadour and inhabited by Madame du Barry. The ceilings were so low! I thought I was going to smack my head the whole time. I got to learn a lot about their young, last queen, which was super interesting. Apperently, she liked to put on plays in her opera house. Yeah, she had her own opera house.

From there we went to Grand Trianon, which was the same story, but a touch smaller. At that point we were so worn out that we weren't even paying attention, so we decided to call it a day and get back on the metro. We hadn't eaten yet and it was already 3! But we were so out of it that we missed our stop and ended up at Notre Dame. We ran and got a sandwich (SO. HUNGRY.)  and then caught our second wind. We used it to wander around the Latin Quarter, my favorite bookstore, and the Christmas market outside Notre Dame. Notre Dame was closed at that point, so we didn't go in, but the outside was stunning as usual. I love Shakespere and Co more every time I go in, it's just magical! All the books and words and literary people create this lovely safety bubble in the middle of the city hustle & bustle. It's magnificent. There are poems on the walls from hundreds of authors and dreamers, typewritters, and reading areas to love their collection of dusty, leather-bound books.

Then we hit the grocery store, enjoyed some mulled wine (that´s a lie I really didn´t like it. Jessie did, but to me it tasted like warm sangria. I much prefer our wintery spiced wines.) and finally, ended the long day with crepes at the cafe Amelie was filmed at. :)

Day 3 (In Paris)
This morning we started at Les Catacombs! It was a really creepy way to start the day. The Catacombs are a tunnel system that got turned into an ostuary back in the day. It starts as a cool geologic lesson before getting eerie- there are thousands and thousand of skeletons that are stacked to create walls underground! They're lined up in patterns ranging from crosses to hearts and stripes of skulls. The skulls were in great condition for the most part, although of course there were a number that had been smashed. It's so creepy to think about all the people that ended up piled in this mass grave as a tourist attraction! There was no flash photography, and the whole thing was darky and gloomy, but I got a couple close to the sporadic lamps. It was so fascinating!

The exit of the tunnel dumped us in a random street, so we wandered along it eating our sandwiches and taking in the scenary. After lunch we decided to split ways so Jessie could hit a couple of the museums I had already been to and I could explore something new. I chose to visit Musee Marmottan Monet, a wonderful sanctuary of Monet amongst the throngs of Paris tourists. There wasn´t a soul in line; all I had to do was walk in and show my visa to get in. It was full of Parisians looking at the temporary exhibit detailing the lives of Napoleon and the Bonapartes using a variety of beautiful portaits and household artifacts.

After learning about their familiy ties (twisted.) I moved on to their floor full of illustrated manuscripts from the middle ages. They were covered in gold leaf in winding patterns and swirls of color- truly beautiful representations of the bible that I could understand even though the script was illegible. There was also a decor collection full of furnature, mirrors and silk screens. I didn´t stay in this section for long though, because I was so excited to see what had attracted me to the Marmottan in the first place: their permanant collection of early Monet. It was magical. There was the painting¨Ïmpression, Sunset¨ which lent its name to the impressionism movement, room upon room of soothing lillies, his early sketches, and so much more. I was there until closing, just sitting and appreciating. I´m so glad I live in a day and age where I´m able to travel to see works by one of my favorite artists in person. And because it´s not one of the big tourist draws, everything was so tranquil and clean! No grubby fingerprints on glass cases, no overflowing bins or noisy tour guides. Just me, Monet, and a few other art lovers. It was perfect.

When they finally shut it down, I walked home through some gardens and did some blogging while waiting for Jessie. Turns out she had been upstairs the whole time, so by the time we realized we were both home and waiting for dinner, it was already like 9pm. So we quickly cooked up some pasta and chatted with our fellow hostelers downstairs before heading off to bed.