Over 16,547,573 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
i am a very opinionated person. some might even say combative on opinions. not really combative, but i do appreciate a good debate.
in my experience there are two faces to paris. if you look at a map of paris, you will notice a freeway circling the city. the paris inside that circle is very different from the paris outside that circle. from CDG airport, take the train into the city, you see more and its a hell of a lot less expensive than a cab (10 euros as opposed to 70). you also see more from the train, which might or might not be a good idea, depending on how much you want to keep your fantasy of paris as this completely beautiful city. outside the "circle" as i call it; paris resembles brooklyn. or chicago. or just about any other major city. there are delapidated buildings with wires seemingly strung everywhere, graffiti, garbage, all the stuff that you go on vacation to avoid or forget about.
but the other paris. now that is something spectacular. i'm a numbers kinda guy, so maybe some numbers will give you an idea.
1453. the number of pictures i took in 24 hours
27. the number of videos i took during the same time.
11. cab rides
1. lost phone.
the phone i have written about. meh, it happend, i lived. breathe in, breathe out, move on.
11 cab rides; ever felt like a kid in a candy store? that is exactly my feeling when i start to realize all the beauty that is surrounding me. there were just so many places i wanted to go, and i wanted to go there as soon as possible. when you hear about something your whole life, and then you get to experience it. it can be an amazing experince.
the videos and the pictures. often i am accused of living my life through a camera lens. maybe its true. but sometimes i feel that you only truly see something when you look past what you see, and you see what is THERE. probably that doesnt make a lot of sense, but when you look at something, and you look with the eye of the photographer, and you can see images that might not be readily apparent when you first looked. that detail of the image, or perspective of lines, even a sine wave of color or movement. those are the things i try to capture with my camera.
ok, back to paris.
how do you describe Notre Dame. the feeling of standing inside and looking at the light reflecting through the rose bathing the interior with a numinous glow. words fail me to adequately explain the experience, the feeling, of walking down the aisle, and thinking of all the history that has occurred in the footsteps you have just made. it is truly sublime.
the eiffel tower. possibly the most iconic structure in existence. the grounds near the tower are simply swarming with tourists and people taking a break. in many ways it reminded me of the mall in DC. large open area between major structures. the feeling there was much the same to me as well. like a festival. the tower dominates over everything, its so much taller than anything else, its almost easy to forget the rest of the city.
the louvre. i could probably spend two or three weeks in the louvre, and even then not see everything that interested me. i am one of those that can stare at a painting slack jawed for an embarassingly long time. i went to the national gallery in DC and after 45 minutes of staring at the rembrandts self portrait as an older man, the guard asked me if i was ok. i actually think he wanted to ask me "are you ok in the head?", which obviously i am not. but i fake it very well. i had an experience like that almost continuously while i was there. kinda of like an intellectual disneyland, but quieter and more rides.
so many other things to see.
i am sure i will return, and i am sure i will have more to say LOL
