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If there's any city to pause and spend a full week in on my gap year, it's Paris.
A huge advantage of traveling for an extended period of time is the ability to take travel days more often, which wouldn't make sense on a shorter vacation. This means you're able to move around more often, thus seeing more!
That being said, sometimes spending a full week in a city is necessary. That's exactly what I've done here in Paris, and the longer stay has allowed me to experience the city in a lot more depth than I would have otherwise. Obviously, it isn't possible to experience all that a city like Paris has to offer in just a week, but I definitely hit most of the places I wanted to check out. Plus, it excites me that there's still so much more that remains unchecked on my Paris to-do list. It means I can return, whenever that might be, and still have new experiences waiting for me.
Let me back up. I arrived in Paris on Saturday, September 6th, after a long two days of travel from Berlin, which featured a spontaneous layover in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Why Düsseldorf?
Well, it turned out that none other than Ed Sheeran was performing on the exact day I'd planned on leaving Berlin. With Düsseldorf directly on my way to Paris, even though it was completely random, it seemed only natural to go to the concert.
Of course, by the time I realized I was going, every single hostel in the city was booked up. It makes sense, this massive concert was probably the most action Düsseldorf had seen in years. I wasn't about to drop 130 euros on a hotel, though, so I figured I'd just sleep out in a field, under the German stars. What could go wrong?
Unfortunately, I hadn't accounted for the fact that everything felt scarier at 1 in the morning. Earlier, I'd found a random patch of green on the map which I deemed would be my home for the night. What I didn't realize - until my flashlight illuminated a tombstone in the field in front of me - was that this was a cemetery. I swear, that night was straight out of a horror movie. More than a bit shaken up, I found a different adjacent field and set up my sleeping bag on the damp grass. After attempting to sleep for about 20 minutes, I tapped out (understandably), and spent the rest of my night sitting in the train station, regretting my decisions.
In the morning, I took the first train I could find out of Düsseldorf that was vaguely on my way to Paris (one of the perks of a Eurail pass), and ended up in Cologne. The train read "Köln," which I'm sure you can tell looks nothing like the English spelling, so when I wandered out of the train station while waiting for my connection, I was totally surprised to see the Kölner Dom, the massive cathedral that Cologne is famous for. That's when I realized where I actually was. But at 6 am, after zero sleep, I don't think I was able to properly appreciate its beauty.
Merkur Spiel-Arena
Everything looks creepier in the dark - this photo doesn't do it justice.
Terrible picture that doesn't really show the cathedral :)
Anyways, poor choices out of the way, I eventually made it to my family friends' flat in Paris - just off the Jardin des Plants - and promptly fell asleep for 15 hours.
Feeling recharged, I had a couple croissants for breakfast (as one does) and headed out into Paris for the first time. Walking along the Seine and taking it all in, I was so excited to spend a week here. The perk of staying with Parisian locals, aside from free accommodation, is that they helped me form a massive Paris bucket list. Every day I had something to do, and every day I was discovering something new.
On my first real night, I went out to the jazz club Caveau de la Huchette. If you've ever seen the movie La La Land, it's the one featured in it, and it is how I heard of it in the first place. Beforehand, I picked up a 5 euro button-down shirt at a thrift store, because I knew I couldn't show up to this club in a t-shirt. Best purchase of the trip so far (not that there have been many). The club itself was in a basement, and so it felt super hot and stuffy, but with the live jazz music it was easy to get lost in the moment. It's a club in Paris after all, so obviously it was fun.
Caveau de la Huchette
As I mentioned in my previous entry Paris, La Belle Ville, I was a lot less focused on street photography during my time here, and rather I was directing my time and energy towards my cinematic short film. That being said, Paris is still one of the holy grail cities for street photography, so I couldn't pass up on it. From the industrial, pigeon-infested scenes of the Grand Arche de la Defense to the classic Place du Trocadéro with its views of the Eiffel Tower, this city is so rich in life that it's pretty difficult to feel uninspired.
Though it's difficult at times to avoid taking the same standard photo of all the cliché landmarks around the city, I believe that street photography in Paris - and any famous city, for that matter - is about finding the moments between monuments. It sounds obvious, but each city I've been to so far has its own subtly different vibe that comes across in the street photos I produce, and it's heightened when the photos don't just show the same angles of the same famous attractions that everyone knows of. Photography makes me excited to see more places, and I think - when compiled all together at the end of my travels - that my work could end up being pretty cool. I have this fantasy of publishing my photos and this blog into some sort of art book, or even getting my own gallery exhibition or something. But I'm not that good, and I'm getting ahead of myself.
My one regret is that I wasn't feeling more inspired on September 10th. It's natural, at least for me, to have on days and off days when I'm traveling. Most days are on, but sometimes you're just tired, and want to spend the day inside, working on editing and other menial things. September 10th was one of those days for me, about midweek, and I slept in late and decided to take a chill day. However, this was the day of the "Bloquons Tout" (block everything) strike, where people all across France rallied to block train stations and protest the government budget cuts and the Macron administration as a whole. I had noticed a lot of military and police presence in the city when I was out, with national guard soldiers even sitting down at the exact cafe I was getting drinks at one day. Apparently, as with many protests in France, this one was pretty crazy, and I basically missed the whole thing. If you're curious, there were a couple other prominent street photographers in Paris at the same time I was who got some pretty striking images of the scenes. I just wish I had as well. It's all good though, I did end up having a very relaxing day. I still managed to get a few shots, but not the true action shots I was looking for.
Military presence at the Eiffel Tower
The one rally I managed to capture, at the Place du Pantheon.
On Tuesday, I took a day trip to Versailles. I had been there before, when I was 14, but that was during the winter and so the magic of the greenery in the garden was missing. Now, however, it was in full spectacle. It was a beautiful day that I spent getting lost in the endless manicured hedges and gardens of the grounds. I ate my lunch (a TooGoodToGo sandwich from Pret a Manger) in a field underneath the largest and oldest tree in the gardens, apparently planted in 1668.
The best part of the gardens, for me, was the area by the Grand Trianon. It is a ways out, so expect to be walking for quite some time (you could rent a bike if you want), but once you're there it really feels like you emerged in the beautiful French countryside. It's pretty amazing, when you know that you're still so close to Paris. Make sure to check out Hameau de la Reine, a farm house at the very top of the garden that looks like it belongs in Rivendell, from Lord of the Rings. Just like entry into the main gardens, there is a 10 euro charge to get inside the Grand Trianon during the high season (May-October). Luckily, the lady at the desk let me in for free after a quick chat. Students from the EU get in for free, but obviously I'm from America, so in theory I would've had to pay. She took pity on me, so thanks to whoever she is!
Halfway through my time in the city, so as not to overstay my welcome, I moved house, to stay with a different family friend. I'm lucky that my family has so many connections here, because I was totally prepared to drop 50 euros per night on a hostel (Paris is pricy). This flat was across the city, on the other side of the Seine in the 3rd arrondissement, and it put me closer to the Arc de Triomphe, as well as the beautiful hilly region of Montmartre.
Plus, I got upgraded from a mattress on the floor (already good enough) to a full on queen-size bed. It felt more luxurious than my room back home, and a stark contrast to the field in Düsseldorf not even a week earlier. I really made sure to savor my time there, because who knows when the next time I'll have my own private room will be.
Arc de Triomphe
One evening, I decided to finally go into Notre Dame. I had walked by it a million times on my way around the city, but the line always felt too long to attempt to go in. Turns out the line moves super quick, and it's completely free, so if you're into cathedrals you should definitely check it out (though in my opinion they all kind of look the same from the inside). I arrived just as a service was ending, and soon the priests directed people to form a line in order to get blessed. Of course I joined the line.
When it was my turn, the priest closed his eyes and chanted something - in French or Latin, I'm not sure - as he blessed me. This was not on my to-do list, but now I can say I've been blessed by a priest in Notre Dame! I celebrated by getting Chipotle and eating it by the Seine. A person on a passing tour boat waved and called out to me, asking if my food was good. It sure was, I'd been craving Chipotle for my entire trip. Honestly, it was kind of mid, and about 3 bucks more expensive than the equivalent in the US, but it still felt worth it.
Chipotle by the Seine
So yeah, I had a great time in Paris.
Among visiting museums, eating overpriced crepes, and haggling with street vendors, I've learned many things about the city. I've learned that the roads never go straight, and it's very easy to get lost, even when you think you're going the right direction. I've learned that the arrondissements (districts) of Paris are arranged like a snail shell, forming a spiral starting from the very center of the city, by Notre Dame. I've learned that practically every building is something famous, historic, and interesting. I've learned - from a friend I made in a club - about an app called Flashinvaders, which lets you collect certain street art around Europe like Pokemon. Check it out, it's kind of sick. I've learned various inappropriate French terms from family friends, as well as the differences between the American and French education systems. I've learned to avoid using bathrooms in train stations and malls because they charge you as much as 2 euros to enter. I've learned that French people love to protest. I've learned that I'm running out of space in my bags, and I might have to offload some stuff soon.
Most of all, I've learned that Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world.
Musee d'Orsay
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Parisian row houses over the Seine
It's been a great week, but I'm excited to be on the road again. Up until now, I've spent a bunch of extended time in big cities, first Amsterdam, then Berlin, and now Paris. Now I'm changing it up. I'll be traveling around the south of France and hiking in the Pyrenees, before I make my way to Barcelona!
As always, follow my Instagram to see all my street photography from Paris and elsewhere.
Thanks for reading!
Mark
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