Valentine's Weekend in the City of Love

This past weekend found me in Paris, France for an IB Workshop. No need to wonder if I am in the right profession – if it will send me around the world to places I’ve never been, then it’s the right choice! We left Dubai on Wednesday evening (well, truthfully, it was more like midnight by the time we got out of here!) and arrived at the Euro Disney resort in Paris (where the workshop was being held) on Thursday morning around 8am.

We were surprised to learn that, although the resort was hosting a very large number of educators for the workshop, none of our rooms would be ready until around 3pm that afternoon... So rather than hang around the lobby for hours, a few of us decided to find a way into the city itself. (The resort is not actually in the heart of Paris, but is about a half hour train ride out.) So we asked the concierge at the resort and they directed us to the train station. While on the train into the city, we had our first taste of French culture when several locals decided to serenade those of us on the train. The accordion player was not too bad, but the man with the portable karaoke machine was my favourite! :) Usually you see guitars or harmonicas, but I guess beggars are stepping up their act with some new technology!

Our first stop that day was, naturally, the Eiffel Tower. We stood below, debating whether it would be wise to actually climb it with the weather being so cold (well, by Dubai standards anyway!) and in the end, decided to go for it! So we climbed up to the second level of the tower (the highest point you can climb to – after that, you have to take the lift up) which was almost 700 steps. (I knew the Stairmaster would pay off!) The view from the top was pretty incredible – the city itself is fairly large and the style of the buildings gives it a distinct European flavour. There were quite a few couples there who were being openly loving and affectionate, clearly proving the Eiffel Tower’s reputation of being such a romantic location. Although, I think my idea of romance is a little different than theirs...maybe if it had been evening and the tower had been lit up I would have seen what makes it so romantic! The French culture in general is very affectionate – everywhere we went there were people holding hands, kissing, hugging... *sigh* romance even in the dead of winter! It was definitely an experience.

We ended up walking around the city for the majority of the day Thursday and came back to the hotel just in time for the most disappointing and expensive buffet dinner I’ve ever had. Honestly, the food was cold, the selection was poor, and the buffet meal itself cost almost 30 Euros! Even with our IB discount it was still expensive! Needless to say, we didn’t eat at the hotel for dinner again.

The second day we went back into the city for a late evening of walking around and visiting the Louvre. We managed to see what we wanted to see in just under 3 hours, but to really do the museum justice, you’d have to give yourself a lot longer than that. We were speed walking through several areas to get the art that each of us really wanted to see. They had a fairly extensive ancient history section (which of course I loved!) including Hammurabi’s Code – one of the oldest and first scribed code of law known to man. There were some very interesting pieces in the museum, some that were absolutely amusing, and others that had us standing in awe... The most impressive pieces was Antonio Canova’s Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour, (“Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss”) which was absolutely stunning. We stood there for a few minutes, just absorbing the statue. It was amazing. We also saw the Mona Lisa, which I hate to say was anticlimactic at this point – she was a lot smaller than I expected her to be! There were a lot of Christian religious paintings in the museum as well – including a painting after the beheading of John the Baptist as well as the Wedding of Cana (where Jesus turned water into wine – and probably where we get our open bar tradition from!). Needless to say, if you are planning a trip into Paris, the Louvre is a must!

The next and final evening in Paris found us visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral. From the outside, it seems a little strange for a cathedral – we’re used to the high, pointed towers, whereas the Notre Dame has tall squared towers. But the amount of detail in the carvings surrounding the outside of the building is very impressive. There were angels and demons, references to heaven and hell, and even a final judgment where the devil waits to see who will be condemned. All that before you even ENTER the church. The inside of the cathedral was unbelievable. The high arching ceilings and the sacred roped off historical areas added to the authority that the cathedral holds. A few people around us were moved to tears just being there. It was quite moving to witness. We were lucky enough to be there when there was a mass starting – which added to the atmosphere of reverence and amazement. Everyone heard the organ start up (which was pretty incredible to hear) and then suddenly the door next to us (the sacristy, to our surprise) opened up and the priests emerged for the mass. I was pretty awe-struck watching the procession.

From there we got lost trying to find L’Arc de Triomphe – where the finish the Tour De France – and spent the better part of the night trying to get there! When we did we were pretty amazed. While it is not that big, it is situated in the middle of pretty massive round-about (for those who are not familiar, it works soooo much better than stop signs – you just drive around the circle, merging slowly, rather than coming to a complete stop!), and is in the middle of the Champs-Élysées- the famous shopping strip in Paris with all the big name brands. Luckily, the majority of the shops were closed (converting dirhams to euros is really not that much fun!) but we managed to find a lovely little local restaurant where we had a bottle of wine and a lovely “French” meal. We got back to the hotel fairly late again, but it was well worth it seeing the city while we were there. I wish the hotel had been a little closer to the city centre, but it made sense as a workshop location for the program – there were literally hundreds of people attending. At least we got to see everything we wanted to! And got to practice our long-forgotten French!