17th Feb - 19th Feb

People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness. Mathieu Kassovitz

I arrived in Paris at 4pm. I had met a really nice German girl on the bus named Myriam that was now living in Marseille. My friend Christophe was going to meet me at 5pm. I was meeting him at the fontaine St-Michel. I decided to have a galette which is basically a crepe filled with whatever salty.

When Christophe arrived, we went for a coffee to catch up on old times (we did not see each other in over a year and a half). He then had a class until 8pm so I went in a cafe and caught up on my blog. I felt like a real Parisien, even though there was something that just did not make me feel like I was in Paris.

After Christophe's class, we went grocerie shoping and cooked supper at his apartment. Christophe lives about 30 minutes from the center. We had to take a train to his place. I got to meet Christophe's roommates: Melodie and Francois, a couple from Bretagne. Christophe gave me a bad impression of his roommates: lazy and obnoxious, especially Francois since he was unemployed and not making efforts to look for a job.

The next morning, since Christophe was working all day, I decided to do the first thing that every good tourist does when they arrive in Paris: visit the Eiffel tower. I took Paris' very complex yet thorough metro system. At the exit of the metro station, I could not see the Eiffel tower, but the moment I turned a corner, there it was. It was a great feeling, because it finally became real to me that I was in Paris. As I stared at the immense structure, I could not help but think of all the moments in my life when I dreamed of being here.

Using the excellent advice that a friend from Montreal gave me (thank you Joanne), I took the stairs since it was cheaper. Being at the top of the Eiffel tower gave me an incredible view of Paris. I could not help but to notice all of the couples holding each other hand in hand in one is known to be one of the most romantic spots in the world. Maybe I was being a bit callous, but all I saw was a pile of iron built in the form of an obelisk. This 19th century tower designed by Gustave Eiffel was built for the 1889 World fair and was supposed to be taken down afterward, however it received such attention that it was kept up and is now a French icon.

I was meeting Christophe at 4pm, and he took me around town to visit other sites such as l'eglise St-Louis, Jardin des Plantes, le Pantheon, l'Institut de France, Pont des Arts, Pont-neuf, Town Hall, and le Louvre (only the outside). We then had a beer at this popular Brittish pub called the Frog.

Friday was my intellectual day. We started by visiting the museum on the history of medicine. After a quick bit to eat, we went to the Louvre which was free for under 26ers on Fridays. Le Louvre is one of the biggest museums in the world. The museum is housed in the Palais du Louvre which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Phillip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. The most important change was the extension made by Napoleon to link in to the tuileries.

My favorite day during my whole trip so far was definitely today, and this was due to my time in Le Louvre. This was my type of place. I spent four hours going through the different art expostions and still felt at the end that I needed more time. Christophe and I had rented audio devices that gave further explanations into what we were looking at. Of the more than 35 000 peices of art either in painting or scupture, the most known pieces are the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Liberty leading the People, the Coronation of Napoleon, and the Raft of the Medusa, just to name a few.

The sculpture that most fascinated me, however, was Antonio Canova's statue called Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. I STRONGLY recommend you read the legend (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche), first. This legend comes in many different versions and is the basis of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. However, the version of the sculpture is the part where Cupid forgives Psyche and goes to her aid after she starts dying from the beauty potion. The sculpture depicts the moment where Cupid finds her and decides to save her because his love is so strong for her by p****ng her with his arrow and attempting to kiss her. There is much symbolism in the fact that there arms encircle the dramatic moment of their kiss. you can practically feel the moment. The space that separates their lips represents the crucial moment of life and death. Very intense...

After the Louvre, Christophe and I went to eat and later met up with some of his friends to go for a drink at pub nearby. Christophe noticed that the pub offered the same beer that i had in Belgium (Chimay) and ordered it for me. A fine way to end a wonderful day.