November 7–13, 2007, Number 167
View of the Glass Pyramid that houses the entrance to the Louvre Museum, home of the Mona Lisa painting. (Click on photos for larger images)
More than just Pictures
My "Europe on a Shoestring" guide book says that Paris is one of the world's greatest metropolises. That's where my fiancé and I have spent the last 4 days, Paris France. This is the first leg of a European escape that will take us from Paris, France, to Barcelona, Spain, to Rome, Italy, and then back to base camp in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am sitting in Charles de Gaulle International airport just north of Paris, waiting for my flight to Barcelona, Spain trying to wrap my mind around the wonderful "moviesk" experience I have just undergone. The experience is truly a difficult one to put into words deserving of such an amazing city. I chose to name this weeks article "More than just Pictures" because of the almost lack of justice that pictures actually do for describing the city of Paris itself, and the somber reality that a lot of the beautiful things in Paris have been degraded to long lines of tourists waiting for their turn to capture the moment with a quick picture with little thought or appreciation for the depth associated with each piece. Everyone has heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think that Paris is a city that is worth a thousand pictures. Maybe some are familiar with the famous, or shall I say infamous, Parisian attractions, the Eiffel Tower, Cathedral of Notre Dame, and Mona Lisa to name a few. I, like all the other herds of tourists, did my best to capture as much of the city's charm as I could in the few days I would be there. From cancelled reservations, crepes, baguettes, and quiche, to terrible roads, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, here's how things went down.
I arrived at the youth hostel in Paris, where I supposedly reserved a room, at about midnight last Thursday. I was greeted with a fairly wordy desk clerk who nervously informed me that the room that was reserved was unexpectantly unavailable because of recent renovations. I was glad that I remembered that, when traveling, it's best to pack a flexible attitude with expectations that things can and will go different than planned. He gave directions to a nearby hotel that he assured had open rooms. Upon arrival at my new destination I was greeted again with a no vacancy. Luckily the street had a plethora of hole-in-the wall hotels. Unfortunately the only one with a vacancy charged 140$ a night. It was getting late and would have to do. Fortunately this would be the only hiccup of my young trip.
As I traveled the streets of Paris an interesting emotion swept over me. I really was in awe of the marvelous sights before me, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel like life, and the day, was still normal. I still got hungry every couple hours, and at the end of each day I had a desire to rest. It is funny how I put this trip on such a pedestal of awesomeness, that when it finally arrived I was kind of unsure how to react. I am confident that as time elapses my appreciation for this experience will grow. I think I could write a whole article on the greatness of the sites that the city of Paris contains but you can read that in a travel book. So I'll just stick to the interesting encounters that I stumbled upon.
There are a couple natural must-sees in Paris. I noted earlier the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Mona Lisa. I, fortunately, was able to see them all. I have to chuckle a little bit, because at the beginning of my trip I was looking forward to traveling late in the tourist season in hopes of missing the big lines. I was mistaken. Lines and lines of bustling tourists packed every attraction Paris had to offer, and, as I mentioned before, seemed to degrade such masterful artistic and architectural creations to mere tourist traps. I found myself feeling bad at some points that I didn't have more knowledge as to why ridiculously monumental structures were erected, or the inspiration that lay behind some of the world's most beautiful works of art.
A prime example of this was my visit to the Louvre Museum, which is home to Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of Mona Lisa. It was absurdly overcrowded. Do not get me wrong the museum and art is spectacular, but as I entered the room where the Mona Lisa hung I found myself semi-disappointed. In the movies they depict the experience as a quiet and leisurely stroll that culminates with an attentive study of the masterpiece. This however, was not the case. Crammed shoulder to shoulder it was quite the struggle to even steady myself enough for a brief picture. Security guards shuffled the mob and me quickly along, and it was anything but a delightful study of one of the world's most famous paintings. By the time the momentary experience was through I realized that the only glimpse of the painting that I had was through the lens of my camera. Unfortunately, I was unable to deeply appreciate the famous painting.
I did find it kind of comical that my fellow tourists and I were so obsessed over a painting that a majority of us probably had little appreciation for. I find myself doing that, having too little of appreciation for things. I put things and experiences in life into a check box format. Ok, I saw the Mona Lisa, check off that box of life accomplishments. Or the Eiffel Tower, yup saw that, check that box. I realize that I need to put a little more thought, meaning, and appreciation towards the things I do and, in this case, see in life. Jokingly I'll blame my ignorance on the education system in the US and its inability to make me learn and appreciate these great places. It is difficult to fully appreciate other cultures and countries through pictures and stories in books. In my perfect world, learning would be done hands on. Students would be sent to far off places to see the magnificence of real-life history. Those real-life encounters would kick-start the desires to learn and understand. Sounds kind of like studying abroad if you ask me. Either way, I am going to have to do my homework a little bit to fully appreciate the majesticness of my Paris and future European excursions.
To end, I think that every beautiful thing I have seen in Paris has a history behind it that is much richer than the pictures and memories that tourists, like myself, take away from it. People have millions of dollars and many years of life and artistic intuition invested into these entities. This type of underappreciated devotion is present in not only the great churches, buildings, and paintings that I feasted my eyes on in Paris, but in everything around us and everything we interact with in each one of our daily lives. I'm not sure I can say that I have any grasp on this ideal of appreciation, but it seems that it is one belief that I should never stop trying to attain a battle. Although I may never win, it's still worth striving for a battle worth fighting; the fight to put meaning back behind the pictures of my life.
-
Au revoir
(French for goodbye)
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885