In Paris Again, part 2

Wait, you say, there's more wonderfulness to be told of this trip? Ah, I must confess that while the happy recollections are all made, the story is not yet fully told. The full story must include the arriving at and departing from the fair city.

I have two methods by which I can travel between Geneva and Paris, by plane or by train. The train is noted for it's consistency; SNCF runs trains with varying speeds and numbers of stops between Paris and Geneva daily, regular as clockwork and with prices equally independent of the convenience of the train. Regardless of the day of the week or the time of the day, the train costs about 80 euros (~$105) and will take four hours to get between the cities. Traveling by air is shorter in time and more variable in price. In particularly, a Friday morning flight to Paris on EasyJet cost about $60 when booked in advance, while the return flight on Sunday night cost about $100. So I opted to fly, thinking at least then I would spend less time confined in a seat for the same amount of money.

In Paris Again, part 1

Well, I couldn't very well only spend three hours in the Louvre, now could I? That just isn't nice. Also, as a long-term resident of the EU and in my early twenties, I was eligible for free entry or a discount at every place I visited, and I wanted to take advantage of that while I could.



Musee de Louvre: I had already seen (and posted on) seeing the Louvre's signature pieces like the Mona Lisa, the Nike of Samothrace, and the Venus di Milo. This time around I spent five hours in the museum and walked through the Egyptian, Babylonian, and post-Baroque paintings. I also got to see, in person, my favorite creature from my art history class, the lamasu. See the five legs?

Paris!

Europe is small. It just seems that all the major cities of Europe are really close together. My home state is five times the area of Switzerland. Flying home for Christmas from grad school takes four hours; I think a four hour flight here would carry me across most of this continent. Europe just does not seem very big to me.

And that is a beautiful, beautiful thing, because even a grad student with little time or money can manage to visit a lot of famous places. I started by going to Paris.

Paris Highlights