A Perfect day in Paris

     Crepes, museums, guilded statues, metros, and baguettes filled our four-day stay in Paris. My three friends and I were lucky enough to sleep in a fancy Marriott right along the Champs Elyssees. Running on one of the most famous streets in the world is quite the contrast for an Idaho girl who is used to running by cows and pastures instead of Gucci and Prada stores. Not to mention our destination: we ran to the Eiffel Tower-you’ve heard of it, right?

     I am so proud of the pictures I took! This running photography thing is starting to be quite fun, although it was hard to not feel judged by the French--what they must have thought of me, a tourist running with a camera… hmmm. C’est la vie. 

     Some facts about Eiffel's tower:  Built in 1889 for the Paris Exhibition, it was a significant symbol of the modern industrial era as it was made of iron and steel (7300 tons of it!). It is 984 feet tall, the tallest structure of the time. 2.5 million rivets connect the iron steel. Compared to the beauty of many of the buildings in Paris, the Eiffel Tower seems ugly, and it is ironic that it has become one of the most famous attractions in the world, and also a romantic symbol. The sparkles at night help add to its romance, as does its association to Paris, a very romantic city itself. Personally I can't decide what I think of it because it’s ugly, but you can’t help thinking it’s beautiful at the same time. Maybe it’s one of those things that is made beautiful by familiarity: it is so famous, probably one of the top tourist sites in the world. But why do people want to travel so far to see a tall ugly metal tower? 

    I’ve decided the Eiffel Tower is like a Bob Dylan song: you have to like Bob, at least I have to because I'm a Tracy and he's divine to our family. Even though his voice is scratchy and he likes to play his harmonica every five seconds, he's important. Not just important, but excellent (at least his lyrics are, ha!). He is so familiar to everybody, not only because of the way he’s changed music forever, but he’s an icon, just like the Eiffel Tower.  They're ugly, but you've gotta love 'em!

    Contrast the metallic harsh beauty of the Eiffel Tower with our journey up to Montmartre later that day. Sometimes the best travel experiences happen when you least expect them. For me, sitting on the steps of the Sacra Coeur numbers among the best moments of the trip. There we were with the sun shining, looking out on a panoramic view of the city with the Sacred Heart behind us. 

    “Imagine all the people, livin’ for today…” sang the funny Italian street musician, who highlighted the different nationalities represented on the steps. I have never liked the Beatles song he was covering (John Lennon is my least favorite Beatle), but I couldn’t help feeling differently with this guy Youri playing it. His voice was great, and the sense of unity among the national diversity I felt on those steps was quite moving. Surrounded by Koreans, Brazilians, and Italians, all sharing the same experience of sitting on those steps, we listened to that great song and it gave me the chills. (I forgot to mention the crazy soccer juggler we were watching below--he climbed a light post with the ball balanced on his head.) 

“You could say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…” 

 Paris is a great city.

This the Champs. The Arch d'Triomphe is in the distance. Our ritzy hotel was in a perfect location, and watching the Arabic royalty eat all day was fun. We'd come back for the night and they'd still be chowing and sipping their 13 euro espressos, right where we left them.  

I got pretty used to looking at cool buildings like this in Paris- I don't even know what this one is but it looks important...

There it is! I had fun editing some of these pictures on my computer. Macs are the greatest.

I love this picture. What a pretty sunrise, and the building's alright too :)

Directly underneath the Eiffel Tower. It's more intricate than I expected- there are 2.5 million rivets connecting all that iron and steel.

What a beautiful sunrise we had that morning! Sometimes it's worth getting up early to run, although it's the hardest thing I ever do...

We ran over this famous bridge back to our hotel, the end of a great run and the start of a great day.