La Route Des Manifs.

This walk started by having us walk down to the Canal Saint-Martin. We walked through a lovely little park and picked over the edge to see the water and saw more trash then in a trashcan. It was disgusting but funny because at the same time I was reading in the book that the Canal was built to bring more fresh water into the city. We then headed back towards the Metro to admire the Place du Republique. This statue symbolized the French republic being restored. It was cool because in Paris you don't typically see women statues that don't have wings on them in the city. Most statues are of war heroes which are always men.

We then walked all the way down till we could see the Bastille and the opera house. The Place de la Bastille was there to represent the prison that was torn down by the citizens of Paris. They then built this monument to honor those who fought and died in the July revolution of 1830. That really creeped us out knowing there were a bunch of bodies chillin in the middle of the intersection.

We then got to go down a really cool street called Avenue Daumesnil. The shops were really cool and unique and all located under an old railroad track. A lot of them were full of true craftman showing their creativity. I loved the area and enjoyed how pristine everything was.

I would recommend this walk to people but have them go to a better area of the canal.

Saint-Ouen's Labryinth

I was really excited for this walk because I adore antiques and the book said this was a great place to find true gems. But we ended up walking right into a horrible crowd of Creepy men with knock off products. Well as I was walking a man shoved a bottle of perfume into my arm and I pushed is hand off. Well he then smacked my arm which flipped me around. He then proceeded to yell at me in french and started to throw his hand up to hit me again and stopped himself. There was tons of people around and no one helped me or calmed the man down. I looked at a guy and said do something and he just kept walking which made me even more upset. I started to walk away and another man came up to me and asked me if I was ok and then I just walked away. THe man terrified me and was still yelling at me as I walked away. I was so upset and disgusted by these horrible people, that its all I thought about for the rest of the day and didn't truly enjoy the amazing shops that surrounded me in the better areas.

The market was nice in some areas and not crowded. Because I study furniture history for my major I was really impressed with some of the pieces but as soon as I got off the antique roads I was terrified of the creepy men and wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

I will never go back their without a real man to protect me. I am shocked at what happened and disgusted. I also will never recommend this walk to anyone, to bad the lovely antique shops are ruined by dirty crooks surrounding them.

4. Of art, war and the world's fairs. Invalides, Musee Rodin, Tour Eiffel.

I decided to embark on this tour with a nice small group and when the weather was perfect. Because this is one of the longest tours I was dreading it but it went by really fast. We started out at the Grand Palais which was built for a world fair in 1897 and finished in 1900. The building was designed with neoclassical elements and some nouveau style. I am typically not a fan of vouveau but I did appreciate this building so I guess it is growing on me.

Some of my favorite parts of this building were how open it was. Obviously it has a glass roof which really helps building standout and, catch your eye from any spot in Paris. For me though the glass building was such a nice change from the usual ornate, dramatic, and dark look that is commonly seen in Paris. Even though the building was really dramatic it still felt lighter and more natural.

The next memorable stop was the bridge. This bridge is obviously one of the most orante bridges on the seine. It symbolizes peace between France and Russia. It was really great to live the bright and sunny Grand Palais and then continue on a nice stroll on the bridge. The thing that stuck out most to me was the fact that there was hardly any traffic on the bridge. There wasn't really any in the whole area and that is not very common. But it was a nice change.

After the bridge we headed to the Musee Rodin. This museum was truly unique. All of the sculptures inside were not typical. They were posed in intresting ways that you wouldn't expect. Some were holding up their legs to their heads and some were laying down with their arms thrown into the air. It was really interesting to see all the different elaborate poses but not my favorite museum. The main piece int he museum is obviously the thinker and it was really cool to see a memorable piece.

Then we headed to the Hotel des Invalides. The gold on the Invalides was beaming like the sun, it was so bright and pretty. The first thing that caught our eye was this lovely sign.

Once we saw this we knew all the patients there were in good hands. We went inside and walked around and of course payed our respects to the great and always mentioned Napolian. It was nice to see his grave, and it a true landmark in Paris. We then walked the grounds and saw a lot of veterans still in wheelchairs getting some fresh air. We then wanted to jump down into the moat but saw the it was to high. SO we headed to the next stop the Eiffel tower.

See the moat?

Having see the Eiffel tower so many times was not something that I thought I would really enjoy. BUt when I read in the book that the Eiffel tower was once painted Yellow I couldn't stop picturing it and laughing about it. I am really happy that they never tore it down. It looks very industrial because of the iron but because its been around for so long it has a classic 1950s feel that will never be taken away from this great monument.

We then headed to Champ-de-mars. We have seen this building before but what makes this different from other great Parisian buildings is how it is still functioning. We only looked on from the outside but there were officials hustling and bustling all about which was cool to see since some of them had funny uniforms.

The highlight of this walk was crossing the bridge to and looking at the sun on the Invalides building. I loved the weather and the different architecture that this walk provides.

A walk in the park: Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg

This walk starts with the Tour Montparnasse, which is the sky scrapper of Paris. The night before I went on this walk I went to the Eiffel tower and it was of course remarkable everywhere my eye took me except when I noticed the Tour Montparnasse. This building looks so ridiculous and is very unnecessary. With every design profession it is important to show innovation, thought, respect for surroundings, and beauty. This building breaks all of those rules. It is typical, boring, not thought out well, distracting, and ugly. I was obviously not a fan, Paris has modern areas but they have been thought out by being surrounded by other modern buildings, this one is just by itself and ruins the view of Paris.

The next memorable Part was going down the street Vavin. It was a really interesting street because all the stores had great window displays and the food was enticing and delectable. The next adventure in this walk took us to the statue of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the french army who was falsely convicted of treason in 1894. He was put through many trials and ultimately lost against the government. This statue was intended to be placed at the military school but was mover around to other unsatisfactory places till it was finally put here. A semi-crapy spot where no tourists will feel the need to walk too. But at least he is not facing a wall anymore.

After seeing Alfred Dreyfus we made our way to the Park knows as "Jardin du Luxembourg" This park was huge and we walked all around it. We looked at the minnie statue of Liberty and all the other amazing sculptures that covered the Park. There were people everywhere looking so relaxed and happy. Old men were playing games to pass time and children enjoyed the most elaborate playground I have ever seen. Everything was delectable at this Park, we went through the tour and were enjoying our time and then someone started to yell across the park so we all turned around and it was the police saying we had to leave. We were totally taken back since it was only 5:30 but I guess thats how they keep this park so pristine and clean. They have cops there to go crazy on you if you step out of line at all.

Overall I will for sure return back to this park and enjoy a good book or chess game with the locals. I love this spot and how so many other people did as well. It was very cold that day but still the Parisians were there no matter the weather. This tour was really fun, delicious, and interesting.

Small Buildings Need Not Apply: La Defense

I chose to do this walk because it was a very cold day and this walk was nice and short. Which in the end made me feel very relaxed so I had no need to rush from site to site which was nice and enjoyable. The first thing you see in this tour is the Arc de Triomphe from a great distance. The Arc looked very tiny all the way from La Defense but you still had a clear shott of it. Then the book asks you to turn around and look at the Grande Arche. They are serisouly a contrast but still have a common basic structure. The architect Otton Von Spreckleson said " an open window to the world with an eye to the future... a modern arc de triomphe built to honor the triumph of humanity." That quote really helped me to appreciate this structure. It is the perfect way to show that Paris can bring in extremely modern architecture by still having meaning that goes back centuries.

But on the other hand to me the building looked like a big ride and I just wanted to play on the tent in the bottom of the building. The next stop was the fountain called Fontaine monumentale d'Agam. This fountain was very colorful and intresting, it really went well with the rest of the modern atmosphere. In the book it says it dances to music but I didn't get to see it so that means I will have to head back.

The next memorable part of this walk would have to be the Thumb...oh dear. I was totally creepd out by this. It really did look like a shriveled up thumb, and because it was raining it was a old wet shriveled thumb. Which is kinda my worst nightmare. But once again it was another interesting thing to see, and I feel that seeing that thumb has made me more unique. Then the tour suggested that we shop so we shopped till we dropped.

I did enjoy this tour because it was a change in scenery, but it looked like any other city. The best part about Paris is how truly unique and rich the architecture is. Modern buildings are not very rich and unique anymore since so many cities have them. My final diagnosis is that I would recommend this to someone... which I normally don't say so I guess overall it was good.