I spent reading week this year in lovely Paris, for a whole four days! Yes, I know, not enough time. But I make an effort to take a trip out of the city every chance I get, even if the break is only a few days long, so I enthusiastically agreed to accompany my friend Andrew on a Parisian adventure he’d been planning for a while. Since I decided to tag along several weeks after he had already booked his flight, we had to hunt each other down in CDG after our respective flights arrived, but we somehow figured it out and went on our way.

Day One

First order of business was the Airbnb. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but our host was apparently away on business or something… so she sent her cousin to let us in and accept the payment. Of course, this became a whole ordeal since neither of us had data, but we found some Wifi and made it work.

We took a lovely stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens after dropping off our stuff. I think this was our only sunny day in Paris; it was raining for most of our stay. Nevertheless, the lighting was absolutely perfect for a few hours, and so we took our time walking through the meticulously maintained groves of trees and fields of grass. Reminded me a lot of the Charlottenburg Palace Gardens in Berlin; the attention to detail is astounding.

While we were meandering around, Andrew and I somehow got split up for about half an hour. This would not have been as concerning if Andrew had a roaming plan (I have really cheap roaming rates), but alas; we just circled around until we ran into each other again. Note to self: have rendezvous times and places throughout the day when traveling abroad!

We visited the Catacombs in the evening, and boy was it spooky down there! If I recall correctly, the bones of about six million people in graveyards across Paris were dug up and relocated into the old limestone quarries beneath the city throughout the 16th century, as graves within the city were dangerously over capacity. Just goes to show how inefficient traditional burials were and/or are, I suppose. Anyway, we grabbed dinner at Le Hibou on the way back to the Airbnb, and called it a night.

Day Two

The second day of our trip was very much the day we embraced the joys of being a tourist. We took a lovely stroll down the Seine, snapping more than our fair share of photos along the way.

We elected to climb the stairs up to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower before taking the elevator the rest of the way up–I don’t think those stairs are open to the public anyway–and Andrew was not having it. Maybe this is why I’ve been affectionately dubbed “Star Climber 3000” in a group chat with my first year mates?

Anyway, the view from the top was absolutely stunning; the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in all of Paris, and it’s surrounded by a bunch of low-rises, so the effect is further pronounced. I swapped to colour slide film on the way up.

Following a lovely lunch at Chez Ming, we made our way over to the Palais de Tokyo and promptly fell asleep on the couches outside the gift shop–we’d probably slept about five hours over the past three days! Nevertheless, it was a much-needed and restful break.

I found the exhibit thoroughly enjoyable, and spent several hours working my way through each of the different rooms. Saturday Night–a discombobulated mess of posters, sculptures, and household items–and Monday–sculptures depicting various moods experienced through a long and dreary start of the week–were particularly entertaining for me. You can find out more about the exhibit here.

Miraculously, we somehow found it in ourselves to make our way over to the Arc de Triomphe and climb up to the viewing platform in the evening. The view of the city was splendid; I tried really hard to get a good shot of the Eiffel Tower on slide film, but the slightly blurry one at the top of the page is the only one that turned out. If I recall correctly, we had dinner somewhere in the Latin Quarter before returning to the Airbnb and passing out.

Day Three

Andrew was already fairly ill during the first leg of the trip, but today brought about a second wave of terrible coughing and a general lack of energy. He insisted I go out and enjoy my stay, though, so I took it upon myself to explore the legendary Rue de Rome.

La Rue de Rome is lined with luthiers and music stores, making it an absolute dream for musicians of all kinds. I spent several hours in La Flute de Pan, a massive music store that comprises three separate locations for different types of music, and came away with tons of cool stuff. European musicians have an appreciation for playing from well-published, extensively researched scores, and one can see that in the breadth of selection available in their music stores. Conversely, I don’t think conservatory students on this side of the world really care about what they play with, and publishing companies are aware of this. Companies like Zimmerman don’t even have vendors in North America because they can’t compete with poorly-edited conservatory editions, so ordering obscure scores can take months…

Day Four

Final day of our trip! I ended up sleeping in because I was on the phone with Victoria until the wee hours, but it all worked out as I spent the bulk of the day packing up my duffle. Andrew was still knocked out from the previous day, so I watched some YouTube videos by Alex French Guy Cooking and decided to check out the bakery he featured in this vlog for a late lunch.

I got through a good chunk of my book at the bakery before doing some shopping at Les Halles, a market-turned-mall that also happens to sit atop the largest train station in all the world. Being a shopping addict as well as a transit nerd, how could I possibly resist?

Finishing off the day–and the trip, I suppose–was the Paris Philharmonic! They were playing Grieg’s Peer Gynt and Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with a staggeringly large ensemble. Hengelbrock led all 150 instrumentalists and 200 choristers beautifully, and I also thoroughly appreciated the sound of the space itself. You can read a little more about it here, if you fancy.

That about wraps up my Parisian adventure! The return flight was fairly uneventful, and school kicked right back up the morning after we got back, so I haven’t really had time to process the events of the trip until now. Thanks to Andrew for inviting me to tag along, and the Paris Philharmonic for an unforgettable experience!