Paris en Photos

Ok, they're finished and ready for the public (i.e. you guys).

Paris, Day 1 (Facebook link)
Paris, Day 2 (Facebook link)

I used Facebook mainly because it's easier to upload a bunch of pictures there than with Picasa. Unfortunately, it also compresses the pictures, but the quality's still reasonable. The captions pretty much narrate the whole trip, but here are a few other observations from my trip:

1) They LOVE soccer in France. There was some sort of match going on that weekend, because we ran into several groups of fans who were painted in the colors of the team, sporting their outfits, and singing their praises. In fact, one such group passed us in a bus on our way to the Eiffel Tower on the first day, and the music they were playing was triumphant. They passed us just as we had gotten to L'Arc de Triomphe, and it was a nice introduction to the city. However, it was not so nice when, later that day, a group of them joined us on the metro, making an uncomfortable situation more so, as there was no room to move. Still, it was all in good fun, and it's better than being trampled when you exit a stadium.
2) My lack of knowledge of French cultural symbols was evident in Paris. I didn't know anything about the Sacre Coeur and hundreds of other sights that we passed. Fortunately, my friend from Lehigh who accompanied us for much of the trip filled the role of tour guide quite nicely. Thanks, Hannah!
3) If you want to go to Paris, try to arrange to be there for more than 2 days. Most of our time was spent running from one monument to another, and there are better ways to visit a city. We did make time to rest, go to a bar, and sit outside with our meals, and those were among the best times I had.
4) Sadly, I did not make it to Roland-Garros. I was hoping to wake up early and go on Sunday morning, but to do that, I would have had to abandon my friends for the first half of the day. I'm certain I made the right decision, and it just gives me another excuse to try to get back to Paris some day.

This weekend, I'm off to Germany to meet up with my parents, and next week, I'll be in Switzerland for 4 or 5 days. Hooray for traveling; boo for papers that I need to work on between now and then.