2008 UC Davis Foreign Tour Archive
By Kevin Nosek
Saturday, Aug. 30
Today started with an early morning in order to see as much of Paris as we could. First stop Notre Dame Cathedral. Construction of the Cathedral started in 1163 and it wasn't completed until 1345. You can only imagine what kind of detail was put into this. Badly damaged during the revolution, Notre Dame was refurbished in 1845. For me personally, this was the most impressive site in Paris. While on the Isle, my wife Nicole and I stopped in at Sainte Chapelle, a medieval chapel located inside of the conciergerie. The Conciergerie is the prison in which Marie-Antoinette was held.
Following Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle, we walked along the Seine River to the Louvre. Along the way we ran across a man in a speedo, water wings, an inner tube and snorkel. He was about to jump off one of the amazing bridges but thought better of it and continued on with his friends. The sheer size of the Louvre is astounding. My only previous knowledge of the Lourve is from the movie The DaVinci Code and thought the Louvre was the glass Pyramid. Boy was I wrong. It was said to us that if you spent one minute at each exhibit in the Louvre it would take you 300 straight days to see all of it. We did however see the Mona Lisa, the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Raft of Medusa, Venus de Milo and Napoleon's apartment. Simply amazing.
Touring the city by foot we stopped in at one of the many cafés for a nice lunch. I have found the menus to be identical at every restaurant, that could be due to my limited French! Continuing our walk of the city we stopped at Musee de Rodin. Rodin is the premier sculptor of the 19th century. In his collection are `the thinker' and `the gates of hell'. Without being an art connoisseur I would speculate that Rodin is a deeply sensual and disturbed man.
We finished the evening with a boat cruise down the Seine. Our last full day in Paris won't be my last. I find myself craving the opportunity to travel more and look forward to my next visit to Paris.
Au Revoir,
-Coach Nosek
