Portugal and France

The very first thing we saw during our sightseeing in Paris was the Arc de Triomphe and the massive, terrifying traffic circle that surrounds it. It’s an absolutely lawless zone full of honking horns, fender benders, and loud cursing in French. The last thing I saw during my sightseeing was the same traffic circle from the back of a swerving cab after having stayed out too late under the Eiffel Tower to take the metro back. It was a nice moment for me to come full circle (quite literally) (while holding on for dear life) in what has, somewhat surprisingly, become one of my favorite cities in the world.

I have to admit that before I came to Paris I was expecting to really dislike the city. Americans love to talk about how rude Parisians are to tourists, and I wasn’t much of an art person. I’ve now been back three times and every single time I’ve left liking the city even more. Between the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Palace of Versailles, etc. the French have built up a lot of absurdly large monuments and buildings. Combining the sheer scope of these places with a touch for flourishes and intricacy gives Paris a feel of being majestic and grand, larger than life in a way that energizes rather than intimidates. My favorite moments from this time in Paris were finally seeing Versailles (we could’ve spent days walking around the gardens), reigniting my love for Parisian street food, and spending a few hours under the Eiffel Tower on a buzzing Saturday night with what felt like half of Paris. I also have to give a shoutout to accidentally meeting an up-and-coming movie star (google Johnny Weston) on the steps of Sacre Coure. I might have to add one of his movies to my list (currently sitting at four, as mentioned by Zeke in an earlier post).

Portugal was a completely different experience, somewhere I had never been before. My taste for large squares was definitely humored, with the best square being Praca do Comercio. We also got to watch the USA-Portugal WC game in this square with a few thousand of our closest Portuguese friends. Perhaps it was best for us that the game ended in a disappointing last minute draw, though our cover of being “Canadian” was probably blown after Tirrill and I hummed the national anthem and was definitely blown after some barely muffled shouts after each American goal.

The Portuguese also had quite a few castles, which were much larger and better maintained than those we found in Scotland. The only complaint I can give is that getting to the castle in Sintra involved more than an hour of walking on winding roads up a mountain. But the sweat was totally worth it for the mock medieval brawls we always inevitably descend into whenever we come within five square miles of a castle.

Our last day in Lisbon made me wish we had more time there. It was the first place where we didn’t get to see a significant number of the landmarks on my hit list. This was partially due to limited time there and partially to us staying out at bars until 4 AM last night (which may have been partially due to meeting some cute French girls). After a little sleep and a lot of yawns, we made our way out to the area with Belem Tower, the Discoveries Monument, and Jeronimos Monastery this morning, which was one of my favorites of the whole trip. The area was really cool, with a lot of modern architecture on one end and the historic monuments on another. In between, there were ports and steps leading down into the ocean. It was a pretty area that we had to hit a little too quickly and would’ve loved to spend more time in.