Day 5: Surprise

I started the day in a good mood, without any pain, got some organizational things done and practiced French. My highlight was the following puzzle:

After the rain finally stopped in the afternoon, I made my way to Paris. The goal was the Centre Pompidou and the surrounding area called 'Marais'. The Centre Pompidou is a museum of modern art, but there is also a huge library in the same building. Since I was confused by the many entrances and it was already a bit late, I didn't want to go in and instead took a stroll. The good thing about Paris is that it's quite easy and even targeted because there are signs at every intersection indicating where things are. So you can find really nice places without a map or phone or plan.

Today was the first time I really noticed the Seine, and I was really lucky because the sun came out in the evening hours and bathed everything in a really beautiful light. These trees stood on the banks of the Seine, and although I love plane trees, these come pretty close! Are they birch trees because they have white bark? In any case, they were beautiful and I enjoyed the sight.

And then I finally went through a tall sandstone-colored gate and (as often today) could only shake my head. How BEAUTIFUL is Paris actually? It's almost unbelievable how there can be so many places that are supernaturally beautiful. The moment of seeing this large square and then finding a glass pyramid a few steps further was unreal. I thought that there were probably some opponents of the Louvre Pyramid because it doesn't really fit into the image of the square in terms of style. But I was still impressed.

In addition, I found the Brandenburg Gate here and was able to take a very rare photo where you can see the Brandenburg Gate DIRECTLY next to the Eiffel Tower:

Really, that was a big surprise for me. Could anyone have known that this city is so beautiful? Absolute insider tip from me: Paris!