July 2017
Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is "La Ville-Lumière” or "The City of Lights” both for its bright lights, which I experienced last Thanksgiving when visiting Paris for the first time, but also because it's the center of education and ideas, which I experienced this past week when I visited with my dad. It was a quick four-day trip before we headed to Nieuwpoort, Belgium for the Laser Radial Under-21 World Championships at Koninklijke Yacht Club. In three days we visited four museums: the Louvre, the Musee de l’Orangerie in the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries, the Musee Rodin with its gardens with sculptures, and the Palace of Versailles. My dad, who loves military history, also arranged for us to visit Musée de l'Armée - Invalides (where Napoleon was buried) and the Arc de Triomphe. Our education didn't stop when we left the museums—we were able to attend the end of the final stage of the 104th edition of the Tour de France, which after my three-week bike trek on the Camino de Santiago I had a great respect for. We were also able to congratulate and celebrate with cyclists such as Alberto Contador, who is a three-time winner of the Tour de France. The following day, we learned about the champagne that we had celebrated with at the finish line when visiting Reims, the unofficial capital of the Champagne wine-growing region. Reims is also home to many well-known champagne houses including Veuve Cliquot. In Reims, we took part in a cellar tour and also saw the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims, which is an iconic Gothic Cathedral and one of the great masterpieces of the Middle Ages. From there, we made our way to Belgium where we saw another great medieval masterpiece– the Ghent Altarpiece at the St Bavo's Cathedral.
Here are some photos from Ghent, Nieuwpoort (where I sailed), and Bruges (we did a quick day trip when sailing was canceled for a day).
Here is a video I made of our few days in Paris.
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