Day 29 September 13, 2008
Of all the things I wanted to see in Paris before I got here, the Statue of Liberty was right up near the top of my list. I know that's strange and if you tell me that maybe it's good I'm on vacation by myself now, I'd pretty much agree with you. But just the idea of America's most iconic symbol holding her flame above Frenchy people on the Seine with the Eiffel Tower behind her weirds me out in a way that I can't really describe. I really wanted to cater to this weirdness so I planned a whole big USA-Day around Lady Liberty.
Before the American pride swelled in me, I ordered take-out in the morning from a pho place in the neighborhood and had the craziest conversation in my life. It wasn't the content (normal stuff: are you a tourist, where are you from, do you think baby elephants have big ears?) but the languages. The restaurant lady and I went from French to Cantonese (and I don't really speak Cantonese) to Teochew and then switched it all around when we didn't know words in one language or another. It was interesting, but on the whole, extremely odd. It wasn't an appropriate start to my USA-Day.
I righted the ship by going to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Metro stop. From there, Pont de l'Alma was short walk away and it's there that an exact replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty has become a memorial to Princess Diana. I know she's not American, but she's definitely a big part of our culture. Beside the flame is the traffic underpass where she died in a car accident.
The entire Statue of Liberty, not just the flame, was next. It's on an island accessible from Pont de Grenelle. It's not large, but larger than what I thought and as far as I know, it's exactly like the original in New York City. Huh, is really all I can say about it. It's just a very strange sight.
Moving on, I ventured into an area called Passy where Benjamin Franklin lived when he spent several years here during the American Revolution. He would've had a great view of the Eiffel Tower if the Eiffel Tower had existed when he lived there.
But Ben's older than Eiffel. That's right, Ben beats Eiffel by a hundred years. USA! USA! USA!