Paris Trip

Historical Paris

2008-01-30T01:00:00.000-08:00

Hello from Paris! I will be staying in the city of lights (and rain) for the next 8 full days for a Historical Paris class. Because this is a class trip, I will be following an itinerary in the morning, but the afternoons will be free for me to chose what I want to do.

Day 1: Bonjour!
Day 2: The Louvre, Les Tuileries, L’Orangerie and ...
Day 3: Orsay Museum and Montmartre
Day 4: Rodin Museum, Les Invalides, Eifel Tower, Fauchon, Opera Garnier
Day 5: The Island of the City and the Left Bank
Day 6: Gregorian Mass, Versailles, and Arc night shots
Day 7: THe Pompidou, Pantheon and walking about
Day 8: Carnavalet Museum, Eiffel Tower and La Defance
Thank you for looking. I hope you've enjoyed my blog.

Day 8: Carnavalet museum, Eiffel Tower, and La Defance

2008-01-23T03:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the last day of itinerary travel we had. We started off at the Carnavalet Museum, which is the museum for the city of Paris. I think my mom would have enjoyed this museum the most. The museum is within two connected mansions in Paris, both of which have beautiful paneled wall and a lot of furniture and art left to decorate the rooms. This museum is free, which is the other plus, and covers the history of the city from the Roman Gallo times all the way into the 20th century.

This bronze statue of Louis the 14th was one of the few to survive the revolution

Painting of the Pont Neuf bridge

Erin shows off this beautiful and little bed

Painting of Les Invalaides before all of the development went up around it

Fire at a hotel. It made us laugh because the fire looks quite a bit like the fire symbol we saw on the exit signs

This painting is of the Champs Elysees, you can see it in the left hand side of the painting. It ends at the gardens of the Tuileries

Some of the walls within the museum:

Ha! And they think our dogs are spoiled:

One of the original faces that adorn the Pont Neuf bridge

This room was just bizarre

Beautiful table

Painting of a monument being erected. I found the old construction techniques to be very interesting

pieces of a statue that was destroyed

Some of Marie Antoinette’s hair

A little ivory guillotine toy

This was a revolution era clock. It tells the time, date and month. Notice how there are only 10 months in the revolutionary calendar

The remains of an infant in the Roman Gallo exhibit

Roman glass, it is amazing that this has survived

After the museum we were free to do what ever we wanted. The Carnavalet museum is very close to the Pompidou, so it would make sense to see both on the same day. Since we had already explored this area we got on the metro and headed to the other side of the city.

We saw this on the way to the metro. A brabus smart car

Erin still hadn't gotten Eiffel Tower pictures so we made a quick stop there.

From there we headed to La Defance. This is where most of the modern buildings in Paris are houses. In the 1970s a very tall, ugly black rectangular building was erected in Paris. The outrage over this building was so much that it prevented any more from being built within old Paris. For the better anyways. Since the bedrock under the city is swiss cheese from quarrying, many areas can't support the structures anyways. The new construction moved out to La Defance, on the city's edge, where most of the new, high tech, offices now are. This is also where you can find the new arc, which is lined up perfectly with the Arc de Triomphe

This is a bunch of pipes put together. There were a number of large, cylinder shaped pieces in this area

Men in trees

Before coming over here we were told by our Professor of the things not to speak to the French about. Politics was on his list. However, the French have taken quite the interest to our Presidential race because of Barack Obama. When we went to the Opera House, the men who checked our bags asked if we were American. We said yes and they said: "Obama! Obama! Obama!". When our Professor went out to dinner with some Parisian friends they kept asking him about him too. The French are so amazed that we are having a black run for president, and that he actually has a shot.

When we returned from La Defance both Erin and I were feeling sick to our stomachs. From 2pm on we slept and threw up. Today we are just staying inside. It’s okay, we saw everything we wanted to see anyways. We did want to leave the city to see the little town of Chartres which has one of the most beautiful cathedrals in France, but resting is better. It’s just a shame that the only station we have in English is CNN, we’ve seen the news play through so many times already.

We come back home tomorrow and even though we’ve had a ot of fun, I’m more than ready to leave.

Day 7: The Pompidou, The Pantheon, and walking about

2008-01-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

On Mondays most museums are closed. The Pompidou is one of the few left open, and is a good call for spending a Monday afternoon. I won't lie, I wasn't excited about seeing this museum. I'm in one of the most beautiful historical cities in the world, surrounded by things built hundreds of years ago, things sculpted before Paris was a city, things painted before Columbus was born. And I'm going to spend a day seeing a canvas with a few strokes of paint on it called "art"? It just didn't seem like the best way to spend the day. But itineraries are itineraries, so we embarked.

The building of the Pompidou is well worth the visit. The Pompidou sits on top of one of the oldest parts of the city. Many of these buildings that were nearly a millennia old were demolished for the construction of the museum. The buildings around it are still very old, so you can get an idea of what used to be here. Sat down in the middle of these small cobblestone streets and the myriad of chimneys coming out of the tired shingled roofs of the compacted buildings is this:

It is a very interesting and cool building that is for sure, and it 100% does not match any of what is around it. But, it adds to its appearance instead of diminishes it. If it were surrounded by other modern architecture you wouldn't notice it, but here it is as if it is one red elephant in a pack of grey ones, you can't help but notice it.

Juxtapositions:

We went to the top of the exterior escalator and got a great view of the city:

At this point I felt like I could just leave, I had no desire to see the art inside, but I'm really glad I did go inside. It really changed my perception on modern art, and I realized that a lot of it is very good. I had a lot of fun photographing people enjoying (sometimes not) the art as well.

This is more of what I was expecting to see. Artist 1: "Look, at the art I have created. It makes a statement about how the monochromatic and conformist world crushes those with a view that differs from the mainstream." Artist 2: "Brilliant!"

After the Pompidou Erin and I just wondered around a little. We worked our way to the Ise de la cite, then over onto the Ise de St. Louis. From there we went to the Latin Quarter. Here are just some of the photos I took along the way:

It was a windy day:

In the Latin Quarter we had some hot chocolate and then went to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon is one of the most schizophrenic buildings in all of Paris. It was originally a Church, but done in a very Roman theme. The Church itself broke a lot of boundaries: it was in the shape of a Greek cross instead of a Roman cross, it disguised the flying buttresses with outside walls, and was done in a much different style from the Gothic cathedrals seen around the city.

The church was to be dedicated to the patron saint of Paris St. Genevieve, who legend has kept off the invading Huns with her prayers. The church was finished right at the start of the French Revolution. The French Revolution went very anti-church. Notre Dame was even threatened to be destroyed in their quest to destroy the Catholic church. After that its role continued to transfer back and forth from a religious establishment to a secular one with each ruling party that followed after the Revolution. In the end, secularism won out, and currently the church is the final resting place to some of France's greatest thinkers.

The inside was painted under Napoleon(?) to show scenes of great French catholic tradition; such as the life and death of Joan of Arc, the story of St. Genevieve, etc.

A statue of the Republic:

After exploring the main floor we went downstairs to the Crypt

I won't lie, I tried to touch it, but I couldn't reach :(

Voltaire and Rousseau are also buried here.

Erin shows how different the French restrooms are from ours. The separation from men to women is so much less:

After this we got back on the subway and went back to Fauchon so Erin could get some chocolate:

Not everything delicious at Fauchon is edible

this was found in the subway on the way back to the hotel

I had Indian food for dinner for the first time tonight. Again, much better than French food. I loved it.

Day 6: Gregorian Mass, Versailles, and Arc night shots

2008-01-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

I didn't blog about this yesterday because I was far too tired, and we got back far too late. It was an early wake up call yesterday as six of us went to Gregorian mass at Notre Dame. The mass was partially in Latin and mostly in French. The music was beautiful, as was the setting, but the language barrier for the homily made that part not as enjoyable.

When we got off of the subway there was an exotic bird market right outside.

Franglish isn’t as funny as Engrish, but still

I brought my tripod to attempt to get better pictures of the stained glass. Two in I was told no tripods. I would like to know who was killed via tripod in order to ruin it for the rest of us.

After mass everyone else met us up and we went to Versailles. King Louis the 14th didn't want to live in Paris. He had bad memories of all of the riots the city is plagued with and built this palace 12 miles outside of the city. The palace grounds are filled with beautiful gardens, and the palace itself is very ornate and stunning. Back when all travel was done by horse; it would have taken a lot longer to get there than it did for us on our 20 minute train ride.

The train took us through the outskirts of Paris, with some more modern buildings and more graffiti

We walked through this cute little town to get to Versailles

What is wrong with the next two pictures?

Oh how I wish we got these! BMW, take note!

When we got to Versailles we discovered that they were restoring the exterior. So no epic shots to be had here.

This is the exterior of the chapel that is attached to the palace

Today was the day of the camera nazis. First at Notre Dame and now at Versailles

I had to check my tripod in. Some of the rooms were no photos, I know they really mean flash so I stole some without any flash, and some of the BITCHEST French tourists in the world were in this palace on this day. I cannot express the looks I got from these people for disobeying this rule. I seriously wanted to get in the face of this one woman who kept glaring at me in all of her Frenchness. We really haven't had any issues with rude people this whole trip, but something about Versailles just attracts them. She needed an uppercut to the face sooo badly. I should have gotten a picture of her just to piss her off.

The photos I stole:

painted logs:

Okay, these photos were allowed:

Repair they are doing on one of the ceilings:

The Queen's bedroom

The door where Marie Antoinette escaped during the Revolution as well as her jewelry box

A ceiling

King's bedroom. Every morning people would come and watch him wake up. It was like watching a play or something. It was highly prized to get the honor to watch the king rise. And Britney Spears complains about not having a private life.

The hall of mirrors

Another ceiling

I hate people, graffiti within the palace

This is the inside of the chapel that is connected to the palace. Louis the 16th was married here. Also, people would come and watch the king watch mass. They would stand back and watch him, weird huh?

The walls are carved out of stone. The WALLS are CARVED out of DIFFERENT KINDS of STONE

Inside the palace is this mini Louver. The walls were lined with paintings of French Military Victories. Contrary to what google wants you believe, they actually did win a few.

The victory at York Town during the Revolutionary War. Yes, they did help with that:

Charlemagne:

When we were in front of Notre Dame there is a statue of Charlemagne, the professor said Charlaman and this random man trying to sell stuff says "Charlemange not Charleman, Charlemange" it was quite funny.

They pretty much turn every fountain in Paris off in winter, and remove every flower, which made the gardens not as stunning as they are supposed to be. During Louis the 16th there were 1,500 fountains at Versailles, now there are only about 300

looking back at the Palace

French gardens are about symmetry and control over nature:

HE HAS A TRIPOD ARREST HIM!!!

After Versailles we came back to the room to rest. I fell asleep while doing my journal. After my nap we grabbed some overpriced dinner on the Champs Elysees and took some pictures of the Arc at night. It was so empty here. We didn't stand out as tourists even with my big camera. I was asked for a light of a cigarette, where the metro was, and a cute boy asked to see my pictures, all in French.

Then Erin says, "we should go sleep soon, it's almost midnight." I retorted, "sleep? We need to get on the metros! They are almost closed!" We didn't miss it, thank God, but we had to deal with some pretty shady people.

We made it home okay though

The Island of the City and the Left Bank

2008-01-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Wow, so much was done today. Typically how this thing works is we have "class" every morning which consists of a required trip, typically to a museums, then the afternoon is free. Today we were doing stuff until 3pm. I joked about how it was a Saturday and we were in “class” for the longest time yet. We left for the Island of the City at around 9am. First stop was at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

This cathedral is just stunning. It is one of those odd things where when you first see it you feel as if you have seen it before because it is such a well known image. It is as if there is a giant 3-D cut out of a famous photo in front of you. Part of you is in awe and the rest of you is just thinking, "yep, there it is, exactly as it should be".

The cathedral is covered with carved sculptures. It seems as if every single figure is different. I would not be surprised if I learned that there aren’t any duplicate sculptures here.

This is one of the sculptures above the main doors. In the center is the Vergin Mary holding baby Jesus, on each sides of her are angels. On the right kneeling with the crown is the king. On the left in the corner, the small bowing figure is the man who gave most of the money to build the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral is quite dark and quite crowded. I really should have taken out my tripod for this, but realized that too late.

Stained glass

The cathedral goes very high and more stained glass is up in these upper reaches.

I took out the 70-200 EFL lens that Aren was nice enough to lend me to get some shots of the high glass.

After seeing the inside we did do something here that was different and completely unknown to me. Across the front courtyard of Notre Dame is the crypte. I had no idea what was going on when I went down there and was completely ready for dead bodies. Instead, I found the old ruins that existed before Notre Dame. Here were Gallo Roman ruins dating back to the first century. On top of them were other buildings from the Medieval period. It was an archeological dig under there, just foundations and doorways left for the most part. It just amazes me that all of this was just built over.

Doorway to cellar

This is an old street, it is about 3 feet wide

Point zero is in front of Notre Dame and is the point where all streets of Paris are drawn from. Up until the 1800s Notre Dame was the center of the city. When Haussmann redrew the map he reoriented many of the streets to point towards the opera house instead.

One of the things that makes Notre Dame so interesting is the time in which it was built. The construction started in 1163 and it took almost 200 years to build! When I compare this to Himeji Castle in Japan, which was built in the 1200s I felt it was remarkably beautifully constructed and ornate for the time period. Compared to Notre Dame it looks like a wood shack.

These buttresses help keep to support the walls. As they built the thin walls of the cathedral higher and higher they became to form stress factors. So they were reinforced with these buttresses.

A quick, and I am certain very overlooked, memorial is very close to Notre Dame. On the very edge of the Island of the City is a memorial for the thousands of jews deported out of France to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The French feel very badly for this, as this is the second memorial we have seen, the other is between the Military Academy and the Eiffel Tower.

Each bead represents a life lost

We crossed back over to the Right Bank for some lunch and ice cream and passed this American jazz band playing a very southern style of jazz music. It was a very welcoming sound. Paris is a famous Mecca for American jazz musicians. I believe it started in the early 20th century due to their racism being so much less than ours. Black musicians could make a living much easier in Paris than they could America. American jazz is still popular there today. We actually had a jazz saxophonist in our French class who toured France a number of times with his band.

The line to the song they were playing was, "when God named the promise land he named it Arkansas"

On the right bank, very close to Notre Dame we went down this street filled with little boutique shops of every genre. From cheese to scarves, every shop here had a specialty. We got lunch and ice cream, as well as a few little items in some of the other stores.

Back to the other side of the river

Now we were on the left bank. This portion of the city is very artsy. All long the Seine right here are little vendors selling books and magazines and art of the city.

We went into the Shakespeare Company book store. This store was opened in the late teens and was a popular hang out for Bernard Shaw, Hemmingway, James Joyce among others. Upstairs is a small apartment that they still rent out for free for impoverished writers free of rent. The vast majority of the books here are in English

If you have visions of sitting on the patio of a little Parisian cafe sipping a cafe au lait and watching the people walk by, the area around the Island of the City is the place to do it. This is cafe city. And yes, I did do this :)

And uh this

We walked from here over to St. Chappell which is known for its stained glass. While this cathedral is no where near as grand as Notre Dame it is certainly very pretty. I could not get any good exterior shots of the cathedral half because of its location and half because of the work currently being done on its facade. There is work constantly being done in this city to keep up appearances. Centuries old stone is always being cleaned, worn ornaments are being repaired, it is always something.

I decided to take my tripod out, boy was I glad I did

at this point I was forced to put my tripod away. I probably had another good shot or two in me.

From here we saw Marie Antoinette's cell prior to her death. It wasn't very exiting, and you do have to pay to see it if you don't have a museum pass. Unless you are a total French Revolution junkie, I wouldn't spend the money. I know, from the outside you think it is something you want to see, just to say you saw it. But no photos are allowed and it is 8 euro. I would skip it.

After this we walked through le Dauphine which in its time (1500s) was the pinnacle of urban planning. Now it is just a very cute old area with many old buildings and nice parks, and more repair work.

This area is right next to the Pont Neuf bridge. This "new" bridge was the very first bridge to cross from the right bank to the left. Before this all of the bridges only went as far as the island, and it caused a ton of traffic and congestion because of this. Commissioned by Henri III. It took 30 years to make and was made using entirely new construction techniques. Each stone was hauled out of quarries from directly below the city (note to the French: it typically is not a good idea to remove the bed rock of your city, end note) and hand carved to fit. It took thirty years to complete the bridge.

At this point it was about 3 in the afternoon. Our group of 15 students had slowly dwindled throughout the day, even though all of this stuff was technically required. We were down to about 9 at this point. Four of us decided to go back to Notre Dame and climb to the top, the other 5 went off to do their own thing. We got a drink at the cafe across the street from Notre Dame and watched the gypsies try to fool stupid American tourists to get close enough to them to take their money. As a note, keep your money as close to you as possible at all times. I keep mine in a pocket on the inside of my always buttoned coat. Back pockets, backpacks, just say no, especially at touristy free places like Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. If they ask you if you speak English say nothing and walk away. They might follow. Luckily we had no problems, but a boy in our group was most likely pick pocketed today, either that or he lost his wallet. Optimism is always welcomed.

After our nice break we got in line to see the top of Notre Dame. Again, this is something you have to pay for, but with the museum pass it is free. You still have to wait in line though, first time we've had to the whole trip.

Getting to the top of Notre Dame requires 400 steps up a spiral staircase. Not for the claustrophobic or those who haven't been keeping up on their New Years Resolution. Note how worn the steps are. There are cut marks on the steps, they have replaced the worn part at least once already

However, it isn't 400 steps non stop. There are two stopping points on the way up. This is because there is only one stairway up. They have to seamlessly transition from going up to going down, because there is no passing on these stairs as you can clearly see. To do this they converted one room into a book store.

In the back of the little bookstore is this beautiful staircase that is apparently the way to Esmeralda’s cell. As you may remember from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, when Quasimodo saves Esmeralda he takes her away to a high up room to protect her. Apparently, this room is the best described in the whole novel. The room is exactly as Hugo says it is.

The second stop is on the first balcony of one of the large towers in front of the cathedral. You can view one of the bells here as well as walk partially around the tower. The best view of the gargoyles are at this level. This is where the best photo op is, which is good, because this is where the battery of my camera died. :(

It's not much further to the top and you can walk all of the way around the tower up here. You get a fabulous view of the spire as well as the city.

When we came back down it was already after 5. We piled into the subway and came back to the hotel. After the best shower ever and a good rest we went back to the Lebanese place for dinner, this time with more people. Everyone agrees, it is by far the best food any of us have had in Paris thus far. I'll get the address for everyone.

Rodin Museaum, Les Invalides, Eifel Tower, Fauchon and the Opera Garnier

2008-01-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've had a busy day. So busy in fact that I took 333 photos on my camera, beating my last high photo day of the trip of 279. We went more places today than any other day and it was a lot of fun because of this.

I wasn't very excited at first to be dragged along to the Rodin Museum. First, this was the third museum in a row, second, we saw a lot of Rodin's work at the Orsay. The Orsay didn't have The Thinker, so that I was interested to see.

The Rodin museum is right next to Les Invalides. The grounds are Rodin's home, which by the way, was government issued, and quite the fine government issued house indeed. This is another place that I know would look much nicer in the spring or summer. The gardens were all dead, but you can tell that they would be beautiful when everything was in bloom. Sitting in the garden were some of his most stunning works: The Thinker and the Gates of Hell.

Everyone in the metro on our way to the Rodin

Rodin's house/the museum

If he were to turn around he would have a great view

I name this one "Thinking about the Thinker"

The story behind this piece is pretty sad. It is called the The Burghers of Calais. How the story goes is that the Bughers, or I suppose the elders, of this town decided to hand the key of the city over to the British when they invited during the 100 years war in the hopes that they would treat the town's people better because of their compliance. From the sculpture you can assume how that went:

Near the Burghers of Calais was the original Gates of Hell which I saw a copy of at the Orsay. I must say, in the original Bronze it is a lot more powerful. The darkness of the medium adds such an ominous feel to the piece

A close up of one corner:

You may notice the Thinker making an appearance on this sculpture. The Thinker's original title was The Poet, the Poet being Dante himself. As he gazes down at the Gates of Hell he is contemplating his poem, Dante's Inferno, in which the piece is modeled after.

The Kiss

A few of the pieces he left these nails in

The Cry

Rodin was also a painter, however it is obvious why he is known for his sculptures. In one room there was a random Van Gough and Monet hanging. I looked up and saw the Van Gough and thought to myself, "wow! That's a lot nicer looking than his other paintings!" Then I realized what I was looking at.

They had a TV in one of the rooms showing how Rodin carved his marble sculptures. They were absolutely amazing. He would stand back, look over the space very carefully, then come in and make a few very committed hammers with the chiseled as pieces of marble flew into his beard, then he would stand back again and observe once more.

After the Rodin we headed over to Les Invalides. Les Invalides was built under Louis the 14th as a military hospital. The building wasn't always this stunning. The dome, the building's most stunning feature were added shortly after the completion as a royal chapel. Today Les Invalides is most well known as being the final resting place for Napoleon. The floor of the royal chapel was cut into and his large sarcophagus was laid to rest there in a very elaborate grave. It also houses a very complete French military museum (hold your laughter) although it is under renovation right now.

I wish I had gotten better photos of the outside, but it was raining and I didn't feel like taking my camera out again.

In any French monument it is always important to look up, for the ceiling is always very interesting

On the main floor there are many other crypts that hold Napoleons relatives and generals he served with or great ones who served after him. This is the tomb of I believe his brother

Here is one of Napoleon's hats and coats on display. I'm pretty sure the coat would fit me (I'm 5'2)

View of Napoleon’s crypt

Flowers at its base

Napoleon died in exile outside of France. It was always his wish for his ashes to be returned to the country. I specifically say ashes for a reason. Back then being cremated was not the Christian way to leave your remains. Napoleon did not feel that he would be given a Christian burial. About 20 years after his death he was returned

Surrounding the tomb are a number of intricate marble carvings depicting Napoleon in different Romanesque ways. These figures depict the good that Napoleon did, from the schools he opened to the monuments he built. All of the inscriptions read are in first person, making them seem very haughty at first. When you learn that they were constructed after his death you realize the immense amount of respect and reverence people had in him at this time. It is fairly obvious from these carvings that Napoleon was very godlike to the people.

The inscriptions are being translated for us

After Les Invalides we went to lunch as a class. I had very tasty salmon and awesome chocolate cake. When we left the restaurant we sort of split up. Half of us and the professor walked a block over to the Eiffel Tower, the other half went shopping.

We passed the Military Academy on the way. The grass in front (and under) the Eiffel Tower used to be where the French Military ran drills. They don't use it any more, obviously (insert French Military joke here).

Okay time for the quintessential Eiffel Tower jumping shots

I love my new camera, I set it on continuous shoot and told the Professor to just hold the button down. Everyone got perfect jump pictures because of this. Fun idea too, much better than the standard stoic pose.

We bid our Professor adieu at this point and went to Le Fauchon, a VERY trendy shop that sells everything from meat to the most beautiful cakes you can imagine, all very fresh. Across the street from Le Fauchon was another Fauchon with boxes and boxes and tins and tins of all sorts of treats you could buy to take home. The store is located off of the Madeline metro stop and expect to spend quite a bit of money there. However, in January there are tons of sales so you can get some good deals.

After this we went to the Opera Garnier. This Opera house was built during Haussmann's revitalization of the city. It became the center of Paris, showing the transition from the old center of life: the church (Notre Dame) to the new center: the arts. Being the new center of the city the building is very ornate and stately, commanding as much attention now as it did back when it was first built. Going inside isn't free: it is eight euros or four with a student pass. As a note, if you arrive here half hour before a show you can get standing room only tickets for 10 euro. So you can see the Opera and a ballet for just two euro more. You won't have as much time to take everything in either. If you want to see a ballet, but standing for 3 hours waiting ants dance from the back of the house isn't exactly your idea of seeing the Paris Ballet, then in the basement of the Opera house (easily accessible from the main stairs) they show old ballets and operas. The camera is much closer than you would ever get and there are chairs. Perhaps the perfect balance between seeing a performance and getting a good view of everything.

The hall

There are many other rooms at the Opera house. From what I gathered, back in the 1800s going to the Opera was not the same as it is now (well I wouldn't know how it is now since I've never been but I have seen plays and ballets). Before the Opera everyone would gather together and mingle, and perhaps they did so afterwards as well. In this room they were setting up for an event, and there is also a performance tonight. Perhaps not much has changed in the Paris opera experience.

There was a library in the Opera as well. Here there was an artist sketching. This city is still very art oriented. I've seen painters and sketchers everywhere. I'm sure if the weather was nicer I'd see plenty more outside of the building as well.

Then we went to the basement where some costumes are kept and the old performances are played

After this Erin and I went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was excellent. I don't think I'm much of a fan of French food. I think it is because 10 euros just doesn't buy you much in way of good French food around here. You can get a dry sandwich and a drink for that price. The Lebanese place and the Chinese place were comparably priced with far more satisfying tastes. We even got desert tonight, this fabulous morsel called the mystery. The name was a mystery to us because the ingredients were clearly listed. It was an almond ice cream covered in toffee like candy. Just pure decadence. Towards the bottom the name made sense when we struck a little ball of pure powdered sugar (as if it isn't sweet enough, we mused) that ball was our mystery. I'd like to get it again to see what my mystery will be next time. Maybe some chocolate?

Orsay Museaum and Montmartre

2008-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

We had some issues waking up again today. We set an alarm on the phone and I-pod, both of which went dead during the night, and left the drapes open in the hopes that the light of day would wake us. They don't do daylights savings time here, so when our wonderful classmates remembered to knock on our door at 7:45 it was still dark out. But at least we were up in time for breakfast!

We left around 9 for the Orsay Museum. The Orsay is across the Seine from the Louvre and houses mostly impressionist art. The building itself is almost as beautiful as some of the Monets and Van Gough it houses. The structure is a converted train station, with a beautiful stone facade and splendid steal and plaster arched celings inside. What the building is most known for is its large clocks. Two glass ones on the outside offer splendid views of the city, and the gold one inside is just stunning.

The museum changed its hours on us, opening at 10 instead of 9. With the 45 minutes we had to kill we went to the Solferino bridge right next to the museum and got some stunning photos of the seine at sunrise. So as a review: con of no day lights savings is that it is dark at 8am, pro, you don't have to wake up early for sunrise shots.

a little fun with post process

After we got the photos we went into the building. Wow was it a treat for the eyes!

The building is a cylinder shape. It is difficult to see from the ground but the detail of the ceiling is stunning.

The clock above you in the entrance is amazing

The museum is multiple levels. Within the hollowed out shell of the main hall there are two levels: the first floor and the second level dedicated primarily to sculpture. We saw a lot of great paintings on the first floor, inclining works by Camille Corot who was a fabulous, but unknown to us, painter

After the first floor we worked our way up to the second floor, where the semi-circular cut outs on the walls of the main hall are. These are more rooms with more amazing ceilings.

BACAAAAWWW!

Within the glass walls on either side of the halls are stairs and elevators to take you up to more rooms outside of the main hall. These hold so many gems; it is worth going to every level. Our favorites were at the top. If you want a quick and breezy tour of this museum enjoy the main hall then head straight to the top, that’s where they keep the good stuff.

Monet

Van Gough

Renoir

And a new favorite of mine, Fantin-Latour

I unfortunately didn't take note of the artist of this amazing piece of work

The top floor also gives you a spectacular view from the other two clocks. One is located on the far side and is in a book store. You are supposed to have access to it and be able to look out over the city through the clock face. Unfortunately, it was closed off for us. :(

The other clock is on the other end of the museum and is in the middle of a restaurant, which actually has reasonably priced food, cheaper than what is outside of the restaurant. We chose to try and find something cheaper and ended up going back towards our hotel for food. If you are hungry, go ahead and eat here. I don't know how the food is, but the view is worth it.

Here is another view from one of the glass doors to the terraces, these are open in summer, so not open for me.

There are also little exhibits within the walls between the escalators up. These ones have frosted glass floors which we learned are slightly see-through

The Orsay was a wonderful juxtaposition to the Louvre. If you want to see both, I’d go to the Orsay in the morning, watch the sunrise from the Seine, and take your time inside the museum. Get lunch there then walk across the Seine to the Louvre. Enjoy the Louvre all afternoon and make sure you leave after it is dark. Leave through the pyramid and enjoy the view of the lights. It’s worth lugging a tripod around all day for the photos in front of the Louvre.

After the Orsay we took a breather at the hotel and then headed up to Montmartre. Montmartre is the main hill in the city. After the loss of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 a cathedral, Sacré Cœur was built on Montmartre using public funds as a way to add moral to the demoralized country.

Getting to Montmartre is easy if you take the time to do it right. We took the 12 line and got off at Abbesses and walked a bit to Montmartre. The easier way to do it is to take the 2 to Anvers, which is right at the foot of the hill. If you don't feel like walking up the 200 steps to the top of Montmartre there is another subway that will take you up the rest of the way.

Because we didn't get off in front of Montmartre we took a more back way up.

There is TONS of graffiti in Paris. It lines every square inch of the subway, and this poor building was not immune

The journey we've had

We didn't know about this subway until after we were at the top. Whoops

There she stands

The inside of the church is just stunning. Unfortunately no photos are allowed. I snuck this one but was punished with a blurry photo. Because it was the only one I took I'm showing you anyways

Aside from the Cathedral Montmartre is a very cute and interesting part of Paris. It is older and immune to the improvements done by Haussmann in the 1850s. The streets are narrow and curved, and the buildings are quite old. The place also offers a spectacular view of the city, however, it was quite cloudy while we were there so our view was unimpressive. I did want to wait for dark to get a better view, but that was a few hours away and we were cold. Also, although we probably would have been fine, Montmartre is not exactly in the safest part of the city. It is very close to the red light district, and because it is free to see and attracts tourists there are a lot of shady individuals there waiting to take advantage of you.

And we were taking advantage of. There were some smiling men at the bottom of one set of stairs. Being a seasoned traveler I knew the drill. Eyes down, bag close, walk fast, say no. Unfortunately, the girl I'm traveling with is a little sweeter than that. She made the mistake of smiling back. Next thing she knew some string was looped around her finger and he was weaving her a bracelet. Oh if you don't want it you can just give it back. Yeah right. Once done, they wanted 10 euro for their work. LOL! But for us, 5 euros. That whole you can give it back thing doesn't work once it is on your wrist. We got out of there for the cost of 2 euro. Erin was very apologetic for stopping. We got a crepe with nutella in it to make ourselves feel better about being ripped off over the bracelets. The crepe stand right in front of Montmartre isn’t too ridiculously overpriced, and it’ll give you a warm treat to enjoy while you walk back to the subway.

Montmartre is only two exits away from Moulin Rouge. I suggest you take the time while you are on this side of Paris to see this historic piece of the underbelly of the city. This red light district is actually fairly high class. Just don’t make the mistake of going inside of one of the buildings. These tourist traps are literally traps, you will be forced to buy something before you leave. Or so I’m told. After our encounter with the shady gentlemen at Montmartre we didn’t feel like dealing with any more of this part of the city, so we went back to our hotel. Perhaps we’ll peak out at the Moulin Rouge another time for a quite photo op.

Tonight for dinner we went to a Lebanese place near the hotel. It was the best food I’ve had since I have been here. The French food is good, but believe it or not, you get tired of bread.

Day 2: The Louvre, Les Tuileries, L’Orangerie and L'Arc de Triomphe

2008-01-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

Today started out poorly. For some reason our alarm either A. did not go over or B. did not wake us up. We were awaken by a pounding on the door at 8:50.... 10 minutes before we had to leave for the day. I guess the good news was that I didn't have jet lag! We got ready very quickly and ran down stairs. Breakfast is provided by the hotel, I had a little piece of coffee cake, which was very good, but nothing else. Still chewing we embarked for the Louvre.

It may not be well known that the Louvre used to be a castle, it was built in the 12th century by Philip Augustus who built it as a fortified castle part of a massive wall that surrounded the city. It still housed royalty up until Louis the 14th built Versailles. Now, it holds some of the world's most well known art. Surprisingly, perhaps, the most well known pieces are among the most uninspiring.

When you enter the Louvre from the Palais Royal/Musee du Louvre metro stop you are granted first with an inverted pyramid.

When you continue you are then greeted by the inside of the glass pyramid that stands in front of the Louvre

We had a list of things that we supposed to see on our trip for our class, we set to this art scavanger hunt at once.

One of the things on our list was the part of Philip Augustus's wall.

Then we had a little brush with Egyptian artifacts but did not stay for the whole exibit

We were off to see the Venus de Milo

Found her! I must say, she was not very inspiring in person, fairly plain. When compared to some of the other sculptures it just wasn't up to par. For example, this one had another stone carved on top of it to mimic clothing

The celings in the Louvre are art in themselves

There were a number of painters and sketchers working in the Louvre while we were there

We found David's Coronation of Napoleon. This painting was HUGE. The people in the painting were more or less full sized

In comparison to David's Napoleon the Mona Lisa was very lack luster. First we completely missed her and had to backtrack to the room she was in. Once there it was very crowded. Two plates of glass, two guards, and a very wide barrier of rope kept you from getting close to the painting. Even if you could get close enough to examine the piece in detail, I don't think it would elate the painting much. It would still be small and dark. I see the genius, but I don't quite understand the hype.

After the Louvre we headed out to the Tuileries. They were very disappointing. Cut down the center of them was a very wide decomposed granite walkway. On either side were shrubs and trees. Not exactly inspiring.

There was some art here
This statue is the same as one at the Getty, which must either be part of the collection or a replica. Because I was being rushed by my group (the con to group travel) I didn't get a very good shot

The one from the Getty for comparison:

This statue sums up my feelings on the Tuileries

After the gardens we went to the L'Orangerie. This is a small impressionist museum right in front of the museum. I would not go out of your way to see it, however, the display of some of Monet's pastels were stunning

This is actually a Picasso

My favorite

A few of us decided after this that we would walk down the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe. From the Louvre (especially after spending all morning getting lost in the museaum) this walk is quite long. I suggest you take the metro there. If you want to walk down the Champs Elysee to the tower, than take the metro two stops to the Champs Elysee exit and walk from there. You'll get the best that way without the added walking.

A little grop of Le Cars going around the Arc

The tunnel to the Arc

You have to pay to go up to the top of the tower. We had the Museum pass (well worth while if you want to see all of the museums for the very fact that you don't have to stand in line to buy tickets, let alone from the money saved if you use it enough) so we didn't have to pay. The stairs up are being repaired so we got to take the elevator almost the full way up. Word to the easily winded: once repaired you'll have to walk a spiraling 212 steps to the top! If you have vertigo or claustaphobia issues than this is not the treck for you. In my opinion, it would be worth the walk for the view.

The modern part of Paris

Montmartre (near our hotel)

And of course...

The stairs do work on the way down. We passed this sign, and got a good laugh

it says a lot about the French work ethic, or should I say lack there of?

After the Arc we returned to the room for rest and dinner. We ventured out again to the Louvre at night for another go when it wasn't as crowded and we didn't have an itinerary. The Louvre stays open until 9:45 on Wednesday and Friday. Get there before 8:45 and prepare to be shuffled out of there at 9:30 it is well worth the second trip.

We saw some old artifacts from Iran this time through

From Darius I's castle

Also from Darius

Poppular pose at the Louvre

After the Asia/Iran exhibit we headed towards the French sculptures

Us looking at a sculpture as the sculpture look at a painting

Aren't we glad we didn't get Laddy Liberty instead of Lady Liberty?

The metro station under the Louvre closes before the Louvre does if you go one of the late nights. Go towards the metro but follow the stares up to the Rue du Rivoli. Once you reach the street go to the right. You should cross in front of these arches with roads going in front of the Louvre. Keep going and you’ll see the metro exit on your right side. If you don’t have a pass and need to buy a ticket, cross the street in front of the Palais Royal (big lit up building, can’t miss it) and enter the metro there. Be warned, the ticket counter might also be closed.

Bonjour!

2008-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello from Paris! I will be staying in the city of lights (and rain) for the next 8 full days for a Historical Paris class. Because this is a class trip, I will be following an itinerary in the morning, but the afternoons will be free for me to chose what I want to do.

We left LAX Monday at 6:30pm and started the long voyage to Paris. Flying out of LA at night is very pretty. Unfortunately, we flew over the whole US at night, so we could not enjoy the view of any other areas.

After getting some sleep on the plane, I was waken up at 3:30am Pacific time for breakfast. We were about two hours from landing and it was time to start trying to adjust to the time. It was raining in France as we came in, but through the clouds we did get a nice view of the countryside outside of Paris

Charles Du Gaulle airport is HUGE the most amazing thing about it to me was that the runways went over roads.

After a firghtful drive into the city we were at our hotel. It is an older building that has recently been upgraded. I think it is just adorable.

Our room has some not very US friendly art

Our view:

After settling in we took a walk in the area around our hotel. Our hotel is in the 9th district, near the Opera House

We went into this bakery and got a snack

A motorcycle (for your blog dad):

The music school connected to the Opera house

In the 1850s Napoleon III decided to improve the city. Prior to his reign the city was a squalid establishment, with tight sewage filled streets, decaying buildings, and a polluted river. It was very easy for riots to break out in the city. Angry Parisians would often dig up the cobblestone streets and erect barricades with them, blocking off whole parts of the city.

Napoleon decided to end all of this. He enlisted the genius of Haussmann to make the city livable. The large boulevards were carved out, the older buildings demolished in favor of the beautiful 6 story stone buildings, and the center of the city was moved from Notre Dame to the Opera Garnier. The city was fresh, clean, and easier to travel. It had more beauty, less disease, and unknown to its inhabitants, the wide boulevards would help ensure that riots would never again grip the city. Too wide to barricade, but wide enough for soldiers and cannons, it was a way to help ensure peace in the city.

This is the music school attached to the Opera house Haussmann built:

Muliplexe

Cold students

Windy weather

We found refuge in this church

Not exactly the best of weather

The church was nice, it was warm as well. I always feel wierd being a tourist in a place of worship. Here are people praying while I am taking photos

A Japanese style nativity in the middle of Paris

It was too rainy when we left the church, so we hopped on the subway and returned to the hotel