An American Girl In Paris... with Mr. Big and the girls
If there’s a place in the world besides Rome with enough art and architecture to give me my fix, it’s Paris. Deirdre, Brian, Theresa, and I spent four beautiful sunny days there at the beginning of last week after finally turning in our projects, eager to start a three-week European vacation before thinking about schoolwork again.
Our trip started bright (actually still dark) and early on Saturday morning, February 9. We flew into a tiny airport outside of Paris where some American girls couldn’t figure out that there were light switches in the bathroom, and advertising to the world about how they hoped that they didn’t miss the toilet…(sorry for the sidetracking, but that was hilarious). We got into the city and after lunch of chocolate crepes with a strange French waiter who had to make sure the napkins were perfectly positioned, we checked into our hotel. Deirdre, Theresa, and I set out to explore while Brian took a nap to catch up on sleep. After walking around the entire perimeter, we finally found the entrance to Montmartre cemetery, where we found Edgar Degas’ tomb and sufficiently creeped ourselves out before moving on to less grave matters, such as the famous Moulin Rouge theater and a street that reminded me strongly of Amsterdam. We actually ran into some Pangborn girls nearby, before heading up to Montmartre to see the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur, which was quite different than the one at Notre Dame that shares its name, but very impressive nonetheless. The entire neighborhood was very lively with families, shoppers, and street performers everywhere on a beautiful afternoon. Then we walked down towards the center of Paris, seeing a few churches along the way, and the train station and famous Opera House, home of your friendly neighborhood phantom. Before passing the point of no return (haha, please bear with my references… Paris is a popular setting…), we went back to the hotel, collected Brian, and went out to eat a delicious dinner (French onion soup, beef bourguignon, and mousse chocolat), where we were seated next to some interesting characters that we had, erm, witnessed taking pictures earlier in the day.
On Sunday, we woke up early and walked to the Cathedral, Notre Dame, where we went to mass. I didn’t spot Quasimodo, but after mass, we explored the inside of the church, which was sweet, but actually smaller than I imagined it would be. Then we headed a few blocks over on the island to see San Chappelle, which was the royal chapel for the Kings since medieval times. The walls of this church were not so much stone as entirely stained glass, and the ceiling seemed to float on a sea of color (which was a big contrast to the rest of Paris, which Brian described as being the color of boiled chicken). It was pretty amazing. After a lunch of croque monsieurs and baguettes (Marie, the baguettes, hurry up!), we studied the buttresses of Notre Dame like the architecture dorks that we are, then headed across the river, and saw the church of St. Etienne, which was also a beautiful Gothic interior. Nearby to that is the French version of the Pantheon, which has got nothing on the Roman version, in my opinion… From there, we walked to the Luxembourg gardens, where the old palace is now home to the French Senate. The gardens were completely full of people, from older people chatting on benches to toddlers (one who spent five minutes just standing staring at us while his parents tried to drag him away). After a break there, we went to see San Sulpice, famous in America for being in The Da Vinci Code, St. Germain, the oldest church in Paris, and the Beaux Arts School, where we kindly thanked them for the brilliant ideas of architectural esquisses and reviews that make our lives so interesting. From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, just in time to see the sun set and the lights go on. The Tower was much bigger than I imagined it to be, and actually, for being a big pile of iron and steel, it was elegant and impressive. Next we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, or Triumphal Arch, which was much much bigger than any of it’s Roman predecessors, and floating in the middle of a huge roundabout. We ate cous cous for dinner before crashing after a day of walking over 10 miles.
Monday, we did the Louvre. Dividing and conquering, I saw most of this gigantic art museum, and tried to absorb as much as possible. Highlights were Hammurabi’s code, which is the first written law, Renaissance and Baroque paintings from the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Carravaggio, rooms full of Rembrandt, huge courtyards full of French sculpture, and ancient art from the famous Winged Victory sculpture to mummified 3000 year old crocodiles. The collection was overwhelming and exhausting, but in a Thanksgiving dinner kind of way. It was awesome. Afterwards, we had a croissant and hot chocolate before exploring the area a bit more- we went to the National Library, the beautiful church of St. Eustache, and the disgusting hamster cage on the face of Paris that is the Pompadou Center, the new modern art museum. Gross. Then we headed back over to Notre Dame with the intention of climbing the towers, but found out that they closed at 4:30 instead of 5:30, as we had thought. Instead, we went to the Tuileries Gardens in front of the Louvre and walked to the Musee d’ Orangerie, where Monet’s famous paintings (displayed in oval rooms) are the main attraction, but the collection of Picassos and Monets on the lower level weren’t so bad, either. After this, we went to dinner and early to bed, as Theresa and Deirdre weren’t feeling great.
On Tuesday, Brian and I went to Versailles in the morning, while Theresa and Deirdre met one of our professor’s Parisian architect friends at his office. Versailles, the monstrous châteaux (castle) that Louis XIV built, was more instructive than any history class about why the French Revolution occurred. It is so extravagant that Louis burned his accounts so that no one would no how much it actually cost him/the people of France. The grounds were more like fields and lakes than gardens and ponds. Despite the disgusting size and extravagance, it was beautiful and very interesting, to say the least. After a long walk across the grounds to get back to the train station, we headed back to the center of Paris, where we met Theresa and Deirdre at the Musee d’Orsay. I don’t even know where to start with this one. First of all, bigger definitely does not mean better. The Musee d’Orsay was much smaller than the Louvre, but hands down, better. The building itself was easy to navigate- the collection is organized on three levels surrounding a well-lit courtyard (old railway station) of sculptures. Following Kat’s advice, I went to the top floor first, and was not disappointed. In fact, I nearly drooled, peed my pants, cried, passed out… it was amazing. It was without question my favorite sequence of rooms in any museum. A welcome change from Renaissance, Baroque, and ancient art, there were rooms and rooms of Monets, Manets, Renoirs, Van Goghs, Cezannes, Degas…living in Italy, I had almost forgotten how much I love impressionism and post-impressionist art. It was wonderful. If you would have put the 8 year old Tereza in that museum, she would have probably passed out. Let’s leave it at that. Unfortunately, we had to rush out in order to make it back to Notre Dame by 4:30 to climb the towers, which conveniently closed at 3:30 that day. Sounds like Italy to me… instead, we shopped for souvenirs and “ski googles” aka trashy rhinestone sunglasses. We had a pretty good dinner in the Marais neighborhood and finally met a French person who met the grumpy stereotype, before turning in to get ready for a day of traveling to the next destination: Austria.
For photos of walking around Paris, including churches and the Eiffel Tower:
http://nd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135218&l=e9ea3&id=5612188
For photos of the Louvre, Versailles, Orangeries, and Orsay:
http://nd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135222&l=27583&id=5612188
Our trip started bright (actually still dark) and early on Saturday morning, February 9. We flew into a tiny airport outside of Paris where some American girls couldn’t figure out that there were light switches in the bathroom, and advertising to the world about how they hoped that they didn’t miss the toilet…(sorry for the sidetracking, but that was hilarious). We got into the city and after lunch of chocolate crepes with a strange French waiter who had to make sure the napkins were perfectly positioned, we checked into our hotel. Deirdre, Theresa, and I set out to explore while Brian took a nap to catch up on sleep. After walking around the entire perimeter, we finally found the entrance to Montmartre cemetery, where we found Edgar Degas’ tomb and sufficiently creeped ourselves out before moving on to less grave matters, such as the famous Moulin Rouge theater and a street that reminded me strongly of Amsterdam. We actually ran into some Pangborn girls nearby, before heading up to Montmartre to see the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur, which was quite different than the one at Notre Dame that shares its name, but very impressive nonetheless. The entire neighborhood was very lively with families, shoppers, and street performers everywhere on a beautiful afternoon. Then we walked down towards the center of Paris, seeing a few churches along the way, and the train station and famous Opera House, home of your friendly neighborhood phantom. Before passing the point of no return (haha, please bear with my references… Paris is a popular setting…), we went back to the hotel, collected Brian, and went out to eat a delicious dinner (French onion soup, beef bourguignon, and mousse chocolat), where we were seated next to some interesting characters that we had, erm, witnessed taking pictures earlier in the day.
On Sunday, we woke up early and walked to the Cathedral, Notre Dame, where we went to mass. I didn’t spot Quasimodo, but after mass, we explored the inside of the church, which was sweet, but actually smaller than I imagined it would be. Then we headed a few blocks over on the island to see San Chappelle, which was the royal chapel for the Kings since medieval times. The walls of this church were not so much stone as entirely stained glass, and the ceiling seemed to float on a sea of color (which was a big contrast to the rest of Paris, which Brian described as being the color of boiled chicken). It was pretty amazing. After a lunch of croque monsieurs and baguettes (Marie, the baguettes, hurry up!), we studied the buttresses of Notre Dame like the architecture dorks that we are, then headed across the river, and saw the church of St. Etienne, which was also a beautiful Gothic interior. Nearby to that is the French version of the Pantheon, which has got nothing on the Roman version, in my opinion… From there, we walked to the Luxembourg gardens, where the old palace is now home to the French Senate. The gardens were completely full of people, from older people chatting on benches to toddlers (one who spent five minutes just standing staring at us while his parents tried to drag him away). After a break there, we went to see San Sulpice, famous in America for being in The Da Vinci Code, St. Germain, the oldest church in Paris, and the Beaux Arts School, where we kindly thanked them for the brilliant ideas of architectural esquisses and reviews that make our lives so interesting. From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, just in time to see the sun set and the lights go on. The Tower was much bigger than I imagined it to be, and actually, for being a big pile of iron and steel, it was elegant and impressive. Next we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, or Triumphal Arch, which was much much bigger than any of it’s Roman predecessors, and floating in the middle of a huge roundabout. We ate cous cous for dinner before crashing after a day of walking over 10 miles.
Monday, we did the Louvre. Dividing and conquering, I saw most of this gigantic art museum, and tried to absorb as much as possible. Highlights were Hammurabi’s code, which is the first written law, Renaissance and Baroque paintings from the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Carravaggio, rooms full of Rembrandt, huge courtyards full of French sculpture, and ancient art from the famous Winged Victory sculpture to mummified 3000 year old crocodiles. The collection was overwhelming and exhausting, but in a Thanksgiving dinner kind of way. It was awesome. Afterwards, we had a croissant and hot chocolate before exploring the area a bit more- we went to the National Library, the beautiful church of St. Eustache, and the disgusting hamster cage on the face of Paris that is the Pompadou Center, the new modern art museum. Gross. Then we headed back over to Notre Dame with the intention of climbing the towers, but found out that they closed at 4:30 instead of 5:30, as we had thought. Instead, we went to the Tuileries Gardens in front of the Louvre and walked to the Musee d’ Orangerie, where Monet’s famous paintings (displayed in oval rooms) are the main attraction, but the collection of Picassos and Monets on the lower level weren’t so bad, either. After this, we went to dinner and early to bed, as Theresa and Deirdre weren’t feeling great.
On Tuesday, Brian and I went to Versailles in the morning, while Theresa and Deirdre met one of our professor’s Parisian architect friends at his office. Versailles, the monstrous châteaux (castle) that Louis XIV built, was more instructive than any history class about why the French Revolution occurred. It is so extravagant that Louis burned his accounts so that no one would no how much it actually cost him/the people of France. The grounds were more like fields and lakes than gardens and ponds. Despite the disgusting size and extravagance, it was beautiful and very interesting, to say the least. After a long walk across the grounds to get back to the train station, we headed back to the center of Paris, where we met Theresa and Deirdre at the Musee d’Orsay. I don’t even know where to start with this one. First of all, bigger definitely does not mean better. The Musee d’Orsay was much smaller than the Louvre, but hands down, better. The building itself was easy to navigate- the collection is organized on three levels surrounding a well-lit courtyard (old railway station) of sculptures. Following Kat’s advice, I went to the top floor first, and was not disappointed. In fact, I nearly drooled, peed my pants, cried, passed out… it was amazing. It was without question my favorite sequence of rooms in any museum. A welcome change from Renaissance, Baroque, and ancient art, there were rooms and rooms of Monets, Manets, Renoirs, Van Goghs, Cezannes, Degas…living in Italy, I had almost forgotten how much I love impressionism and post-impressionist art. It was wonderful. If you would have put the 8 year old Tereza in that museum, she would have probably passed out. Let’s leave it at that. Unfortunately, we had to rush out in order to make it back to Notre Dame by 4:30 to climb the towers, which conveniently closed at 3:30 that day. Sounds like Italy to me… instead, we shopped for souvenirs and “ski googles” aka trashy rhinestone sunglasses. We had a pretty good dinner in the Marais neighborhood and finally met a French person who met the grumpy stereotype, before turning in to get ready for a day of traveling to the next destination: Austria.
For photos of walking around Paris, including churches and the Eiffel Tower:
http://nd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135218&l=e9ea3&id=5612188
For photos of the Louvre, Versailles, Orangeries, and Orsay:
http://nd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135222&l=27583&id=5612188