Paris: Art, Art, & More Art

First of all, I have now lived in France for two months. That's just insane. Fastest two months of my life? Yes. Second of all, I have now been to Paris twice. Also insane. There are people who would love to go to Paris but will never get the chance to get there and I can say that I have been to that city two times. I feel beyond lucky. Maybe that's why I felt like I really had to soak up all that Paris had to offer me in such a short period of time. Needless to say I'm still recovering from all of the walking, stairs in the metro (because the Parisians apparently don't believe in escalators - no wonder they're all so damn skinny), ART, sites, and everything else I did in Paris.

We took the train to Paris from Toulouse which was lovely. The French countryside is beautiful and I have zero complaints about traveling first class. Thank you Dickinson (slash parents who pay Dickinson). After arriving and settling in, we set off to visit the Panthéon. Loads of famous French people are entombed here. It was quite fitting I'd say to see Victor Hugo's grave after seeing Les Mis in London, no? We got our first macarons from Ladurée, the best macarons in town/the world, then took a night time cruise along the Seine. I took the exact same cruise when I was in Paris with Abbey Road (shout out!) but I did it then during the day, so it was fun to see Paris all lit up at night. We had group dinner after that where I tried escargot for the first time. Surprisingly delicious. It reminded me of mussels.

Panthéon

Macarons from Ladurée

Tour Eiffel

The remainder

Thursday morning we got a tour of the Hôtel de Ville, where the mayor of Paris works. It's this gorgeous palace in the middle of Paris right along the Seine. I could've stayed there all day. After that I went to see the plaque dedicated to Rose Valland (a curator who was essential in finding all of the looted artwork taken by the nazis in WWII - if that is at all interesting to you, go read the Monuments Men), then I saw an incredible, albeit insanely suffocatingly crowded, Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera show at the Musée de l'Orangerie, and then went to the Rodin Museum. The museum comprises both a garden and a gorgeous château and is absolutely breathtaking. We had a group tour of the exhibition "Masculin/Masculin" at the Musée d'Orsay in the afternoon. The show examines how the male nude is represented in art and it was fascinating, though in my opinion, could have been vastly edited. Kathleen and I stayed in the museum for a couple of hours, seeing Manet's Olympia and Monet's Bal de Moulin de la Galette, to name a few. The latter was amazing for me to see (for a second time) because last semester I wrote five papers about it. We had a great dinner with Matt Rose that evening. Shout out to Uncle Geoff for having cool friends!

Hôtel de Ville

Rose Valland

The Thinker

Musée Rodin

Love me some Musée d'Orsay

Dinner with Matt!

Friday began at the Louvre. I have a love hate relationship with that wondrous place. It's so goddamn crowded all of the time so it's impossible to appreciate anything, and yet the collection is so amazing that it's imperative to visit it. Maybe one day I'll be a famous curator and I can walk through the museum when it's closed. That's the dream. After seeing everything from the Mona Lisa, to Ingres' Grande Odalisque, to the Islamic Art Wing (approximately three hours of exploring) we headed to the Trocadero to get an iconic view of the Eiffel Tower. Even in the rain (because Cardrizzle follows me wherever I go) it was beautiful. We walked all the way to the end of the Champ de Mars (the huge garden next to the Eiffel Tower) and then headed to Île de la Cité, one of the islands in the Seine. I tried to go up to the top of Notre Dame but even with our Paris Museum Pass (which got us in to almost every museum in Paris for free and let us cut lines) there was still a massive line, so I skipped that and instead went to Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie. A gothic chapel and the first royal palace of Paris that was later turned into a prison, respectively. Starbucks (I miss it so much already), dinner at a café, and a quick visit to the Arc de Triomphe filled the time until we saw a show at the Comédie Française. It was hilarious and I could actually understand what was going on. Progress!

Lovin the Louvre

Frenzy around Venus de Milo

From the Trocadero

Tour Eiffel et Champ de Mars

Sainte Chapelle

Arc de Triomphe

Our last full day in Paris started with a tour of the Centre Pompidou before it opened. It would've been great if our guide wasn't so lackluster but nonetheless it was incredible to see the building, and I gave myself a proper tour of the collection after our guide left anyway. The building was designed so that all of the internal structures (heating, water, air, etc.) are on the outside, leaving the inside completely free and open for gallery space. It's fascinating. The colors of the pipes correspond to their functions. I visited the famous cemetery Père Lachaise after that. I saw the graves of Edith Piaf, Delacroix, Jim Morrison, Caillebotte, Modigliani, and others. I'm not usually one for cemeteries but something about the crisp fall air and the silence of the cemetery made it an excellent couple of hours. Before meeting Sarah and Kathleen in Montmartre, I quickly visited the Jardin du Luxembourg, Galeries Lafayette (wanted to buy all the things), and the place that Renoir depicted in his painting Bal du Moulin de la Gallete. Really bringing last semester's work full circle. We made reservations at the fondue restaurant I ate at with Abbey Road last time I was in Paris and then explored the area a bit. Dinner was incredible. The restaurant has such a great vibe plus the food is delicious. I really only need bread, wine, and cheese to be happy. After a quick stop at Ladurée on the Champs Elysées for some farewell macarons, we said au revoir to Paris. (Technically we said it the next day as we left on the train but whatever, you get the point.)

Centre Pompidou

Centre Pompidou
 

View from the Centre

Edith Piaf 

Jardin du Luxembourg

Galeries Lafayette

Moulin de la Galette

Abbey Road '09!

Nom. And yes the wine is served in baby bottles. No idea why.

And in case any of you were keeping track, that's about 5.25 museums in 3 full days. I count the plaque to Rose Valland at .25 because it was at a museum, though I didn't visit that museum's collection.