Digital Johnny, Real Johnny

My Paris Trip: Episode III: Museums, Churches and Monuments

Today is Sunday. I wanted to go shopping for some more work attire, but everything is closed. EVERYTHING. So, I'll spend my day blogging and doing laundry. Ain't Paris romantic?

The day after we went to the Louvre(Saturday, July 2), Joy woke up early and went to the "farmer's market" a couple metro stops away to get some provisions. Turns out it was an "Arab market" where local north africans sold goods, produce and meat... Joy scored us a "muslim chicken" and a lot of nice fresh veggies. When she finally got home, we headed to the fabulous Musée d'Orsay, located just across the river from the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre. See pictures 139-182.

The Orsay was designed for the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900 and was originally intended to be a major Paris railroad terminus, but as you can see, it must have quickly become too small for booming early 20th century Paris. It houses some of the most important and famous impressionist works, and has a wonderful collection of art nouveau and sculpture. While I really like Monet, Degas, Cézanne and Renoir, Van Gough and Gaugin are by far my favorite painters, so I was very excited to see them (again).

Van Gough - I wish the picture was better so you could see the strong brush strokes

Gaugin dug Polynesian women... and painting them is what finally made him famous

After that, we went to the world famous Notre-Dame cathedral, located on an island in the middle of the Seine called Ile de la Cité. See pictures 186-205. It's very big and very beautiful inside and outside, but I happen to think the view from the back is the most impressive.

Me at the Square Jean XXIII behind Notre-Dame; probably my second favorite place in Paris for beauty

My favorite metro station, Cité, is the only metro stop on the Ile de la Cité>.

After that, we headed back to our neighborhood to check out Sacré Coeur, the large white basilica that sits atop Montmartre and can be seen from most high places in the city. It's very pretty, but you're not allowed to take pictures inside (but I did anyway) and the outside is so crowded with people that it's not that nice a place to visit. Also, after a long day of walking around museums and other sites, the (beautiful) stairs can be quite a pain.

Sacre Coeur - I guess people were waiting for sunset but it was only 8:30pm and the sun doesn't set until almost 10pm

The beginning of my street; I live about 3 blocks down

That night we hung out with my neighbor/landlady's son, Vincent, and his friend Steve. Joy did an amazing job with the muslim chicken and I made zucchini (what else?). We also drank a lof of wine so Joy crashed out early, but I stayed up late chatting with the guys and drinking. It was fun, but I was NOT feeling too great the next day...

The next day, Sunday, July 3, Joy and I started our sightseeing day out at Sainte-Chapelle, located a few blocks from Notre Dame and next to the Palais du Justice on the Ile de la Cité. It was built in 1248 by Louis IX and is known for its upper chapel's 15 stained glass windows that are separated only by the narrowest of columns. These windows are a pictoral bible, illustrating in great detail and beautiful colors stories from the Old and New Testaments. The Rose window tells the story of the Apocalypse and the window at the top of the nave tells the story of Christ's Passion. This upper chapel was reserved for use by kings and the royal family, while the also beautiful yet considerably darker and less stunning lower chappel was open to the public.

Sainte-Chapelle

Next, via the Place du Châtelet (where I thought I was going to hurl because I still felt hungover), we headed to the Charles de Gaulee Etoile (a star-shaped intersection in the Champs-Élysées) which has at its center the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was built to commemerate Napoleon's 1805 victory in the Battle of Austerlitz but wasn't finished until 1836. It is 164 feet tall and sits at the center of twelve avenues. Because it's in the center of a major traffic circle, there is an underground passage that takes you to the Arc... but some people don't realize this and retardily attempt to cross the circle, barely avoiding death and/or causing a major accident. Since it's so old and it's legs are relatively narrow, you get to the top of the Arc by climbing a disorientinly long, steep and small winding staircase that can take the wind even out of a spry young lass like myself. However, the view from the top is worth the climb because you can see Montmartre, the Place de la Concorde at the end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées (with its large obelisk), the Grande Arche at La Défense (very close to where I work), and of course the Eiffel Tower.

Inside the Arc de Triomphe

After some shoe drama, we headed to the Palais de Chaillot to get to the Eiffel Tower. The Palais was built in 1937 and houses four museums. In front of the Palais are the Trocadéro Gardens, which cover 25 acres, but all we cared about was the large pool at its center. I thought it would be nice to feel the spray of its fountains because the day was so friggin' hot, but we found people laying all over the grass and swimming in the fountain (despite signs that say to keep off the grass and to not bathe in the fountain), so I put my feet in and Joy did some wading. The water's not the cleanest, but it sure felt good.

As much as I loved this location before, it's more special now that I've seen Aishwarya was here in "Jeans"

Then we went to the base of the Eiffel Tower, but didn't go up because it was incredibly hot and the only open lines were an hour long and directly in the sun. Joy went back on Tuesday, but I haven't been up yet this trip. Sorry for the multitude of pics, but I was trying to get a good sense of how big it really is and show the details of the structure.

After that, we headed to the 11th Arrondissment to visit the mother of Joy's friend Sebastian who runs a Turkish restaurant. Then we walked to the southern end of the Canal Saint Martin, where Amelie skips stones in the movie. It's a pretty area, but not as pretty as in the movie.

The next day, we visited the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter. After being deathly ill in 1744, Louis XV built the Pantheon to honor Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, which was finished in 1790. It's gone back and forth between a church and a secular public building commemorating and dedicated to the heroes and heroines of France and is now a civic building honoring the Sainte and housing the remains of such famous French people as Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie and Pierre Currie, Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and Victor Hugo.

Then it was time for me to go to the orientation for my internship program. I headed off to the the Marais, where the Paris Institute is located, and Joy went to the Pompidou Center to check out some modern art. Neither of us are great fans, so we didn't spend much time there once I got there after the orientation. The orientation was very short and geared more toward the people who are taking the law school classes than us interns, but I got to meet the other interns and arranged to have dinner with Anna, the only other Hastings student in the program at my apartment the next night.

We thought we'd try to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower before dark since it was a cooler day, but the top level was closed because it was already crowded, so we decided to take a boat cruise on the Seine instead. At firt I was resistant because it's kind of cheesy and it was cold, but it was fairly relaxing, gave us some good historical information and once it was dark we got to see the colorful lights on the quais, buildings and bridges installed in honor of Paris' olympic city candidacy (which they lost the next day). The highlight was that it forced us to stay out late enough to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and to see it sparkle for 10 minutes every hour or so.

Ain't it pretty?

Posted by Kristina at July 10, 2005 01:27 AM