Gai Paris
I arrived in Paris to a glorious autumn day, the sky was a deep blue and on the mount of Sacre Coeur (church) I had a clear view of the city of Paris. This was a stunning introduction to this very romantic city. What can you say about Paris that hasn't already been said? The best way to visit the city, I think, is to become a real tourist which is exactly what I did. I did everything you could possibly do within 4 days. I saw so much art that I now understand why art is so important.
My hostel was at the bottom of the hill of Montmarte, for those of you who have seen the film Amelie, this is where it was filmed. Montmarte is the place where alot of artists, writers and poets lived over the course of 2 centuries, so apart from it being very touristy, there is a real feel of bohemia here. I spent hours wandering the cobblestone streets admiring apartment blocks and steep hills. I did go to see the Moulin Rouge, which still exists for tourists, but it is in a horrible area of Montmarte and has lost the romance of its glory days. I did look for the cafe in Amelie and I think I found it, however there are alot of similar cafes so anyone of them could have been the one. I am sure if I looked hard enough there would have been an Amelie walking tour of sites, but I wasn't really interested.
The list of art I saw in Paris is pretty much the whos who of art in the worlds history. The Louvre, with its famous, but disappointing Mona Lisa, is a stunning building but didn't hold much interest to me. I thought I should go and see this famous painting but it was small and behind glass so you get not only the glare of the lights, but have to wade through the throng of tourists standing in front of the painting. Strangly one thing I have noticed all over my European and Russian sojurn has been the curious thing of having your photo taken in front of a famous painting. Very odd.
I won't bore you with all the art galleries we went to except the ones which really blew my mind. Namely the Musee d'Orsey, the Pompidou Centre and the Rodin Museum. The Musee d'Orsey had the most amazing collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings I have ever seen, from Monet to Van Gough, Picasso and Matisse to Pissarro. I was stunned to say the least. They even housed some original Toulse-Latrec's which were outstanding. The Museum is housed in a renovated railway shed and the view over the city from the roof is beautiful.
The Pompidou Centre is an interesting building and its collection is very impressive. It traces the history of modern art and gives you a good impression of the development of different ideas of art. I loved the Kandinsky's, Picasso's and finally got to see a Jackson Pollack. That was very exciting. Whilst alot of the intallation modern art was totally incomprehensible ('I know what I like and I know what I don't like!') it was good to see a museum taking modern art seriously for a change. Its a stange place with the underground car park even turned into some kind of installation art piece. Also alot of the space is designated as a public library, which I thought was very good.
The Rodin museum is incredible. Rodin was a prolific sculpture and his most famous sculpture, The Thinker stands in the garden, across from the Gates of Hell, which just blows your mind. I felt a bit disturbed by some of his pieces but overall just amazed at the facial expressions he managed to carve out of stone. The garden is littered with his sculptures as well, its like everywhere you turn there is another amazing piece. Rodin is everywhere in Paris, even in the Louvre there are some of his pieces, so I feel that he had real influence over the city somehow.
I did all the other touristy things, climbed up the Arc d'Triumph and watched as the cars tried to negotiate the Champs d'Eylesse and the other roads which lead up to the Arc. I saw the Eifel Tower during the day and at night. It was more impressive at night and I choose not to go up to the top, one look at the lift and I knew my legs would go to jelly the minute I stepped into it. I saw Notre Dame Cathedral which is more impressive than any of its pictures/paintings/photographs. I had some Sobet to die for and alot of very nice bread and pastries.
Perhaps the highlight of my Paris trip however was the Paris Garnier Opera, which I was somehow lucky enough to scam a very cheap ticket for its performance of Guilious Ceaser. The Opera House's roof was painted by Marc Chagall and its one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in. The performance itself was interesting, the lead character, Julius Ceaser, was sung by a woman from the orchestra pit, whilst a man was acting the part on stage. It threw me for a while whilst I tried to work out where the voice was coming from, but in the end it worked. I was happy because there was a very good death scene (whats a good opera without a good death scene?) and fabulous sets including some giant mummy sarcaphcous'. Interestingly I think they were trying to make a statement about the possible war with Iraq because at the end when Ceaser had beaten the Egyptians in a battle, he erected all these all wells in the background of the stage. I think it was some comment that war over oil is not right. I don't know but it was a little bit too obvious to be anything else.
Now I am back in London trying to sort out stuff for Canada and visiting some old friends. Its strange to be in London because I've done all the touristy things and I don't feel like resident anymore. Still its a great city and its been great to catch up with some people I haven't seen for a very long time. I have downloaded all of my photos, arranged them into folders but its just a matter of uploading them onto the web now, which will be done asap.
I arrived in Paris to a glorious autumn day, the sky was a deep blue and on the mount of Sacre Coeur (church) I had a clear view of the city of Paris. This was a stunning introduction to this very romantic city. What can you say about Paris that hasn't already been said? The best way to visit the city, I think, is to become a real tourist which is exactly what I did. I did everything you could possibly do within 4 days. I saw so much art that I now understand why art is so important.
My hostel was at the bottom of the hill of Montmarte, for those of you who have seen the film Amelie, this is where it was filmed. Montmarte is the place where alot of artists, writers and poets lived over the course of 2 centuries, so apart from it being very touristy, there is a real feel of bohemia here. I spent hours wandering the cobblestone streets admiring apartment blocks and steep hills. I did go to see the Moulin Rouge, which still exists for tourists, but it is in a horrible area of Montmarte and has lost the romance of its glory days. I did look for the cafe in Amelie and I think I found it, however there are alot of similar cafes so anyone of them could have been the one. I am sure if I looked hard enough there would have been an Amelie walking tour of sites, but I wasn't really interested.
The list of art I saw in Paris is pretty much the whos who of art in the worlds history. The Louvre, with its famous, but disappointing Mona Lisa, is a stunning building but didn't hold much interest to me. I thought I should go and see this famous painting but it was small and behind glass so you get not only the glare of the lights, but have to wade through the throng of tourists standing in front of the painting. Strangly one thing I have noticed all over my European and Russian sojurn has been the curious thing of having your photo taken in front of a famous painting. Very odd.
I won't bore you with all the art galleries we went to except the ones which really blew my mind. Namely the Musee d'Orsey, the Pompidou Centre and the Rodin Museum. The Musee d'Orsey had the most amazing collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings I have ever seen, from Monet to Van Gough, Picasso and Matisse to Pissarro. I was stunned to say the least. They even housed some original Toulse-Latrec's which were outstanding. The Museum is housed in a renovated railway shed and the view over the city from the roof is beautiful.
The Pompidou Centre is an interesting building and its collection is very impressive. It traces the history of modern art and gives you a good impression of the development of different ideas of art. I loved the Kandinsky's, Picasso's and finally got to see a Jackson Pollack. That was very exciting. Whilst alot of the intallation modern art was totally incomprehensible ('I know what I like and I know what I don't like!') it was good to see a museum taking modern art seriously for a change. Its a stange place with the underground car park even turned into some kind of installation art piece. Also alot of the space is designated as a public library, which I thought was very good.
The Rodin museum is incredible. Rodin was a prolific sculpture and his most famous sculpture, The Thinker stands in the garden, across from the Gates of Hell, which just blows your mind. I felt a bit disturbed by some of his pieces but overall just amazed at the facial expressions he managed to carve out of stone. The garden is littered with his sculptures as well, its like everywhere you turn there is another amazing piece. Rodin is everywhere in Paris, even in the Louvre there are some of his pieces, so I feel that he had real influence over the city somehow.
I did all the other touristy things, climbed up the Arc d'Triumph and watched as the cars tried to negotiate the Champs d'Eylesse and the other roads which lead up to the Arc. I saw the Eifel Tower during the day and at night. It was more impressive at night and I choose not to go up to the top, one look at the lift and I knew my legs would go to jelly the minute I stepped into it. I saw Notre Dame Cathedral which is more impressive than any of its pictures/paintings/photographs. I had some Sobet to die for and alot of very nice bread and pastries.
Perhaps the highlight of my Paris trip however was the Paris Garnier Opera, which I was somehow lucky enough to scam a very cheap ticket for its performance of Guilious Ceaser. The Opera House's roof was painted by Marc Chagall and its one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in. The performance itself was interesting, the lead character, Julius Ceaser, was sung by a woman from the orchestra pit, whilst a man was acting the part on stage. It threw me for a while whilst I tried to work out where the voice was coming from, but in the end it worked. I was happy because there was a very good death scene (whats a good opera without a good death scene?) and fabulous sets including some giant mummy sarcaphcous'. Interestingly I think they were trying to make a statement about the possible war with Iraq because at the end when Ceaser had beaten the Egyptians in a battle, he erected all these all wells in the background of the stage. I think it was some comment that war over oil is not right. I don't know but it was a little bit too obvious to be anything else.
Now I am back in London trying to sort out stuff for Canada and visiting some old friends. Its strange to be in London because I've done all the touristy things and I don't feel like resident anymore. Still its a great city and its been great to catch up with some people I haven't seen for a very long time. I have downloaded all of my photos, arranged them into folders but its just a matter of uploading them onto the web now, which will be done asap.
posted by Paula at
6:20 AM
