La Paris!

Finally, after a long coach ride from Brussels and a little viewing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, we arrived at l'Hotel de Mercure just east of central Paris. Everyone was excited to be there finally! But, we were also quite tired... so I hung out for a bit, then crashed so I could be nice and fresh for my first full day in Paris!

The Musee d'Orsay used to be a train station and was converted into a 19th century gallery. The main hall is filled with many great statues and is a truly impressive building.

Bright and early on Wednesday morning, we got up and had a visit to the Musee d'Orsay. Luckily for me my Art History prof. made some sort of connections there so we could go in 1/2 an hour early and look at all the pieces with zero crowds! The Musee d'Orsay is home to art work from mostly the 19th and early 20th century. Thus, this is the primay Impresionist Gallery. It was amazing seeing all the Impresionist paintings that Daphne (our prof) had lectured us on. I can't imagine a better way to tour the d'Orsay than with Daphne and a small group of about 10 upper year students as part of a third year Impresionist course.

This is part of Van Gogh's starry night collection. While this may not be his most popular one, i still reall enjoy it. I'll spare my readers and my future self any redundant analysis. Take it how you like it.

But do look at it.

It is good.

There was a fantastic collection of Van Goghs at the d'Orsay. Once again, it was amazing to be in the room when we were there because it was literally deserted as we were in the so early. After about 1/2 an hour, the room filled up quite quickly with tourists eager to see this brilliant lunatic's art work. The above is a self-portrait of Van Gogh. I love the swirl brush stroke he uses as well as how the color of his jacket and tints of his face blend him into the background (swirls). Hmm.. what is he trying to say?

The above painting is by Cezanne and was extensively talked about in lecture. We discussed who was winning the game and various clues that point that out. Dave and I decided to have our own little game of cards.

Can you tell who is winning?

When we arrived at the d'Orsay in the morning it was somewhat of a snow storm and all cloudy, so I didnt really get a chance to see Paris. During our tour in the d'Orsay we had a chanc eto look out the clock window. The sky was clearing up and it looked like it wsa going to be a money day. My first view of Haussman's Paris.

Quick Tale about Haussman's Paris

Haussman was an architect from the 19th century who was hired to completely renovate and change central Paris . Thus, all the buildings are all uniform in sort of town house type style. These were Hausman's designs and were strictly enforced. He also rebuilt most of the bridges to accomodate more uniformity as well as ease of traffic by Seine vessels.

We were just on our way out of the d'Orsay when we stumbled on this glittering, glowing room. I don't really know what is was for, but it was quite excessive...much like many things in Paris. It was pretty nonetheless.

Here is a taste of some of the crowds in the Van Gogh room. So many tourists. Sheesh. But hey.. Im one of em.

After the d'Orsay Adam and I wandered around Paris. Above is the Seine with the Louvre on te left hand side. I was so excited to be there. I was giddy.

After finishing our tour of the d'Orsay Adam and I had a couple hours to kill so we began wandering aimlessly around Paris. The river Seine is much nicer than the Thames in London. The Thames is so jam packed with barges. Paris is similar to London in many ways, especially since it is built directly on a river (although Im finding most European cities are built that way). The biggest difference though is that there are very few modern buildings in central Paris. Everything is, as stated before, very uniform and Haussman like. Look, there is the Eiffel Tower, way far away.

An interesting advert we can across. Hmm.. seems a little different than Meet the Fockers.

JIF - French movie titles lose something in the translation

Yup, here it is. The classic Cheezy pic of me in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Notre Dame Straight!

Well, here it is, the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. If you've been reading my blog all along you may remember me saying all the cathedrals seem the same, well, I was wrong. This one is different. ITS HUGE!

Adam and I walked inside the cathedral and I suddenly got dizzy. The ceilings were unreal. It wsa so huge! I just cant imagine anyone ever building this! Especially at the time it wsa built at. We sat in awe inside the cathedral for a little while. It was essentially structured the same as every other cathedral I had been in, it was just way bigger! There were all kinds of tourists there as well. They were going on little guided tours of the place. It woul dhave bee nnice to go up in the tower and see the gargoyles and the view over Paris, but... it cost some Euros, so we went on our way toward the Louvre.

Lovin' the Louvre

Adam and I made our grand entrance into the Palais de Louvre directly in the front gate. One way we could see les jardins des tuilleries and l'arc de triomphe and the other way we could see the behemoth that was the Louvre. We met up with a group of about 80 students outside the pyramid and we had to line them all up like they were in kindergarden so we could count them and know how many tickets were required. I feel like my job description is really just a proffesional counter because all I really do on these trips is count heads and make sure everyone is on the coach at the correct time. We waited out in the cold for what seemed like a very long time but finally we entered into the big 'ol glass pyramid to explore the biggest museum in the world.

The Louvre is an enormous place and I, unfortunately didn't have the pleasure of having Daphne guide me around this time. Thus, the most logical place to start was at the Mona Lisa. It was pretty easy to find as there were signs pointing to it everywhere. As i walked down the grand corridor towards the Mona Lisa I imagined the description that had been created for me from The DaVinci Code. It was suprisingly similar to how I'd imagined it. The crowds were unbelievable in the Great Hall and i felt bad rushing past all these magnificent pieces of art just to see some little girl who is smiling.

Well here it is, THE MONA LISA. I was actually more impressed with it than i thought I would be. Everyone I'd talked to said it was tiny and highly dissapointing, but it was actually a fair size and was, well.. it is a nice painting. Whether it is worth all the hype? Probaly not. It was behind all kinds of glass and you couldn't even get that close to it. There were so many people crowding around it, taking pictures and trying to get up close to it. It reminded me a little bit of some rock shows I've been to. As in, when you are in the pit you ahve to squeeze your way right up to the front against the fence. It was much like that, except less punk rockers and more old people. This is my attempt to create some sort of artistic representation of the crowds that worship the Mona Lisa..

The next stop on our whirlwind Louvre tour was VENUS DE MILO. There were many signs pointing in the direction of this one as well, thus I thought it necessary to go check it out. I don't really know anything about it. I certainly recognize it and am familiar with it, but that is about all. I think they forgot to put arms on her.

I was wandering around the Louvre in a group of about 6 and it was getting pretty frustrating because nobody knew where they wanted to go or what they wanted to do next. Thus, I accidently broke off from the group and had some Jeff-Louvre time. I didn't really have a plan, I just wandered through the vast corridors, stopping at things that interested me. I thought that the above Sphinx was particularly impressive.

Oh... just before I broke off from the group, I took my shirt and pants off and got my picture taken. Everyone was begging me to...so i did.

I spent about an hour and a half wandering randomly around the Louvre on my own. There is so much to see! You really need to come into the Louvre with a purpose, otherwise it is a little bit of an overload. The huge crowds of people frustrated me a little as well. Overall I preferred the Musee d'Orsay significantly.

I walked by this guy from Easter Island in the Louvre and he had a booger, so I helped him out since he didn't have any arms.

I walked out of the Louvre at dusk by myself feeling quite satisfied with my visit there, although I was exhausted. After spending extensive time in big groups of people for the last 5 days (incl. Edinburgh) I really wanted to have some alone time. Thus, I decided I would wander along the Seine for a bit, find some nice little Cafe to eat dinner in and then meet back up with the group at Le Pont Neuf later on for our river tour.

It's Just You and Me..Paris

I began walking east along Le Seine and caught a glimpse of the Eiffel tower at night. ITs really quite impressive, with its Bat Symbol like spotlight rotating on top. I was also qutie impressed with the Musee d'Orsay lit up at night. The reflections on the water were beautiful this nite. The temperature was brisk, but nice. I was well bundled up. I decided I wanted to get a little closer to the Eiffel Tower and get a better picture of it.

JIF - The Eiffel Tower is a lot further away than it looks.

I kept walking along Le Seine trying to get a better picture of the Eiffel Tower. I came across the Assemblee Nationale. It is difficult to see in this picture but there is a rainbow sign on the front that says PARIS2012. All the biggest cities in the World are vying for the Summer olympics in 2012. This includes, London, Paris, New York, Madrid and I believe Hong Kong as well. That's a pretty intense race. At any rate, the rainbow colors reflecting in the water and onto the bridges was again, very beautiful.