Friday Week 2 - Versailles

TO COME SOON!!

Chateau de Versailles

Day 11

Not a lot happened today. It was fairly chilly. After class we all went to go to lunch together on Bastille. We decided to finally eat at the restaurant Indiana. We found out that Indiana served Tex-Mex. hmmmmm. I didn't know that!! Somehow I think French people are confused on geography of Indiana vs. the Mexican border. It wasn't quite don pablos or taco bell. It was ok, but I didn't have a strong urge to return.
We were to all meet up after a while to go to the IMA (Instiut de Monde Arab, or Institute of the Arab World) museum for class. It was supposed to be a museum for the muslium people in Paris. It was really boring and didn't have a lot in it. The artifacts were really ancient and showed nothing of the current Islamic peoples. The outside of the building was really cool and actually has pieces of metal that look like a camera sutter that open and close throughout the day. I didn't take any pictures, because there 1) was really nothing to take pictures of 2) I didn't really feel like I wanted to remember this pathetic museum.

Day 11 - Thursday

Day 10 - Wednesday week 2 (Musee d'Orsay)

After class, I went by myself to visit Musee d'Orsay. With little hype compared to the Louvre, I didn't know very much about it. After waiting in line for a while, I realized I didn't have to because I'm a student with a pass. After a few minutes trying to figure out the horrible map, I decided to forget it and just wander around. So I started off in the big main area. The building used to be a train station, so on the wall above my head was a HUGE highly decorated clock. Walking around the main area, there were a lot of sculptures, many by Rodin which I'd seen at the Rodin museum anyway--so that was a fast part. There weren't many people here at all compared to the Louve. Considering there are more famous paintings here by more of the famous artists, I was quite suprised. I was just looking around a room with some cool paintings, by guys I'd never heard of when I saw my first Monet painting. It was really weird and exciting to actually see something in person I'd only read about and been taught about in art class back in midddle school. There was a fairly good sized cut-away model of the paris Opera House (where the Phantom of the Opera lives). Which it was a good thing I took time to look at it because that was the one thing I didn't ever get to see in Paris (arrrg!) It was always closed.
There was the actual drawing done by Eiffel of the planning of the tower. I liked the paintings here much better than the Louve.
Later I walked into a room of just Monet. It made my heart beat fast just to actually be standing right next to these really famous, really amazing paintings.
Then I walked into the next room. Van Gogh! I absolutely loved this room.
After spending several minutes just looking at them, almost in disbelief of what I was actually seeing, I moved on and saw some huge toulouse latrec paintings. Unbelievable. Down the hall there were lowly lit rooms with pastels and watercolors, which were interesting. There were also some pointalism.
Afterwards, I met up with the other at, what was becoming 'our' bar, Kilty's. We sat outside and met locals passing by. Fun people they are. We saw this guy walking around in a red dress, heals, and a blonde wig. He was walking around with a few other guys who were all laughing at him. A couple of the girls went over and found out that it was his bachelor party. Quite funny hazing!

Day 10 - Wednesday

Week 2 - Tuesday

So today we got out of class early to go to the Centre George Pompidou, the modern art museum. We walked through the Luxembourg gardens to get there. I had walked outside of them a few days before and didn't know what the big place was, other than some kind of park. It's really pretty cool. A lot of locals walk around and come here for lunch to relax. We walked to the metro and got off at Chatelet station, which I think is probably the biggest in paris. With Gladys leading us around to find the museum, we got lost. After walking through some interesting neighborhoods, we found a bus stop and realized it was only a couple of blocks away, so with it being pretty hot we'd just wait for the bus.
We finally got there and found out that this, as most museums in Paris--except musee d'orsay, are closed on Tuesdays. You would think Parsians would know that...Considering Nadege set up the day we would go with class. Anyway.
So we saw a gelato place at the top of the hill, so the class took a "field trip" there. And we found the best gelato place in Paris! Amazingly good. So after we stayed there...they were all taking, while I took a cat nap haha. And I awoke to them deciding to split up and go to more sights. I went with a few to go see l'Arc de Triomphe.
We found our way up to the Etoile. Which is the circle/star road around with arch, with 12 roads radiating out. Under the tunnel and up to the base. We got our free tickets, thanks to our school museum pass. We walked around looking at it up close first, and the eternal flame underneath. Then up the narrow stone spiral staircase, we found ourselves in the first floor in the middle. It was a tiny museum, but was under renovation (of course). It did have some pictures which were really interesting.
Continuing up to the top, we found a wonderful 360 view of Paris. With the design of the city having the streets radiate out from this point, there were no obstructions to get in the way. It was a bit windy, but not too bad.
Coming back down we ran into a military procession, which I guess happen nearly everyday, paying respect to the eternal flame.
Afterwards, we we to get some lunch at a cafe we'd gone to before. The sandwiches are great and cheap--not to mention the excellent desserts.

Day 9 - Tuesday

Monday - Week 2

After class, we had a scavenger hunt to find things in Montmartre area of Paris (around the Sacre Coeur to the north) This is a really fun part of town. There were 15 questions and 9 of us...so we thought team work was needed and divided them up between us to meet later to collaborate. Good plan to save a lot of time. There is some weird things in Paris we found out. Also there is a big painting square with many painters painting live and you can buy their pictures. There are some really good ones, and I might go back to get one. After meeting back up with the whole group, a few of us went inside the Sacre Coeur. No pictures allowed inside. It was nice, but nothing like any of the older gothic churches. We went up to the top, with very narrow spiral staircases. Getting to about the roof level, we had to go outside up and over the roof (on stairs) to get to the second set of spiral staircase to get to the top. It was a great view. Coming back down, we went underground to the crypt to see some of the church's collections. They had a lot of gold hearts (sacre couer means sacred heart). There was also another sculpture of St. Denis carrying his head, similar to the one we found earlier on the scavenger hunt. After we got done we wandered around over to Saint chappel to find it closed. Another Day.

Day 8 - Monday

Sunday - Louvre

Our weekly pass for the metro expired today and we had to get a new one. no big deal. I wanted to go to the Louvre, which would take 15-20 minutes on the metro, except I couldn't figure out the computers because they were in french, and no one was at the window. So being a beautiful day, I decided to just walk there because it wasn't far, and I could mess with getting a ticket later after the museum closed. So on to the museum, our passes don't work there and I actually had to pay to get in. I entered through the main entrance of the huge glass pyramid. There are 3 pyramids like in Egypt. The smaller ones are what you see in da vinci code where there forms an inverted pyramid below ground level. I thougth it was the big one, but I was wrong.
So after stopping to eat at a cafe inside, I first took off to the egyption part--going through the Medieval Louvre to get there. I guess the Louvre actually used to be a castle long ago, and the moat area is still there, which I walked through--literally the Medieval Louvre. Then winding my way I found the Egyption section with a lot of heiroglyphic writings and old things. These looked all the same to me, so I kept walking to find the mummy and sarcoffagus. Those were pretty cool to see real ones, not just pictures.
Next I the Italian art was around the corner. I knew I didn't really want to spend a lot of time here, because I don't like it. So walking quickly throught the perfect images of people, saints, and thousands of Mary's I found the Mona Lisa. Boring. What I did like about this section was the actual building. It was really amazing. A lot of carving and beautiful paintings on the ceilings and walls. So that's what I looked at and took pictures of. I found the Apollo. She was nice, but headless of course. So I kept walking to the Apollo hall with beautiful ceilings and walls, along with some crown jewels. You're not supposed to take any pictures in here...so I did. I'm sneaky.
Then I went on to the North and South American, African, and Oceanic part. It was very small, but had some interesting things.
Then it was on over to Napoleon III's chambers. These kings were way too rich. No wonder the people hated them. Les Mis popped into my head of the beginning and the poverty of the peasants. Jerk french kings. But all of the gold was amazing.
I wound my way through some other parts of the Louvre which were fairly boring, finally finally finally finding the right floor for the mesopotamia art to see Hammarabi's Code. That was really cool.
Then I found the Northern Europe art section. Much better art. Not so many pictures of a perfect Mary. I of course had to find one of the pictures from my history class this past semister, Popular Culture of Early Modern Europe, by Pieter Brueghel, "Blind Leading the Blind". Too bad it was on the top and I could barely see it. Then I found a piece by his son, which was really small, but at eye level. I saw a giant picture of a guy and a dog and took a picture for Carrie. I thought she'd like it in her house. It could fill up a whole wall. So that was the Louvre in a few hours. Fairly boring.
After coming back home, I went out and got some dinner, and walked over to see the Statue of Liberty that the US gave to France. Much smaller than the one in NYC. I guess we're cheap. It's just down on this small island/sandbar in the middle of the Seine by a bridge on the south part of Paris, by the Eiffel Tower. Walking down there, there were several tents with hobos under the bridge.

Day 7 - Sunday

loss

I called home last night, and my aunt answered the phone. She asked if I'd heard the news. What news? I said. My step dad died Friday night of a heart attack.






Disbelief. Grief. Shock. Sadness.

It was hard to talk to my mom half the world away like this. She lost her best friend.

I'll miss you David.
I love you mom.

david