Paris a Day: #30

Au Revoir Paris. I will miss you.
xx
t

Paris a Day: #29

Today started off in the Cafe de l'Industrie, a great little cafe that plays jazz and the walls are hung with beautiful vintage nude photographs. This was our final meeting place for French. We drank coffee and gave our final presentation.

Afterward I headed back over to L'As du Fallafel for lunch. It costs about 2 euro more to eat inside than the take-out window, but with air conditioning and ice cold beverages, it was totally worth it.

The day ended with dinner at Mansouria with everyone from our classes. It was the perfect good-bye to our professors and a way to thank them for these past 4 weeks.

I have one more full day to say my good-byes to Paris.

Paris a Day: #28

Cumulus I
Louise Bourgeois

I went to the Pompidou and viewed the second largest collection of Modern Art. (New York's MoMA is still #1). It was a refreshing change of pace. Paris seems to be a living museum with all it's centuries old buildings and artwork, which are gorgeous, but to be able to go to the Pompidou and view some of the gritty and experimental artwork of the 20th and 21st centuries got my blood pumping.

They have a great exhibit of female artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Which opens with an installation by the Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls are artists who maintain their anonymity by wearing Gorilla Masks while fighting to get equal representation for female, minority, and non-Western artists in museums all over the world. They do postering, billboards, publications, and other activism that brings about this sort of awareness. It was a great way to open the exhibit because it confronts the situation, one that many people probably hadn't considered.

Paris a Day: #27

Les Catacombes de Paris

Paris a Day: #26

The best falafel I have ever eaten... from L'As du Fallafel

Paris a Day: #24

The Venus de Milo in all her armless glory. Although I have already made one visit to the Louvre, it was for a very short class and due to red tape and other issues we only got to be there for a little over an hour, meaning we saw very little. Today I spent about five or six hours and saw about maybe 1/3 of the collection.

Paris a Day: #23

I saw a play tonight that has been playing in the same theatre for the past 53 years: "La Cantatrice Chauve" written by Ionesco. Although I was not able to understand all of the French, I could comprehend enough to know it was very funny.

Paris a Day: #22

Today I went to Chartres Cathedral and got a quick tour of the grounds from the genius of Chartres, Malcolm Miller. He taught us how to read Gothic stained glass windows. Chartres Cathedral is the one of the best preserved Gothic cathedrals in Europe. During World War II the stained glass was removed and stored elsewhere to keep them from being damaged, therefore we were able to look at the original 12th century stained glass which is a rare treat.

Paris a Day: #20

Today I went to Cimetière du Père-Lachaise and saw the graves of some of the most famous corpses in Paris: Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, etc. Amongst all the fanfare of these wealthy phantoms I found this simple grave site. No name visible, falling apart, and being completely taken over by nature. It was beautiful.

Many of the tombs have fallen in disrepair from lack of care from families. Between the giant monuments and the celebrity tombstones lie the forgotten.



p.s. -- read this book.

Paris a Day: #16 - 18

This weekend I traded the lights of Paris for the sea wind of Northern France. It was a welcomed change of pace and a chance to see a different side of France.

Technically I was on U.S.A. soil when I took this photo of the Memorial at Omaha Beach in Normandy. We drove through Normandie making stops at Arromanches, Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc on our way in to the Bretagne region of France.

We spent two nights in the Medieval town of St. Malo which is surrounded by stone walls. The tides in this region are so vast that at certain times of the day you can walk out to the islands. However don't stay too long because within a few hours the tides could be crashing on the city walls.

We took a short trip to another Medieval town named Dinan that has remained almost completely intact since that time. It was a real treat to walk along the small stone paths and admire the remains of old smiths shops and homes from centuries ago.

Our final stop before heading back to Paris was to the breathtaking Mont St. Michel which lies directly between Bretagne and Normandie. It is an island in a bay where the tides ebb and flow similarly to St. Malo. One moment it can be a dry bay and in a few hours, completely surrounded by water. I witnessed a monk ringing the bell shortly before mass this morning, as this is still a commonly used place of worship.

This entire trip was lovely and a breath of fresh sea air after spending two weeks in the city.

Mont St. Michel

Paris a Day: #15

Today I climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and got amazing views of the city of Paris. I also got sunburned... honestly, who comes back from Paris with a tan?

Dear friends,
I will not be blogging for the next few days. I will be going to the North of France for the weekend, and will not be able to take my trusty laptop along. I'll do one post for the entire weekend. This should allow me 3 pictures for the 3 days I am gone.

Au revoir mes amis!

Paris a Day: #13

Reportedly the best chocolate in town...

Paris a Day: #12

Musée du Louvre

2 hours just isn't enough time. I will see you again very soon.

Paris a Day: #11

Another rainy day in Paris. Since I got my laundry done last night, I thought I would venture out on my own to see some of the sights. Seeing the grey clouds thick with rain, I grabbed my scarf, trench coat, and iPod and headed to the Metro.

First I stopped at the Place de la Concorde and admired the Obelisk of Luxor and the Fountain of Commerce and Navigation with beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower and Embassy buildings.

Next I stepped into the Jardin des Tuileries with many 16th century sculptures, a fountain/lake with many chairs for lounging, and a long walk way leading to the Louvre. Although the expansive Louvre Museum lay only a short distance away, I opted to visit the Musée de l'Orangerie instead.

Although my class is scheduled to go to the Musée de l'Orangerie, we were informed on Friday that it was to be canceled due to a scheduled strike next week. It seemed only fitting that after this week's trip to Giverny that I go to Monet's "chapel" of Les Nympheas / Water Lilies. The rooms were designed in an infinity band and you wound around the two galleries completely surrounded by Monet's paintings. Photos were allowed, but NO flash. Unfortunately, I got yelled at because a person near me had a flash and the guard thought it was me. Language barriers prevented me from explaining and several people scowled and shamed me out of the room. Cheeks red, I slinked downstairs into the other galleries where I saw many of the masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My embarrassment faded as I walked through gallery after gallery of some of the world's most beloved paintings.

This is a small and manageable museum, it may be dwarfed by the Louvre or the Orsay, but it is quite a lovely collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works. I would recommend that if ever you are in Paris, it is worth a visit.

Paris a Day: #10

Today is my day off... on this rainy Saturday I slept, worked on homework, and tried in vain to use the dorm laundry room. Apparently everyone had the same idea.

Paris a Day: #9

Claude Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, France.
(Actually, I wasn't in Paris...)

Paris a Day: #8

Today I went to the market and purchased some fresh produce and a delicious falafel wrap from a Lebanese vendor with delicious tempeh and hummous. The Market is right by Place de la Bastille, and buzzing with locals and visitors alike in search of great deals on fresh produce, cooked foods, and other various knick knacks. It was like a Farmer's Market and Flea Market all rolled into one.

After lunch and a glass of wine we made our way down to the Musée National du Moyen Âge (more commonly known as the Musée de Cluny). This museum is housed in a Medieval residence that was used as lodging for the monks of Cluny, a South Eastern region of France when they traveled North into Paris. We saw many of the original artifacts from the Notre Dame and St. Chapelle Cathedrals that have been damaged by war over the many centuries.

I also got to see the Northern Medieval masterpiece The Lady and The Unicorn tapestries. I was unable to get a photograph of this amazing work as light and temperature are greatly regulated to ensure that the integrity of the tapestries are not compromised. It was absolutely breathtaking. It is truly amazing that these were made by hand, the detail is mind blowing.

Paris a Day: #5

This was an epic day. French classes held at the beautiful Gare de Lyon, then onto the Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral and Notre Dame Cathedral for Art History. Afterward one of the advanced students and I grabbed a petit café and walked all around the a Île de la Cité. We ended up at the one place that was at the top of my personal 'must-see' list: Shakespeare & Co.

Paris a Day: #4

MACARONS!

Today a few of us went to the Jardin du Luxembourg to meet our professor at the Fountain de Medici and head to the market. Unfortunately we were waiting at the wrong fountain (despite assurances from a local that we were at the ONLY fountain in the gardens) and missed out on the trip. However, we decided to make the best of things and walked through the Luxembourg Quarter and into St. Germain de Pres. On the way we stopped at Gerard Mulot where I purchased a variety of macarons.

They are delicious! They are kind of like light, fluffy, meringue cookies with flavored ganache in the middle. They may look and sound like an Oreo, but they are just... wow.

Paris a Day: #2

Although I had been in Paris for more than 1 day, it didn't feel real until the metro 6 approached the Bir-Hakeim stop and I could see the very top of the most recognizable monument in France: The Eiffel Tower. Paris just isn't Paris without it.

Simply breathtaking.