I just got back from being in Paris and I had a great time. Tommy and I took the Eurostar really early in the morning on Saturday to Paris, through the Chunnel and all that, although all the hype that I've heard turned out disappointing. The Chunnel only lasts 20 minutes and my ears were popping the whole time because it's so far under water and we're going so fast through it.
I've decided to stay away from a huge wordy entry and post pictures and small snippets beacuse pictrues are worth more and a lot of this trip involved walking around and taking in the sights. In the three days we were there, we got to see a lot of the good touristy things but also do very French things like have croissants for breakfast and creme brulee for dessert. Oh and stroll around Monmartre ... super French :)
So first day: Notre Dame! Tommy and I happened to come around during Mass and sat in to listen to the beautiful choir and the very spooky and very loud organ music. Sadly we found no hunchback :(
A view from the river:
After Notre Dame, we took a boat tour on the Seine. Definitely money well spent right there. The boat took us from Notre Dame all the way down to the Eiffel Tower and back, with a guide telling us about bridges, houses, museums, and other interesting things on the way. The weather was perfect so I got some great pictures of Paris from the water. Apparently sitting around on the banks and chilling in the sun with a bottle of wine is the thing to do:
Eiffel Tower from the Seine:
And of course a moment of infinite Paris-induced cuteness:
At night we ventured out to the Eiffel Tower, although did not go up. To be honest, seeing it from the river and being there at night underneath it was all I needed. It's a breathtaking structure and it's even more beautiful at night, all lit up. Even the sparkly light show is cool.
Me and Tommy looking down at the centerpoint of the base, with my camera laying on the comemorative brass plaque:
Very cool picture from farther away:
Saturday was taken up by the Musee d'Orsay and walking around Monmartre. The d'Orsay is officially my favorite museum EVER beacuse it's almost entirely impressionists. Such amazing paintings everywhere, I didn't want to leave. The museum is a converted train station so it's long and very open, which is partly why I liked it more than the Louvre. It's also walkable... unlike the Louvre where you might need to spend the night trying to walk from one end to the other.
Me and Monet's Waterlilies:
I took lots of pictures of paintings but it's not so interesting to blogreaders, those are for me to remember :). Afterwards we went to Monmartre, which is in my opinion the coolest area in Paris. It's all artsy fartsy and is located on a hill above the city. We went to the Sacre Coeur, which is probably my favorite church ever, and then walked around perusing the street artists' paintings, ate very good dinner, then went on to see the lit up Moulin Rouge and the sex shop filled area around it. Very entertaining.
Me and Tommy outside the Sacre Coeur with Paris behind us:
Sacre Coeur with tons of people sitting outside on the steps. The steps are actually steep and go way down to the bottom of the Monmartre hill. We took the funiculeur up because we're lazy:
Something you would see in an old French movie:
The lit up Moulin Rouge was beautiful but the more interesting part was the area around it. The street it's on, in both directions as far as the eye can see, was wall to wall sex-shops, DVD stores, strip clubs, and x-rated movie theaters, all lit up like Times Square. You walk down thinking wow, how pretty, neon lights, then you read the signs and you can't help but laugh. The store names are even more riddiculous because they're mostly all in English. So things like "Sexy Place" and my personal favorite "Sexodrome", of which I took a picture:
Oh yeah.. and the Moulin Rouge. We didn't find Lady Marmelade, Christina, Pink, Lil Kim or Maya. I was sad:
Overall I would have loved to spend a week just in Monmartre, looking at all the art galleries and the artists on the street, sipping coffee at a corner cafe. The area is picturesque and very much removed from the rest of Paris which makes it much cleaner and nicer.
Today we spent mostly at the Louvre because it was so big and there was so much to see. Walking around that museum is daunting because it's so very big, but there were a few things specifically we went for, and took everything else in on the way. I pushed people out of the way to see the Mona Lisa, which is pretty but far too popular, it's hard to get a proper look at it. And because I'm such a Da Vinci Code nerd I saw the Madonna of the Rocks painting, the upside down pyramid, and we even manage to squeeze in a visit to the Saint-Sulpice before leaving for a train to London. Here are a few shots:
Hamurabi's Code, very important and very big. Also written in cuneiform which I thought is cool:
Venus de Milo. Very big actually, and I like that she's not skinny as a rail.
The Mona Lisa of course. You can see a fraction of the people around it reflected in the glass. There were tons and it's in a huge room, so there should be room for everyone, but no, people push and shove and use flash photography.
The Louvre with the glass pyramid out front. Next is the view from the Jardin des Tuileries with the Obelisk and Arc de Triumph in the background.
And for you Da Vinci Code Nerds: A few images from the Saint-Sulpice church. First is the altar and the rest are captioned. There was a very very humorous poster by the Rose Line obelisk saying that despite what fanciful allegations a recent best selling novel makes, the church isn't based on a pagan temple and then goes on to refute a few other things mentioned in the book. Hehe.
The old meridian line. There is a crack at the bottom of this obelisk. I was astonished...
Priory of Scion?? Who knows!
