amy! (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} luvmoose) wrote,@ 2004-11-23 14:23:00 |
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Portraits of Paris
I've been to Paris before, once for a month in the summer when I was 16, and again for about a week with my family when I was 18. I took most of the standard photos then, so this set will be a little eclectic. Organizing it for here, I wished I had included a few more standard shots to give some context. Fortuantely, the web is at my fingertips.
Without further ado, I give you....
...an ancient health club, pigeons, and 1665 steps.
On this trip, my husband was visiting L'Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris as an invited guest. Which meant he spent his weekdays at the office talking science while I was left to my own devices. So armed with an unlimited Metro pass and (eventually) comfortable shoes, off I went.
My first couple of days in Paris were weekend days, so we walked around in the area of the Tour Eiffel and L'Hotel des Invalides. On Sunday, we walked up Champs-Elysées to l'Arc de Triomphe. I hadn't before realized that this famous street is really a brand-name shopping district that rivals Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive, with Virgin Megastore, Gap, and the Disney Store tossed in among a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase and far too many McDonalds (but Starbucks hasn't made it to Paris yet). I don't have anything against shopping, and Paris is the shopping capital of the world, but I wished that this famous boulevard were a little more French.
I went to Musée de Cluny, which was a healthy walk from my hotel. This is the Museum of the Middle Ages. In addition to housing many crosses, it has an exquisite textiles display. Scraps of 1000 year old fabric from Eqypt, Iran, and Iraq woven more intricately and beautifully than I would expect without machines took my breath away.
The building that houses the museum was built in and around the ruins of a Gallo-Roman spa that dates from the 3rd century. Modern Paris has sprung up around this ancient health club and bathhouse. It's fenced off right near the Latin Quarter, but abuts the sidewalk. As you can see in this series of photos, the architecture was quite solid. Bits of Modern Paris can be seen in the backgrounds.
This tendency to build around what exists was evident all over Paris. Here's a shot of Saint Eustache church. Modern buildings are built right up next to it, just like row houses.
And while Parisians work around older architecture, they try to bend nature to their will. These are some maple trees in the Jardins du Luxembourg, shaped just like topiary.
Later on Monday, continuing to investigate Roman Paris, I attempted to visit the Crypte Archéologique below the Cathédral Notre-Dame. I was thwarted in my attempt because it was closed on Mondays. However, I did get to see Our Lady of Pigeons in front of the cathedral (which you can see at the top left of the photos).
I set out to visit the architectural delights at Forum des Halles and Centre Pompidou. Upon exiting the Metro station, I discovered Saint Eustache undergoing renovations.
Aside from the beauty of the church building, what fascinated me was the extent of the renovations. One section has already been completed. The "before" portions have blackened stone and carvings that are missing or melted by acid rain. The "after" portion is perfect. The stone looks like butter, the carvings are crisp and fresh. I don't quite know how they are accomplishing the renovation, but the effect is amazing. I had a glimpse of what all these magestic buildings might have looked like when they were first constructed.
A couple more "before" and "after" contrasts:
Unfortunately, the rest of my plans for the day were thwarted by yet another museum closure. This time, the Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou was closed. So I made up for it by returning to the Crypte Archéologique. These were the Gallo-Roman ruins underneath the Cathédral Notre-Dame, including the ancient banks of the Seine. The museum was fascinating, but I have no photos because it was quite dark to protect the excavated ruins. But I did learn that Romans used to heat rooms by having hollow walls which were filled with heated air from fires in the cellar.
When walking near the Tour Eiffel on Sunday, I learned that it was possible to go up it by climbing stairs. So on Wednesday, this is what I did.
Here's me with my conquest:
Here's the view up from inside the leg at the base of the stairs. You can see the stairs going up to the left of the yellow tank.
A view out from somewhere in the middle of the stairway. The rails you see going up the left side of the photo is where the diagonal elevator goes. Although that elevator wasn't in use on the stair-climbing leg.
I made it to the first level. Here's a view up the stairs to the next level.
And here's the view down into the center under the tower:
Finally making it to the 2nd level, here's a view down to the first:
And a view up what's left to go:
Unfortunately, they don't let you climb the last section, you have to take the elevator. But they used to let you climb up a spiral staircase in the next shot. Can you imagine doing that in the big full skirts of 1900s fashion? And without good athletic shoes?
I made it to the top. Here's me with the right bank of the Seine in the background. You can also see L'Arc de Triomphe, in the diamond to the left of my hair. All the roads lead to it.
The first floor of the Tour had a series of posters describing the scientific and engineering feats that helped bring about the construction of the Tour, as well as many other notable buildings in the city. After walking back down all 1665 steps (I didn't count that day, although a number of schoolkids I passed did), I was interested in seeing more of these architectural marvels. I attempted to visit the Grand Palais to see it's magestic ironwork and glass domed roof. But alas, the museum portions that you can visit do not have views of the interior of the roof. Instead, I took a train out to La Grande Arche de la Défense (see the pics in this link!). It's located in a newer commerce center. An area filled with ultra modern buildings. In addition to the Arche, there is a Hilton convention center that is built inside of a glass and cement dome. I was unable to find photos (and I guess was too awed to snap any). But I did sit at the café within and have chocolate mousse.
I went back to the Centre Pompidou. I visited both the Museum of Modern Art and their special Sons et Lumières exhibit. The latter alternated between fascinating, whack, and both. It was filled with all sorts of dark rooms that you entered to either watch a short film or be subjected to psych experiments. One room required you remove your shoes to walk on a squishy surface with flashing lights. Another pulsed in time to your alpha brain waves. There was a corridor where you walked between to huge-ass speakers that were spaced one sound wave apart.
In one corridor, there was a Trading Spaces-like suggestion about what to do with all those free AOL CDs:
And finally, one of the last rooms featured some works by performance artists from the 60s, mostly about Fluxus. I was fasinated by a snippet of a video about John Cage (called "I have nothing to say and I am saying it"). And I couldn't help but jot down a selection from Yoko Ono's "9 Concert Pieces for John Cage". These were small paragraphs describing how to perform each "concert". This one is called "Breathe": "First performed at Wesleyan University, 1966. A large card with small lettering saying breathe was passed three times among the audience".
I was joined by my friend Jessica, whose boyfriend, Daniel, is a colleague and friend of my husband. Because she didn't think Daniel would indulge her shopping urges, we hit the big department stores: Le Bon Marché and Le Printemps. Bon Marché has a gourmet grocery store that had the most extensive selection of decorated sugar cubes that I have ever seen. Sugar hearts, little green sugar frogs, cubes with icing flowers. And the crowning glory: lifesized sugar flip-flops (don't know how practical those are). The 9th floor roof café of Printemps had a wonderful view of the city.
After stashing our purchases back at the hotel, we made a pilgrimmage to Sacre Coeur. The church itself isn't any more remarkable than the other big churches in Paris, but it's located on the top of a big hill. For a small fee, you can climb to the top for 360-degree views of Paris. While not as tall as Tour Eiffel, it's quite a climb, up a narrow, marble spiral staircase with few windows. At some point, it felt like we actually entered some magical neverending staircase. But eventually we made it up to the rooftop catwalks and up the final stairs to the top. It was a rare sunny November day, so we could see for kilometres.
Here's the view out the front (see the stairs we had to climb before we even got to the church!):
And a view of one of the smaller spires, with Paris in the distance:
We timed our visit to coincide with the sunset....
...because the Tour Eiffel puts on a light show. You can see little points of light on the Tour. The whole thing sparkles. The Official Website does a fair rendition of it, but it's far more spectacular in person. I've seen a lot of cheesy light shows in my life. This one was simply enchanting.
This was our last day in Paris. We spent the morning doing some gift shopping (chocolate and wine). Then we made our way to the Musée d'Orsay for the afternoon. Upon exiting the Metro, I wanted a snack and so we sought out a little crèpe shop, on the way to which, Scott stepped in dog crap. So while he stomped through puddles and cursed dogs, I received the worst crèpe ever. Or crap. Re-heated on a griddle and tasting like grease. Ick, ick, ick! To soothe our annoyances (and to get the taste out of my mouth), we headed to the Latin Quarter where I knew I could get a better one and I watched the guy make it fresh with cinnamon and sugar. All was right with the world again.
Then we finally headed to the Musée d'Orsay. It houses an amazing collection of Impressionist artwork, but my favorite part of this museum is the building. It's the renovated Gare d'Orsay (a former train station). Follow the link for the story and pictures of it as a train station. Here's what it looks like inside today (okay, on Saturday):
There used to be trains where all those statues are!
After 10 years of disuse, my French was more than passable. It was certainly serviceable for ordering the morning pain au chocolate and afternoon crèpe. And plenty of frommage. We may have McDonalds, but the French do fast food much better than we do.
One final shot. Subway cars in Paris have both fixed and flip-down seats. They don't like you to use the flip-downs when the trains are busy. So this sign was posted everywhere. We were highly amused by the name for the flip-downs (les strapontins):
It's good to be back home with my fuzzers, even if I'm not quite re-adjusted to the time change. Thanks for reading this far. There's a couple more tidbits on my knitting blog if you're intersted. Hope to see you all soon.
I've been to Paris before, once for a month in the summer when I was 16, and again for about a week with my family when I was 18. I took most of the standard photos then, so this set will be a little eclectic. Organizing it for here, I wished I had included a few more standard shots to give some context. Fortuantely, the web is at my fingertips.
Without further ado, I give you....
...an ancient health club, pigeons, and 1665 steps.
On this trip, my husband was visiting L'Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris as an invited guest. Which meant he spent his weekdays at the office talking science while I was left to my own devices. So armed with an unlimited Metro pass and (eventually) comfortable shoes, off I went.
My first couple of days in Paris were weekend days, so we walked around in the area of the Tour Eiffel and L'Hotel des Invalides. On Sunday, we walked up Champs-Elysées to l'Arc de Triomphe. I hadn't before realized that this famous street is really a brand-name shopping district that rivals Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive, with Virgin Megastore, Gap, and the Disney Store tossed in among a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase and far too many McDonalds (but Starbucks hasn't made it to Paris yet). I don't have anything against shopping, and Paris is the shopping capital of the world, but I wished that this famous boulevard were a little more French.
Monday: old stones
I went to Musée de Cluny, which was a healthy walk from my hotel. This is the Museum of the Middle Ages. In addition to housing many crosses, it has an exquisite textiles display. Scraps of 1000 year old fabric from Eqypt, Iran, and Iraq woven more intricately and beautifully than I would expect without machines took my breath away.
The building that houses the museum was built in and around the ruins of a Gallo-Roman spa that dates from the 3rd century. Modern Paris has sprung up around this ancient health club and bathhouse. It's fenced off right near the Latin Quarter, but abuts the sidewalk. As you can see in this series of photos, the architecture was quite solid. Bits of Modern Paris can be seen in the backgrounds.
This tendency to build around what exists was evident all over Paris. Here's a shot of Saint Eustache church. Modern buildings are built right up next to it, just like row houses.
And while Parisians work around older architecture, they try to bend nature to their will. These are some maple trees in the Jardins du Luxembourg, shaped just like topiary.
Later on Monday, continuing to investigate Roman Paris, I attempted to visit the Crypte Archéologique below the Cathédral Notre-Dame. I was thwarted in my attempt because it was closed on Mondays. However, I did get to see Our Lady of Pigeons in front of the cathedral (which you can see at the top left of the photos).
Tuesday: renovations
I set out to visit the architectural delights at Forum des Halles and Centre Pompidou. Upon exiting the Metro station, I discovered Saint Eustache undergoing renovations.
Aside from the beauty of the church building, what fascinated me was the extent of the renovations. One section has already been completed. The "before" portions have blackened stone and carvings that are missing or melted by acid rain. The "after" portion is perfect. The stone looks like butter, the carvings are crisp and fresh. I don't quite know how they are accomplishing the renovation, but the effect is amazing. I had a glimpse of what all these magestic buildings might have looked like when they were first constructed.
A couple more "before" and "after" contrasts:
Unfortunately, the rest of my plans for the day were thwarted by yet another museum closure. This time, the Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou was closed. So I made up for it by returning to the Crypte Archéologique. These were the Gallo-Roman ruins underneath the Cathédral Notre-Dame, including the ancient banks of the Seine. The museum was fascinating, but I have no photos because it was quite dark to protect the excavated ruins. But I did learn that Romans used to heat rooms by having hollow walls which were filled with heated air from fires in the cellar.
Wednesday: 1665 steps
When walking near the Tour Eiffel on Sunday, I learned that it was possible to go up it by climbing stairs. So on Wednesday, this is what I did.
Here's me with my conquest:
Here's the view up from inside the leg at the base of the stairs. You can see the stairs going up to the left of the yellow tank.
A view out from somewhere in the middle of the stairway. The rails you see going up the left side of the photo is where the diagonal elevator goes. Although that elevator wasn't in use on the stair-climbing leg.
I made it to the first level. Here's a view up the stairs to the next level.
And here's the view down into the center under the tower:
Finally making it to the 2nd level, here's a view down to the first:
And a view up what's left to go:
Unfortunately, they don't let you climb the last section, you have to take the elevator. But they used to let you climb up a spiral staircase in the next shot. Can you imagine doing that in the big full skirts of 1900s fashion? And without good athletic shoes?
I made it to the top. Here's me with the right bank of the Seine in the background. You can also see L'Arc de Triomphe, in the diamond to the left of my hair. All the roads lead to it.
The first floor of the Tour had a series of posters describing the scientific and engineering feats that helped bring about the construction of the Tour, as well as many other notable buildings in the city. After walking back down all 1665 steps (I didn't count that day, although a number of schoolkids I passed did), I was interested in seeing more of these architectural marvels. I attempted to visit the Grand Palais to see it's magestic ironwork and glass domed roof. But alas, the museum portions that you can visit do not have views of the interior of the roof. Instead, I took a train out to La Grande Arche de la Défense (see the pics in this link!). It's located in a newer commerce center. An area filled with ultra modern buildings. In addition to the Arche, there is a Hilton convention center that is built inside of a glass and cement dome. I was unable to find photos (and I guess was too awed to snap any). But I did sit at the café within and have chocolate mousse.
Thursday: new stuff
I went back to the Centre Pompidou. I visited both the Museum of Modern Art and their special Sons et Lumières exhibit. The latter alternated between fascinating, whack, and both. It was filled with all sorts of dark rooms that you entered to either watch a short film or be subjected to psych experiments. One room required you remove your shoes to walk on a squishy surface with flashing lights. Another pulsed in time to your alpha brain waves. There was a corridor where you walked between to huge-ass speakers that were spaced one sound wave apart.
In one corridor, there was a Trading Spaces-like suggestion about what to do with all those free AOL CDs:
And finally, one of the last rooms featured some works by performance artists from the 60s, mostly about Fluxus. I was fasinated by a snippet of a video about John Cage (called "I have nothing to say and I am saying it"). And I couldn't help but jot down a selection from Yoko Ono's "9 Concert Pieces for John Cage". These were small paragraphs describing how to perform each "concert". This one is called "Breathe": "First performed at Wesleyan University, 1966. A large card with small lettering saying breathe was passed three times among the audience".
Friday: two on the town
I was joined by my friend Jessica, whose boyfriend, Daniel, is a colleague and friend of my husband. Because she didn't think Daniel would indulge her shopping urges, we hit the big department stores: Le Bon Marché and Le Printemps. Bon Marché has a gourmet grocery store that had the most extensive selection of decorated sugar cubes that I have ever seen. Sugar hearts, little green sugar frogs, cubes with icing flowers. And the crowning glory: lifesized sugar flip-flops (don't know how practical those are). The 9th floor roof café of Printemps had a wonderful view of the city.
After stashing our purchases back at the hotel, we made a pilgrimmage to Sacre Coeur. The church itself isn't any more remarkable than the other big churches in Paris, but it's located on the top of a big hill. For a small fee, you can climb to the top for 360-degree views of Paris. While not as tall as Tour Eiffel, it's quite a climb, up a narrow, marble spiral staircase with few windows. At some point, it felt like we actually entered some magical neverending staircase. But eventually we made it up to the rooftop catwalks and up the final stairs to the top. It was a rare sunny November day, so we could see for kilometres.
Here's the view out the front (see the stairs we had to climb before we even got to the church!):
And a view of one of the smaller spires, with Paris in the distance:
We timed our visit to coincide with the sunset....
...because the Tour Eiffel puts on a light show. You can see little points of light on the Tour. The whole thing sparkles. The Official Website does a fair rendition of it, but it's far more spectacular in person. I've seen a lot of cheesy light shows in my life. This one was simply enchanting.
Saturday: crèpe or crap?
This was our last day in Paris. We spent the morning doing some gift shopping (chocolate and wine). Then we made our way to the Musée d'Orsay for the afternoon. Upon exiting the Metro, I wanted a snack and so we sought out a little crèpe shop, on the way to which, Scott stepped in dog crap. So while he stomped through puddles and cursed dogs, I received the worst crèpe ever. Or crap. Re-heated on a griddle and tasting like grease. Ick, ick, ick! To soothe our annoyances (and to get the taste out of my mouth), we headed to the Latin Quarter where I knew I could get a better one and I watched the guy make it fresh with cinnamon and sugar. All was right with the world again.
Then we finally headed to the Musée d'Orsay. It houses an amazing collection of Impressionist artwork, but my favorite part of this museum is the building. It's the renovated Gare d'Orsay (a former train station). Follow the link for the story and pictures of it as a train station. Here's what it looks like inside today (okay, on Saturday):
There used to be trains where all those statues are!
Miscellania
After 10 years of disuse, my French was more than passable. It was certainly serviceable for ordering the morning pain au chocolate and afternoon crèpe. And plenty of frommage. We may have McDonalds, but the French do fast food much better than we do.
One final shot. Subway cars in Paris have both fixed and flip-down seats. They don't like you to use the flip-downs when the trains are busy. So this sign was posted everywhere. We were highly amused by the name for the flip-downs (les strapontins):
It's good to be back home with my fuzzers, even if I'm not quite re-adjusted to the time change. Thanks for reading this far. There's a couple more tidbits on my knitting blog if you're intersted. Hope to see you all soon.
