art|culture: PARIS
by Beth Powell
Travel Date: April 2015
Slip into comfortable shoes and take a four and a half day, 50,000 step journey in Paris with me.
I'd been dreaming about going to Paris since I was a little girl and finally, at 43 years old, I took my first trip. It was a short trip, we only had four and a half days to spend and we understood Paris couldn't all be done in that snippet of time. Therefore, when we set out on our first Parisian adventure, we adopted the mentality that it would not be our only Paris adventure, and we made the choice not to run around like frantic tourists trying to fit everything in. Since we're of the over 40 crowd and Chris suffers from plantar fasciitis, we didn't want to find ourselves too sore to enjoy our trip. As a result, we were fairly selective about how we spent our steps.
I am a well-traveled person but am still overwhelmed by the process of getting to and from my destination. Airports are an onslaught of what I'll call anti-introvert activity, like loud noises and pushy people. On occasion, airports can even be accosting, including the undressing and redressing at security, pat downs, and, well, you get the picture. These trials are exacerbated when you include the dreaded customs experience. In January of 2015 we spent 3 hours in Jamaica’s immigration and customs and the previous January we spent almost 2 hours in Cabo San Lucas’ immigration and customs. I had no idea what to expect from France’s customs process but it’s safe to say I was dreading it. I know, I know, first world problems.
After a few delayed flights state-side we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, on time, because airlines can make up a decent amount of time in the air, especially on long flights. The Frankfurt airport had fewer wayfinding signs than we were used to, so we asked for help at an information desk and headed off to our connecting gate. Travel Tip: Ask for help, especially in airports, because you usually don't have time for trial and error. During our trek to our connecting gate we went through the European Union’s immigration process and there was no line, please allow me to repeat myself with dramatic emphasis: There. Was. No. Line. Really, zero line. Additionally, we didn't have to retrieve and recheck our luggage, which we expected to do because it's a stateside requirement. We boarded a Lufthansa flight with time to spare and were fed an interestingly tasty sandwich en route. I was a sleepy but happy girl.
Paris| Day Une
Our cute, micro one bedroom apartment, which we found on airbnb.com, was located in arrondissement 4, in the la Marias neighborhood. It was the perfect cozy little place for our stay. Our hosts, which we never met, left a homemade guidebook, a fully stocked apartment, a bottle of wine, and an umbrella for our use. Although we'd just come off of a lengthy over-the-pond, double connection flight in the cheap seats, we were too excited to sleep so we snatched up our loaner umbrella and set out to find a decent meal and some French wine. After venturing down Rue de Turenne we found a quintessential Parisian cafe'.
The Royal Turenne Café was the perfect inaugural Paris experience. Both the maître d' and our server spoke English. The Rick Steve's Paris book I've been reading warned to expect waiters who were not overly friendly because "they were trained to be efficient." Our waiter blew that characterization by not only being friendly but also helpful by taking the lead in our food and wine selections. Travel Tip: Try to speak French, no matter how bad you are, and the French will help you - even if all you know is "Bonjour Madame" or "Merci".
We began our meal by splitting a rib of beef, which was sliced and then cooked, resulting in more charred surface area. It was served with a trio of béarnaise sauces that were all delicious. Our second course was what I'll call "sticky mashed potatoes" and they too were delicious. I'm fairly certain that cheese was the ingredient causing the stickiness. The wine was exceptionally smooth.
We began our meal by splitting a rib of beef, which was sliced and then cooked, resulting in more charred surface area. It was served with a trio of béarnaise sauces that were all delicious. Our second course was what I'll call "sticky mashed potatoes" and they too were delicious. I'm fairly certain that cheese was the ingredient causing the stickiness. The wine was exceptionally smooth.
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| View from our seats at the Royal Turenne Cafe' |
As I ate the incredible food, sipped the exquisite wine and looked out across the rain drenched neighborhood street, watching the hustle and bustle of dozens of umbrella covered Parisians, I thought: "This is exactly what I expected Paris to be like."
I ended day une in Paris at step 3,179.
Paris| Day Deaux
Our day deaux steps in Paris began as we set off to find a cup of coffee (café). Less than 500 steps into our day we settled into a sidewalk bistro table at an Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a couple of cups o'joe (that's not French). As we sat drinking and chatting, a mid-thirties dark-haired lady approached us with a map looking for directions. Chris asked her where she was from while I tried to decipher her map. She was Israeli and she was on a shopping trip with her mother, who had joined her on the sidewalk by then. Chris said something about how much money Israel owed the U.S. and asked if a shopping trip was the right thing for them to be doing. I'm kidding, he didn't say that, he doesn't even care how much money we give Israel, or Germany, or France for that matter. It seemed she was close to her destination but I wasn't sure so Chris went in to get our waiter. The Italian waiter living in Paris, who spoke English well, gave the Israeli ladies directions as requested by his American patrons. France is international.
Our view during coffee - I like the octopus.
The Israelis meandered off in the direction of their shops and we meandered as well but in the direction of Notre Dame. Using an actual map in a guidebook because cellular data is outrageous outside of the U.S. I navigated through approximately 3,000 steps from the west bank, across the river Seine, to the church on Ile de Cite, like a champ, with one detour through an antique shop that had a mid century white leather couch and two chairs that were very similar to the furniture we have at the lake. Ours are Ikea, theirs were authentic. We allowed ourselves to rack up a couple of cool points anyway. Travel Tip: Get a short term international plan added to your cell phone account before traveling outside of the U.S.
Notre Dame is impressively grand. It took about 200 years to build. Cathedrals take a long time - the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Spain has recently entered it's final stage of construction 100 years after its foundation was laid. (sagradafamilia.org) This is probably why there are no cathedrals in the U.S., we are an instant gratification society and I can't imagine that we'd have the patience to wait out the building of a real cathedral.
I learned in my World Thought & Culture III class that Gothic architecture was harsh on the outside and beautifully calming on the inside, because the church protects its worshipers from the grim realities of the real world. That is definitely the case at Notre Dame. The cathedral's exterior is fortress-like with statues of gargoyles acting as sentries.
In addition to gargoyle statues Notre Dame's exterior has a row of of kings. During the French Revolution an angry mob fueled by revolutionary fervor stormed Notre Dame and cut the heads off the statues because they thought they were representative of French kings. The mob was wrong, the statues are representative of the Kings of Judah, not France. (Rick Steve's Paris 2015)
Notre Dame's interior is beautiful and calming. The stained glass is amazing, the rose windows are exquisite and the lofty ceilings provide tremendous scale as they reach out to Heaven. It's very quiet in the church, people keep their voices at a whisper level. Chris has been here before, with his family, when he was four. His mom tells us that he was running around a lot so his Dad put him on his shoulders to corral the little scamp and then carried him around Notre Dame. It was befitting that he lit candle for his Dad in this cathedral. His eyes leaked a little when he did it, and quoting Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias "I have a strict policy that no one cries alone in my presence," so mine leaked a little too.
The particular stained glass window above moved me to say a prayer for world peace and the people of Nepal. Later, I saw the news story about Baltimore, hopefully everyone will start praying daily for peace.
As you would expect the altar is impressive with beautiful stained glass and a very good pieta. Michelangelo's Pieta, which is in Rome, raised the bar on all pietas to the point that if it's not his the best it can be is "very good." A pieta is an artwork depicting Mary's grief as she cradles the dead body of her son. It's often a sculpture but doesn't have to be.
Our view during coffee - I like the octopus.
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| A mural is stylish graffiti |
The Israelis meandered off in the direction of their shops and we meandered as well but in the direction of Notre Dame. Using an actual map in a guidebook because cellular data is outrageous outside of the U.S. I navigated through approximately 3,000 steps from the west bank, across the river Seine, to the church on Ile de Cite, like a champ, with one detour through an antique shop that had a mid century white leather couch and two chairs that were very similar to the furniture we have at the lake. Ours are Ikea, theirs were authentic. We allowed ourselves to rack up a couple of cool points anyway. Travel Tip: Get a short term international plan added to your cell phone account before traveling outside of the U.S.
Notre Dame is impressively grand. It took about 200 years to build. Cathedrals take a long time - the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Spain has recently entered it's final stage of construction 100 years after its foundation was laid. (sagradafamilia.org) This is probably why there are no cathedrals in the U.S., we are an instant gratification society and I can't imagine that we'd have the patience to wait out the building of a real cathedral.
I learned in my World Thought & Culture III class that Gothic architecture was harsh on the outside and beautifully calming on the inside, because the church protects its worshipers from the grim realities of the real world. That is definitely the case at Notre Dame. The cathedral's exterior is fortress-like with statues of gargoyles acting as sentries.
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| The east rose window |
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| View from Ile de St. Louis (nice buttresses) |
The statue of Charlemagne outside the cathedral is worth the gander. Doesn't he look like a Lord of the Rings Black Rider? This must be where the Lord of the Rings team got their artistic inspiration.
The moral of this story is that we should all know our history so we don't deface the wrong monuments while hyped up with adrenaline in the throes of rebellion. Uneducated angry mobs are terribly dangerous, so get studying. The story doesn't stop here, obviously as you can see above the statues' heads were recreated because these guys aren't headless today but what's even more interesting is that later the original heads were discovered. As the story goes, a teacher gathered the heads up and buried them in his yard for safekeeping. Hail the educated teacher! You can now view the original heads in a Paris museum. (Rick Steve's Paris 2015)
Notre Dame's interior is beautiful and calming. The stained glass is amazing, the rose windows are exquisite and the lofty ceilings provide tremendous scale as they reach out to Heaven. It's very quiet in the church, people keep their voices at a whisper level. Chris has been here before, with his family, when he was four. His mom tells us that he was running around a lot so his Dad put him on his shoulders to corral the little scamp and then carried him around Notre Dame. It was befitting that he lit candle for his Dad in this cathedral. His eyes leaked a little when he did it, and quoting Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias "I have a strict policy that no one cries alone in my presence," so mine leaked a little too.
As you would expect the altar is impressive with beautiful stained glass and a very good pieta. Michelangelo's Pieta, which is in Rome, raised the bar on all pietas to the point that if it's not his the best it can be is "very good." A pieta is an artwork depicting Mary's grief as she cradles the dead body of her son. It's often a sculpture but doesn't have to be.
Notre Dame has one heck of an organ - here's a picture of the pipes...
After spending another 2,100 steps in and around Notre Dame we set off to St. Chappelle only to find that it was closed so we walked over to the Left Bank and admired the Place St Michel.
During our travels we came across this sign that seems to be instructing people to *not* hold (I split that infinitive on purpose for dramatic affect) their children's hands while crossing the street and Chris, who is very funny, decided this was a French attempt at population control.
The Left Bank houses the University of Paris with it's famous Sorbonne (department of arts & humanities) as well as the Latin Quarter, which has nothing to do with ethnically Latin people. In the Middle Ages the University of Paris was the place to go and as a result there were a lot of different languages in the neighborhood. Therefore, Latin was the language spoken by students as a leveling ground for communication. Paris has always been international.
We sat at a sidewalk cafe' (noticing a trend?) and shared a half carafe of wine while we engaged in intellectual conversation, no really it was, at least until Chris started imitating the French guy in Talladega Nights "Au revoir Ricky Boobi." We also watched a Frenchman parallel park, by repeatedly hitting the car in front and behind the spot into which he was trying to shoehorn his car. It was fine entertainment. Afterwards we cruised on over to Shakespeare & Co. bookstore, arriving at step 9,728 and what a great step that was.
Shakespeare & Co is an important literary monument, primarily because its owner Sylvia Beach, an American expatriate stepped up and published James Joyce's Ulysses when others would not. Today, Ulysses is widely considered the most important work of modern fiction. I was super excited to visit Shakespeare & Co simply because I'm a Hemingway fan. After World War I there was a group of Americans who remained in Paris and Ernest Hemingway was among the expatriates.
An expatriate is someone who lives outside their native country, it is not necessarily someone who hates their native country. As Gertrude Stein once said "America is my country but Paris is my hometown." France suffered the majority of WWI's trench warfare and was battered, as a result it was relatively inexpensive to live in Paris. That is no longer the case. WWI combined the worst of medieval warfare, i.e. hand to hand combat and modern warfare i.e. mustard gas and tanks. The results were harrowing, in fact cosmetic surgery was advanced because of this war because soldiers faces, exposed by the trenches, were badly disfigured. The traumatic experience caused the loss of societal optimism that resulted in "The Lost Generation."
Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" is considered the literature embodiment of this generations' lost way and subsequent degenerate existence. The Shakespeare & Co bookstore was a favorite hangout of theirs because the owner, an American expat herself, allowed poor writers, like Hemingway, to borrow books. It is in a 1600 monastery building on the left bank of the River Seine and it's exactly what a bookstore should be, a series of cramped little rooms with lots of old wooden shelves overstuffed with books. I used a rolling library ladder to get my copy of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" and Chris picked up "Ernest Hemingway on Paris." The Hemingway book sports a chapter on "Living on a $1,000 a year in Paris," that prompted us to daydream about living in Paris on the cheap. Maybe we could actually do it or maybe not, but isn't it pretty to think so?
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| Sign inside Shakespeare & Co bookstore |
Day deaux concluded at step 15,057.
Paris| Day Trois
We spent 1,300 steps walking down to Bastille Place, which is where the Bastille Prison formerly stood. The Bastille prison was stormed during the French Revolution and it's warden killed. The angry, revolutionary mob thought the prison was full of prisoners of conscience. A prisoner of conscience is a person jailed because they held political or religious views not tolerated by their government. In reality, there were very few prisoners there and apparently none were prisoners of conscience, they were just regular old bad guys. So, the angry mob busted out a bunch of bad guys. At any rate, Bastille Day is still a national holiday, celebrated on July 14th, which is also my mom's birthday. From what I've read she should come to Paris for her birthday because they have lots of parties for Bastille Day.
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| Statue of Mercury at Bastille Place |
We lunched on a, yep you guessed it, cafe' patio and I had the most amazing sandwich. In fact, it's far beyond a sandwich and the French know it so they call them tartines. This tartine was a single piece of French bread covered with ham and some kind of yummy melted cheese and something else (who knows what?). It was delicious. Here's a pic of that yummy goodness. I think it was Le Moderne's version of the croque monsieur. The restaurant is at 10 Rue Saint Antoine. The menu is not online, I've searched and searched. 2018 Update: the menu is now online but I don't think this tartine is on it anymore.
This was the view from my cafe' seat. It's such an elegant city and let's be honest, I live in Oklahoma so I'm used to looking at a parking lot while sitting on patios.
We then took another 2,200 steps on, around, and through the Metro, which is the Paris subway. We traveled on the gold line to the green line because we're urban like that.
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| Their trains have tires. |
We got off two stops from the Eiffel Tower because our guidebook said we'd get a better view if we were a little ways out and it did not steer us wrong. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 as an entrance arch to the World's Fair and it's named after the chief engineer on the project. It was part of the testosterone fueled tallest building race in the 20th century. A race which is arguably still going on today, although America opted out of said race with 1 World Trade Center a.k.a. The Freedom Tower, caring more about the significance of the height rather than claiming bragging rights for the tallest tower. 1WTC is 1,776 feet tall, pretty cool huh? Anyway, this post is about the tall French structure, not the tall American structure, so back to the Eiffel Tower which was, at its completion, taller than the Washington Monument, and thus the tallest structure in the world. However the Yanks came back with the Chrysler Building and took tallest structure title back. The next picture is the view of the Eiffel Tower from my 18,547th step in Paris.
It's bigger than expected.
Who wants another history story? During the Nazi occupation of Paris the tower's cables were cut, by the French, making the 1,667 step climb to the top manual so when the swastika flew from the top of the tower it had to be put there by German soldiers who sludged up all those steps. Hehe take that you filthy Nazi's (read that in a French accent.) It's also reported that when Hitler learned of the imminent Allied liberation of Paris (Go Yanks!) he ordered the tower to be demolished and the city burned but the Nazi high commander governing occupied France chose not to follow those orders. Good move Nazi high commander dude. Good move indeed.
Do you remember the French girl, Yvonne, in the movie Casablanca who fraternizes with the Germans but then at the end stands up and sings Viva La France! with tears in her eyes? For me, she's representative of the French during occupation they did what they needed to survive but never forgot they were French.
Outside of the Eiffel Tower are dozens of illegal street vendors selling miniature Eiffel Towers. They've got several on these metal rings and they walk around offering them for $1 euro until the police nationale (that's French for the fuzz, man...) run them off. We didn't buy an Eiffel Tower trinket thing but we did buy an Eiffel Tower Christmas ornament from one of the gift shops. We always buy a Christmas ornament. Our tree is international.
We showed our age by taking a taxi back to our apartment but later redeemed ourselves by walking to dinner, finishing the day at step 23,056.
Paris| Day Quarte
We were rudely awakened around 4am by two women screaming at each other. We perfectly understood their fight because they were American. UGH. When people are acting like jerks in a foreign country I'd prefer that they weren't our people. We fell back to sleep for a few more hours and were awakened by the painters who needed our windows open. We gave up and started our day, as a result, day quatre was the earliest morning out for us and our busiest day in Paris. We shared an omelet for breakfast and while it was good it wasn't slap your grandma good, which, after all the exceptional food we've had this week, was disappointing. It was chilly & rainy so after breakfast we went shopping for warm clothes.
Along the way we discovered the store Habitat, which is a European home furnishings store based in London that has a West Elm like vibe. We bought a French press because we're ready to take that step in our coffee relationship. Last May we started grinding beans but were unable to commit to the French press at that time. We are now ready to remove the electric current from our love affair with coffee. You see, once you reach a certain age you begin to focus on living a good life and a large part of living the good life is rooted in one's wake up routine. If you jump out of bed and have to scurry around because you're already late, you've started your day stressed. (Personally, I prefer to get up early, take my sweet time and then be late.) The better the wake up routine, the better the day, hence the quest for a good cup of coffee and our brand spanking new French press. 2018 Update: After trying dozens of expensive coffees, grinding our own beans, and using a french press we've switched back to Folgers, because we like it.
We also bought 2 wonderfully soft pillow cases. Wonderfully soft because once you realize the benefits of a good night's sleep the comfort level of your sleeping situation becomes of paramount importance. (Say "paramount importance" in an English accent so it sounds as snobby as it is.) Every day's chain of events is largely a crap shoot and the quality of the day depends on our reactions to where the dice land, Chris and I try not to let the crap outs bog us down but we also take steps to stack odds in our favor with a cushy night's sleep preceding a darn good cup of coffee. 2018 Update: Garrett claimed these pillow cases.
We continued our shopping and went into a Lee store, remember Lee jeans, well there's an entire Lee store in Paris. I was searching for an army green revolutionary style jacket, I've been coveting one for a couple of years now, and Paris is historically counterculture so I thought this would be the place to buy one. I figured if they had one at Lee it would be less expensive than a fancy French store, and they DID have one (yeah!) but it was $150.00 euros (boo!). Lee was expensive. I told Chris that jacket should be half that price and for $150.00 euros I'd dig Jim Morrison up to steal his - surely he'd been buried in one. We moved on to the Carhartt store which was set up like a high end boutique with equally high prices. What the heck? It felt like Bizzaro world.
We continued on and stumbled into a few French stores but all their clothes had lots of confusing randomly placed zippers. We finally landed in a GAP and bought army green revolutionary jackets, two of them, his and hers. Seriously. I'm not kidding. There is NOTHING revolutionary about his and hers army green revolutionary jackets from the (insert cuss word of your choice, mine is damn) Paris GAP. I think we lost all our cool points in one fell swoop.
This is my Seriously? face, this pic is from the Louvre's Egyptian collection. By the way, my cousin Sharlet has this face mastered.
Parisian culture seems to center more around living the good life than American culture, or maybe it's the European vibe as a whole that focuses more on the quality of the day than specifically Paris, because I noticed a similar cultural approach in Italy as well. For example, Parisian waiters don't rush you, in fact more than once we've had to go find them to tab out. It's not that they make you wait for service either though, they just disappear toward the end which encourages you to sit and visit as long as you'd like. They're not looking to turn tables quickly. At dinner, we met a Houston couple, Melanie and Nolan. Melanie, a retired French teacher, was on her twentieth trip to Paris. She told us that the French servers were paid salary. She also pronounced it Louv-re, saying aloud the r, in the same manner that Ben Stiller pronounced Brett Fav-re in the movie Something About Mary.
We went to the Louv-re on our fourth day in Paris. We walked more than 10,000 steps in that ginormous building and still didn't see it all. We had a great time though. The building, itself a piece of art, was the palace of the French kings until Versailles was built. I think the construction of Versailles was the beginning of the end of the French monarchy but that's another story for a different day. As we walked around the Louv-re I imagined French royalty and nobility conducting court in those rooms. There are early medieval Italian paintings in the king's drawing room and they have to compete with the drawing room's ornate ceiling.
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Along the way we discovered the store Habitat, which is a European home furnishings store based in London that has a West Elm like vibe. We bought a French press because we're ready to take that step in our coffee relationship. Last May we started grinding beans but were unable to commit to the French press at that time. We are now ready to remove the electric current from our love affair with coffee. You see, once you reach a certain age you begin to focus on living a good life and a large part of living the good life is rooted in one's wake up routine. If you jump out of bed and have to scurry around because you're already late, you've started your day stressed. (Personally, I prefer to get up early, take my sweet time and then be late.) The better the wake up routine, the better the day, hence the quest for a good cup of coffee and our brand spanking new French press. 2018 Update: After trying dozens of expensive coffees, grinding our own beans, and using a french press we've switched back to Folgers, because we like it.
We also bought 2 wonderfully soft pillow cases. Wonderfully soft because once you realize the benefits of a good night's sleep the comfort level of your sleeping situation becomes of paramount importance. (Say "paramount importance" in an English accent so it sounds as snobby as it is.) Every day's chain of events is largely a crap shoot and the quality of the day depends on our reactions to where the dice land, Chris and I try not to let the crap outs bog us down but we also take steps to stack odds in our favor with a cushy night's sleep preceding a darn good cup of coffee. 2018 Update: Garrett claimed these pillow cases.
We continued our shopping and went into a Lee store, remember Lee jeans, well there's an entire Lee store in Paris. I was searching for an army green revolutionary style jacket, I've been coveting one for a couple of years now, and Paris is historically counterculture so I thought this would be the place to buy one. I figured if they had one at Lee it would be less expensive than a fancy French store, and they DID have one (yeah!) but it was $150.00 euros (boo!). Lee was expensive. I told Chris that jacket should be half that price and for $150.00 euros I'd dig Jim Morrison up to steal his - surely he'd been buried in one. We moved on to the Carhartt store which was set up like a high end boutique with equally high prices. What the heck? It felt like Bizzaro world.
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| Carhartt Store Paris |
This is my Seriously? face, this pic is from the Louvre's Egyptian collection. By the way, my cousin Sharlet has this face mastered.
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| Seriously? |
We went to the Louv-re on our fourth day in Paris. We walked more than 10,000 steps in that ginormous building and still didn't see it all. We had a great time though. The building, itself a piece of art, was the palace of the French kings until Versailles was built. I think the construction of Versailles was the beginning of the end of the French monarchy but that's another story for a different day. As we walked around the Louv-re I imagined French royalty and nobility conducting court in those rooms. There are early medieval Italian paintings in the king's drawing room and they have to compete with the drawing room's ornate ceiling.
The first artwork we wanted to view was the Mona Lisa. Proceeding directly to the Mona Lisa is not the most efficient use of steps within this museum but if you know my history with what I call "travel mishaps" you'll understand my need to see this painting before some strange fluke event happened to close the gallery. For those of you unaware of my history with travel mishaps, feel free to read this: My Top 5 Travel Bummers.
Sadly, the list of travel mishaps goes on to the point that I'm downright paranoid about missing things. I took step 32,807 in Paris to arrive in the Mona Lisa's gallery. The Mona Lisa always has a crowd in front of her even though there's a masterpiece directly across from her. I stopped and took in the enormity of Veronese's Wedding Feast at Cana,
briefly discussed the painting and the idea of the Eucharist with Chris and then decided to tackle the Mona Lisa's crowd.
It began like this (see her waaaayyyyy back on the far wall):
but I'm little, wiggly, and determined so I eventually got this.
After more pushing, bumping, my foot being stepped on, and some stubborn patience (you haven't seen stubborn until you've come across a tenacious little Oklahoma redneck who knows her Dad wants a good pic of the Mona Lisa) I got this shot.
The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by an Italian Louv-re employee. It was missing for 2 years until the thief tried to sell it to the Uffizi Museum in Florence. Arguably, it should be in Florence because Da Vinci was Italian and shouldn't countries of masters' origins reap the benefits of their citizens' productions? Yes, yes they should. And, if that were the case wouldn't countries be more motivated to produce interesting artworks and therefore, be inclined to keep art education in schools? Yes, yes they would. I feel compelled to mention that it was Da Vinci who took this painting to France, it was not a case of stolen artwork via war or imperialism.
The artwork at the Louv-re was the collection of the French king until the French Revolution when it became the people's collection. The Louv-re has lots of sculptures, really old sculptures. The Venus de Milo is from 100ish B.C., she was discovered in 1820 in a buried niche in the ruins of the city Milo. So for almost 2,000 years she was tucked away and all she lost was her arms. During the past 195 years she's been at the Louv-re.
Not bad for a 2,115 year old.
This one is even older, they guesstimate it at the 3rd - 1st century BC, so 2115 - 2315 years old. It's called the Winged Victory of Samothrace and as you can see, she didn't fare as well as Venus above because she's lost her head. Maybe a Greek teacher has it buried somewhere.
Michelangelo is also represented with the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave. They are both unfinished works. It is said that Michelangelo was on a quest for "absolute truth in art" and if he felt a work wasn't going to achieve that goal he would often abandon it. Money was also a factor, these two sculptures were to be part of the Pope's tomb but when he died, earlier than expected, the project was abandoned. If he'd died on time the statues would be finished and part of his tomb. Although they're unfinished, they're interesting to me largely because of the opposing emotions on their faces. The Dying Slave appears soft and peaceful, but the Rebellious Slave is contorted in a struggle and anything but peaceful. Michelangelo may have later achieved absolute truth in art with la Pieta and the David, I'm not sure, I've only taken a couple of art history classes but those two pieces are amazing, (I think, I've only seen photos) and in Italy. I need to go to back to Italy.
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| The Dying Slave |
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| The Rebellious Slave |
My favorite sculpture in the Louv-re is Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova. What can I say, I'm a romantic at heart.
Chris' favorite was the granite sphinx. It's about 23 tons.
We'd been there for a while by the time we got to the Egyptian gallery and we were a little giddy.
We decided to leave before we got ourselves thrown out so we found another quaint Parisian cafe' and did this...
We ended the day at step 37,834.
Paris| Day Cinq
We visited a patisserie for breakfast. A patisserie is a French pastry shop. This is not to be confused with an American donut shop because, in France, the shops can only use the name patisserie if they hold a maître patissier (master pastry chef) license, while in America you can open a donut shop with a simple food handler's license. The French patisserie is closer to our Panera Bread. We had quiche and shared a beignet.
Afterwards we took the Metro over to the Musee d'Orsay and were stopped en route by metro workers who were verifying people riding had valid tickets & didn't somehow sneak in. I suspect we were stopped because we were wearing our army green revolutionary jackets.
The Musee d'Orsay primarily houses 19th & early 20th century art, including the largest collection of Impressionists masterpieces. It's also got works of the Neo-Impressionists and Post Impressionists. Their collection is housed in a re-purposed train station, which lends itself to being an art gallery very well.
Chris headed to the restaurant as soon as we arrived and I started viewing the work on the main floor working my way up to the Neo-Impressionist and Post Impressionist galleries. I'm not a big fan of Neo-Impressionism. It's not that I don't think art and science can't coexist on any level, it's just that I don't think they coexist on a level of mastery. I think randomness, spontaneity and art coexist on the highest level of art, and it is because of that belief that I prefer the Impressionists and Post Impressionists.
Meanwhile, the restaurant was closed when Chris first arrived so he found a seat just outside it to wait. While he was waiting he saw a little mouse scurrying about the restaurant and decided that he'd found Ratatoullie.
Let's talk about the Impressionists: Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Degas.... Prior to them art was rigid and basically the more a painting looked like a photograph the better. The subjects were religious, historical, mythological, or portraits of rich folks who could afford to commission portraits of themselves. The daguerreotype was invented in 1839 and by 1860 new processes had been developed to make the use of this early photography popular and attainable. Portraiture in art looked as if it would become obsolete and a group of artists in Paris decided to paint in a different style. They preferred landscapes to portraits and tried to capture the effects of light and movement on subjects. The Academy (Europe's premier art school) was against their movement and many of their paintings were rejected by Salon (the Academy's annual judged art show). One of the first paintings the Academy was in an uproar over was Edouard Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass, created in 1863, because of the juxtaposition of the nude woman with the nicely dressed men. It was probably even more shocking because of it's large size at 81.9 x 104.5 inches. Manet exhibited this painting at the Salon des Refuses, (exhibition of rejects) which was an art show made up of the paintings the original Salon had rejected.
Claude Monet is probably the most famous impressionist because he stayed true to the form, taking it all the way to its logical end with the water lilies series, but this Rouen Cathedral series shows how light, at different times of the day and year, can change a scene and for me (again I'm not an art historian, just a regular girl with an interest in art) this series illustrates how perspectives can also change, if only a person allows different shades to shine in.
and another self portrait - he's started his swirls here, I like his swirls.
Afterwards we took the Metro over to the Musee d'Orsay and were stopped en route by metro workers who were verifying people riding had valid tickets & didn't somehow sneak in. I suspect we were stopped because we were wearing our army green revolutionary jackets.
The Musee d'Orsay primarily houses 19th & early 20th century art, including the largest collection of Impressionists masterpieces. It's also got works of the Neo-Impressionists and Post Impressionists. Their collection is housed in a re-purposed train station, which lends itself to being an art gallery very well.
Chris headed to the restaurant as soon as we arrived and I started viewing the work on the main floor working my way up to the Neo-Impressionist and Post Impressionist galleries. I'm not a big fan of Neo-Impressionism. It's not that I don't think art and science can't coexist on any level, it's just that I don't think they coexist on a level of mastery. I think randomness, spontaneity and art coexist on the highest level of art, and it is because of that belief that I prefer the Impressionists and Post Impressionists.
Meanwhile, the restaurant was closed when Chris first arrived so he found a seat just outside it to wait. While he was waiting he saw a little mouse scurrying about the restaurant and decided that he'd found Ratatoullie.
Let's talk about the Impressionists: Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Degas.... Prior to them art was rigid and basically the more a painting looked like a photograph the better. The subjects were religious, historical, mythological, or portraits of rich folks who could afford to commission portraits of themselves. The daguerreotype was invented in 1839 and by 1860 new processes had been developed to make the use of this early photography popular and attainable. Portraiture in art looked as if it would become obsolete and a group of artists in Paris decided to paint in a different style. They preferred landscapes to portraits and tried to capture the effects of light and movement on subjects. The Academy (Europe's premier art school) was against their movement and many of their paintings were rejected by Salon (the Academy's annual judged art show). One of the first paintings the Academy was in an uproar over was Edouard Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass, created in 1863, because of the juxtaposition of the nude woman with the nicely dressed men. It was probably even more shocking because of it's large size at 81.9 x 104.5 inches. Manet exhibited this painting at the Salon des Refuses, (exhibition of rejects) which was an art show made up of the paintings the original Salon had rejected.
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| The Luncheon on the Grass |
Claude Monet is probably the most famous impressionist because he stayed true to the form, taking it all the way to its logical end with the water lilies series, but this Rouen Cathedral series shows how light, at different times of the day and year, can change a scene and for me (again I'm not an art historian, just a regular girl with an interest in art) this series illustrates how perspectives can also change, if only a person allows different shades to shine in.
The following is my favorite Monet. It's from the Houses of Parliament series, this one is Sun Breaking Through the Fog. I really like it when the sun breaks through the clouds, especially on a summer lake day.
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| Houses of Parliament Sun Breaking Through the Fog |
The Post Impressionists followed the Impressionists. They didn't care as much about the exterior and light but kept with the blurred approach to reality. Cezanne and van Gogh are my favorites in this era. Here's a van Gogh self portrait.
He used thick brush strokes with lots of paint and colors that created a kind of disturbed look about him making you think the painting is more about what's going on inside his head instead of simply reflecting what he looks like in the mirror. Maybe his work was more expressionist than post impressionist. At the very least, he was an expressionism forefather.
Here are few other Van Goghs:
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| Bedroom in Arles |
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| The Church in Auvers |
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| The Siesta |
And then it happened - the TRAVEL MISHAP, Van gogh's most famous painting housed in the Musee d'Orsay was not on display. It just wasn't there and I have no idea why because I didn't ask. I spoke to a lady who confirmed it wasn't on display and honestly the reason why wasn't going to change things so I simply did not see Starry Night Over the Rhone.
As a consolation, here's a Degas sculpture.
We spent our last night canoodling in the same cafe' in which we'd spent our first night canoodling, only now we had army green revolutionary jackets and were made more worldly because of our Paris experience.
Day 6 was a travel home day and before I got on the plane I'd taken a grand total of 49,236 steps in Paris. It's not 50,000 steps but it's close enough for a laid back Parisian.
Au revoir Paris!
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