Art

"The art galleries of Paris contain the finest collection of frames I ever saw."

-Humphrey Davy

And if the frames are fine, the ceilings are magnificent. And if the ceilings are magnificent, the art is breathtaking.

Okay, well most of it and more if it would be if there weren't tons of tourists standing in the way snapping pictures. Seriously, stop taking terrible photos and actually look at the art. I am of the opinion they should ban cameras in museums - the pictures are terrible, the takers are distracting, the crowds clog the flow of traffic, and I don't want to be in your photos. Let me let you in on a little secret - your face in front of a masterpiece does not enhance it. Buy a postcard from the gift shop, buy the collection catalog, look the piece up on wikipedia or the museum websites, savor your memories, but please, please stop taking worthless pictures of priceless pieces. And OMG if you are taking the picture with your cell phone...did you wake up this morning and find yourself mysteriously in Paris?

Getting down off my soapbox...
I think the Louvre is more quantity than quality, but we did visit our three favorite ladies: Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and Mona Lisa. (See how I did that - I shared the art with you without taking ridiculously awful pictures you didn't want to see anyway at the museum while obstructing the view of countless other visitors.)

Next we walked across the courtyard to the Decorative Arts Museum and saw the evolution of design from Art Nouveau to the 21st Century. I especially enjoyed the exhibit on the color red in design.

Then it was through the Tuileries Gardens to my favorite museum in Paris (or anywhere else for that matter).

Musee de l'Orangerie

A museum chosen and designed by Monet to display his paintings "without borders". The museum has two oval rooms, each of which house 4 canvases that spread around the room allowing for a 360 degree view of the Nympheas (or waterlilies paintings). You can virtually visit the museum here. However, I must warn you, viewing these paintings will make you want to buy a plane ticket to Paris immediately. Go ahead and do it; I will meet you there and we can gaze at these magnificent paintings together!

Needing to get the most out of our museum pass, we popped into the Cluny Museum to peek at the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They were beautiful and amazingly well preserved.

Our time in Paris was coming to an end. We visited my favorite bakery Eric Kayser and picked up a few loaves of olive bread for our train picnic. We completed our picnic with the leftover cheeses from the day before and a bottle of French wine. What a lovely way to travel!

Au revoir Paris!

Dawn til Way Past Dusk II

We said goodbye to the islands and hello to Paris shopping sales! And the sales in Paris aren't like a weekly red apple or white sale - these are the twice-a-year, government regulated sales.

The shopping started on the famous Champs-Elysees. The boulevard was still decorated with its beautiful Christmas lights and the sideways overflowed with people. Somehow costume jewelery even seems more elegant when coming out of a Paris department store.
Our walk down the boulevard took us straight to the Arc de Triomphe, where after climbing more steps we were rewarded with a beautiful view of night time Paris. From the roof of the Arc we watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle in all her glory - one of my favorite thing in Paris.

After the sparkle show, we traveled to the Rue de Cler area for dinner at Chez Agnes. The restaurant is a one woman show - she cooks, she serves, she entertains. When we came in she change the pin on her shirt from a French flag to an American rhinestone pin. We started with escargot and a fois gras salad with the house red wine. For dinner, mom enjoyed a delicious lamb chomp and I had a wonderful, moist leg of duck. She wouldn't serve us dessert until we had cleaned our plates; I quickly finished the remaining rice on my plate so I could have apple pie a la mode. The best part about dinner was talking to Agnes, the businessman from Dijon next to us, and watching "Bonnie" the dog. Agnes was very proud of the dog she got from West Virginia and the Christmas ornament from the White House (even though it was Bush's White House).

It was another wonderful day in Paris.

Dawn til Way Past Dusk

Mom and I were in Paris for only 2 and half days, so we had to make the most of the 54 hours. Day two started beautifully - literally - with a gorgeous sunrise and magnificent rainbow.
After picking up croissants from Hilaire ( "where the hotels buy their croissants" according to Rick Steves), we headed to mass at the Notre Dame.
It was nice to be able to walk through the church and appreciate the sheer size of the cathedral before the hoards of tourists descended upon it just hours later. Although, I do have to say the "modernish" nativity did surprise me and felt quite out of place in the medieval building.Yes, there is a flat screen and floating lights in the nativity at the Notre Dame. It had the same tacky effect that a flat screen fire place does in living room; you just wonder, "Why?"

Next we walked down the Seine River to the Orsay Museum, my now second favorite art museum. The building was just as grand and magnificent as I remembered and the paintings even more beautiful. My favorite part of the museum (like most people's, I'm sure) is the impressionist paintings. I love the Monets of the women with the umbrella in the fields and Degas' ballerinas.There was also a temporary exhibit exploring the connection between the Le déjeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet and a series of paintings and sculptures by Pablo Picasso. It displayed the original painting by Manet surrounded by works by Picasso that were inspired by the painting. I found it amazing that one painting could inspire an entire series of work by Picasso.

After the museum we started a walking tour of the historic core of Paris, which included the Ill de la Cite and the Ill St. Louis - the two islands in the center of the Seine River. We began by walking past the booksellers along the river; unfortunately many of them were closed due to the dreary weather.

Along the first part of the walk we visited Pont Neuf, the Latin Quarter, the Concierge (which had a very nice architecture exhibit on Paris' past world exhibitions), and ended up at the Sainte-Chapelle. The chapel, built for Louis IX, is an amazing display of stained-glass windows, tiled floors, and painted walls. The upper chapel is truly breath taking (even the second time).
Next we returned to the Notre Dame to visit the archeological museum under the cathedral and climb the towers to see our favorite gargoyles.
Continuing on to the Ill St.Louis, we picked up a picnic lunch from the cheese shop and bakery. Unfortunately, due to the rain we ate our picnic under the awning of a closed shop. Then we browsed through the shops and boutiques lining the streets of the island, including my favorite kitchen stores that sells goods made by Pylones. We ended the walk with some ice cream (and coffee - our day was far from over) from Berthillon.

Luxembourg Gardens

When Matt and I visited the Luxembourg Gardens last fall they were filled with gorgeous flower beds, joggers, sunbathers, children playing, leaf filled trees, and sunshine - just as was presented in Madeline books you read as a child.
Last week - not so much. The grounds were covered in snow and all the green had disappeared for the winter. But the snow and cold did not deter the groups of old men playing bocce ball and chess in the gardens (in the correct places, of course). And I even got mom to sit in a chair for a minute and pretend she was relaxing in the sun instead of shivering in the cold.

Old men playing Bocce Ball in the gardens

Chess players by the tennis courts

Mom "sunbathing" in the gardens

And on to Paris

I loved Paris the first time; the second time it stole my heart.

We started our trip to Paris with stairs (and a crepe) and I am sure we ended it with stairs.We climbed the hill to Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur - the church on the top of the hill that can be seen from every other vantage point in Paris. The closest Matt and I came to church was the view from the top of the Notre Dame, so I knew it must be my first stop the next time I was in Paris.
















The church was nice, but the view was what made the climb worth the countless stairs.
Next we were bombarded with quick-sketch artists on the way to place du Terte - the old stomping grounds of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Today the square is filled with artists painting countless versions and copies of famous Paris landmarks.
I guess we would have to wait for the "real" art until tomorrow.

Flair

Starting in London, Laura and I began to notice that flair is no longer just a Facebook phenomenon in Europe; flair is also being sold in stores, particularly tourist shops. We haven't really seen people wearing it - yet - but it's certainly available. (Laura also saw flair on sale in Paris earlier this week.)

So we want to know: Is this a European or intercontinental phenomenon? (And for my own information, does anyone know if the use of the term flair to describe novelty buttons was originally coined in Office Space?)

Napoleon's Tomb

While in Paris we visited Les Invalides, the site of Napoleon's tomb. I had planned to write some witty commentary relating the Napoleon complex to the ridiculous size of his sarcophagus - it is big enough for the bodies of Napoleon, his horse, and most of his French army - but Wikipedia indicates it was not chosen in his lifetime.

Napoleon's Sarcophagus

Apparently Napoleon's shortness is also largely a myth, because he was roughly average height for his time - 1.7 meters or 5 feet 7 inches. We saw his old uniform at the tomb and if he was 5'7", then I'm 7'6".

Napoleon's Uniform

Madonna?

While walking the streets of Paris, we happened upon a throng of people patiently waiting around a hotel (Hotel Crillon Place de la Concorde, whose rooms run from ~€500-1500/night). We were of course curious, so we joined them. There was nothing there. So we waited a little while, and nothing happened. So finally I asked someone nearby, and after a couple repeats of his response, I realized what he was saying: "Madonna." Ah, Madonna was at the hotel. (Turns out she had a concert in Paris that night.)

We didn't stay, because we don't really care about seeing Madonna...but it was interesting that we stumbled upon the scene. Someone actually filmed her leaving the hotel, which is available here. (The person doing the filming was shaking because they were "overwhelmed with emotion." Heh.)

People waiting for Madonna

Street Performer in Paris

While waiting in line to get into the Notre Dame - I'm talking about the Notre Dame de Paris (the one with the hunchback), not the University of Notre Dame (hunchback equivalents: Charlie Weis , Jimmy Clausen) - we encountered a particularly entertaining street performer. With all of the people waiting in line making up his captive audience, he donned a mask (which reminds me vaguely of the "mask" Hannibal wore in his Silence of the Lambs escape scene) and proceeded to scare the crap out of passing pedestrians. He would sneak up behind them and hold their hands, or wedge himself between a couple, or wrap his arm around them. They'd turn, see the mask, and go running down the street. The wait was long, so the entertainment was well worth some of our spare change. Below are some pics.

Versailles - Still Avant Garde

As you step into the Chateau de Versailles you expect to see the regal wonder that was avant-garde in its day, with its decadent decor, endless rooms, and beautiful art. It will not disappoint you - until you catch a glimpse of the reflective mylar balloon dog holding court in the center of the Salon of Hercules. Startled, you blink and hope that when you open your eyes again the atrocity will be but just a dream. But, no. There it is a 10 ft tall, fushia balloon dog. You begin to wonder - Is it someone's birthday? It this a joke? Are you having a nightmare?

No, no, no. It is the latest art exhibit on display at the Chateau. Straight to Versailles from New York, New York, it's Jeff Koons. It's art that blends in seamlessly with the elegant rooms at Versailles; art that is harmony with its surroundings; art that adds to the exquisite decor of the Chateau.

Apparently, one of the chandeliers got misplaced from this room - for in its place a lobster is hanging instead.

I am sure the servants working in Versailles would have loved to have had 6 vacuum cleaners at their disposal. Unfortunately, the vacuum cleaner was not invented until 1868 by Ives W. McGaffney; therefore, I think we should remove all vacuum cleaners from Versailles.

While they might have believed in mermaids during the times of Louis XIV, I am not sure if the Pink Panther and Jacques Clouseau had made their debut. Although Jacques Clouseau is French - now I definitely see the connection.

Someone must be having a birthday party in the Hall of Mirrors - how lovely.

Well at least the gold on the statue fits into the decor at Versailles - not so sure about Micheal Jackson and Bubbles.

Oh you know where the inspiration for these turtles came from...

Your childhood video games!

The art even made its way to gardens, the lovely formal gardens of Versailles.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think these pieces of art are nice, even avant garde - perhaps stunning.  It's just that I would have appreciated them (and Versailles) more if they had found a home in the George Pompidou Center, an art museum that has an appreciation for the more modern of art, such as blank white canvases and sculptures made out yesterday's trash.

Oh what I wouldn't give to sit down and have coffee with the curator of this exhibit...

Paris

Since Paris was special and we have 100s of photographs, I decided to do something special for the blog. To see our Paris trip please visit our scrapblog.

Missing our usual commentary? Don't worry. We will be writing about our adventures from Paris, too, over the next few days. We just didn't want to overwhelm Alex with too many posts at once.