Paris has long been my city... I mean that in the sense that I have been obsessed with Paris and French culture since I could remember. Having studied French since the 10th grade and not putting my French to use was always a hard thing for me, but since I am now on this side of the world, going to France is easy and realistic. It's also fun to force myself to speak and understand the language. It makes me happy when I can carry a conversation!
Rach has been to Paris many times, but agreed to come along. In early March, we set off for three fantastic days in Paris. We stayed at this CUTE hotel named Hotel Allegro Paris. It had been recently remodeled and looked quite posh. We loved it! Again, our luck worked for us as this hotel was located along the 1 Metro (which is where every touristic spot is located, basically).
Rach was a sport and came along to the Louvre. I had seen only a small portion of it on my last Paris trip and loved revisiting it. My only real disappointment is that Madonna of the Rocks (which I completely missed last time) was on loan to the DaVinci exhibit at the National Gallery... in London. Go figure. I also saw Venus de Milo for the first time, or, as Michael likes to call her "The Naked Lady with No Arms." Studying in my program at school really has me thinking about the paradox of low-brow v. high-brow art, and what Walter Benjamin refers to as "the loss of aura" of an art work. As these pieces are housed in the Louvre, they are exposed to people from all corners of the world. There's a lot of theory to consider in that argument, but it was so interesting to visit one of the greatest museums in the world with that knowledge. It was insane to see people walk past a piece of art and not even realize what they were looking at!!! Every time someone did something like that, I wanted to pull them by the arm back to the piece and explain to them what was in front of their eyes. Ungrateful tourists...
We were also able to visit Musee de l'Orangerie which houses several of Monet's best. I had seen Monets in the past, but never so many under one roof. I about fell over. I was in impressionist heaven. We did a few other touristy things like hanging out in the Jardin des Tuileries, shopping along Champs d'Elysees, eating baguettes, visiting the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and the Opera Garnier. I ABSOLUTELY love theatres. I love sitting in theatres and visiting when a show is not going on. Visiting the Opera house was fun, but also disappointing because I missed out on seeing the auditorium... again. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Euro Disney. I believe I'm just missing Asia now...
Again... I really need to stop relying on Rach to serve as my photographer. She also has the best Paris photos, but here are a few shots detailing my love affair with Paris.
cutest hotel room of all time
Winged Victory as gorgeous as ever
The Grand Gallery in the Denon Wing
There she is again!
No words. AMAZING.
The naked lady with no arms!
Eros & Psyche
I need this, s'il vous plait.
GORGEOUS. I love, love, LOVE the Louvre and the history behind it all.
Rach inside the Napoleonic Apartments in the Richelieu Wing.
Taking a bit of a break at the Jardin de Tuileries.
Musee de l'Orangerie.
We named this Michael and Alex. Ask me if I remember it's real name or who painted it? I do not.
LOVED this shot. I took this outside Musee de l'Orangerie looking out to Place de la Concorde.
A compilation of a gorgeous day spent in Paris.
Hilarious really. Since when is Big Thunder Mountain so thrilling? Or terrifying (in Racheal's case)?
Worst photo ever? Yes. Are we great at this? Yes again.
Beauty!
The light show
Opera Garnier. It is such an amazing theatre house.
No wonder Andrew Lloyd Weber found so much inspiration here!
As close as I got to Notre Dame. No way in HELL was I going to climb to the top again... Maybe next time and if it is absolutely the first thing I do. This was taken at the end of day 3... by that point, I was pretty much dead.
More to come!
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