Monday 28 December 2015

Paris

 
 To be honest, I've been a bit stuck on what to write about Europe, I mean, what can you say that hasn't been said more eloquently and artistically by someone with actual writing chops? This goes a thousand times over for Paris - a place which haunted blokes like Hemingway, who has been known to turn out a decent sentence or two.

So, Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower, we went to the Arc d'Triomphe.

We went to the Louvre where we marveled over the genius of Leonardo di Vinci, among others. Though it remains ridiculously difficult to get anywhere near the Mona Lisa, there is less trouble with his other works. One of my favourite parts of the Louvre is the classical sculptures area, which is in a huge, airy hall between several wings of the building. I just love how there's all these reaching, yearning Greek heroes, tragic figures in their own isolated story, but right next to one another. Plus it tends to be peaceful and quiet, which is not easy at a Parisian tourist attraction.

We saw a fashion/ ad shoot happening on the banks of the Seine and stopped to sticky beak for a bit while a female and male model walked endlessly one step towards each other and she kept trying to keep her hair from going flat in the breeze. We went to Notre Dame and stood in a queue with hundreds of other tourists before finally making it inside, where there were hundreds of other tourists to the point that you could hardly move and certainly couldn't appreciate anything peaceful or sacred about the space.

I found a walking tour online about Montmatre, so we headed up there and wandered around. Sacre Coeur is absolutely stunning inside but although I have been there before I never remember because you're not allowed to take photos. So devastating. The artworks inside are mostly mosaics of absolutely stunning colour and delicacy. Maybe Google Images can help you out on that one.

We went to L'Orangerie, which I hadn't been to before, and which Monet specifically designed for exhibiting several rooms worth of his Water Lilies series. Despite the fact that it (like everywhere else in Paris in early April) was teeming with people, it also had a lovely sense of calm.

We also ate many macaroons and chocolate croissants and other French-y deliciousness. So there you go. Paris.

P.S. The first set of photos comes from the Catacombs, where Fiona and Will went but I did not, due to needs for sleeps and introvert time, plus I knew I'd get the idea from Will's photos. Which I did.















 

























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