I went to Paris and left my camera in London

The past four days I went to Paris with the group here. We left at the crack of dawn, ok not really, and made our way to St. Pancras Station and hopped on the EuroStar to Paris, that's the train that goes through the chunnel. The train ride was about two hours. 

Chartres

Once we got to Paris we jumped on a coach and headed out to Chartres. Chartres has one of the world's most famous cathedrals. It has the longest nave of all medieval churches. And it was huge. A nice british man was there to talk to us about the cathedral, he had been doing so for the last 52 years. He spoke into a little microphone and we wore headsets and listened. The earphones hurt my little ears and the church was freezing. But it was pretty to look at and the stain glass windows are huge and intricate. There's a relic in the back, it is supposedly a piece robe that Mary wore when she gave birth to Jesus. Its tiny and in a huge glass box behind a velvet rope so I couldn't really see it.

Dinner and Eiffel Tower

Once we got back to Paris we checked into our Hotel. I was hotel buddies with Allyson, and we only had one bed- I think that was a mistake. But we had a good time. Nearly immediately after checking in we headed out for dinner. A whole bunch of girls ended up at an Italian place with delicious food. The Italian men loved us pretty american girls. After food we eventually found our way to the Eiffel tower ( London Underground far superior to French Metro). It was dark and the tower was all lite up. We wandered underneath and out to the park in front of it to take pictures.

[ can can ]

Once we were leaving these two Spanish/Portuguese boys came up to us saying they could tell we were American and tried to chat us up hardcore. This is the first instance of being hit on in France.

[ french guy ]
 After that encounter we went across the street along the Seine and ate a crepe while riding on a carousel. It was pretty much amazing. Then we went home and slept in big beds.

[ carousal ]

Versailles

The next morning the whole group, after waiting around a lot on train platforms, made it out to Versailles. I've been to Versailles before but the gardens were closed (it was December) so this experience was especially nice. ( It was sixty and sunny in France the whole time we were there) I went through the house with the same girls I hung out with the night previous.

[ versailles steps ]

Caitlin and I have the new habit of talking in accents and at Versailles we named our characters. First there is Iris and Joan, they're from Minnetonka, Minnesota. Then there is Lyla and Barbera Sue, one from Dallis the other from San Antonio but they get together for lunch all the time. We spent most the time being from Texas. It was really fun to play loud obnoxious Americans vacationing in France. I hope no real Texans heard us. 

After going through the fancy palace we headed out to the gardens and got paninis and sat and marveled at the landscape, soaked in the sun and fed our ever unsatisfied stomachs.

[ versailles gates ]

Moufftard and Champs Ellyses 

After that pleasantness we headed back into Paris and went to Moufftard which is like the Portobello Road of Paris. We wandered through some market stalls and little shops. We stopped at Nicholson's Chocolate and I got a bag of little chocolates, which I have-with great self control- have not eaten all of it yet. At the end of the street was our main event. There is a little Italian ice cream shop with the tastiest ice cream ever, but that's not it, they scoop it to look like a flower on your cone. Pretty and delicious.

[ flower ice cream ]

Then we went from that quaint little market street to Champs Elyses- the high end fashion shopping street. There we perused shops full of things I will never be able to afford or even really want to for that matter. Then at the end of the street was the Arc de Triompf.

[ arc]

We hiked up the three hundred some stairs to the top and looked all across Paris's skyline. We sat up there for quite a while to make the hike all the more worthwhile.

[ top of the arc ]

 After the arc we went and got dinner at this little French place and I got a hotdog. It was the fanciest hot dog ever. It was on a baggette and it had fancy cheese melted on top of it and it was delicious. Dinner ended and after some more shop perusing we headed back to the hotel kinda making it a short night. But once back I took a bubble bath while listening to French music. Then Allyson got home and we went to the bar in the hotel for some cocktails. Alcohol free mom. The French barman gave us lots of free snacks too. 

Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle 

The next morning the group gathered and ventured over to the island, yes there is an island in the middle of the Seine I've been to Paris and didn't know this, where Notre Dame rests (please do not call it Norter Dame like the people from Indiana do).

[ calvin and i like to ruin caitlin's pictures ]

The inside of the church is rather similar to all the other gothic churches around but what is cool is getting to stand on the tops of the towers. It was quite the climb up there though, 300 something steps. We got to walk all the way around, we were fenced in on all sides including above us as to not jump off and kill our selves. The gargoyles are just like in the Hunchback movie, except these ones didn't come to life, although they looked like they could.

[ top of notre dame ]

 Once we got around to the middle of the tower we got to go up to where one of the bells is housed and touch it. Its a pretty big bell. I'm glad it didn't ring while I was in there. The view from up top was gorgeous because the church sits right on the river. 

Once we finished we walked over to Saint Chapelle, another really famous church. On the way to the church I stopped and bought a beret, my French souvenir. Its grey, I didn't actually wear it in Paris so I wouldn't look too touristy. Now of course Saint Chapelle was under construction when we got there. Only a little portion of the nave was open to the public. At the church you enter the lobby and then off in the corner you go up a little spiral staircase and it opens up into the nave. The walls consist nearly entirely of stained glass. Its an architectual feat. What holds up the walls? Flying buttresses that's what does. That art history degree isn't going to waste.

[ windows in saint chapelle]
It was a sunny day so the light through the glass lite the entire space with all sorts of colors. Another neat thing is that the walls and ceilings are painted, just like they would have been back in the day. Most churches these days just keep the bare stone where the paint has worn off so seeing this was pretty awesome. The ceiling was bright blue with little stars. I'm just so accustomed to seeing white limestone or marble. 

Monmarted and Sacre Couer

That afternoon we hiked, literally up a bajillion stairs, to the top of the hill in Monmarted (a part of Paris) where the church called Sacre Couer sits. It is the coolest looking church. It looks like the mix of some middle eastern temple and a French gothic church. And being up on top of a hill makes it that much more awe inspiring.

[ sacre couer]

The inside was just as gorgeous. There is a huge apse painting of Christ. Easily a restoration from the twentieth century but still a great piece. It was so spacious inside. It rivals with St. Paul's. But St. Paul's has a much better dome. After leaving the church we wandered down the other side of the hill and through a market shop. I ate a crepe. I had I think two crepes a day. From that point we made a quick pit stop at the Pompidou.

[ me pushing cameron out of my picture ]

It's a modern art museum but we didn't go inside, mostly because the building itself is the coolest part. The building is inside out. All the pipes, air ducts and mechanics are on the outside. Plus I learned about it in my architecture class so it was a must.

[ the pompidou ]

When we were there this asian dude came up to Calvin and said you have a funny face can I draw it? It was a charicature man. So he drew Calvin like king kong climbing the Eiffel Tower. The dude was hilarious plus he gave Calvin a mullet. Calvin did not buy the picture. 

the Louvre

[ louvre with caitlin ]

So going through the Louvre was pretty fun. All the people that were with me, Brit, Cameron, Calvin and Caitlin immediately made me their tour guide and said show us what's good. Luckily I could still actually remember some things from the last time I was there. I grabbed a map and only got us lost once. It is THE most complicated museum floorplan I've ever been in. Not going to lie I loved the attention from the crew. It was really fun to lead them to each piece and teach them a thing or two about it.

[ me waving the crew over to teach them about caryatids ]

 At each stop Cameron and Calvin would ask, Why is this famous? And being an art history major I could either tell them why or make it up and like I know why. It was great. We saw Michelangelo's Dying Slaves, Venis de Milo, Winged Victory, the Code of Hammorabi, Estrucan Couple Sarcophagus, Reclining Hermaphrodite (hilarious), of course Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Madonna on the Rocks,

[ my mona lisa smile]

Delacroix's Liberty Leading her People and the Death of Sardanapolis, and countless Raphael's. So I basically gave them a highlights tour of the Louvre and of pieces I could really talk about. I loved it. It was a testament that I want to work for a museum.

Dinner and a Boat Cruise

As we were rounding off the Renaissance Hall in the Louvre we ran into a few of the other girls and we all went to dinner together. I ordered something in French that I didn't know what it was. Luckily it turned out to be quite tasty. It was some sort of cooked meat, most likely pork but maybe veal? Marinated in something lemony. Then there were noodles in a creamy sauce. It was delightful. It's a good thing I know what snails is in French so I knew not to order that. After dinner we split off, boys and girls. The girls headed back to the Eiffel Tower and hopped on a boat for a cruise down the Seine. It was pleasant and pretty and all lite up. Unfortunately there were some obnoxious kids from Canada behind us. Stupid tourists. We got off the cruise and got another crepe and then went home and had a good sleep. 

Musee d'Orsay

Best museum ever. We got there right as it opened so the first hour there wasn't really anyone there. The museum was put inside an old train station so the building has huge arc shaped windows and a really high barrel vault ceiling. This lets in a ton of light and with a mostly white interior the place glows. There is still the giant clock on the wall that all train stations have. The museum houses 19th and 20th century art which is my favorite. I have a map from the place covered in notes of artwork I loved and new artwork I found. There were some new names and same really famous. There is an entire room of Degas's ballerinas, one of Monet's lilies,  and one of Renoir's portraits. Some really key works were there too. Luncheon of the Grass by Manet, we spent two weeks on this one piece in my thesis class. Manet's Olympia is there too, which was much more painterly looking that I had assumed. There was a self portrait of Van Gogh, the uninjured one. There was an entire exhibit of Hector Guimard's furniture, that's right Mr. Paul Anderson. But by this point there were tons of people inside and I got really frustrated and I can't look at art all angry like. 

Orangerie, Cafe and Musee Rodin

After getting completely turned around Brit and I made our way to the Orangerie. A tiny little museum on the same plot of land as the Louvre. We really only went there to see one thing. There's a white oval room that has its entire wall plastered with Monet's lilies. It was pretty and then we left. 

We walked across the street and went into the first cafe we found cause we were starving. It was an open front cafe, meaning no front wall so we could people watch. I had an omelette du fromage avec jambon. No kidding that's what I got and it was tres bon. Upon exiting the cafe I ran into someone I knew. In Paris. Weird I know. It was Ann Frances. She's an art history major. She and her husband just made their own spring break and came to Paris. We chatted a bit. I felt really cool. 

Next was the Musee Rodin. And if you know anything in French than you know that means the Rodin Museum. It was what I expected. It was better. It was a garden with his statues placed all around it. It was very scenic and pretty. As we were pondering with the thinker, Brit struck up a conversation with professors from BYU I. Mormons are like magnets, they are always drawn together. Its funny how easy it is to pick out Americans, especially Idahoans. 

There Brit and I did become confounded. Inside the Hotel (which means big house) Rodin's the Kiss was in there, but the Tate Modern here in London has Rodin's the Kiss. We saw both of them with our own eyes and now someone has got some e'splaining to do. 

The Paris Opera House and the Pantheon

Our final afternoon in Paris consisted of architecture. The Pantheon was a really cool building that was really freezing inside. Nothing too spectacular to report back. But the Paris Opera House was amazing. Now if you have heard of a little story called the Phantom of the Opera then you know this place. This is the Phantom's playground. And if you have seen the most recent movie, this is where the entire thing was filmed. So I walked down the grand staircase singing Mascaraed, I found the Phantom's box-number 5, I danced down one of the ballrooms and searched for a secret door but didn't actually find one. And there is actually a river underneath the Opera house just like in the story, we asked (flirted) to go down there but the guide man said  only firemen are allowed down there cause its so dangerous. Yeah right, the phantom probably paid him off to say that. The building was gorgeous of course. Gold filigry and mirrors everywhere. I kept expecting it to be the phantom and not my reflection. The opera house was probably my favorite building in France. 

After that brit and I headed back to the train station where we met up with the whole group and rode the train back to London. It was good to come home. 

[Second half of the blog related pictures are on brit's camera still, check back in a little while and see them when I post them]