Things I’ve discovered about Paris… It smells like urine, the people are mean, and the food is gross. Other things I’ve learned… the style is fantastic, the museums huge, and the architecture priceless. I am loving this experience. Today we got up, had our usual little café breakfast downstairs with the best croissants and nutella ever, good pineapple yogurt, and OJ. The group met, got on the metro, and headed to Saint Chappell which is a stunning church real close to Notre Dame. I remember my art history teacher (shout out to Aunt Cheryl) telling me about how it looks like a jewelry box and it so does! It’s a small chapel, maybe only 50’ long, but the entire walls are filled with this stained glass depicting the bible. It starts in the corner and runs all along the nave, or middle section, to the apse, back part, and along the other side of the nave. It’s incredible how small and detailed the glass gets. All in all there are 15 windows shedding a rainbow of beautiful light into the church. It’s breathtaking really.
We then ventured down the street to the Pompidou Museum, which was designed by Richard Rogers. The entire buildings structure is located on the outside of the building, but after all it is an art museum and meant to be a little different. Architect’s dream. My favorite part was getting to the actual exhibits by an outdoor escalator system. Once you get to the top they have this sexy little café with a water pond floor. The views of Paris were incredible! Ok, so enter the museum and on the wall are these huge, bright, cartoon buttons that tell you what artists work is featured in the museum. Modern art speaks to me. I never really viewed myself as someone who likes bizarre sculptures of wire or a canvas painted only blue, but something just did it for me. I fell in love with art and design all over again. Most people would think, wow, Kylee you like really bizarre things… and truth is, I do. I wish I could begin to describe what I saw in there, but I think pictures will do this crazy museum better justice. In short… I love.
For lunch I headed over to a cute little creperie stand for my first French crepe. What do I order, sucre (sugar), of course! I had to try it to compare it to my grandmother’s Danish pancakes, hands down grandma wins. It was good; don’t get me wrong, just not as sweet as I thought it would be. Megan gave me some of hers which was egg, cheese, and ham. Pretty appetizing considering it was an odd crepe combo.
Next we walked on our way to the Louvre, only we had to take a garden detour because it had a cool statue, see above. I was so excited to get to the museum I just didn’t even care to take many pictures on the way. We also stopped by this old building with a completely metal organic façade. It was odd to see the juxtaposition of that building so close to the Louvre which is so classic French. Anyway, after all the anxiety we built up by taking side trips we finally arrived in the courtyard. The building is HUGE! When you walk through the arch and see the giant pyramid by I.M. Pei you can’t help but cry a little inside. It’s everything you could’ve ever hoped for, everything you could imagine. The pyramid is so gorgeous. The water ponds below reflect off the glass and make shapes upon the original building’s walls. You can’t help but feel the magic of design and beauty engulfing the space. I finally entered and was so overwhelmed by how large it is. We decided the best thing to do was go through the art by age, little did I know that 6 hours later we’d barely scratched the surface. We all know how much I love art, but I was bound and determined to get to every piece of work no matter how long or tired I was. Mission accomplished. The Louvre and I got into a battle; it and its 14 miles kicked my trash. The pieces of art were timeless and I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing these masterpieces for myself. I saw priceless things like the Mona Lisa, The Madonna on the Rocks, Delacroix’s works, Nike of Samothrace, and the Venus de Milo. All of these deal with women, mostly naked, and I just realized that. Moving on to why all these works are so famous…the human body is beautiful, no matter what form the art is in. I feel honored to have been there. One day I’ll go back and stand at every picture and truly study the beauty of it. For now I just had to do what I could to see everything.
Megan, Susie, Michelle, Ashley, and I decided to then get some grub after we were completely drained and exhausted; food is always the best pick me up, no battle. Megan knew of this good crepe place where they make the crepe in front of you on a circle griddle. I shared an omelet with Ashley. It was divine. After this because we were already on Champs D’ Elysse we headed to the Arc de Triumphe. Due to the fact that I was past my limits with moving my body, the sound of hiking up more stairs for a view of Paris was appealing. Regardless, making it to the top felt like a triumph. It wasn’t that high but it was beautiful and great to see how large the city was.
We then had to book it to the Eiffel Tower before they closed it. What happens we’re late and ta-da, closed. Bummer. Off to my bed where me and Charley will be hanging out… and by Charley I mean the horse.
We then ventured down the street to the Pompidou Museum, which was designed by Richard Rogers. The entire buildings structure is located on the outside of the building, but after all it is an art museum and meant to be a little different. Architect’s dream. My favorite part was getting to the actual exhibits by an outdoor escalator system. Once you get to the top they have this sexy little café with a water pond floor. The views of Paris were incredible! Ok, so enter the museum and on the wall are these huge, bright, cartoon buttons that tell you what artists work is featured in the museum. Modern art speaks to me. I never really viewed myself as someone who likes bizarre sculptures of wire or a canvas painted only blue, but something just did it for me. I fell in love with art and design all over again. Most people would think, wow, Kylee you like really bizarre things… and truth is, I do. I wish I could begin to describe what I saw in there, but I think pictures will do this crazy museum better justice. In short… I love.
For lunch I headed over to a cute little creperie stand for my first French crepe. What do I order, sucre (sugar), of course! I had to try it to compare it to my grandmother’s Danish pancakes, hands down grandma wins. It was good; don’t get me wrong, just not as sweet as I thought it would be. Megan gave me some of hers which was egg, cheese, and ham. Pretty appetizing considering it was an odd crepe combo.
Next we walked on our way to the Louvre, only we had to take a garden detour because it had a cool statue, see above. I was so excited to get to the museum I just didn’t even care to take many pictures on the way. We also stopped by this old building with a completely metal organic façade. It was odd to see the juxtaposition of that building so close to the Louvre which is so classic French. Anyway, after all the anxiety we built up by taking side trips we finally arrived in the courtyard. The building is HUGE! When you walk through the arch and see the giant pyramid by I.M. Pei you can’t help but cry a little inside. It’s everything you could’ve ever hoped for, everything you could imagine. The pyramid is so gorgeous. The water ponds below reflect off the glass and make shapes upon the original building’s walls. You can’t help but feel the magic of design and beauty engulfing the space. I finally entered and was so overwhelmed by how large it is. We decided the best thing to do was go through the art by age, little did I know that 6 hours later we’d barely scratched the surface. We all know how much I love art, but I was bound and determined to get to every piece of work no matter how long or tired I was. Mission accomplished. The Louvre and I got into a battle; it and its 14 miles kicked my trash. The pieces of art were timeless and I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing these masterpieces for myself. I saw priceless things like the Mona Lisa, The Madonna on the Rocks, Delacroix’s works, Nike of Samothrace, and the Venus de Milo. All of these deal with women, mostly naked, and I just realized that. Moving on to why all these works are so famous…the human body is beautiful, no matter what form the art is in. I feel honored to have been there. One day I’ll go back and stand at every picture and truly study the beauty of it. For now I just had to do what I could to see everything.
Megan, Susie, Michelle, Ashley, and I decided to then get some grub after we were completely drained and exhausted; food is always the best pick me up, no battle. Megan knew of this good crepe place where they make the crepe in front of you on a circle griddle. I shared an omelet with Ashley. It was divine. After this because we were already on Champs D’ Elysse we headed to the Arc de Triumphe. Due to the fact that I was past my limits with moving my body, the sound of hiking up more stairs for a view of Paris was appealing. Regardless, making it to the top felt like a triumph. It wasn’t that high but it was beautiful and great to see how large the city was.
We then had to book it to the Eiffel Tower before they closed it. What happens we’re late and ta-da, closed. Bummer. Off to my bed where me and Charley will be hanging out… and by Charley I mean the horse.
I tried to get more photos of me and not objects... not a good idea.
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