Kow Tails: so it has been a few days

The day began with a quick little train ride, bus ride, and walk to Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye. So… for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s his self proclaimed best work because it covers his five values of architecture, one of them being a free floating façade which he accomplishes with a large horizontal level raise by simple white posts. He also heavily believed in simple style and rooftop gardens. My favorite architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, despised architects like Corbusier and referred to them as ‘glass box boys.’ I find this to be interesting because FLW used many of the same design principles such as long horizontal bands and use of nature completing the design. Needless to say I loved his spiral staircase and rooftop gardens, but I mostly loved the master bedroom’s bathroom which posed a tub with a side tiled seat. It was totally rad and modern. I loved that we walked through a little grove and there was this architectural giant in the middle of nowhere. I filmed the design because I couldn’t resist not referring to it later on for studio work. We had the opportunity to sit and sketch the house; you’d be surprised how hard a simple building was for me to draw. Ridiculous. We proceeded to the train for our ride back to Paris.
One of the best dining experiences I’ve had came next. We rode the elevator up to the 5th floor to Kong, a chic restaurant designed by Philippe Stark (designer of my favorite chair, that’ll come soon). I loved the elevator menu which had a graphic video of an elevator zooming up and down and opening to pictures of each floor. Little things like this make a huge difference in the appeal of a space. Our waiter promptly greeted us and we sat down in nothing less than my favorite chair, the ghost chair. Now you may be saying, what the heck is that let me describe its grandeur. Stark takes a classic oval back chair, turns it into a plastic mold, and then the appeal… turns it translucent. Sexiest piece of furniture. Look it up. Not only was it beautiful but so comfortable! Refer to my picture for further details. The chairs had these women’s’ faces in the middle, there was cool little lamps on the table, leather seating, a Japanese woman pictured on the ceiling, and incredible views of the river. Not only was the design cool but the food was incredible. Best food I’ve had in Paris, sorry crepes and croissants, you’re overrated. I ordered a salad with fruit; the mixture was so different and delicious. Melon, apple, orange, pepper, and tomatoes. SO good… and expensive.
I, Susie, Ashley, and Megan headed over to Notre Dame while everyone else went to the museum. The interiors were so beautiful, stained glass everywhere, rib vaulted ceilings galore, and an incredible dome. Our trip was quick due to the fact that they were closing, unfortunate.
We proceeded to meet up with everyone else at the Musee D’Orsay which is a smaller version of the Louvre. It held incredible paintings by Van Gogh, Mary Cassat, Renoir, Rodin, Monet, Manet, and so many more. They even had sketches and pastels that blew my mind; it was so simple and elegant that I can’t figure out why I can’t produce artwork like that. Then I realize I don’t have that gift imbedded in my system. Maybe I should consider an art major? Jokes.
We left Susie and Megan at the museum to wander some more, while Michelle, Ashley, and I had an agenda to meet at the Eiffel Tower. After two nights of attempting to get up the iron we were going to do everything we could to get there. After twelve metro transfers and 80 stops, we walked up to an hour long line realizing that we only have ten minutes before they closed the top level. Disappointed we stayed in line to at least get an experience, and that it was. As soon as we rode the elevator to the second level, lighting started to appear in the distant sky. We thought sweet, we can get some sick pictures, oh no two seconds later a tempest arrived with horrendous winds, floods from the heavens, and lightning close. So there I was standing with my camera, money, and everything else in the pouring rain. Naturally everyone started screaming and squatting for cover. Due to the fact that I had a skirt on, I had to stand and shelter my fellow mates. Not pleasant. Some ran into the gift shop, we got that memo far too late. I had to hope the fence and get covered. No way I was gonna pull my camera back out of my bag now. The security guards wouldn’t let us up to the top level, or down because the stairs and elevators were closed. Naturally this would happen to us. Stuck on the Eiffel tower in a tempest (That’s what our worker called it). Finally we got into an elevator for the ride down and the doors wouldn’t open up because of the wind pressure. So here I was trapped in an elevator for about 20 minutes with a huge group of black women from Maryland. Famous quotes from them during this time…
“Is that a baby dinosaur?” referring to a child screaming. “Jurassic Park Paris!”
Me, “no, it’s a baby.” Lady, “oh it’s not even the baby, that’s a big baby.”
Also… trying to get the rest of their posse all on the train, “Lisa, Lisa! Help Lisa!”
Other woman, “I can’t help the sister!”
Needless to say you needed to be there to experience this marvelous moment in my life. Hilarious. We finally got down to a deserted ground and walked cold, wet, and miserable back to the hotel. Quite the time we had. Experiences all over the place.