Paris, Je t'aime

I know, I know, I know, it's been FOREVER since I have written! Paris kept us so busy, zooming around the city trying to see as much as possible in five days. I also did not bring my own computer and I entirely indebted to Leanne for letting me use hers so often. Way to think that through, Reeves.

We are now in Beaune, a town in Burgundy, France, and I have some nice down-time to update the blog before our next excursion.

The instant we arrived in Paris last Sunday, everyone fell in love with the place. The city is truly unparalleled in its beauty and divine in atmosphere. New York and London are fantastic and everything, but life is so hectic there while everyone in Paris is at their leisure and actually tasting their coffee instead of gulping it down from a Starbucks or Nero to-go cup. And Madrid, well, I love Madrid, but pobrecita, it's just not as guapa ou jolie as Paris.

I think since this is going to be a massive post I will have to structure by day. So here we go. Ahem.

Sunday soir (evening): We went to this really cool restaurant on the Ile san Louis that was medieval-themed. They brought out giant baskets of raw vegetables: enormous tomatoes, peppers, as well as radishes and carrots that had literally just been pulled out of the ground. Then we had pate and French bread, followed by delicious beef kebabs, prepared medium-rare. After the main course they brought a cheese plate with Camembert, brie, and others that I did not know. But the brie. Oh, the brie. It was warm, rich, and melting onto the French bread. Jessica Ryan Goodman, you would have died of happiness. The amazing chocolate mousse for dessert was just...parfait. In accordance with medieval tradition, we were given ceramic pitchers and were invited enjoy continuous refills of red wine from southern France which were being dispensed in vats by the kitchen. It was a jolly dinner to say the least. After dinner, Patrick, Justin, and Will Adams and I met my roommate Lizzie Myers and our friend Philip Devereaux-Demetriad for drinks in the Latin Quarter. Philip is studying in Paris for the semester, and is already so Parisian in nature that he fits right in, and Lizzie is studying in Aix-en-Provence for the semester and was in Paris for the weekend. I ordered a kir royale to celebrate our first night in Paris, and at 1:30 in the morning we left the cafe and returned to our hotel.

Jour (day) 1: We visited Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle on the Ile de la Cite in the morning. Stevens marched us around the back side of the iconic cathedral so that we could see some of its most gorgeous views. On the way, we crossed over a bridge with hundreds of little ribbons and padlocks where lovers come to "lock" their affection forever. Tres mignon, no? Anyway, the soaring flying buttresses of Notre Dame were beautiful from our vantage point. We walked around to the facade and considered the verticality of the Gothic architecture before entering the cathedral and walking around as the clergy was conducting Mass. The music and candles made such a difference as we were exploring the side aisles, ambulatory, and radiating chapels. Our next destination was Sainte-Chapelle, a reliquary chapel built by King Louis IX to house his relic, a piece of the crown of thorns. I love this building. The walls are practically made of stained glass and whatever stone buttressing there is is painted over in deep reds and blues. The ceiling is dark blue with glimmering stars representing heaven. The rich colors and translucency of the building makes me feel as though I'm standing in a jewelry box. After Sainte-Chapelle we were given the afternoon free, so I went to lunch with Philip in the Latin Quarter. Afterwards, Joanna and I went to the Opera Garnier, a beautiful Baroque building with a dome painted by Marc Chagall. It was one of my favorite places that I visited with Mom and Dad in 2006. Unfortunately, the opera house closed early on Sunday so when Joanna and I approached to see the Chagall dome we were turned away with a brusque "se firme." Disappointed, Joanna and I decided to try out the Centre Pompidou, the large museum of modern and contemporary art in Paris. I'm not normally a huge fan of contemporary art, but every so often I like to give it another chance to see if I can discern any meaning or talent in it whatsoever. Well, this proved to be a fantastic failure. After being assured that we would be granted a student discount by the man at the information desk, Joanna and I waited in an extremely long line that folded upon itself again and again in the crowded lobby. When we finally reached the ticket counter and presented our international student ID cards, we were matter-of-factly informed that only European Union students receive student discounts. Not Americans. My eyebrow raised uncontrollably, I slapped down nine euro and said "merci" with an extra throatiness hoping he understood my frustration with that ridiculous rule. The Centre Pompidou is a very ugly exoskeletal building and it's galleries are not very well-marked. After ascending five escalators through tubes on the outside of the building, Joanna and I finally reached the first floor exhibitions of contemporary. We saw videos of naked men and women doing nothing but moving "artistically" and some one was creative enough to hang white clothing against the white wall on a cord and call it art. I call that laundry. We spent nearly an hour scouring that floor trying to find work by Picasso and Kandinsky, as well as other modern artists, before we finally realized that it was showcased on the next floor up. By that point, both of us were so incensed at the pointlessness of modern art that we could barely enjoy a half hour surrounded by Picasso's, Braque's, and Kandinsky's work. I haven't disliked a museum since I was a bored pre-teen.

Jour 2: The Louvre. We went to a gallery where we studied medieval objets d'art like Gothic statuettes of the Virgin and Child as well as chalices and reliquaries. Afterwards, we saw a couple lovely examples of northern Renaissance painting by Jan van Eyck, Hans Holbein, and Albrecht Durer, followed by a visit to see Michelanglo's "Dying Slave" and Canova's "Cupid and Psyche" to see the traditions of Italian Renaissance sculpture. We were dismissed for the afternoon and Joanna and I wove our way through the enormous crowd clamoring for the smallest glimpse of the Mona Lisa, and directed our path through the Italian painting corridor ending in the Spanish painting gallery. On the way we passed the magnificent Gericault painting "Raft of the Medusa" which is one of the most impressive pieces in the collection, and ended our visit to the Louvre with Ribera, el Greco, and Murillo. We finally ascended the escalators in the lobby that deposited us outside of I.M. Pei's simple, yet lovely glass pyramid (an example of contemporary architecture that I actually like). Joanna, Mary Frances and I bought a picnic lunch which we ate in the Jardines Tuileries. From there it was a long but very straight walk across the Jardines Tuileries, across Place de la Concorde, all the way down the Champs Elysees to L'Arc de Triomphe. As we walked, we watched the Champs Elysees turn from parkland into the bustling, fashionable strip of designer shops and expensive cafes for which it is so famous. Our feet were about to fall off by the time we reached L'Arc de Triomphe so we hopped on the metro for a quick ride back to our hotel off of Rue Rivoli.

Jour 3: Chartres. We left Paris early on Tuesday morning for a day trip to study the Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame. This cathedral was consecrated to the Virgin Mary long before the famous edifice in Paris. We were lectured to by Malcolm Miller, a British enthusiast of the cathedral. Indeed, he has been studying Chartres cathedral for almost fifty years or so and referenced his own book on the subject as he explained the stained glass windows, sculpture and the concept of exegesis. The philosophy of exegesis was to connect stories from the Old Testament to those in the New Testament like how the story of the Good Samaritan is reflective of Christ saving humankind from sins on earth. We returned to Paris in time for dinner, so Leanne and I grabbed a falafel nearby the hotel. I think packed up my journal, gluestick, scissors, and pens and walked to the Place de Vosge where I happened upon Cafe Hugo where Mom and Dad and I ate lunch after visiting the Musee Picasso on my seventeenth birthday! I ordered a kir and wrote my daily journal while listening to a cackling laugh of a woman across the restaurant and cast amused glances at the young Parisian couple making out at a sidewalk table of the cafe. Tres Francais.

Jour 4: Our only group visit this day was to the Musee de Cluny where we saw Visigothic votive crowns exactly like the ones that I saw in Toledo, Spain. In fact, they were from the same archaeological find. We also looked at examples of northern sculptures of carved wood, which are much more rigid and static than the expressive Italian sculptures of Michelangelo and Canova that we saw in the Louvre. We also saw the beautiful tapestry series of the Lady and the Unicorn. These were commissioned by a French nobleman for his daughter's marriage. Five of the six symbolize the five senses and the last represents the young lady setting aside her vanity for her moral integrity. Fun fact: unicorns represent chastity and purity. After the Musee de Cluny, Stevens walked us over to the Luxembourg gardens where we bought crepes and sat in view of the de Medici palace and the fountains. The Luxembourg gardens are something like 40 acres, partially wooded and partially elegantly designed in the typically French style of landscape. From there we walked to the Musee d'Orsay, one of my favorite museums in the world, where we saw ballet dancers by Degas, landscapes by van Gogh, and Olympia by Manet, among many other beautiful Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. I had not yet been to the Musee Rodin, so that was next on the agenda. Auguste Rodin is one of my favorite sculptors, perhaps because he captures the movement and fluidity of Michelangelo but amps up the passion. We saw his most renowned work, "The Thinker," as well as "The Three Shades," and another one of my sculptures, "The Waltz," by his student Camille Claudel. The museum is set in Rodin's old Paris mansion and gardens on Rue Varenne near the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides. It is a gorgeous and personal museum, comparable to the Sorolla museum in Madrid in the sense that as well as seeing the artist's works, you can to imagine his domestic life. It was a gorgeous museum, definitely equal to the d'Orsay and Sorolla on my list of favorites. We walked all the way back from Rue Varenne to our hostel near the Bastille via Saint-Germain de Pres (Champs Elysees of the left bank) and Rue Seine, stopping along the way at the famous Laduree shop on Rue Jacob for a delectable caramel macaroon. Stevens took our group to dinner at a cute little seafood restaurant next to the Seine for salad, fish, and chocolate torte. It was such a busy day that I had no time to pack or journal, so I spent my last night in Paris scribbling and folding. Don't worry, Paris, I'll be back before you know it!

Yesterday: It was up-and-at-'em to catch our 8:15 coach to Dijon to see the Chartreuse de Champmol and the Musee de Beaux Arts before arriving in Beaune. At the Musee de Beaux Arts we saw the tomb of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, which was sculpted by the northern artist Claus Sluter who breaks the idealized, slender tradition of northern sculpture and fashions more rounded, portrait-like pieces. We also saw his Well of Moses at the Chartreuse de Champmol, an old monastery built as a necropolis by Philip the Bold and is now a psychiatric hospital. CREEPY.

Today we saw the Rogier van der Weyden's Beaune Altarpiece depicting the Last Judgment. We studied lots of altarpieces while in Oxford and this one was my favorite. It was great to see it in person! Next we are going to see the Autun cathedral, should be nice. Can't wait to take notes about the Gothic architecture. As William, Sally's son, says: "ABC...Another Bloody Cathedral!"