I took the bullet train to Paris. 300 km/h. Then I see this the next day. Wow! Paris is everything that people has ever said about it. It's beautiful!! The Louvre's pyramid is a masterpiece. I was in awe for a while. Then I realized that I wanted to eat.
I found this place called Chez Denise, down this little street in the 1er, not too far from the Louvre. I had lunch there the first day I was there. Escargot (snail) and lamb chop with a bottle of Bourilley wine. Aaaaah! This was the life!
I hardly bought anything in Paris. I wasn't there to shop. I was there to see things and experience the culture and food. (Have I mentioned the food yet?) But I did buy one tie from Gorgio Armani's shop 50 yards far from the death place of Chopin. The window on the second floor is where he spent his last days. His music is the only music that has brought me to tears, so he occupies an important place in my musical collection.
I have a special interest in architecture and modern design. The mixture of modern art and old buildings is sometimes extremely striking here in Jardin du Palais Royal.
The Public Art
displayed in many of the gardens are stunningly interesting. Here is my intrepretation of some in the Jardin Royal.
Many artists like S. Dali, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, E. Degas, spent a lot of time in Montmartre. This cafe was one of the artists' favortie hangouts.
Romance in Paris is understated
It's romantic in Paris. It just is. You can't explain it,
but you can just feel it.
You take the metro everywhere. I had a week-long ticket, so I just took it whenever I felt like it. This was an amazing Guimard-designed Metro station in Montmartre.
Tour Eiffel.
Arc de Triomphe.
Champs-Elysees.
Notre Dame
Now let's return to our regular programming.
is HUGE! I walked until I thought my legs were going to fall off. The students were on spring break, so many of them were at the Louvre. In addition, there were protesters, whom, as far as I can tell, were protesting about how the Louvre is getting their money through the restaurant (see the banner in the background). The restaurant was closed, and there was much noise. It was a bit crowded.
A masterpiece museum with great light, layout, space, art. It was originally a train station, and it's simply incredible there. You just have to go. No doubts about it.
Although I did like my photograph (right), it was no comparison to the 'real' art at the d'Orsay (below).
Almost done with the museums, but one cannot miss the Musee Rodin. Some of his best works and the garden in the museum made me spent a whole day there.
She beat out all of the other beautiful women in Paris as the cutest
girl.
is the other church on Ile de la Cite, and is much smaller, but amazingly beautiful.
Everywhere you go in Paris, you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll run into people dressed chic as they go about their business.
I stayed with my friend hmac when I was in Paris. She's also cute and chic, and simply awesome. We went to Versailles together on a Sunday afternoon when it rained crazy, but she was looking very happy inside the palace, nonetheless.
is even more amazing then when it's slightly drizzling, which it did during the evenings when I was there. I went back to the Pyramid just before I left. At the end of the week, I didn't want to leave Paris emotionally, but rationally, I thought I better leave. It's so easy to become an expatriate in Paris.