Day 10: Art and Architecture of Paris

...to Paris I returned;
And ranged, with ardor heretofore unfelt,
The spacious City  ~  Wordsworth

Thursday, December 22, 2011

A brief note on my first trip to Paris: it was during my Ten-Day break of my Rome semester, and my friend Jamie and I made Paris our first stop. Although it was an adventure, that trip was filled with cold and rainy weather and not enough warm clothes, cars swerving at us on purpose on the highway, getting lost, not enough food, and heavy backpacks. I had left with not altogether pleasant memories of Paris, but my view of Paris did improve somewhat with this trip. It is still cold and rainy; I will have to go to Paris in the springtime someday and see if I get a better impression. I didn't get as lost, being a more experienced traveler myself and having boys along with maps in their heads. Also, I still maintain that the food in Paris is not as great as it is always said to be. Despite the dirtiness and sometime unfriendliness of the Parisians, I still had fun in Paris--seeing the art and beautiful Gothic churches, eating pastries, and seeing Notre Dame and the Seine every day.

Our first morning in Paris was cool and cloudy, but not frigid as it had been for much of our week in England. Mom had already gone to the Musee de Moyen Age (Museum of the Middle Ages) when she and Dad went to Paris during my Rome semester, so she went to mass while we visited the Museum. Housed in the old Benedictine Hotel de Cluny, the edifice used to be a Roman therma, or bath. A well in the walled courtyard has a large spout made of an open-mouthed gargoyle. The first rooms of the museum contained cases of illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, and musical instruments. Small, dark rooms off the main hallway held lighted panels of stained glass preserved from Parisian churches.

Not sure what this scene depicts...

St. Martin of Tours

A room as big as a church, once part of the baths, was set here and there with daises holding the remains of the Kings of Notre Dame. These statues were nearly destroyed in the French Revolution, because the Revolutionaries thought they were portraits of the Kings of France. In fact, these bodies and heads are of the Kings of the Old Testament. I was interested to see that they had exhibits for the blind that could be touched, as they had in the British Museum.

Other rooms thronged with painted statues, colorful altarpieces, exquisite ivory boxes and bishops' croziers. One of the museum's most prized and famous exhibits is the series of Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. All of them have red backgrounds adorned with flowers and small animals. Beautiful women, accompanied by a gentle unicorn, demonstrate the 5 senses by smelling flowers and playing organs. The tapestries are beautiful allegories of love.

More stained glass.

I thought this book on swordplay was pretty funny.

Lastly were old wooden shields from both Christians and Muslims. Leaving the museum, we picked up Mom from St-Severin, and went to a restaurant around the corner. I was not impressed. The lamb was vastly inferior to the one I had in London, and the waiter was pretty brusque. Afterwards we walked along the Seine, stopping at the green metal bookstalls to look at paintings and books. Heading east, we arrived at the Musee d'Orsay, which houses many of the famous Impressionist paintings. The museum is inside an old train station, recognizable by its huge clock. Speaking of old train stations:

Lots of touristy shops sold this picture with funny captions.

Anyway, I had learned a lot about Impressionist art in high school and have some Monet and Van Gogh prints in my room, so I was excited to see this museum (Mom and Dad less so). But Nick and I had fun recognizing Van Gogh's bedroom and:

Whistler's Mother

Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe

Renoir's moulin with beautiful women

Degas' ballerinas. My class always said that guy looked like Mr. Miyagi.

The lower floor had a complete model of the Opera Garnier, where you could see all the tunnels underneath. From the fifth floor, one could look through the clock face and see a view of Montmartre.

The building with the green roof is the Opera Garnier.

Sacre Coeur

Rounding up the rest of the gang, we headed back in the direction of the apartment. We passed Les Deux Magots, a famous cafe where Hemingway used to relax. We stopped at St-Germain des Pres and visited its Christmas market, which sold gingerbread, jewelry, scarves, fur hats, leather purses, sweet-smelling soaps, honey and homemade salves. Colin had a headache, so he, Claire, and I stopped at a Starbucks and got coffee. I ate an incredible piece of chocolate caramel cheesecake, and then we strolled to the apartment.