To The Gates Of Hell

Well guys, I’ve been to the gates of hell and back, figuratively (because my wallet got stolen) and literally. On our second day in Paris, we went to the Rodin Museum and one of Rodin’s most famous pieces is called The Gates of Hell. It’s based on Dante’s Inferno and it was pretty amazing. But before that we went to the catacombs! Dun dun dun. So it was just an all around dark day. Haha.

Ok, so we get up early in the morning and head on over to the catacombs. Let me explain. Most people don’t know this but Paris is actually built on a series of tunnels and quarries. Most of these tunnels have been converted into sewer lines, subways, and other various infrastructural things, but a large portion of them serve as catacombs. In the 1700’s, Parisian cemeteries were overflowing and the city faced a serious threat of disease that was being spread by the huge mass graves and insufficient burial grounds. So they decide to put the tunnels underneath the city to good use. They carefully exhumed the remains of the current occupants of the city and stored them in the tunnels, or catacombs and continued to do so until the early 1900’s. Now, for a small entrance fee you can walk through the tunnels and look at the remains of Parisians from days gone by. Creepy? Ya. But pretty cool none-the-less. It was actually pretty neat seeing all the remains and to think that we were about 6 stories underground. Sometimes we got a little creeped out, but all in all it was neat. There were a lot of cool crypts down there with a lot of really cool quotes by French poets that I could actually read!

After that we decided to head on over to the Rodin Museum. At this point in the trip, this was definitely my favorite thing we had done in Paris, right after the courtyard of the Louvre. Now the Louvre and it are tied right after the Eiffel Tower. Anyway, it was SO AMAZING! I got to see my absolute, very favorite sculpture and it as everything I could have imagined. It’s called The Kiss and it’s just about the most romantic and beautiful thing I’ve seen. Take note ya’ll: a miniature of that sculpture is what my future husband should get me for a wedding gift. Feel free to drop hints. There were a lot of other Rodins there that I loved as well and some that I had never seen before that were amazing. There was this one called the stairway to heaven. It was just a plaster mold, a plan never realized by Rodin and it made me sad. It was very beautiful and I would have loved to have seen it completed. But I did see Cathedral and Secret, as well as the creation of man and all of them were amazing. And the Gates of Hell were incredible. It was a totally different piece up close. You could change angles and view points, and each time you moved, you saw a whole new window into the piece. I must have stood there looking at it for a half hour. Poor Sheri and Marina didn’t know what to do with me. In fact, when I caught up with them in the main lobby after we had seen the first floor, they were debating whether or not to tell me that there was a second floor. After all, I spent close to a half hour with The Kiss and there isn’t a whole lot to that sculpture! Haha. But I did compromise and we sat in the Lobby for a whole talking about philosophy and art and such till their heads started to hurt. It was actually a lot of fun. We decided that I should go ahead and get a start on the second floor while they recharged their visual batteries. Yeah, I got through a whole two sculptures on the second floor when they caught up to me. So much for the early start. Haha.

After that we grabbed a baggette for lunch and headed on over to the Pantheon. This is a replica of the Pantheon in Greece, but it is also where Voltaire and Rousseau are buried, as well as Marie Curie and her husband. It was a really impressive building and it was really really cool to see Voltaire’s tomb. Thanks to Mr. Ojeda for teaching me all about him and Rousseau so I could really appreciate being there. I mean if you think about it, America might not be here if it weren’t for their ideas. Anyway, it was cool and we had a lot of fun taking pictures and speaking to random French security guards. And there were a lot of really really cool murals on the walls of Joan of Arc and other cool legends.

Next we had planned on going to the Eiffle Tower, but that didn’t work out. We found a café with free internet down the hill from the Pantheon, so we ran home, grabbed our computers and came back (we hadn’t had any decent internet in about five days at this point and it was free, a big plus when 15 minutes costs you a Euro in most shops.) It was rather hysterical though because here we were, three girls in the middle of Paris, sitting in a dirty street corner with our laptops, stealing internet from the café. I have a pic, you will love it. Well that ended up taking a long time, and we were all pretty touchy (I was suspicious that my wallet had just been stolen, Sheri’s computer didn’t work, and Marina’s parents still hadn’t deposited the money they owed) so we decided to just grab a burger at the McDonalds around the corner and call it a day. And we were glad we did because the guy that took our order was really cool and got a kick out of talking to three American girls. Plus the food was MUCH better than it was in the states, especially the fries. Actually, it was pretty much better all the way around. We were not used to designer chairs and techno music in McDonalds. It was fun.

So we go home, find out that yes, indeed my wallet had been stolen, I hadn’t left it on my bed as I had thought, and I proceeded to cry. But Sheri and Marina were really supportive and helped me figure out what I was going to do, and in the end everything turned out to be ok, so no worries. We were able to have a few laughs and go to bed ok. Well that’s it for the second day. Tomorrow, DEALING WITH THE STOLEN WALLET.

PICTURES!

These are from the Catacombs. Creepy huh? Sheri has her hood up to protect her from the dripping liquid of unknown origin that comes down from the ceiling. It definately makes her look like a Blair Witch Project Refugee though!

These are pics from the Gated of Hell. The Thinker, which most people recognize actually come from the Gates of Hell. Pretty cool huh?

More Pictures...

Hokay, the top two are Rodin's Cathedral and Secret. Pretty aren't they. And then the next one is my favorite angle of The Kiss, although it's only a so so picture, and it's really a piece that needs to be seen 360. But it's still my favorite piece. Then there is Sheri eating a baggette in the rain, and Marina and I in front of the Pantheon.

And to round things off..

These are pictures from the Pantheon and our little internet adventure. Who knows what that dark spot on the pavement was... haha. The top one is me in front of Voltaire's Tomb, then a pic of us reading up on the Pantheon. We got into the habit of grabbing the English pamphlet when we walked into a museum or monument and sitting and reading before we actually look around. We learned a lot that way and appreciate things more, plus it's fun to just chill on the steps and just be at these places. The ones after that are fun pics from inside... French Patriotism is quite contageous!

And to wrap things up

This was the last thing we did on the first day. The Arc de Triomphe was really cool. The other one is Marina and I on the metro on the way home. LOVE the Paris metro system.

These are Louvre pics from the first day in Paris. The statue is one of my favorite Michelangelo's and the other ones are the front courtyard of the Louvre. The last pic is me and my traveling companions Sheri (left) and Marina (center)

Pictures!

Welp, here are some pictures. The first is obviously Van Gogh. I took that pic myself! The second is the Moulin Rouge, and then different views of the Notre Dame and the Seine. Love the Seine by the way, it's always beautiful.

Hey, I made it!

Hey Guys! Well I made it to Romania relatively safe and sound. I lost my wallet in Paris, so that has made things a little stressful, but other than that things have been great! It’s been insanely busy though so I’m glad that I finally have a chance to sit down and write the blog that I promised everyone. So lets see, where to start?! I guess at the beginning. I left the states on August 23, 2006. After a very long flight, a nerve-racking bus ride through London, another flight, and an even more nerve-racking train-ride into Paris, I arrived at my hotel in the Montmartre region of Paris. Seriously, I’m not really sure how I got to my hotel, because half the time I had no clue what I was doing. Thank heaven for a good sense of direction. Anyway, I make it to my station on the metro and come out on this street that in my mind totally embodies Paris. I wish I had taken a picture of it. But there was a tiny cobbled street and cream-colored buildings with wrought-iron balconies covered in flowers with cafes on the corners and little patisseries and shops all over. It was great! So anyway, I get to my hotel (this being a very interesting 2 star hotel with communal bathrooms, ghetto elevator and a charming lady at the front desk that had a cat that always followed her around) and checked in. My window on the second floor opened up to the street and I basically just sat and listened to a couple of guys shoot the breeze in French while smoking a cigarette. Eventually Sheri and Marina show up and we head off to the Musee D’Orsay where I saw my first ever Van Goghs Renoirs, Monets… I was so happy I could have cried. I saw a self portrait of Van Gogh and it was just so moving. And the Renoirs; I’ve written papers about Renoir and how he painted light, but until I was standing there looking at it in person, I had no idea that the paintings glowed. That light was actually coming out of the canvas. It was amazing.

The next day we headed to Moulin Rouge to take a picture (there really isn’t a whole lot there… besides a lot of breasts…) Anyway, after that we went to Victor Hugo’s House. That was pretty fun to be there and there were a lot of really cool artwork. The best part was talking to the people at the front desk. They were really nice and asked us where we were from and what we were doing. They told us to learn French for when we came back and we said “weeell, we actually have taken French, we just suck at it” It was funny and they got a kick out of talking to us. The French really aren’t that bad.

Next we went to the Conciergerie. This is where all the prisoners from the French Revolution were held and it is also connected to the Palace of Justice. Marie Antoinette (the one who reportedly said “let them eat cake”) and Robspierre (the one that started the Reign of Terror) were both held here before they were taken to the guillotine. It was pretty impressive and there was a lot to learn and to look at. After that we went to the Notre Dame which is a block away from the Conciergerie. Paris is kinda funny like that. All these huge amazing buildings just unassumingly hanging out around each other. We came out of the subway to go to the Conciergerie and Sheri says “oh look, there’s the Notre Dame” and you look to your left and its just there, chillin on the banks of the Seine. Crazy.

So yeah, the Notre Dame was impressive. You walk in and at first you can’t see much because it’s so dark, but then your eyes adjust, you look up and you see this amazing space covered by the vaulted ceiling leading down to an a magnificent gold alter lit up by a hundred candles. It was beautiful. It was really loud inside though which was kinda sad. It didn’t feel like a church at all. There were so many people shuffling through and taking pictures. But it was very beautiful none-the-less.

After the Notre dame, we went to the Louvre… Hoh my gosh. That’s all I got to say about that. Seriousely though, words really aren’t adequate for that place. And it was so cool how we came into it. You see, we got off at a station that isn’t next to the main entrance so we walk in through this court yard that’s very beautiful and whatnot. (The Louvre used to be a royal palace and still looks like it could house Louis the XVI and his family.) So we walk through the courtyard and look for an entrance and we decide to go through a pair of arches at the end of the courtyard. Well we head over to the arches and there is a glance of the glass pyramids on the other side so we know we’re headed in the right direction. So we walk through these rather magnificent stone archways and then we just freeze. Before us is one of the most incredible sights I’ve seen. The two glass pyramids loomed before us, backlit by the setting sun. Behind the pyramids was the Touleries (royal gardens) stretching down to the Place de la Condord. A cool mist from the fountains added an extra shimmer to the air and everything was enclosed by the magnificent front entrance of the Royal Palace. We just stood there and stared; jaws dropped and hearts full. Finally Marina finally turns to Sheri and I and says “This is Paris” And it was it really was.

So we spent a while taking some pictures and just enjoying the atmosphere, and then we decided to go into the actual museum. Once again, wow. We decided to hit all the major stuff first, so we go see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo which were very impressive. It was really fun to see them in real life. We also saw the crown jewels which were incredible, not to mention the actual architecture that it was all housed in and the glimpses of the grounds as you walked past all the windows. And there were quite a few remarkable paintings that were literally as tall as a one story house. They were beautiful. But the definite highlight for me was seeing my first ever Michelangelo. It was a piece called the dying slave and I have about a half dozen pictures of it in my art journal back home. It’s seriously one of my favorite Michelangelo’s and I was so unbelievable psyched to see it. And it was so beautiful. It was really cool because in pictures it looks so agonizing and tragic, but in real life its so peaceful and graceful. It was beautiful. And there were a lot of really beautiful sculptures in the room that I’d never seen before but immediately fell in love with. It was awesome.

Well we stayed at the museum till close and when we left there were a whole bunch of people out in the courtyard talking and hanging out and I decided that if I lived in Paris, I would TOTALLY hang out in the courtyard of the Louvre because it was a really pretty, really cool, really laid-back environment. We also decided that it would be really cool to be proposed to there (it was actually pretty romantic and there were a lot of couples all over) and that if a guy proposed to you at the Louvre you weren’t allowed to say no, I mean how could you?!

Well, after THAT, we hop on the metro and head to the Arc de Triomphe. Once again, come out of the subway and there’s the Arc, just chillin, all lit up in the night sky with the city whizzing by. At this point I was so happy I couldn’t stop smiling. I mean most of you know what an urban junky I am, and I had just had this great day in Paris and I’m standing on the Champs D’Elysse with lights and cars everywhere and the Arc de Triomphe right in front of me. It was SO COOL! So we head over to the Arc and climb up it(no elevator, lots of stairs, quite a trip) and look out on the city at night. It was really cool. And the best part was that there was this AMAZING traffic jam at one of the entrances of the circle that goes around the Arc that we seriously watched for about a half an hour. It was amazing. I saw cars squeeze through openings that defied the laws of physics. And then there were the buses and vans that were trying to get through, and the random moped that would almost get run over. It was great. Anyway, after taking some pics, we head back home and I drop to sleep exhausted, pretty satisfied with my first full day in Paris.