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.
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.
posted by Shannon @ 2:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home