The Louvre

I should tell you, I'm not sleeping well... I was up past 3 a.m. last night. I think my cafe was not DEcafe last night at Chez Bebert... but it sure was good. Also, the snotty kids at the airport gave me a cold... so my stamina is pretty low today. But I was determined not to let that stop me!

Today's adventure was a trip to the Louvre. The last time I was in Paris, I got a half an hour at the Louvre. Not enough time at all... we ran in (literally), ran to the Mona Lisa (most underwhelming art experience of my LIFE, by the way) and then ran back out. All because the bus driver was stupid enough to get into an accident in a traffic circle... bah.

THIS time, we took the metro and took our time. I felt no particular need to visit the Mona Lisa again, needless to say... so we avoided the crowded halls of paintings altogether and instead focused on the sculpture that lives at the Louvre.

Photo by Noah :)

Photo by Noah :)

This is Noah in his awesome boots that keep getting him stopped on the street. People in Paris apparently can't get enough of the Sorels! They sure do keep his feet warm and dry.

Yep folks... that's snow falling on King Louis...

The boots make another appearance...

 I love sculpture for so many reasons... I enjoy the 3Dness of it... the way you can walk around it and take in a different aspect of the piece from every angle... and it amazes me that artists with chisels can do what they do to marble, wood, clay, bronze, alabaster....

Photo by Noah :)

This next sculpture of Psyche and Cupid is one of my favorites. I remember this as the only other piece of art I could focus on the last time I came through the Louvre. It was a pleasure to see it again... and photo it from a different perspective.

I found this sculpture of Narcissus intriguing. Of all the male subjects in sculpture he is posed the most effeminately. Likely because he was so obsessed with his looks... in love with himself... He is beautiful.

The building itself is very beautiful.

We meandered along for a while... saw the crown jewels...

 and a few ornate snuff boxes...

And pretty soon I was completely pooped.

Photo by Noah :)

Here's hoping for a good night's sleep tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Noah and I are planning to attend mass at the nearby cathedral... we won't understand much of the service, but it will be nice to observe the holiday.

The snow is still falling... and Christmas is coming.

The catacombs

First! A thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting on my blog! It's nice to know I'm not just talking out into space :) and that you are finding my entries enjoyable. I'm trying to keep it up for myself, as well. Writing about the things we experience each day helps to strengthen my memories for later.

Today's adventure was a trip to the catacombs of Paris. Here is an excerpt from the wiki entry on the catacombs:
"The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris are a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Located south of the former city gate, the "Barrière d'Enfer", at today'sPlace Denfert-Rochereau), the ossuary fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris' stone mines. Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867"


The definition of an ossuary (according to wikipedia) is: "An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary. The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than if the original coffins were left as is"


So we descended below the streets of Paris, into a mine excavated in the 1700's to view the stacked remains of thousands upon thousands who died over the next hundred years... most of those buried in the catacombs had been previously buried in mass graves, as they were too poor to afford their own crypts.

These sculptures were created in the 17th century. The sculptor was killed during a cave-in when they tried to build an access way for the public to come view his work.

This is hard to see, but it tells you that you are entering a sacred area, basically a burial ground.

Here are pictures Noah took as well:

The sheer magnitude of the volume of remains was staggering. One's mortality presses in closely when you stand in the presence of so much death and decay. We were happy to return to the surface, to the land of the living for now. An amazing place.


In other news, we received our refund from EasyJet for our cancelled flight to Venice... now if we can just get the refund for the AirFrance flight we'll be in good shape, no worse for the wear. On the agenda for later this week, the Louvre and Versailles... not to mention a wander through the Latin Quarter.


Au Revoir for now!

A quiet day in the 14th Arrondissement

After yesterday's strenuous adventure at CDG, we needed to take it easy today. I am afraid of our immune systems taking a hit and there were ample chances for people to cough and sneeze near us yesterday (not to mention a lot of snotty children). So we slept in, had our petit dejeuner, rested some more, and then took stock of the neighborhood.

Walking in Paris is not only easy, it's quite pleasant. There was some sun, and the streets were wet but not as snowy as previously. We found we're not far from the catacombs that Lori talked about, and we plan on taking the tour tomorrow! There are lots of little places to eat around us, and Noah's dad also recommended a few that we'll happily investigate. For today it was crepes for lunch and Italian food for dinner. You can't blame us for eating Italian... it's vegetarian friendly and we WERE planning to be in Venice right now. :)

We continued our tour of Parisian cemeteries today... this one was largely Jewish, as far as I could tell.

I feel a little irreverent taking photos in the cemetery... but in the bold tradition of tourists the world over, I do it anyhow.

We're enjoying the hotel and the idea of staying in one place for a little while. We even bought a baguette and some cheese today! We may make our own petit dejeuner tomorrow, or we may eat it for lunch. Either way, I'm feeling very French :)

Noah took some pictures today as well! Here's one! The web service is being funny about uploading the other one...

 We're watching French t.v. and scratching our heads a little... and planning to get some sleep soon. Until tomorrow... bonne nuit.

Venice is a no go

It's bad when you're watching the news wondering if you will see yourself in the evening... at least it is when you have had the day we had.

After our flight was cancelled on Saturday, we decided to try again today (Monday) to catch a flight to Paris. We went with a different carrier this time. Air France is just more reliable overall... and we booked an early flight so we would have plenty of daylight to find our hotel once we arrived in Venice, since the streets there can be hopelessly confusing.

At the check-out counter, we met 2 men from Germany who were trying to get to the train in a hurry, but there was NOTHING hurried about our check out process... or theirs. By the time we got a taxi, it was snowing steadily.

First bad omen: the taxi driver. He was a piece of work... possibly terrified of driving in the snow, possibly his first time driving to Charles de Gualle (not MY first time)... I don't know... but after the SLOWEST trip to the airport yet (cars passing us on all sides), he dropped us off on the complete opposite side of the airport from the one we needed.

But no worries, we were EARLY! It was 7 a.m. and our flight was not scheduled to leave until 9:45. So we hoofed it to the correct terminal where we encountered "The Line". We printed our boarding passes... and took up residence in the line in front of the check-in counter waiting to drop off our bags. We waited there for 8 hours...

along with thousands of other people. News crews were there all day to capture the expressions of distraught passengers as flights were cancelled all around us... and yet ours somehow remained on the board, with Air France officials telling us to just hold tight... around 3 p.m., they decided to try to board us. I was already worried, because we had a connecting flight in Rome that had left over an hour earlier... I didn't want to get to Rome and have to stay in the airport all night trying to get a flight from there to Venice.

We got up to the ticket counter to drop off our bags and the attendant kindly offered to book us on a flight to Venice tomorrow... and we could hear them cancelling our current flight even while they were checking people in for it... and something inside me just said no. We have spent 2 days in airports already this vacation (not including the flight from New York to Paris)... and the point of this trip was to spend time enjoying one place instead of running to and fro, never staying in the same hotel room more than one night.

So we're going to collect our refunds on the missed flights... and we cancelled the hotel in Venice and booked a hotel here in Paris for the duration of the trip (that is, until we stay with Marc and Sherris after Christmas).

I can't pretend I'm not disappointed. I was looking forward to sharing Venice with Noah. I was excited to take photos and visit Murano and eat fantastic Italian food.

But... we will enjoy Paris as well. There are a few different things I had left on the agenda to do here, and really, Paris has so much more to offer than we even know of! I know we'll have a good time. We found a funky and super hotel in the 14th Arrondissement... and we ate some yummy Indian food at a restaurant down the street.

 

Now for a bubble bath to take the stress away... and then some sleep. It's a new day tomorrow! So much to do, so much to see, so much French to learn!

A snowy day in Paris

We decided to try again for Venice tomorrow (Monday), giving us another day to explore Paris. It was snowing pretty steadily when we woke up and continued snowing until about midday. Here are some photos from the morning:

A view from last night's hotel window

On our way back to Sacre Coeur

We listened to the mass for a little while, and then walked on to the Metro to visit another of Paris's cathedrals, Notre Dame. I was particularly excited about visiting Notre Dame. The last time I was in Paris was 1997, and Jacques Cousteau had just died. The cathedral was closed to prepare for his funeral. So not only did I miss seeing the inside of the beautiful building, I had to deal with the news that one of my childhood idols had just left the world. Bummer. This time, the visit was much lighter.

At a market on the way

We made it TO Notre Dame quite easily. Getting back FROM Notre Dame proved a little more challenging. All the trains were jammed so full we couldn't squeeze on! So we walked a while until we got to another Metro station where we could catch a different train (but still end up in the same place). We were cold and wet by the time we got back to the hotel, but it's warm and dry in here, and we are well fed, so no complaints. Well, I mean, I complained about not being able to squeeze onto any trains... but other than THAT, we enjoyed ourselves.

Paris in the snow is really magical. I found myself wanting to buy fresh flowers and baguettes, and dance around in the streets...

It's a good thing we brought our winter boots. The weather in Venice the next week looks pretty grim with a couple of days of mild sunshine. We're hoping for the best and preparing to tromp around in the wet and cold anyhow!