Saturday, June 25, 2005

Paris (Days 4, 5, and 6)

View looking up at Sacre Coeur from Champs Elysees.
Me and a student in front of Champs Elysses street sign.

Looking up at the Arc d'Triumpe. It was much more elaborate than I expected. But hey, that's Napoleon for you.

My sister, me, and her friend Rosemary on the night train to Florence. Just a little cramped. And there were three more girls in that space with us!
My sister's friend Eimile getting visually molested by some dude named Dan from Sacramento. Dan! She's 17! You're 30! Jailbait!

Me with my new car (it should be arriving in the States any day now).
French graffiti. Anyone know what it says? I could Bablefish it but I'm far too lazy for that.

The Palace at Versailles. So freaking huge.
The gates surrounding Versailles.

The chaple inside Versailles where Marie Antoinette was married.
Detail of a fireplace decoration. This doesn't explain the French Revolution at all.

Wall and ceiling detail at Versailles. I think they said there is five kinds of marble here.

A life-sized gold relief statue above a fireplace at Versailles.
One of the royal beds. And to dispel a myth that the beds were so short because the people where much shorter back in the day - it's true, they were shorter, but not that much. The beds were smaller because people slept in a sitting-up postion because they thought it was healthier (since laying down was for the dead).

Hall at Versailles.
Door at Versailles.

Chandelier at Versailles.
Marie Antoinette's jewelry box. HER JEWELRY BOX! Look at how huge it was!

Marie Antoinette's bed. If you look closely you can even see an "MA" on the headboard.
The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.


Detail of the canopy of a bed in one of the royal bedrooms.
Pictures hanging at Versailles. Note the velvet wallpaper.

The gardens at Versailles. Bit o' history for you: French gardens are so symetrical and manicured because good old Louis XVI (the "Sun" king) wanted to prove that he was in control of everything, even nature.

Smart Car. Three words for you: I. Want. One.
Our first view of Paris as we left the train station.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace at the Louvre.
The Venus de Milo at the Louvre.

A Roman mummy at the Louvre.
The Mona Effing Lisa (behind glass and lots of people, so hard to get a good picture).

Interior of the Louvre. When visiting you have to remember it used to be a palace, so it's just as interesting to see the intricate details on the walls and ceilings as it is the actual art.
Exterior of the Louvre. And the Pyramid, just like in Da Vinci Code!

Sacre Coeur Church, the highest point in Paris. Really beautiful.
Montmatre, an artist's district near Sacre Coeur.

View of the Eiffel Tower from Sacre Coeur.
View of Paris from Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur Church.
Looking up at the structural detail of the Eiffel Tower.

Views of Paris from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower (a tripod would have been helpful here, but I steady-handed it as best I could).

Another view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.
Another view of the structure.

Walking up to the Eiffel Tower. The thing is seriously huge. Much bigger than I thought it would be.
Eiffel Tower at night.

The Eiffel Tower at dusk.
Robo cops outside the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame exterior. Notice the group of people in front getting their picture taken? I didn't.
Interior Notre Dame. Very gothic.

Interior Notre Dame.
A really cool building/church/thing near Notre Dame. I love the architecture.

The Conciergerie. Like everything else, it used to be a fortress and then was a palace and now is a museum. It's where Marie Antoinette was kept prisoner.
A city street. Every pharmacy in Europe has these neon crosses outside them. Pretty helpful if you are looking for one, I guess.

Louis Vuitton was remodeling their store on the Champs Elysees and covered the work with a giant Louis Vuitton bag.
Le Dome Church, where Napoleon is buried.


Going down a metro stop.
Exterior Notre Dame.

Paris city streets near Notre Dame. So pretty!
The Opera. Lots of cool shops around there.

The Arc d'Triumpe.
A military academy where Napoleon studied.

Houseboats on the River Seine.
Detail of the Alexander III (I think, that's what my notes say but I could have been writing about something else) bridge.

Alexander III bridge.

9 comments:

Chris said...

These are awesome pictures! Except one thing, there are no cool shots of your butt while you're standing next to a guard, in France...or a Police officer...or just you showing off your "ass, which is so fine"* anywhere, for that matter.

All those pictures of France make me long to go there again, very soon. I spent a month there in high school, living with a family (so I got a bit of the native experience, as well as the tourist experience...awesome. I can still remember the smell of their cedar cheese closet, and their entirely cedar "toilette"...weird memories, I know. But the toilette was the first smell I experienced before jet lag kicked in and I wasted 12 hours sleeping it off. I wish they had just given me some esspresso, and made me go run a few miles...because that's 12 hours of France I didn't get to experience. God, another pretentiously long post.

Awseome pics!

-Chris F

*My friend, Mike, reminded my of my favorite line, spoken by Mary Cherry on the WB's "Popular", this weekend, and I had to use it...because, and I'm certain you know it and AMBF tells you every day, you have a very nice booty.

Unknown said...

Great shots! Those smart cars are neat. I saw one here in NY and I was ableto lift the ass end off the ground, which I found hilarious. Peops at the Javits Center were not laughing as much but what the hell it was funny!

Peace.

Anonymous said...

Magnifique! I am so jealous. I've always wanted to go to Paris.

SS said...

your pictures are amazing!

Chris said...

Graffiti: direct translation: "Our true enemies are in ourselves"...English approximation..."We are our own worst enemies."

Celti said...

the french grafitti says "our true enemies are within ourselves"

Shari said...

Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog...so I thought I would come check you out.

Wow...what amazing pics. My husband and I went to Europe in 2001, and I totally fell in love with Paris. Those pics make me really want to go back there!!

I'm off to check out your London pics now...cherio!!

Brianne said...

Is it just me, or does the royal bed remind you of Cinderella's stepmother's bed?

Did you notice all the porn shops Paris has, too? Parisians are horny.

Did you have to fight your way through a mosh pit-like crowd to get to the Mona Lisa too??

Whoa - one of your Eiffel Tower pictures looks exactly like a poster I've seen before.

Did you notice a little cafe outside of Notre Dame called Le Quasimodo? I thought it was cute...

You're quite the photographer. It's a popular question, but what kind of camera DO you have?

Anyway, thanks for letting me reminisce. :)

DuckboyDan80 said...

Only had a quick look at your pics. I got back from Dubai-paris-London a week ago and still tired from the flight as well as other things like cyclones, etc. Seeing these pics lifts the spirt so much when you've been to the same places. One of the most enjoyable things was seeing how well the history is being preserved, and of course the more reliable transportation when you now which to take. Rome would have been good to see. Gotta say the cool wheather wasn't as hard to get used to as everyone told me.
fab pics:):):)