Two Days of Parisian adventures

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August 25th 2005

Published: September 5th 2005

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Uber

Straight from Mrs. Bridge

The winged victory

On our first day David and I walked to the Louvre, Musée Rodin, the tomb of Napoleon, the Musée d’Orsay, and finally knocked over some interesting Parisian food at the famous cafe Les Deux Magots.

After buying the Museum card that allows us to hit 36 of Paris’ major museums and monuments for free (€18 for 1-day card), we joined the mile long line to enter the Louvre. Seeing the Winged Victory was a throw-back to a book I read freshman year at JBU called Mrs. Bridge; having also read the book, David and I were able to laugh at the blunt joke surrounding the statue in the book. But I’ll leave that for honor’s comp. grads to laugh about (and still end sentences in prepositions). Stumbling upon the new room for the Mona Lisa, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I saw the throng of people surrounding the painting. Though I didn’t get nose to nose with her, I’d have to say that, generally, she looks the same as in the books and is surprisingly small. Being substantially more cultured, David might disagree. Still, we were both stunned by the intricacy of the weaponry in some places.

Mona what? Where?

Seriously, it didn't look any different in person; and I was so close to it.

Seeing one sword and shield combo we both responded that it would merely incite more fury from the user if an enemy happened to attempt to damage the shield’s intricately carved front. Having taken a class about Islam, I was struck by how many pieces of the massive Islamic exhibit I had seen in my textbooks. In particular, the vast array of stunning weaponry will catch your eye. One large dagger carried a blade of solid or nearly pure gold carved with Arabic writing, all visible through the clear, crystal sheath. The crystal handle formed a horse’s head, bridled with gold bit and reins, glaring eyes of fiery rubies and adorned up its neck with two vines of gold, sprouting ruby, diamond, and emerald blossoms. I’d love to what that would bring on Ebay.

Running from the rain, we found shelter in the awesome museum/mansion of sculpture Musée Rodin and home to the famous sculpture “The Thinker.” Still tired and jet-lagged I wandered out to the HUGE gardens behind the mansion and found a long lounging lawn-chair where I promptly fell asleep until the wind blew through the massive trees and shook from them an unwelcome post-rainfall shower. As

Just for Billy

This is the sword and shield that David and I decided would incite so much fury if used in a battle.

the sun broke through the clouds we marveled at the raindrop glistered roses and other flowers in the gardens. Napoleon’s Tomb is no doubt a must-see, but an impressively depressing testimony to the vanity of mankind. Dying with much wealth, some power, and a nearly immortal place in history, he still died; and the massive temple housing his remains seemed like something out of the tombs and statues in Lord of the Rings. More than anything however, the humor of this hobbit-sized homo-sapien’s place of kingly repose, set in the bottom of a huge rotunda crypt in a sarcophagus the size of a bus, is that, even in death… everyone still looks down to see him.

The Musée d’Orsay offered beautiful sculptures that I always saw in books and wondered where they resided. The upper floors house famous impressionist paintings and offer a beautiful view from the rooftop café where one can look out over the river and have a meal from behind the huge clock there. Walking with some haste as the day great late, we made our way through the winding streets to Le Deux Magots, a café/bar loved and frequented by literary and artistic giants like

Glass and Gold Muslim Dagger

Being dark and not having a tripod, this dagger was hard to capture. You should be able to just make out most of the intricate carving.

Sartre, Hemingway, Picasso, and André Breton. More importantly, Le Deux Magots (I believe that is “the two ugly old men” or even “two cigarette butts”) serves the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted anywhere in my life in small porcelain jugs. I can only begin to do the taste justice by describing it as like a very fine chocolate candy bar melted directly into a liquid with cream mixed into it.

On our second day we hit the Arch du Triomphe, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Cœur, Montmartre, and finally did a late night dinner at the Lebanese restaurant El Machrabia, which can only be described as just across the street from heaven.

Having seen the Arch du Triomphe of Alexander the Great in the ancient city of Tyr, I can say that the one Napoleon built is an improvement on the one he copied; though I liked the architectural style of the old one better, and it doesn’t seem nearly as ostentatious. However, any nausea that might arise from the arch’s… pretentious flare, is overcome by the solemnity of the wisely placed tomb of the unknown soldier at its base. In memory of those who died

Best Parisian Cafe we found

We found this fairly inexpensive cafe just off the Left Bank a few blocks to the left of the Musee D'Orsay, and an Australian couple took a picture of us.

in World War I, the tomb states “Ici repose un soldat français morte pour la patrie 1914-1918” accented by an eternal flame and four changing guards, garbed in dress uniforms and armed with menacing assault rifles. I caught a great picture of one soldier, having just finished his turn of duty, taking a picture for a beautiful young woman and her friend.

Approaching the Eiffel Tower, I expected to be struck by the 1889 World Fair exhibition’s globally renowned artistic beauty. Yet, always trying to see things from a new perspective, I instead tried to understand what I read in my history books, that it faced great opposition from the literary and artistic elites as it marked the centenary of the Revolution. I easily realized how something standing in such stylistic opposition to the rest of Parisian architecture gained such notoriety among Parisians, earning the title “the metal asparagus” from locals and was nearly torn down in 1909. Yet this monstrous eye-sore was saved by becoming the zenith of a common “eye-sore” today: it proved an ideal platform for the transmitting antennas of the new science known as “radiotelegraphy”. More than anything, as we sat under a tree nearby

Would you like that Dark Side Up?

I guess this is the new Star Wars Darth Maul package BMW moped, perfect for aspiring Dark Sith Apprentice; don't forget to wear your helmet.

eating a pomegranate from a nearby Indian neighborhood, David and I both wondered at the oversized radio tower’s brown color, having always imagined it being of a much darker persuasion.

The view made me wish that people today who complain so much about the “eye-sore” of wind generators will one day realize that the smoky haze over their beautiful sunsets that chokes them and their babies’ lungs is an “eye-sore” when one of the new 5 mega-watt wind generators in use in parts of Europe today could supply enough electricity from the Kansas wind for a town the size of mine, the surrounding farms, and far more powerful electric vehicles than anything available today. Perhaps then, one more generation of critics might be able to look at another “eye-sore” as a thing of beauty (or at least lesser ugliness) in some strange, Hollywood-fueled romantic way (Perhaps Gone With the Wind Generator). Oh well.
I went up onto the second tier of the tower (David didn’t want to fork over the 3.5 euros this time, as we had been told it was free). There I found some unbelievable photographs waiting to be taken, and even proved what I had heard

'The David' meets 'The Thinker'

Two great scultpures meet. What exactly is the cumulative IQ here?

about shooting through telescopes. It was a nice overcast day, with breaking and closing clouds that cast shafts of light down onto the city as it stretched to the horizon. At one point I was shooting a panorama when the sun broke through the clouds behind me, casting a gargantuan Eiffel tower-shaped shadow starkly onto the city below. I took many pictures for couples and families, usually taking one for myself as well. I saw one man who had just proposed to a young lady and was videotaping an update for his video blog on the internet; I offered to take some pictures for them and posed them so she could show off her new glittering accessory, of which she was clearly quite proud and excited.

Hurrying to reach the Notre Dame before it closed, I was shocked to find it so much smaller than I had imagined from all the pictures in school. The flying buttresses (I still laugh every time I write that) really are quite a sight, and the gargoyles definitely live up to the hype; I can’t believe they still function to pour off the rainfall. We watched a number of different street performers, including

Guaranteed not to outsource your order

This little place sits in an Indian neighborhood we walked through on the way to the Eiffel tower. We bought a pomegranite across the street.

a lively young couple from a strongly Slavic cultural/musical background playing a violin and tambourine (Their cumulative age could not have been less than 140 years).

Taking the long subway up to the cathedral known as the Sacre Coeur we watched part of a mass, and then wandered out onto the long-time favorite nighttime hangout of Montmarte. This regions hillside park looks out over the city and the cathedral’s long set of steps play host every night to crowds of young and old alike chatting, playing guitars and softening their senses with various and sundry (I know some of you were watching for that one) aperitifs and inebriants. A police van with some of Paris’ finest sat at the edge of the scene, watching and waiting for anyone who might choose to disturb the serenely jovial ambience. Stepping out on the balcony that looks down on the park, I found the perfect opportunity to test my camera’s ability to take a long night-exposure with Paris as its object. Très bien!

Finally winding down the steep roads of Montmarte, dodging the infinite array of mopeds and golf cart sized (by US standards) vehicles, we came back to our neighborhood,

Ad for an Ancient Tale

If your familiar with this famous tory of Grecian bloodthirsty men stopped from going to war by a rather creative approach of their wives, you might find this advertisement a humorous way of asking which kind of warrior bears greater power.

stopping in at the late-closing Machrabia Lebanese restaurant we had had our eye on for some time. We were by no means disappointed as we dined on a fine array of Lebanese food, nodding at the irony of its location, directly across the street from a store titled “Heaven.” Well suited indeed.

Looking back at Paris, I must say that the most shocking and unexpected thing we encountered was the incredible friendliness of the Parisian people. From store and booth owners on the streets to whom we randomly brought our queries about the city, to the managers of our lodgings, restaurants, and the museums and monuments, everyone was strikingly friendly and eager to help us. Perhaps it was due in part to our expectations of their conformation to global stereotypes, and perhaps in large part due to our own extension of our humility by trying to make inquiries in French; overall, the people of Paris were completely welcoming and eager to help us (something you won’t find from strangers in many countries). One woman told me that all the British tourists expect them to speak English and don’t even try to speak French, to which I could clearly understand