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Published: April 20th 2011
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La Grande Arche ... it's big enough that Notre Dame could fit within itI have been lazily getting adjusted to being here. I have been going to bed late and getting a later than usual start to the day. It's lovely. I could get used to this. This was my last day in Paris until I return for the last four days in July before going home. I can't even think of that right now. Just making the most of every second. And if you are wondering ... yes intellectually I know that I am here for a bit but has it truly hit me ... ummm that would be no. Seriously ... who's life is this anyways?
The first stop of this day would be the Grande Arche. There are three arches that make up Triumphal Way in Paris including the Arc de Triomphe du Carousel, the Arc de Triomphe and the Grande Arche. The first two are more traditional in design whereas the Grande Arche is modern and incredibly imposing. It is said to be big enough that the Notre Dame Cathedral would fit underneath it. Adjacent to it are a number of modern office buildings and oddly enough a statue of a big thumb ... with fingerprints and everything. It
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Grande Arche must have some meaning but it escapes me right now.
From there, I took the subway to the Louvre-Rivoli station. Of course, this is just at the edge of the Louvre museum. I would first make my way to the small footbridge that links the Louvre (on one side of the Seine) to the Academie Francaise (on the other side of the Seine). The reason I wanted to go see it is that something had caught my eye about it yesterday as we floated on by on the boat cruise. There were hundreds of locks attached to the sides of the bridge. I had read about this tradition where couples go and put a lock on a bridge and throw the key in the river as a sign that they will never part. There were hundreds of them, some with names written in Sharpie and some outright engraved. There were the more creative ones with lips, hearts and such. There were the outright bizarre ... nothing says I love you like sealing your eternal love with a pair of handcuffs!! Then I was a little sad to see that some were combination locks ... just in case you needed
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Big Thumb statue near the Grande Arche to come and take it down ... how pessimistic!
I then stopped for a cafe creme at Cafe Le Corona. Yum! So much for being off coffee for about a year ... I am going to have to detox off of that too! This wasn't the quietest of cafes but it still gave a great vantage point for seeing Parisian life go by. There was the distinctive sirens of the ambulances as they rode by. Booksellers were setting up their booth along the Seine. Waiters in the cafe struggling in broken English to help tourists as they butchered the French language.
Being fully caffeinated, I made my way to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. This is actually a wing of the Louvre and it covers fashion, advertising and interior decor. I had been here before but really wanted to go back when I saw that the current fashion exhibit was covering modern fashion from 1990 to 2000. Where to start ... it was an array of amazing designers. From the futuristic Issey Miyake to Prada (a couple of which I wanted to take home!) to Lavin and Gucci to the very excentric John Galiano and Vivienne Westwood. There
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The Big Thumb Print and the Grande Arche was Chanel of course ... the Karl Lagerfeld Chanel but just as gorgeous (and again with quite a few that I would have taken home). I also visited the Jewelry gallery and was again just as mortified to see jewelry made from human hair. I had forgotten about that one!!
The advertising wing had an exhibit on artist Michal Batory. He is an artist whose work has been featured in a number of advertising posters. He uses objects but also manipulates them digitally. The exhibit included close to 100 of this works. The first room in the exhibit however was the most interesting. It was designed to give the impression that you were in his studio at home. It was filled with the actual objects that appear in some of his photographs. Hard to explain ... check out his work at www.michalbatory.com. He is truly unique.
I also continued through some of the other smaller temporary exhibits with a bid to come back in July due to the fact that there will be an exhibit on Ralph Lauren and the fashion/styles within the automotive world. There were already cars lined up for the exhibit which was being set
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Passerby up as we speak.
I was then starting to be a bit hungry so I hit up the food fair at the Carousel du Louvre. Only in Paris can you buy a salad with magret de canard in a food fair!!! So I am eating that while sitting next to guy who was downing a Big Mac. Paris ... je t'adore. Mmm notice that my expressions of love towards this city always seem to happen when I am eating something ...
The Carousel du Louvre is essentially a galleria filled with shops (including my favorite perfume house ... Fragonard ... I'll be visiting that in July!). The main attraction (well apart from that whole access to the Louvre thing ...) has got to be the inverted pyramid. If you've seen or read the Da Vinci Code, you know what I mean.
I will admit to being a total photo snob and hate seeing shots of so and so in front of the (insert tourist attraction). Oh and there's so and so in front of (insert other tourist attraction). It bugs me but at the same time I do get tons of entertainment value out of seeing people
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You can see all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and the lengths they will go to to get their shot in front of (insert tourist attraction). There is always the posy girl who feels the need to strike a pose in front of wherever regardless of how inappropriate it may be ... like the one I saw posing seductively in front of a Buddhist temple ... weird just weird. There's always one that feels the need to jump in front of stuff. The peace sign seems to be popular too. So the inverted pyramid brought them out in full force ... this time feeling the need to look like you were holding it up in your hands.
So the next stop, it goes without saying, was the Louvre itself. I am not much of an art person so I don't have much of a desire to visit it. One day though ... one day. But even if you are not into it, you cannot be in sight of this museum and not be in awe. First, just its size is phenomenal. The facade is 700 meters long. The architecture is stunning and ornate and it is in sharp contrast to the ultra modern pyramids that essentially serve as
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Bridge that links the Louvre and the Academie Francaise the entrance and skylights. There are fountains that surround the pyramids so people just tend to meander around and just soak in the atmosphere (and the sun of course ... have I said how gorgeous the weather has been this whole time???).
At that I would call it a day. I need to pack as I am heading out of Paris tomorrow morning. This is where the adventure truly starts. Of course, I could not end this visit to Paris without some cheese!!! So a last stop at the fromagier for a "fromage printanier". It's a lovely goat cheese with chives. Mmmm ... goat cheese. I would need a baguette so that meant a stop at the boulanger so that also meant a chocolate eclair. Mmmm ...eclair. Bliss ...
Lyon is next ...
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