Sights of Paris

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We spent our last couple of days in Paris visiting various tourist attractions.

On Wednesday morning we had a breakfast of pain au chocolat and coffee in Montmartre, which has long been associated with artists and night-life. (BTW, I don't understand why you can't get a decent cup of coffee in Paris? I would think Parisians the people least likely in the world to accept mediocre coffee!) There were many artists in the Place du Tertre selling pretty sketches and paintings of Paris, but we managed to resist. The only souvenirs I tend to bring home from holidays are photos.

The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur is a beautiful white-domed church at the peak of Montmartre hill. If you've seen 'Amelie' (one of my favourite films), you'll recognise the steps leading up the hill. We climbed to the top of the dome, which gave nice views across Paris. We also had a look at the crypt underneath, which TBH wasn't very interesting.

A word of warning to anyone visiting Sacre-Coeur: all the way down the steps you will be confronted by very aggressive hawkers holding coloured bits of string they call "Good Luck bracelets". They came up to us looking very friendly, saying "hakuna matata!" (WTF?), trying to stop us by chatting to us. We said "no thanks, not interested" but that didn't stop them. One of them put his arm over my shoulder, acting all chummy, and I had to forcefully push him off me and hurry away. Further down the hill we watched more of these guys try their scam - they tied a bit of string to the wrist of an unsuspecting tourist then dropped the friendly act as they demanded payment for the bracelet. My advice is just try and avoid eye contact and be very firm if anyone approaches you.

Top of my Paris must-see list was the Louvre. Unfortunately the audio guides were sold out for the day, and with signs in French I decided it wasn't worth viewing the Egyptian antiquities this time as I wouldn't know what I was looking at. It was probably just as well, because the number of rooms filled with paintings was overwhelming, and by the end of the day we were suffering from "Museum Fatigue". If you are planning to go to the Louvre, I strongly recommend previewing the database of exhibits on their website and just going to see the ones that interest you.

I loved the paintings of dramatic moments from Bible stories and Greek mythology. George liked the landscapes, especially those of cities and waterfronts. He discovered a new favourite artist, Giovanni Paolo Pannini, who did paintings of paintings of buildings. There were lots of gory pictures of Saint Sebastian skewered with arrows and leery paintings of Susanna at her bath. The Mona Lisa was crowded with tourists taking pictures and we didn't bother waiting to get close - I think it's the Paris Hilton of paintings; famous for being famous, and not offering anything more interesting than that.

I learned that George and I have different museum tactics: I quickly scan a room and pick one or two things that attract me to look at more closely. George prefers to cover fewer rooms, but look at every item in detail. So our Louvre visit basically consisted of me waiting impatiently in the next room and him being irritated that I was rushing him. Five years together, and we're still discovering new ways to annoy each other. Ah, love is grand!

On Thursday we went back to Notre Dame. Although the line to climb the tower was very long, we were pleased to find there was no line to enter the church. We arrived in time for the noon Mass. It must be very distracting for the priests and genuine mass attendees to have tourists milling around during the service. There were signs asking people to be quiet, but tourists are pretty good at ignoring that sort of thing.

Construction of the beautiful Gothic cathedral began in 1163, and it has survived a number of riots and revolutions over the years. Coming from New Zealand, where the oldest building is only 180 years old, I find that kind of history pretty impressive. The exterior of the church is intricately adorned with sculptures of kings and grimacing gargoyles, and there are three beautiful stained glass rose windows. Hopefully someday I'll have the opportunity to hear its impressive organ in action.

The Musee d'Orsay was top of George's list, though I must admit that a lot of Impressionist art leaves me cold. I can understand the innovation and technical achievement of the style, but to me it's the visual equivalent of choral music: Pretty but bland. I was pleased to find the Musee d'Orsay wasn't all blurry landscapes. The building itself, once a train station, is pretty cool and well worth the visit.

I enjoyed L'ecole de Platon, which I mistook for "Jesus and his fabulous disciples", and I thought the Naissance de Venus was one of the most beautiful paintings I'd ever seen. There were a couple of rooms focused on Symbolism and Idealism, and some lovely art nouveau furniture. There were lots of great sculptures too, like Rodin's Porte de l'Enfer (you'll recognise "The Thinker" top centre), the delightful, dynamic La Danse, and the heartbreaking Ugolin.

I find van Gogh fascinating and emotionally agitating. It is one thing to look at prints, but to stand in front of the nightmarish L'église d'Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du chevet and see the bold brushstrokes in detail is a real privilege.

Unfortunately, to get close to the paintings you had to get past hordes of tourists taking photos of the artworks. I don't understand the mentality of these people - surely if you wanted pictures, you would buy a book or just go online? They weren't even looking at the paintings, just taking a photo then moving on to the next one in a bored manner. They drove me nuts. The Musee d'Orsay would definitely benefit from putting up "No Camera" signs.

After a last night at the Novotel Tour Eiffel (thanks to Japan Airlines miles), our few short days in Paris came to an end. There were many things on my list to see that we didn't manage to squeeze in, so I will most definitely be back.

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