Paris - part 8

Well, I'm just about Parised out. I'm not tired of the city, just of writing about it. And after the last post's video extravaganza...well, nothing can compete with that. This last posting involves pictures from the end of the final day in which we had free time to do whatever we wanted in the cold rain.


Another picture of the Seine. This one was taken from the Pont Neuf looking east towards the Pont au Change. On the right (on the Ile de la Cite) is the Conciergerie, which is part of the whole Palace of Justice complex that also has Sainte-Chapelle. The Conciergerie was a medieval palace and a prison. It was used to house prisoners on their way to the guillotines during the French Revolution and was finally decommissioned as a prison in 1914. It's now an historical monument and part of it is open to the public. We did not go in.


This one was taken from the Pont Neuf looking west towards the Pont des Arts. The dome on the left is the Institut de France, which is a learned society that houses five academies. These include the French Academy and the Academies of the Humanities, Sciences, Fine Arts, and Painting and Sculpture. We didn't go there either.


We made our way in the rain towards the Eiffel Tower. Here Sarah shows off a rare European Starbucks coffee. She had gone without for about a year. She had to settle for much better coffee in Italy. But one cannot dismiss the convenience of the massive cup that you can take with you. But I will. I dismiss it.


The fast-moving clouds kept obscuring the top of the tower but every time I tried to take a picture the clouds would pass. This was the best obscured by clouds picture that I got. Obscured by Clouds is also a fantastic album by Pink Floyd. Unrelated. Sorry.


Even more of the Seine. These two pictures are farther west nearer to the tower. As a devoted follower of the television series of The Highlander, I always wanted to live in a barge on the Seine. And fight with swords while displaying an amazing ponytail.


Oh, I miss it already. We'll have to see if Sarah can get fellowships in Paris and London.


Sarah wanted to send a picture to her mom in which she danced in front of the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is the tallest structure in Paris (1,063 feet tall), and is the most visited paid monument in the world (6,719,200 people in 2006). And it's made out of Legos.


The building in the foreground is the Ecole Militaire. It houses various military teaching facilities and was built by Louis XV in 1750. In the background is the Tour Montparnasse, the second tallest structure in Paris (until renovations on the Tour AXA are completed). Two years after the tower was built in 1972, a law was put in place to ban the building of skyscrapers in the city center.


Sarah lets the folks back home know that it was a little chilly in Paris.


Our last main destination was the Arc de Triomphe. The arch honors those who fought for France, beginning in with the Napoleonic Wars. The names of generals and battles are on the inside and top of the arch. There is also a tomb of an unknown soldier from WWI. Napoleon marched triumphantly under a wooden mock-up of it before it was finished. There are 12 avenues that radiate out of the Place de l'Etoile in which it sits.


The Arc de Triomphe sits at the western end of the Champs-Elysees (one of the 12). And here is a rainy view of that famous avenue.


And that is all from freezing, rainy Paris.

Paris - part 7

These final two Paris postings are just mixes of random other things we did while we were there. Some of them happened in the order presented and some of them were just random pictures that were between other posted subjects. But that doesn't matter to you. In fact, forget this entire paragraph.
This is an exciting posting though because it is my first posting that makes use of a new technology called video. Don't skip ahead. Just arrive at the video in the natural order of things. I must warn you though, that it is nothing exciting. In fact, I am being a turd in the video because I did not want said video to be recorded at the time. I never think to record videos while traipsing about Europe (like I do), Sarah just grabbed my camera and started rolling. However, digital video does not roll. Maybe I'll remember to use high-tech video technology in the future. Anyway, on with Paris.


This is a view from our hotel room. This looks similar to most streets in Florence (except prettier, kinda), except this is a small side street. In Florence it seems like even the main traffic arteries are this size. Except for the few multi-lane viale's and the highways outside of town, pretty much all the roads in Florence are tiny one-way, one-lane roads and some two-way roads. I don't know how they planned the traffic patterns (apparently they didn't give too much thought to automobiles in the previous centuries) but some of the one-way main arteries baffle me due to their tiny size with barely room for one car to squeeze through. This rant might be due to the fact that I walked home from work yesterday (hour-long walk, fast speed) and felt like I was inches away from the non-stop cars flying by.


And here's the view to the right from our hotel window. The beautiful Hotel Rocroy was so well-prepared that, even though we arrived two hours late to check in, they still didn't have half of our rooms ready. So we piled our luggage into a side room as we headed out to the Louvre. They were replacing all the mattresses, as I think I mentioned in a previous post. The rooms were actually pretty nice.


Jump ahead about 12 hours (I can't remember what time it was, or if it was the same day) and Sarah and I went in search of the bar she had found online that had shown the Ohio State-michigan game in previous years. It was our best hope as there is no longer an alumni club in Paris for some reason. It was a Canadian sports bar near the Seine. Most of the crowd was watching soccer or rugby on the televisions, but there were about 15 people in the back watching the game on two tvs. I think there were two other Ohio State people (we talked to one who was from Bowling Green) and there were at least 10 people wearing those disgusting colors of that school up north. I wore my Ohio State t-shirt with pride. Those who recognize this shirt know what it says on the back.


And there it is. Final score: 42-7. Sarah wrote down some great quotes from the ESPN commentators such as, "Awww, just give it to 'em," when there was some question as to whether Michigan scored their only touchdown. I hope my cousin Jennifer reads this. But I'm allowed to gloat after the heartbreak that was the John Cooper era (which coincided with my time at Ohio State, though we did beat Michigan once during my time there - a game which I attended). This is very important in the Paris history lesson.


Here's a shot of Notre Dame from the Left Bank, aka the south side of the River Seine. Also visible is the Petit Pont, or Little Bridge. Bridges have been used in this exact spot since antiquity to take advantage of the narrow crossing around the Ile de la Cite.


And here is Sainte-Chapelle from the Boulevard du Palais. I guess that is part of the old royal palace which surrounds it.


This marker indicates the spot where my grandpa was born. I think this was along the Rue de Rivoli, but I'm not sure.


We walked out and stood in the middle of the Champs-Elysees where the famous road ends at the Place de la Concorde. Here we are facing east towards the Place de la Concorde with its ferris wheel and the Obelisk of Luxor. The over 3,000 year old obelisk once stood at the entrance to the Luxor Temple in Egypt. The over 1 year old ferris wheel once stood at the entrance to the McDonalds on 6th Street in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
This famous square also hosted some very famous executions during the Reign of Terror. King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry, Danton, and Robespierre were all guillotined here.


Now we are looking west onto the Champs-Elysees. Here the avenue is surrounded by parks. Further west the avenue is lined with some extremely expensive shops. In fact, at $1.5 million a year for 1000 square feet in one area, it is the most expensive real estate in Europe.


Here, we take advantage of technology once again. This time it's the zoom feature. I'll talk more about the Arc de Triomphe in the next posting, if I feel like it.

Well, here it is. My first video on this site. Please ignore me as I tried to ignore the camera man. Camera person. Camera Sarah. They'll get better. Hopefully.

Paris - part 6 (Ile de la Cite)

So, as I may have mentioned in the last five postings, it was cold and rainy while we were in Paris. On our free day (nothing scheduled with the group) Sarah and I walked around quite a bit. The rain did not deter us too much. We started off with two beautiful locations that indoors, as churches often are. We went to the Ile de la Cité, which is that little island in the River Seine in the middle of Paris.
The Ile de la Cité was the home at various times to Gallic tribes, the Romans, and eventually the Franks. The Frankish king Clovis built a castle on the island for his Merovingian kingdom of Neustria, and in the early Middle Ages the island was used as a defensive point against the vikings. In the 900s a cathedral was built on the island which was the predecessor to Notre Dame. Eventually, the city of Paris grew around this central point, and today distances on highways originating in Paris are still measured from the zero kilometer point (Point zero) in front of Notre Dame.
What's all this have to do with our trip to Paris? Nothing really. I'm just bored. Anyway, we went to the Ile de la Cité to see something that I did not see on our trip to Paris a few years ago.


Sainte-Chapelle is a gothic chapel on the island that is in the courtyard of the royal palace. It means Holy Chapel in English, and was built to house holy relics including Jesus's crown of thorns. Supposedly, Louis IX bought the crown of thorns for over three times the amount that was paid to build the amazing chapel.


The stained glass windows are amazing. We don't see too much of them in Italy, especially this large. And these are supposed to be the best example of this type of stained glass, whatever type that is.


Windows this large were made possible by the thin vaulting that left so much space available for non-structural elements. Since this is not a gigantic church the columns don't have to support as much weight. It's science.
I think that I heard that the Italians didn't use stained glass this much because the churches would be extremely hot like in a greenhouse. I don't know anything about greenhouses.


Here is the rose window at the rear of the chapel.


Sarah and I gaze in wonder.


A little person takes another picture of us.


The walls were painted and decorated over every square inch. I checked.


Some poor martyr holds the top of his head as the wild ax man struts away in victory. The poor man is left to talk to his bald head.


From there we took the short walk southeast to a more well-known place. Notice that it isn't raining? When we left is was. And it didn't stop the rest of the day.


Oh, and there's Charlemagne.


Some of the Sainte-Chapelle relics were moved here during the French Revolution. This included the crown of thorns. Apparently they're still around and brought out on some holidays.


There was a mass in progress when we arrived so we didn't stay to look around for long. We just meandered around in the back with the hundreds of other non-church-going-at-the-time tourists.


Here is one side aisle. Oh, mass ended. Let them go in peace. I guess we could have stuck around, but we didn't for some reason. I think we were hungry. We went and ate at a Greek restaurant. Why not?


Notre Dame is Paris's cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. This gothic church was one of the first to employ flying butresses which relieves the horizontal thrust of the vaults. We don't see much of that in Italy. For some reason the Italians hide their butressing inside other elements.


Notre Dame was built between 1163 and 1345 on the site of an older cathedral that was demolished to make way for one fit for European kings. And hunchbacks, or whatever the politically correct term would be.
Paris will continue...

Paris - part 5 (Versailles)

On our way back from Chartres we stopped in the city of Versailles, France. Not to be confused with Versailles, Ohio (population 2,589, home of the six-time state football champion Tigers, and the Poultry Days festival). Versailles is now a wealthy suburb of Paris.


However, it was the unofficial capital of France from 1682-1715 and 1722-1799 when a couple of Louis' moved from the city and again from 1871-1879 during an insurrection in Paris. The official royal palace at these times was still the Palace of the Louvre, but government was conducted in Versailles.
Above, we are approaching the palace in the freezing cold weather. We arrived a little late and only had an hour to tour the palace. So Sarah and I rushed through. It is immense. You can't see the whole thing in this picture.


Here is the chapel. Not too shabby.


Here is a hallway with statues of random French folk. Some facts from wikipedia: Versailles has 11 hectares of roofing surface area, over 51,000 square meters of floor space, 700 rooms, 2,152 windows, 67 staircases, and over 20,000 works of different kinds of art. In case you're in to that kind of thing.


I don't know how many fireplaces it had for its 700 rooms, but if they actually used logs this big they must have cut down all the trees in France to keep it warm.


Here is the famous Hall of Mirrors, which is also its central gallery. This is the room in which the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.


This is...another room. I forget what it was. But boy! isn't it neat? We pretty much were running through at this point, trying to make sure we saw everything before it closed.

The palace is currently exhibiting some works of art (I guess) by Jeff Koons. Below are four examples of his 17 "sculptures" on display.


I do not mean to say anything bad about his art. I just don't get some of it. Here is a blow-up lobster beach toy hung from the ceiling by a red plastic chain. Genius!


One of the best: a statue of Michael Jackson with Bubbles. Precious. I'm just following in my blog's long tradition of showing wonderful works of art.


We actually really liked this one. It's just an odd gallery in which to display it.


Here's another one we liked. It was located at the end of the Hall of Mirrors and actually worked very well in the space.


The back side of the chateau. The grounds stretch back for a long, long way. The gardens alone cover 800 hectares. The gardens also have 50 fountains, 620 jets of water, a 23 hectare Grand Canal, 200,000 trees, and has 210,000 flowers planted annually. One of these days I'm going to have to find out how big a hectare is.


Here is the palace from the back. We had an additional hour to tour the grounds after the palace closed, but by that point and at that temperature we didn't feel like lingering.


Sarah smiles, despite the cold.


We walked around for a while before we found the exit. There's a lot of ground to cover there if you go the wrong way in search of the exit. This view of the city of Versailles is from the front of the palace. It is a beautiful town, but we didn't have much time to explore it. We headed back to the train station apart from the group because everyone went their separate ways in the palace. Rather than taking the regional train back, we went to a different station that has a train that lead straight into Paris and becomes one of the subway lines.
The Paris trip will continue on the Ile de la Cite...