Paris, September 2007
The Tuileries gardens.
Paris, September 2007.
Me at the Petit Trianon.
3rd September.
Je suis ici.
Made it to Paris in one piece. It is really quite alarming how much they make you queue and all that malarkey before finally setting you free amidst SHOPS. The flight was terrifying but seemed to take no time at all and YAY I AM IN PARIS!
Have already had a look at the Opéra, the Rue Gaillon (where Saint Just lived) and have been around the Egyptian and sculpture parts of the Louvre plus the creepy medieval Louvre bit. Have also been to Starbucks.
Atheist and I in the Louvre.
Me in the Tuileries gardens.
The hotel is lovely. I don't know if our room is the one that Oscar Wilde stayed in. Have just come back to dump our stuff and now we are heading out again to the Champs Elysées, SEPHORA and Eiffel Tower via taking arty shots of the Louvre and Place de Concorde at night.
YAY I AM IN PARIS! :D
First day in Paris involved scary plane flight and then a bus ride in torrential rain to the Opéra. Our hotel is on the Rue Marsollier, which is just off the Avenue de l'Opéra, which is a bit handy. Took a walk down to the Palais Royale which is weirdly deserted and a shadow of its former self. It seems weird to think that it used to be the hub of Parisian society and I think they should open shops and bars again.
Palais Royale, centre of the 1789 revolution.
The Palais Royale colonnade, where Danton and Desmoulins once wandered about.
Palais Royale arcades.
Palais Royale arcades.
Palais Royale.
Walked down to the Louvre, bought our Museum passes (very important) and fell upon Starbucks in a faintly shameful manner. I bought a large picture of Marie Antoinette but failed to locate the posters. Took a walk around the Medieval Louvre, which is very eerie and also the Egyptian collection which has some amazing mummy cases. Can now recognise Armana period art. Unsurprisingly. Found my favourite bit - the Cour Marly with the French sculpture collection and now have some fairly arty shots of various dewy eyed statues. The atheist was flagging after all this so I promised to take him back to see the Mona Fucking Lisa on Wednesday night when the musée is open until almost ten.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Creepy Louvre.
Walked through the Tuileries gardens to the Place de Concorde and then down the Champs Elysées via Virgin and Sephora where I would appear to have bought rather a lot of lipsticks and lip glosses. Did not buy chocolate perfume though, which I now regret so will have to go back for that. Carried on to the Arc de Triomphe where there were lots of scary looking policemen with guns and also veterans and a band. The atheist went to the top and took a cool panoramic photo and I stayed at the bottom and took photos of the brooding hugeness of the Arc.
Place de la Concorde.
Place de la Concorde.
Place de la Concorde with a view towards the Eiffel Tower.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe.
Walked to the Eiffel Tower, which is pretty damn cool and I don't care who disagrees. It is SCARY though. The atheist decided that he had had enough of big buildings for one day so decided to go to the top tomorrow instead maybe.
Eiffel Tower.
Me and the Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel Tower.
Just had a walk around the Rue de Saint-Honoré, which was cool but failed to remember the number of Robespierre's house or where Rose Bertin's shop was located. Might have to have a quick google for that although I am sure one of my sodding guidebooks will tell me! ;)
So tired now and my feet are AGONY but we did a lot and had a really nice day! Going to the Conciergerie, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Musée Carnavalet, Musée Jacquemart-André and Musée Cognacq-Jay tomorrow which is going to be a fabulous! Lots of ART. The atheist is beside himself at the prospect. ;)
4th September.
The Louvre.
The Louvre.
The Louvre.
The Louvre.
The Louvre.
Another long day. Got up extremely early for breakfast and then headed straight out. The Louvre is completely deserted at eight in the morning so managed to get some good photographs of the glass pyramids with no annoying people in the way! Had a nice walk around the islands and then on to Notre Dame, which was also deserted.
Notre Dame.
Bridge by Notre Dame.
Visited the Conciergerie and Sainte Chapelle. The Conciergerie was ace and I may have spent some time pretending to be a condemned aristocrat and forcing the atheist to pull sad faces with me. Sainte Chapelle was glorious but somewhat ruined by scaffolding covering the main altar.
Conciergerie.
Conciergerie.
Conciergerie.
Conciergerie.
Conciergerie.
Conciergerie.
Inside the Conciergerie.
Inside the Conciergerie.
The women's courtyard, Conciergerie.
The women's courtyard.
The women's courtyard.
A depressing view.
The men's corner.
The women's trough, where they did their washing.
The cells in the Conciergerie.
Looking ominous in the Conciergerie.
A doomed non aristocratic.
The Conciergerie.
The Conciergerie.
The Conciergerie.
Marie Antoinette's cell.
Sainte Chapelle.
Sainte Chapelle.
Sainte Chapelle.
Sainte Chapelle.
Went to the Marais and wandered around the Rue Pavée, where the Princesse de Lamballe was killed during the prison massacres and the Rue des Francs Bourgeois where the old hôtels particulaires can be found. It was really lovely. Visited the Musée Carnavalet (where they have a very lax photography policy) and the Musée Jacquemart-André, which I didn't really like very much despite the fact that they have some glorious portraits and paintings by Boilly and Boucher (I LOVE Boilly). It was a bit stuffy really. Walked to the Place des Vosges and had lunch on the Rue Turenne which was really lovely. Goats cheese salad! :)
Palais de Justice with the Cour de Mai.
The tumbrils went from here.
The corner of the Rue Pavée where Madame de Lamballe met her end.
The Carnavalet.
Coming down the stairs in the Carnavalet.
Renaissance room in the Carnavalet.
Camwhoring in the Carnavalet.
In the Marais.
My feet were getting really sore now so took the metro to the Tuileries and had a bit of a poke around the shops in the Carrousel de Louvre. I may have gone into Sephora and bought the last one of their limited edition 'Iris' lip gloss, which may well be the last in Paris for all I know as the Champs Elysées Sephora had sold out as well. Tried on loads of perfume and bought macaroons from L'Artisan de Chocolat and then headed to the Musée de la Mode et les Arts Decoratifs.
Tuileries gardens.
Tuileries gardens.
The Musée de la Mode was a bit rubbish and totally pretentious. There were no historical fashion displays but instead an exhibition of the most hideous and totally ridiculous (although some would call them outré I suppose) costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for ballets. Dreadful stuff. The couture stuff they had was quite nice though although once one has seen one conical nude silk bra one has seen them all. The decorative arts section was much better and absolutely vast. It was full of the most glorious paintings, room sets, furniture, vases, busts, snuff boxes, porcelain and GILT. Lots and lots and lots of GILT. It might as well have been called the Musée de la Pornographie Versailles. Amazing stuff and there were the most beautiful beds in there including one particular boat shaped one dating from the early nineteenth century. There was also one that used to belong to a famous courtesan, which was just gorgeous.
Lurked about the Tuileries gardens for a while after this as my feet hurt and then wandered about the Rue Cambon and Madeleine area before coming back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. I think we are going out in a bit to take photos of things in the dark and so that the atheist can ascend the Eiffel Tower. Have started thinking in French a bit so sorry if this seems a bit clunky with words the wrong way around! Have lots of new writing ideas as well!
Eiffel Tower at night.
Eiffel Tower all lit up.
Eiffel Tower all lit up.
Eiffel Tower all lit up.
6th September.
Went out on Tuesday night to look up at the Eiffel Tower and go 'oooh' a lot and take bizarrely squashed photographs. They switch on lots of sparkly lights on the hour for ten minutes which is just the most beautiful sight and makes the tower look as though it is glittering madly. After this we went to the Arc de Triomphe and then had dinner which was interrupted by the most enormous bang outside, which turned out to be a white van crashing into the underpass. Much hilarity ensued (the driver was unhurt) which increased when it was noted that the driver was an English Sun reader. Oops.
Arc de Triomphe at night.
Arc de Triomphe at night.
Arc de Triomphe at night.
Arc de Triomphe at night.
Louvre at night.
Feet expired at this point so hobbled back to the hotel. Had to go shopping yesterday morning for new shoes (such an ordeal) and ended up in Zara and Mango, which is always nice. Got a new top as well. Headed off to Versailles WITHOUT GETTING LOST OR HAVING A ROW and spent the day looking at gilt, taking photos and queuing for hours to get a stupid bus thing to the Petit Trianon. Versailles was the least busy that I have ever seen it and is looking pretty good as a result of the recent cleaning operation. It is actually glowing and they have painted the windows yellow, which has a pleasing effect. The bus was not so good - we only got it because my feet hurt and we had a reason to be down there but it was packed full of squacking Italians and enormous Americans who just SAT there and didn't get off at all, which was weird because there was nothing to see on the route itself. Weirdos.
Versailles.
Spent a very long time wandering around the Petit Trianon and looking at things and being all fan girl like. They have opened up the chapel now and it is very lovely and restful. The atheist, after getting all upset about the inhumane hideousness of the Revolution when we were in the Conciergerie, now decided to get indignant about how ridiculously over the top Versailles must have been and concluded that the aristocracy and the revolutionaries deserved each other.
Versailles.
Headed back to Paris and went to Saint Michel for croque monsieur (atheist) and lots of haagen das (me) before going to the Louvre for late opening. I now have posters (which goes towards replacing the FIVE Louvre posters that people have stolen from me over the years) including one of the nipple tweaking Estrees sisters, which we aren't sure where to put. I also have a copy of the Figaro all about Marie Antoinette and the most gorgeous book about the Empress Joséphine's influence on fashion - it has pictures of some of her actual dresses! The Louvre was very unbusy so I took the atheist to see the Venus de Milo (he was unimpressed), The Winged Victory of Samothrace (he was confused) and the Mona Lisa (he was the only person ever to think it larger than he had anticipated). I was told off for taking my shoes off in its presence! Bloody hell.
The Louvre is huge.
The Venus de Milo.
The Mona Lisa.
The Winged Victory.
The Winged Victory.
Botticelli fresco.
Botticelli fresco.
Botticelli fresco.
Departed the Temple Of Woe (I have an art history degree and so can say whatever I like without sounding like a philistine) and went to the Cafe de Palais Royale for dinner, which was served by an extremely surly waiter, who magically cheered up as soon as we paid and got ready to leave - he became positively loqacious (spelling police!) at this point but then ruined it all by asking the atheist if he was American, which he got very indignant about. He then cheered up and shouted about being 'made of win' when the metro station turned out to be less than a minute's walk away, which made me enquire if he was in fact American after all.
The Louvre pyramid at night.
We are leaving this morning anyway. I miss Chops so much! We talk about him all the time and can't wait to see him. I think we are going to the Musée Jacquemart-André this morning (I went to the Cognaq-Jay on Tuesday but once you have seen one Boucher you have seen them all) before heading to Charles de Gaulle.
Notre Dame.
Looking happy by the Tuileries.
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