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Paris - Day Two
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Day Two of my Parisian excursion -- the Musee D'Orsay in the early afternoon, then an abortive attempt at the Centre Pompidou (we were turned back by the astonishingly long line, as all the museums were free that day -- we left the Orsay early because there were just too many people in the building to enjoy the experience). Then down through the Latin Quarter to the Pantheon, Jardins du Luxembourg, and home.
The subway in Paris impressed me -- the tunnels are side-by-side and the trains are high and narrow, which makes for a completely different impression from the pneumatic tubes of London or the subterranean vein-system of New York; the tunnels almost look like grand avenues below ground. The tunnels are also strangely well-lit.
The big gorgeous clock at the Musee D'Orsay (a converted train station). Watching blurry human forms move on several levels behind the frosted glass was quite the pleasure.
Monet's paintings of Rouen Cathedral, which as anyone who's taken an art class has heard a thousand times "are influenced by quality of light at varying times of day," are themselves placed in a room lit by a skylight -- so the quality of the light in the room changes while you look at the paintings. I found that very interesting indeed.
A no-parking sign that seems oddly exclusive of the passage of time. There's something existential in rejecting both concepts entirely, isn't there. Or maybe I'm reading a bit too deep.
Once again: how fucking pretty is the Seine?!?
The hilariously awesome fountain at the Centre Pompidou. It is physically impossible to find a seat along its rather inviting side-ledge that will not eventually get sprayed with water. Oh, architectural pranksters. They're wacky folks.
Do you feel loved? (This heart was spinning surprisingly fast and it took a couple of attempts to get a decent head-on shot. Appreciate the effort, damn it.)
This woman walked straight in front of me while I was kneeling down and obviously trying to take a picture of Notre Dame. That said, somehow I really like how this picture turned out anyway. I think it's her look of Gothic flair or something, juxtaposed against the architectual Gothic. Somebody shoot me.
Tin-Tin comics on the Rue Dante, right over the river in the Quartier Latin. This street was filled with comic book stores, but they were all closed since it was Sunday. Damn it damn it damn it.
The dome of the Pantheon looks exactly like St. Paul's in London, which was quite disconcerting when I first spotted it from the top of the Arc De Triomphe. I was quite impressed by the idea of having a national site commemorated to the memory of great artists and culture-makers; Michelle and I briefly discussed America's notable lack of such a monument. She tried to make the case for Arlington National Cemetery, which led to the following conclusion: "France remembers the people who made their culture. We remember Kennedys."
The interior of the Pantheon. They were hosting a reconstruction of the original Foucault's Pendulum, which proved the motion of the Earth in some profoundly simple and intuitive manner which I simply couldn't wrap my brain around, because I never paid any attention in Physics and would generally leave the class for thirty minutes at a time to get lunch and play with my friends on the grass. Man, high school was great.
A picture of God approving of everything the French do. I can't imagine why this would appeal to them. (There were a few of these in the Pantheon, actually.)
To unknown heroes.
The catacombs beneath the Pantheon. Grave highlights: Voltaire, the Curies, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola.
The beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg. I am reasonably sure that is not Lou Reed in the lower right corner.
This is the bunny who teaches you not to put your hands between the doors of the subway trains. I don't understand why he's a bunny either, so don't ask.
04.12.2003 | 02:16 PM
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Oh my god!! Tin-Tin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Tin-Tin almost as much as I love you, Chris!!!
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