Greetings from Paris
As I mentioned in the previous post, we are now in Paris soaking up the sights and sounds of the largest city in France. Before I go on, I will apologize for the picture of me in a comforter. As I tried to explain, neither Shaun nor myself packed towels. I really wanted to shower, so I dried off with the Coca-Cola blanket. Is that really so wrong?? haha
Anyways, back to Paris. We arrived at about 10pm, luckily there were still rooms, because the first one we tried was full. Our room overlooks rue de Parme and rue de Clichy (both streets) We really love this room because it has free internet, hot showers, and is close to the subway. Our food has mainly consisted on free hostel breakfasts and sandwiches we make from supplies gathered at the local grocery stores. We could spend more at cafe’s and such, but I don’t mind and neither does my (or Shaun’s) wallet.
We didn’t work too hard today. Our day consisted of going to the rail station, the market, Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower at both day and night times. It was really lovely. Make sure you check out the pictures of them both. I should add that we didnt go to the Arc at night, but we did see it from the Tower.
Our next few days are going to consist of exploring the rest of Paris, going to the d-day beaches, Chartres, Mont St-Michel, and a couple other northern french areas. Because I have access to internet right now, you can look for updates every day or night (I am unsure of what time it is back home, -9 hours I think.
I hope everyone is having a good time in warm weather, It has been cold and rainy here.
Goodbye for now,
Stephen L Searer
May 20th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
It looks like you are having a great time. Glad to see that you arrived safely and are able to get out and do so many things. It doesn’t seem as if not having a car is a problem. Keep the news and pictures coming.
Dad
May 21st, 2006 at 10:17 am
ok, so, the problem with the time difference is that i don’t know where you are right now or when you will read this. I am going to tell you about some must sees at the louvre and the musee d’orsay. if you haven’t gone yet, then check them out. if you’ve already gone, then, “hey, remember these cool paintings you may or may not have seen?” if you aren’t going at all, i cant help you. here, goes…
louvre
as you guys know, i am not an expert on western art, but i know a bit. from what i have seen, i consider the greatest painting in the world to be “the raft of the medusa” by gericault. look for a raft on a stormy sea with people dying in the lower left corner juxtiposed with a surging upward movement to the right of men waving to a ship to be rescued. its a flipping huge painting and if you miss it you are blind. also in or near that room are some other big ones. i think that “the coronation of napolean” is there, it is a very famous piece and was repainted to a smaller scale by the artist in a room at versailles. also in that room is “the massacre at chios” by delacroix. look for the ‘nike of samothrace’, a statue in one of the stairwells, its also called ‘winged victory’, you should recognize it when you see it. take a picture of all the people with camera phones taking pictures of the mona lisa. the code of hammurabi is very famous as being one of the first codes of law every recovered from (babylon?). we learned about it in world history, i dont know if you remember. one of my favorites which is lesser known is “l’aurore et cephale” by guerin, look for a gilr descending from the heavens to her sleeping lover while holding flowers in her hands and being led by cupid. one of my favorite sculptures in the world is in a room there filled with sculptures. it is by canova and it’s called “cupid and psyche” look for a more adult cupid holding a woman in his arms. ok, i have to go to church, i’ll write more later