Day 7

Yesterday, I hit up several spots in the 7th and 16th arrondissements. I started with Hôtel des Invalides, which Louis XIV built as a hospital and church for soldiers. Now it houses Napoleon's tomb and the Musée de l'Armée. After that, I walked to the base of the Eiffel Tower and crossed the Seine to sit out at Jardins du Trocadero. Inside the Palace there is the Musée de l'Architecture, which tracks French buildings from the Middle Ages till the 20th century. Finally, I went over to the Fondation Le Corbusier. Anyone who has taken Art Hum. has learned about him, but he was basically the Frank Lloyd Wright of France, in the sense that he completely changed French architecture at the beginning of the 20th century. Here are some pics from the house I got to walk through (built in the 1920s):





Throughout the day, I also got to see lots of Art Nouveau building facades (these parts of Paris are known for them). Here are some of the highlights:

Day 6--Holy Wednesday

So today, I decided to make the rounds at a bunch of churches in the 5th and 6th arrondissements. I actually started with the biggest and best-known church of all, the Notre Dame on Ile-de-la-Cité (in the 1st). It really is magnificent and pictures can never capture it, but here are just a couple to show the amazing Gothic architecture.




Directly across the river are St. Julien-le-Pauvre, one of the oldest churches in Paris, and St. Séveren, another gothic showpiece.
You can see how simple St. Julien-le-Pauvre looks in comparison:

My favorite part of Séverin were actually the modern stained-glass windows.


Another extremely impressive sight is the Panthéon. It was ordered by Louis XV to be built as a church, but later on, it was converted into a tomb for important French people (Rousseau, Voltaire, etc.). Here are some inside shots:




Last of the churches were St. Sulpice (neo-Classical) and St. Germain-des-Prés (THE oldest church in France). There are seriously SO many churches to see around Paris, and it always reminds me what a historically rich city Paris is in general. The churches really define Paris as a city entirely different from any American city.

Day 5--The Marais

For those of you who don't know Paris well, the Marais is a very particular quartier. The word "marais" literally means "swamp," because when Paris was first settled, that's what it was. Throughout the years it has been the Jewish ghetto and a hip spot in the 1600s for wealthy people to build mansions. Now it is the Jewish, gay, and VERY hip quarter--as they say in French, it is "un mélange." It is also where my family stayed when we visited Paris four years ago, and where my parents stayed last week, so it has a special place in my heart.

Today I went back to the Marais to check out two museums and two churches I hadn't been to yet. First was Musée Carnavalet, housed in an old hôtel (mansion). It's a museum of the history of Paris, and there are lots of rooms recreated from different periods in Paris's history. Here are some of the prettier ones (couldn't resist the harp shots):



I must admit, the whole ordeal was a bit of a race to get to the Art Nouveau rooms. True to form, they didn't disappoint. My pictures don't really do it justice, but here was a room for a jewelry store, 100% Art Nouveau:





Afterwards, I went to the Musée Cognacq-Jay, also housed in an hôtel in the Marais. It was a rich couple's personal collection in the early 1900s, kept as they displayed it in the hôtel when they lived there! It was cool, although fairly modest compared to some of the stuff I've been seeing.

Before returning from my venture, I looked in St. Paul and St. Gervais. St. Paul is a dramatic Jesuit church with chandaliers on the inside! Here are a couple of pics:


St. Gervais is much more standard Gothic style, but it had some pretty cool modern stained glass windows:


With travel still messed up across Europe, I'm feeling pretty good about my decision to stay in Paris.

Trapped in Paris! Day 4

So yesterday, I started by taking Panda on a couple of walks, of course. However, the past few days, her walks have been different. Suddenly, it actually feels like SPRING outside. And not just tentative April spring--now it is actually HOT when we are walking, and the park is filled to the brim with people! I have decided that walking through parks is where you can catch people at their happiest. It's a slice of humanity truly enjoying itself.

In the afternoon, I decided to venture to Montmartre, a quartier I don't know very well. Of course, I had to go to the main attraction there, Sacre Coeur.



Afterwards, I went to a lesser-known church that literally stands in Sacre Coeur's shadow--St. Pierre, one of the oldest churches in Paris. In addition to becoming an Art Nouveau and Art Deco nerd, I am quickly becoming a nerd about church architecture and history. This one was apparently built on the sight of a Roman temple in the 12th century (as opposed to Sacre Coeur, which was built in the early 20th century). I particularly like the Beauty-and-the-Beast-style stained glass windows, which were made after the original windows were broken during WWII. Here's a pic:


I also checked out two museums I've been meaning to get to: Espace Salvador Dali, and Halle St. Pierre. The Dali museum was a bit of a disappointment--it was mostly sculptures he had made in the 1970s and 1980s depicting objects and characters he had already depicted in paintings. Here are a couple:



Halle St. Pierre was a bit more interesting. It is a museum of "Art Brut," which basically means any art that wouldn't usually be accepted by society. It's an idea that the French artist Jean Dubuffet came up with in the 1950s. The current exhibition was artwork by Japanese artists, most of which are patients at mental institutions. Knowing that the artists had been diagnosed with psychiatric issues made looking at the artwork really interesting. Sometimes it was clear what the artists' obsessions were, sometimes the art seemed really elementary, and sometimes it just seemed like normal, beautiful artwork! It was interesting how much it changed my thought process by knowing the history behind these. A lot of the "elementary" ones did look like other modern art, so who are we to say that this art is any less worthy? On the other hand, was the whole idea of the exhibition a bit condescending? Overall, it was really interesting, and I found myself having strong emotional reactions to some of the art.

And last but not least--I went to Cemetière de Montmartre, where several famous people are buried. Not to sound morbid, but French cemetaries are actually really cool--so many of the graves are actually little chapels for entire families, so it's a little like walking down a row of miniature houses! The grave I really wanted to see was Francois Truffaut's. It was a simple, small grave, and I would have missed it if not for the map I had. It was pretty moving being there and seeing the flowers people still left for him and everything. Anyways, overall, a good day in Montmartre!

Trapped in Paris! Day 3

So, back in January, I met up with a girl named Fanny for a drink. Fanny is Parisian, but is spending a year teaching and studying at Harvard. She's friends with my sister there, so when she was on vacation back in Paris, we met up and had a drink. Then a few days ago, she emailed me to try to get me in touch with more French people. She told me about a barbecue that her boyfriend was hosting, and that his sister (who is my age and loves film) would be there. So, on a whim, I went, and it was actually quite fun! There were a bunch of French people there, but also an Australian, a couple of Italians, another American, and a girl from Colombia! It was fun hearing about everyone else's experiences, why they were in France, etc. I am also proud to say that I was not the worst French-speaker there! The Australian had a French boyfriend, but had been living in France for a year and a half and still barely knew any. The Italians spoke good French, but I was able to keep up. The bbq was also fun because it was out in the banlieus (suburbs), so he was renting a HUGE, beautiful house with three other friends. There was an actual back yard where we could sit on the grass and out on patio furniture! So anyways, it was a random endeavor, but it turned out to be very fun!

Later in the evening, I had dinner with my friend Jill. She's studying in Aix-en-Provence, but was also stuck in Paris due to the volcano ash! She had been traveling for several days beforehand, and had been stuck in Brussels at the time of the volcano, but took a train to Paris while she still couldn't get home. SO MANY people that I know have been affected by this volcano! It's such a weird phenomenon!

Volcano Ash! Trapped in Paris!

So, I rarely fly. In fact, I am trying hard to think back on how many flights I've taken in my life, and I believe it is 12. However, I had a flight scheduled to go to Prague for spring break on Friday, 4/16. The day of my 13th flight, a volcano erupted, and the biggest disruption of air traffic in history ensued! My timing was impeccable. On top of that, because this is France, the train workers are on strike! Instead of taking an overnight bus, I decided to embrace my time in Paris and still treat it as a spring break. (I am also still responsible for dogsitting Panda--the people who were supposed to fly in from America and take up my post are now trapped in America.) So I am going to use the blog to chronicle my day-to-day while I'm "trapped in Paris"!

Day 1, Friday, 4/16:
-I went to the Petit Palais, where there is currently an exhibit on Yves Saint Laurent. Here is the outside of the building:

Unfortunately, pictures were prohibited, but here are some of the dresses I saw:




Then, I walked around the Petit Palais permanent collection (Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris). It was tiny, but nice, and there was a beautiful café and courtyard within.

Day 2, Saturday, 4/17:

I went to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which is housed in a wing of the Louvre. I am becoming a big Art Nouveau and Art Deco nerd, and trying to get to everywhere in the city that I can find good examples. The musée didn't disappoint. They had several rooms completely decked out in these styles, so I could totally feast my eyes. Here are some pics from the museum's website:
(Art Nouveau)

(Art Nouveau)

(Art Deco)


After that, I wandered around several parts of the 1st arrondissement I hadn't been to. Here are some pics from the Jardins du Palais Royal:
(First one is controversial modern art)

(Second one is more enjoyable modern art)


I also wandered to a church there, and some fancy shopping areas:
(Here is a baroque ceiling in the cathedral St. Roch)

(Here is a fancy gallerie filled with shops and cafés)


So despite being sad that I can't make it to Prague or Budapest this week, I am delighted that I am making the best of my time here. More updates to come!

Parents visit!

Alright, so my last visitors just left. My parents were here for ten days, and it was so much fun acting like I was on vacation again, and seeing them, and getting lots of free food! They had been to Paris two times before, so they were pros at getting around. We hit up some of the classic touristy spots (St. Chappelle, L'Arc de Triomphe, Musée D'Orsay) as well as some places I hadn't been to before (Musée d'art modern de la ville de Paris, Bois de Bologne, L'Orangerie, Le Concergerie, Musée du Moyen Age). They also got to see my apartment and meet Jean-Paul, and see Reid Hall and Paris VII as well.

A couple of other interesting things that happened:
1) I finally went to the harp store my teacher back home kept telling me about. It was pretty sick. It's basically a harp retail store (aka a room filled with harps). There aren't any stores like it in NYC! They also have a room in the back that harpists can practice in. As soon as I mentioned my teacher to the store owner, she perked up and said, "Ah, oui! June Han! Elle est très mignonne!" ("Yes! June Han! She is su cute!") and we set up times for me to play. I must say, it was fun to play harp again. Here is a pic of the store.



2) My Mom's cousin lives in Paris, so we met up with him and his long-time girlfriend. This girlfriend (Esther Shalev-Gerz) is an artist and currently has an exhibition at the Jeu de Paume! For all you New Yorkers, that's basically the equivalent of getting an exhibition at the Whitney or the Guggenheim. It's pretty cool. My sister Hannah and I went there when she was visiting, but I went again with my parents, and then we met and hung out with her! The exhibition is very intellectual, video-art, etc.--not quite my style, but still very cool. I also got to meet my great-uncle and his French wife for the first time!

Now, this week, I'm doing my second round of dogsitting for my sister's colleague Louis. Panda is adorable and my first real experience with dogs! (I have always been a cat person but now I can say I am both.) In order to keep her company, I'm supposed to stay at their apartment in Belleville, which is really fun. Belleville is basically like Chinatown, Brooklyn, and Queens, all rolled up into a Parisian quarter. I have such a fun time staying there and love snuggling with Panda.

And next week, I am going to Prague and Budapest!!! I am so excited and keep researching things to do. If anyone knows either of those cities well, give me ideas, please!!