Paris, Je t’aime
And we are now in Paris! I don’t have much time to update now, we have been pretty busy but also relaxing because we have been able to stay in one place for more than 2 days – its very nice. We have met some awesome people through couchsurfing, and through friends, who have been very good to us and I will definitely keep in contact with them all. We arrived on Saturday, so I’m just going to jot down some brief notes for now for our activities each day.
Saturday
Arrived in the morning, met our couchsurfing hosts, took Zac along a walking tour of the main sites of the city (L’Arc de Triomphe, Champs d’Elysees, Le Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris, Quartier Latin, Pont Neuf, etc.) Hung out with our hosts that evening, cooked dinner, etc.
Sunday
I visited Le Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetary in Paris, to see the graves of Ingres, Delacroix (surprising they are buried in the same place considering the strength of their feud while living), Gericault, Balzac, Sara Bernhart, Chopin, Jim Morrison, etc. Hoping some of their knowledge and creativity rubs off on me.
Met up with our hosts friend who will host us, along the canal for the evening
Monday
Met our couchsurfing hosts friend who will host us this upcoming week
Went to Sacre Coeur for lunch for a great view of Paris, saw the Opera and Montmatre district, etc. went window shopping
Tuesday
Visited Musee d’Orsay (my favorite museum in the world) and was not disappointed, walked around the Latin Quarter for lunch, showed Zac La Sorbonne, Cluny and the Pantheon (where Hugo and other famous persons are buried)
Visited the Eiffel Tower in the evening to see it “glitter” and visited the Latin Quarter to see it at night
Wednesday
Visited Le Centre Pompidou – modern art musuem, currently hosting an exposition on Kandinsky in conjunction with the Berlin and Munich museums – probably the largest compilation of his work in history and really inspiring – I have always liked Kandinsky but to see so much of his work in one place was really spectacular. The museum itself has many many famous works from the development of modern art, and is progressive as well because it has an entire floor of women artists – this is pretty much unheard of in important art museums. I can’t say I enjoyed a lot of it, because the modern work is what receives the most attention and I tend to dislike video/performance/installation art, but the principle is pretty incredible and there were some great pieces by some of my favorite female artists.
Thursday
relaxing day, Notre Dame to climb tower but line was too long because we went in the afternoon, wandered around the streets (bought sandals since my only pair broke)
bar on the boat outside the city where Margot (our host)’s friend works
Friday
Spent the day at the Louvre – saw a lot more than last trip because I didn’t spend as much time on the French paintings, although I did walk through them again because they are probably the highlight of the museum for me – saw the Grand Gallery, the massive grand scale French paintings, the 17th and 18th c. French paintings, 19th c. French, Italian and Spanish paintings, Roman sculpture, Oriental section, the medieval Louvre (foundations are still present under the rest of the museum – very cool), a lot of time in the Egyptian art section which was incredible, glanced at the Mona Lisa as I walked through the room since I was already there, saw Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, Canova’s Psyche and Cupid (one of my favorite sculptures, much smaller in person than I expected), etc. probably saw a bit more but mostly just spent time wandering around from each of the places I really wanted to go, managed to see all the pastels and drawings, a print exhibition which was pretty amazing
Saturday
enjoyed the garden at Versailles… picnicked and brought along les miserables (i thought it was appropriate!) and yes the gardens are just as spectacular the third time 
Sunday
back to the Eiffel Tower for pictures and lunch, met up with our friend Cecile and walked around, the Grand Mosque, Jardin des Plantes, kebabs and gelato
Night train to Cinque Terre
