I've been meaning to post for quite a while, but Fresher's Week has been a constant process of finishing things up only to realize that there's one more after all. Looking back, I can see that I haven't posted since I left Vienna - over a week ago.
Paris was a lot of things, including very hot. The Paris metro also is kind of on the sketchy side - and I'm talking about busy stations near major tourist attractions, like the Louvre. Most of them smell odd, although no two of them seemed to smell the same, and they all looked pretty filthy. The trains themselves seem to predate the invention of air conditioning, or even proper ventilation for that matter. The windows that open are on the sides of the car, high up, and don't seem to do any good at all. I made the mistake of getting on the metro during rush hour once. After that I timed things more carefully - it's not an experience I cared to repeat.
By this point in the week, I was getting pretty tired of all the traveling. It's fun for a little while, but too much of it just gets to be overwhelming. Of course, the fact that it's Paris didn't really help with the overwhelming side of things - the sheer number of people would be a lot to deal with all on its own.
Still, I was hardly going to pass up the opportunity to see the Louvre. I spent about four hours there the day I arrived, mostly in the antiquities section. For the first time in my life, I think I've found a museum that's too much even for me... :) Room after room of statues and pottery and coins and artifacts and...the list could go on almost indefinitely. I saw the Venus de Milo, and I have to say I'm not sure what all the fuss is about over that one - it looks a lot like any other moderately weathered classical sculpture. But, for whatever reason, that particular statue is highly admired...so I made a brief stop to see it.
I also went by the room where the Mona Lisa is exhibited, of course. It was interesting to see it in person, although not all that easy. They have barricades keeping everyone ten feet away from it, set up in a funnel shape so that people can gather and then push forwards and leave to either side. I realized that the way to get the most time in front of it was to come up one side, edge along the front, and then leave through the other side. Worked pretty well. It's really true what they say about her gaze appearing to follow you as you move, too - very creepy.
I went to the Musee d'Orsay the next day, but there wasn't as much to see there as I had thought there would be. The Musee d'Orsay has a substantial collection of Impressionist paintings, including a lot of ones that used to hang in the Louvre, but they're undergoing renovation until the end of the year and the Impressionist collections were all closed. They did have a lovely Van Gogh exhibit open, though, which I enjoyed.
I stopped by the Eiffel Tower that evening just to look at it from the ground. There were massive lines to go up (although the line for the stairs was pretty short, understandably), and I just didn't feel up to the effort of standing in line for so long. So I contented myself with taking pictures of it from the ground.
On Sunday, I took the train back to London, where I went to church at St. Paul's. (I just like being able to say that.) Afterwards, I made my way to the Globe Theatre at a very leisurely pace and sat on the riverbank for a few hours, until it was time for the play.
I have to say, the seating at the Globe is a big improvement over the Yard. The website says that you don't have a good view of all of the action, because the pillars will get in the way, but that's only true from some perspectives - I had a fantastic view from where I was sitting. The play I went to see was Dr. Faustus, by Marlowe. It was really intense (not unexpected) and very well done.
That's about it for travel week. I'll see about getting photos up later, and also a post about Fresher's Week.
Paris was a lot of things, including very hot. The Paris metro also is kind of on the sketchy side - and I'm talking about busy stations near major tourist attractions, like the Louvre. Most of them smell odd, although no two of them seemed to smell the same, and they all looked pretty filthy. The trains themselves seem to predate the invention of air conditioning, or even proper ventilation for that matter. The windows that open are on the sides of the car, high up, and don't seem to do any good at all. I made the mistake of getting on the metro during rush hour once. After that I timed things more carefully - it's not an experience I cared to repeat.
By this point in the week, I was getting pretty tired of all the traveling. It's fun for a little while, but too much of it just gets to be overwhelming. Of course, the fact that it's Paris didn't really help with the overwhelming side of things - the sheer number of people would be a lot to deal with all on its own.
Still, I was hardly going to pass up the opportunity to see the Louvre. I spent about four hours there the day I arrived, mostly in the antiquities section. For the first time in my life, I think I've found a museum that's too much even for me... :) Room after room of statues and pottery and coins and artifacts and...the list could go on almost indefinitely. I saw the Venus de Milo, and I have to say I'm not sure what all the fuss is about over that one - it looks a lot like any other moderately weathered classical sculpture. But, for whatever reason, that particular statue is highly admired...so I made a brief stop to see it.
I also went by the room where the Mona Lisa is exhibited, of course. It was interesting to see it in person, although not all that easy. They have barricades keeping everyone ten feet away from it, set up in a funnel shape so that people can gather and then push forwards and leave to either side. I realized that the way to get the most time in front of it was to come up one side, edge along the front, and then leave through the other side. Worked pretty well. It's really true what they say about her gaze appearing to follow you as you move, too - very creepy.
I went to the Musee d'Orsay the next day, but there wasn't as much to see there as I had thought there would be. The Musee d'Orsay has a substantial collection of Impressionist paintings, including a lot of ones that used to hang in the Louvre, but they're undergoing renovation until the end of the year and the Impressionist collections were all closed. They did have a lovely Van Gogh exhibit open, though, which I enjoyed.
I stopped by the Eiffel Tower that evening just to look at it from the ground. There were massive lines to go up (although the line for the stairs was pretty short, understandably), and I just didn't feel up to the effort of standing in line for so long. So I contented myself with taking pictures of it from the ground.
On Sunday, I took the train back to London, where I went to church at St. Paul's. (I just like being able to say that.) Afterwards, I made my way to the Globe Theatre at a very leisurely pace and sat on the riverbank for a few hours, until it was time for the play.
I have to say, the seating at the Globe is a big improvement over the Yard. The website says that you don't have a good view of all of the action, because the pillars will get in the way, but that's only true from some perspectives - I had a fantastic view from where I was sitting. The play I went to see was Dr. Faustus, by Marlowe. It was really intense (not unexpected) and very well done.
That's about it for travel week. I'll see about getting photos up later, and also a post about Fresher's Week.
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