Paris

Mona Lisa, The Eiffel tower, Venus de Milo, and the Arc de Triomphe, and The Wedding Feast at Cana are all artistic symbols of Paris, France. It just so happens that we got to go see all of these while in Paris. Paris is definitely NOT one of my favorite cities because I don't think that it really portrays France. It's always packed with tourists so you hear more English than French. But I feel that this time was an exception. We did not stay in a hotel, we stayed in an apartment that was not in a touristy area. We also tried to stay out of the touristy areas as much as we could.

Here I am on the TGV on my way to Paris, France. I am reading The Rape of Europa which tells about how people secretly hid art from the Germans.

Ahh Chartres, my Mom's favorite church in the whole wide world (and probably one of the biggest too). Chartre towered over all of the little roofs in this little city and you could see it from a mile out. The most amazing thing about this church is its archetecture. Look at its two towers there both different, that is what makes this church stand out from the rest. I feel that this church is like the Saint Peters of France. Its just so unique and there is nothing that is taller than it. Lets go inside of it now.

The rose window, every typical Gothic church in France has one of these. This one is exceptionally amazing because when the light hits it just right it looks like rubies and sapphires are reflected on the floor. This rose window is SOOO big you could probably fit about three of me in it (which is not saying much).

Sculptures that portray stories (we were not able to interpret them). Next we went up into the top of one the tower on the left.

As you can see from the pictures we were HIGH up. Unfortunately Mom didn't come up due to a fear of heights. Seeing the towers from down low is amazing, but up high where you can see every intricate detail like the expressions on the gargoyles faces. You can just about see Paris off in the distance too. You can definitely tell why they built churches this big, it was to make YOU feel small. This church makes you feel inferior due to the "dwarfing effect."



After Chartres we went to see an old friend named Jackie. Jackie and my grandfather were stationed together in World War II, so they go way back.
I know what you are thinking, she looks like she is twenty years old. But the fact is, she is 90 years old and thinks that her 70 year old neighbors are old. The truth of the matter is that Jackie is practically blind, speaks English perfectly, has a basset hound, and has a Porch Boxter in her garage. I guess you could say she is a step down from Wonder Woman and that's about it. After our very tasty visit at Jackie's, we hopped back on the train and chugged back to Paris where we sought out some grub. While searching high and low for some stomach growling remover we passed by this beautiful well lit up "thing" that we couldn't find the name for, so here it is.
Yes my friends, here it is. The symbol of France, even more so than their flag, Le Tour Effiel (a.k.a Eiffel Tower). The most beautiful time to see it is at night just because it is lit up. We finally got our food and motored on home to rest for Le musee de Louvre.

Day 2: Le Louvre
How can anyone describe all that you can see in the Louvre. The fact is, you can't. There is just so much to see that words can't describe it. But luckily, I'm going to back up my words with a lot of pictures so stand by.

At the entrance to the Louvre where one of the glass pyramids points down. Didn't hurt much.

A baby killing strangling/ playing with a goose however you want to picture it.

Ahh The Venus de Milo. It seems that any thing that gets a name is famous. Not one of my favorites becaus there were too many people. I had to push to see just to see it. It should really be called the Aphrodite de Milo because it is a Greek statue, and Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite.

Perhaps one of my favorite statues in the world, The Winged Victory. It was found at the base of a cliff on a Greek Island. This statue represents the goddess Nike (or in English victory). Scholars think that Victory was in an open aired amphitheater or on the edge of a cliff looking out to sea. The reason it is one of my favorite is because you get to imagine the arms and the head of the goddess and her expression.

This painting might not look all that great, but wait until you hear the history behind it. This depiction of Saint John the Baptist was painted by the notorious Leonardo de Vinci. Can you tell what famous painting (by the same man) this looks like? If you guessed La Gioconda a.k.a The Mona Lisa you are right. Leonardo de Vinci either used this painting as the model for The Mona Lisa, or the other way around... I forget.

This painting is of Saint Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata (or holy wounds of Jesus) from a four winged angel that has a name but right now I don't know what it is. This painting is not a Renaissance or Baroque period painting by looking at 3 major things. One, the "canvas" is made of wood colored in gold leaf, two, when you look at the painting, there is no real movement in the people its just still, and three (this difference you can't really see) the paint base is egg white and not oils like later periods.



Part of the decoration of the Louvre is that on the ceiling they named all of the artists that's paintings are in there. Major ones such as Raphael get corners and bigger places for their name.




This painting was done by my favorite artist in the whole wide world. His name is Michaelangelo de Caravaggio aka Caravaggio. In this painting he is depicting a gypsy girl reading a boys palm. While she is telling his fortune she is stealing his ring as shown below. I love his work because it is always so realistic. He is definitely not an idealist.

This picture is also by Caravaggio. This is called "The Death of the Virgin." I bet no one out there can answer who he used as his model for the Virgin. It was a dead prostitute that the police found in the river Thames. There was a lot of controversy over this painting, especially since it was supposed to be an alter piece!!!!!


And of course the infamous Mona Lisa. It might be a pleasant painting to look at if there weren't so many people looking at it at the same time. Not much to really say about this one.


This painting is called the Wedding Feast at Cana by Palo Veronese. This painting is incredible because of its size, its use of color, and the movement. This hast to be one of my favorite paintings in the Louvre.

This is Michaelangelo's two Bound Slaves. The slave on the top represents death because as you can see he looks like he is giving up and looking up into the heavens saying, "take me" almost. The one on the bottom represents the constant fight. I think Michaelangelo represents these slaves so well with the vivid movement, almost like water. These two sculptures were the last two things that we saw before we left for lunch.

After lunch we had to go BACK to the Louvre to get our bags. We decided to cut down on time, and save a little money, so we rented bikes. The bigger cities in Europe have rent a bike on the streets, and all you do is swipe your credit card and get your bike. There is a light in the front of the bike that lights up when you peddle!!! I guess they are really energy efficient. The problem was dropping off our bikes. There was no place in ALL of Paris that had a slot for three bikes!!! We probably saw more of Paris in 20 min than you can in 3 days. We found a bike station with one spot, so i put my bike up to rest and had to run after my parents. Luckily there was a station about a football field away with two slots. We just barely made our train to get back to St. Marc. It was a wild experience.