Note to Mel: I hope this isn't painfully redundant for you, but I thought you'd like the pictures :)
Ok, so, on Day 3 we took the San Francisco style uphill hike to Montmartre-or, the region of cool stair photos. Note: I have no clue how anyone would actually get a photo like this for real-there are a billion people all over the stairs at all times, so you'd have to be one really patient little bugger. I guess the fact that it was taken basically 100 years ago would have helped.
Either way, it was pretty impossible to get a decent shot of the stairs-point and shoots + a million people + parents who are sightseeing happy doesn't lend itself well to staking out a good shot. So, this is the 21st century equivalent-I call it "The Steps of Montmartre as Seen While Waiting in Line for the Restroom":
Steps aside, the first port of call in Montmartre was to see Sacre Coeur, another really old church. But, this old church has a bit of significance besides being a really old church (insert anecdote for Olivia): Mel's high school is called Sacre Coeur and was started by a nun (I think?) who came from this Sacre Coeur and decided to start a school branch in Melbourne! On a more literary note, it's also where Madeline went :D (Mel-was your uniform the same as hers? If so, I want a photo :D)
So, here are some photos of Sacre Coeur-the Paris version! (A bunch of photos follow, as per Mel's request):
After Sacre Coeur, we went to the Montmartre Museum. A lot of the salon culture in Paris originated in Montmartre, so the museum had a lot of the old salon posters and such, including the ORIGINAL Chat Noir poster! :D
The building itself was an old arts house where a lot of resident artists used to live and work during the time. It was pretty and peaceful.
There was also this pond in the back with a duck. Dad spent about 5 minutes taking pictures of the "duck." I had to break the news to him that it wasn't real.
I didn't get to take many shots of the architecture in Montmartre, but it was a BEAUTIFUL area-it had a bit of a Greenwich Village vibe to it.
After Montmartre, we went to Marais. It's meant to be the "hip" section, but it was kind of lost on me-I found it a bit touristy and a bit boring lol! So, not many photos from that section. There was, however, a really pretty ivy covered building:
After Marais, mom and I headed off for the Louvre. We went about two hours before it closed, so that was a bit daring given that it's about the size of a small city. I had seen the overview of it a few years back and was just wanting to see a few specific works, so we figured it wouldn't be THAT traumatic. Turned out that they had closed off one of the sections I wanted to see-seriously, how can you close the ENTIRE PRE-CLASSICAL SCULPTURE SECTION?? That's like saying that the Mona Lisa has fucked off to tea and isn't around. People make entire pilgrimages to the Louvre to see that one section-BAD museum people, I say. It's not that they are bad people, but that's just VERY VERY bad behavior. (Whoever gets the movie reference gets a virtual cookie :D)
Either way, I still got to see two of my top choices-Winged Victory of Samothrace and The Raft of the Medusa. I had NO clue RotM is so large. It's MAMMOTH size. We also "saw" the Mona Lisa again, if you can even call it that-it's cordoned off about ten feet away from it and is behind bullet proof glass. The first time I went, you could press your little nose practically up against it. Now, there's hardly a point in seeing it in person besides seeing how her eyes follow you around.
After seeing these works, we wanted to try and find the Flemish paintings section. Now, the Louvre is divided into separate adjoining buildings, and the Flemish bit was in the farthest possible building from where we were. We spent about 30+ minutes finding our way to the other section such that neither of us cared by the time we got there-we decided to leave lol! One bonus: there was a really sweet view out of a hidden window in one of the hallways overlooking the Louvre courtyard area.
And that, my friends, is Paris in a nutshell.
Aww, Paris in a nutshell, hm? Where's my virtual cookie? That line was from Raising Helen. May I please have a virtual glass pyramid (like the one above) too?
ReplyDeleteDearest Puffle, in answer to your question, yes indeedie, the order of nuns who started Sacre Coeur Glen Iris, were from here. I'm not sure if you remember (from the day I gave you a tour of my school) but all the furniture that is in the school chapel that you saw with all the sculptures and stainglass windows are from France and the Revolution in particular.
And yes, it is true, the uniforms are EXACTLY the same as Madelines *head desk* Identical. Right down to the little straw hats, which were mercifully taken out of the summer uniform before I came. All else is identical. Right down to the little "French" collars. I remember that there was some debate in my early years at Sac about "modernising" the uniform, but it was finally decided that the uniform should remain as it was in hommage to it's founders and French ancestry.
Here's a link to the collar shape we had:
http://nerdmentality.com/m/features/eveningwithmartiniere/madeline.jpg
As a result the school is colloquially known in Melbourne as "Madeline's school". There was no Genevieve and no Pepito, and while we were taught by teachers (not nuns), there were many "Miss Clavels" who lived on the property in a lovely terrace house called Brynmwar.
"That's all there is; There isn't anymore" ;)
And in year 12, we had the gear/uniform the girls wear in the car when they are driving along the train at 0:30 :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bDK1tCmDk
1. Hello, Mel!
ReplyDelete2. I would like to go to Paris right now, please. Thank you.
3. I am honored that you mentioned my name in this post.
4. Don't have too much fun in Europe--you still have to go back there with me for our Greece/Killarney/Pompeii trip!