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Home Page > Travelogues > France > Paris > Eastern Side Other Chapters in the Paris
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Back when I was in high school, French was the most
commonly-offered foreign language, and I took it for six years from middle
school all the way through high school. My French teachers filled the
classroom walls with posters of French land This first chapter in the Paris travelogue covers these locations along with other highlights of Parisian art and culture. These were my favorite spots on the trip, not least of which most of them were inside, where it was warmer. Why the Notre Dame was so fascinating to my French teachers was
not hard to see. She was one of Paris' oldest structures, and was famous
for its 'flying buttress' design, an architectural masterpiece for its time.
The first photograph doesn't show them well, but the flying buttresses were the
arches enamating
The interior of Notre Dame was fairly plain, without the flambouyant artwork seen in most German Cathedrals. It is dominated by large stone-gray columns with limited color save for the occasional massive stained glass, such as the huge and beautiful Rose Window in the western facade (the opposite end of the church from the first photo's viewpoint). Instead, Notre Dame's interior decor included statues of its country's heroes, like Jean d'Arc (Joan of Arc) who had an entire chapel dedicated to her. Her statue, shown in the second photograph, was one of the most photographed sights in the Notre Dame.
After the Notre Dame, we took a bus ride through several blocks in the eastern
pa
But
speaking of museums, there were none that compared to the Louvre --
one of the biggest, most diverse, and most impressive museums I have ever seen.
Art-wise, you name it, the Louvre had it -- French, Italian, Dutch
art; medieval, Renaissance,
But of course, I also had to go see the Mona Lisa. But I was disappointed,
perhaps because the expectations were naturally too great. The Mona Lisa
was a beautiful painting, but it was small, not much larger than a regular
family portrait one might put on a living room wall. Also, it was behind a The Louvre was not the only art museum. Its exhibits were mostly classical art, whereas the Orsay Museum directly across the Seine River was the place to go for the Impressionists. Quite a number on my bus trip went there instead of the Louvre, in fact. As far as the fifth photograph went, this was taken in the opposite direction from the fourth, toward a large park containing another triumphal arch -- so the famous big Arc de Triomphe was not the only arch in town. Way off in the distance was a ferris wheel that is barely discernable in the photo. That was located at a winter festival located on the Place de la Concorde, which is described in the chapter titled Paris-Ouest, and gives you an idea of just where all these places in the city were in relation to each other. The 'eastern' part of Paris was wonderful, but especially the Louvre. I was so glad to visit these locations that I could only dream about in French class so many years ago. Now, some day I have to meet this Astérix fellow... Trip taken 12-13 January 2001 -- Page Last Updated 29 September 2006 -- (C) 2002 Tom Galvin Other Chapters in the Paris
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marks,
mostly from Paris. Images of the Notre Dame and Louvre were etched in my
mind for many, many years. So, when I took this trip on a cold January
weekend, I was really excited when the bus arrived and the first image I saw
through my bleary just-woke-up eyes was the world famous cathedral, shown in the
first photograph. I was equally thrilled to get to spend two full hours in
the Louvre, not only getting to see the Mona Lisa but a whole lot more.
from
the front and sides to hold the walls up. Numerous other churches since
copied this idea, and in many ways did it better. The Notre Dame was
undergoing a significant restoration effort that made it look brand new.
From the front, the Cathedral is similar in appearance (though not in size) to the great Dom in 
rt
of the city. We passed by the Hotel Ritz, sitting on a huge plaza
surrounded by other equally posh hotels. We got off somewhere near a
shopping mall that was in the middle of a whole bunch of
museums, galleries, and bibliothèques scattered about at regular intervals.
Given about an hour to explore, I took several photos of major landmarks, such
as the Opéra Garnier shown in the third photograph. I had just a few
moments to peek inside, and found it so filled with gorgeous artwork and decor
that it was practically a museum itself! (I was frankly surprised that we
are allowed in, ordinarily it was closed when performances weren't taking
place.)
modern; paintings, sculpture, archaeological works,
palace renditions. ... Palace Renditions? Yes, indeed. While
the majority of the people concentrated in the displays of masterpiece art, I
spent a large chunk of our two allocated hours at the far opposite end of the
building, walking through a full recreation of one of Napoleon's apartments.
This display covered most of a wing on one floor and included fully furnished
rooms and examples of art rendering historic events of France. A couple of
rooms were dedicated just to the urns that Napoleon collected, and some were
bigger than barrels. 
very thick chunk of glass and in the doorway of a huge thick steel vault that
was closed at night, whereas all the other works of art were in the open and
more 'accessible'.
