Versailles et Murakami

Today we went to Versailles. It was a beautiful day outside and we were excited to go in the palace and see all the wonderful history. Well, we got history...and a little bit of modern as well. Apparently there is a Takashi Murakami display of modern art alongside with the rest of the palace. It is quite controversial and I imagine there are thousands of tourists who are extremely disappointed. I was shocked that they would be allowed in the first place. Let me show you what I mean.

This is the famous Hall of Mirrors. It's absolutely beautiful. It overlooks one of the best gardens in the world. People come from all over the world to walk down this hall. It is truly a work of art.
And when you get to the end of the Hall of Mirrors you find this...

"Welcome to Versailles, "she says as she's popping out of her waitress outfit.

Ah, beautiful gold engraved doors, so nice, so...um that was weird. That's a nice statue. So appropriate for this setting, then there's...

What in the world is that?! This does NOT belong anywhere close to Versailes!
Nice old painting above a beautiful fireplace...
in front of um...a boy and a dog on a mushroom.
Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Fit for a queen....
and apparently she might needed that can of Pepsi to get her through the day.
We also walked down to the canal and down to Marie Antoinette's estate. At least there it was beautiful and no weirdness.

"Feed me Seymore." Does anyone else think this looks like Audrey in gold?
So, if you're planning on coming to Paris in the near future, you may be interested to know that this is going to be around until December. Maybe you should save your 18 Euros and get a a Versailles tourist book instead.

'They may offer you fortune and fame
Love and money and instant acclaim
But whatever they offer you
Don't feed the plants"
-Little Shop of Horrors

le Louvre

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The Louvre used to be a fortress before a big palace.
We decided to go on a DIY Masterpiece tour. There are all sorts of thematic trails you can follow from their website.

The Mona Lisa or La Jaconde (in french).
The boys didn't get what's so special about this painting.

Venus de Milo

Crown Jewels from Napoleon

The Winged Victory of Samathrace or 'Nike' in Greek

The Raft of Medusa.

Doug knelt down to point out the ship off in the distance to the boys. There were a lot of people taking their pictures. I guess they thought it was nice to have a father instructing his sons in art appreciation.

The Coronation of Napoleon I and the Crowning Empress Josephine in Notre Dame

The boys really liked the Ancient Egypt..

The Louvre is absolutely gigantic. There is no way anyone could do it in a day. Plus, while it is a very beautiful building, it is very easy to get lost. Even with a map. The boys claim that they never want to go back, but that may have had something to do with the fact that we went in the evening after a long day at school. We'll see. Maybe we'll go back someday and find something cool for them to draw.

La Tour Eiffel (at night)

Tonight we visited the Eiffel Tower. At night it's all lit up and for the first 10 minutes on the hour, it sparkles.I tried to get a reflection picture. The mist was getting on my camera.

Sacre Coeur

Today we visited Sacre Coeur. It is situated high on a hill. It is a very beautiful chapel.
Since it was raining we decided to walk up to the top tower. "We'll stay dry!" we thought. And so we paid our 5 Euros to hike up all 300 stairs. Now, there needed to be a sign at the bottom of the stairs saying things like, "If you don't like feeling claustrophobic, then don't come up" or 'If you have large hips, you won't fit through the staircase" or "If it's raining beware of slippery stairs" or "If you have a child, then hopefully you're in good shape". Needless to say, these are all things we discovered on our way up. Doug was a trooper and carried Timmy all the way up. I watched my footing and prayed I wouldn't slip down the skinny spiral staircase. Once at the top, we caught our breath, and looked around. We found Gargoyles,

churches,

the Eiffel Tower,

and this sign.

Hee hee. Ok, I'll admit that I edited this a bit, but I thought it was funny.

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Today we went to the Luxembourg gardens and the French Senate Building. It is here where you see the picturesque little toy sail boats floating along with children pushing them with sticks. Unfortunately they only do that during the summer and on weekends, so we didn't see any cute boats. They also have puppet shows, boules courts, walking trails, and an awesome playground (which is NOT for free. It's 2.50 Euros/kid PLUS 1.25 Euros /every adult). I look forward to many days in the future when I can come here with a book and relax. It is a very beautiful place.




I thought I'd try to get some good pictures of Timmy.


Another copy of the Statue of Liberty.

Timmy liked this lion.
This is disgusting. Yep..It's an outdoor toilet. And yes, people still use it. I guess that it's better than going wherever. And plus there is a faucet to wash your hands.

La Tour Eiffel

Today Doug went up the Eiffel Tower...all the way to the top. Here are some pictures that he took. I like how it shows the layout of the streets.

Arc de Triomphe

Grand Palais, Petit Palais,

Place de la Concorde

The Louvre and Tuilleries gardens. (can you see the glass pyramid?)

Notre Dame

Champs de Mars and Ecole Militaire

Les Invalides

Statue of Liberty

Petit-dejeuner

Good morning. Welcome to Paris.

La Rentrée

When vacation time is over it's officially dubbed, 'la rentrée' or the return. People return to their jobs and kids go back to school. It's amazing that around here things shut down the entire month of August. I actually really liked it. It was much quieter outside. Parking is free. Metros aren't quite so busy. The only down side is that everything shuts down, including our neighborhood boulangerie and haircutter. If we wanted a baguette we had to walk further down the street and Doug actually went about 3-4 weeks longer without getting a haircut. Both were pretty annoying. The other bad thing is that buildings are left mostly empty with people going on vacation, so burglaries are a common thing during the month of August. The only people left in Paris were the tourists.

la Musée de la Poupée

Today I went to the Musée de la Poupée (the Doll Museum). I went with one of my friend's daughters because there was no way anyone in my household would go with me. Timmy had to go by default, and he was not happy. (maybe he wasn't happy because he was stuck in his stroller, but he wiggled and screamed pretty much the whole time). It was a very small museum with many dolls from the late 1700's and 1800's. They were all french dolls, and very pretty. I could picture some little royalty girl playing with these. There was also a display of more modern dolls and their...um...shall we say outfits. Although they reminded me of a Victoria Secret magazine. Imagine the pouty over make-upped models made into a Barbie like doll. (kind of like Bratz) and then having a bunch of totally inappropriate outfits. Apparently there are different displays from time to time and maybe it would be nice to go back when there are the old fashioned Santa dolls around Christmastime.

Close to the Doll Museum is the Centre Pompidou with all its modern art. Here are some of the fountains. (if you have ever watched "French in Action" you will recognize these.Then down the street from the Centre Pompidou is the Hotel de Ville. We stopped and got some pastries and sat down by the fountains. I then let Timmy run free.