Paris was everything I expected and more. Old buildings subtly calling for attention with it’s architecture and infused with a history you can only guess at. The city is a blend of old and new that can never be experienced in Singapore, with it’s clean roads and everything sanitised. The wide bridges across the Seine draws a sense of awe, and buskers line the streets.
I took my time at each location I went. Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre on the first day. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower to the see the lights on the second, without going up, and the third day going up the tower by escalator, going to Notre-Dame after and then dropping by the Centre de Georges Pompidou, the modern art building. We wanted to go to the Mall, but the shops were closed by 8, so we walked around the streets, eventually ending at a second hand clothes shop with a really cute dog.
Sacre-Coeur and Notre-Dame are both religious institutions which have become tourist attractions. The former didn’t allow photos to be taken inside, and it’s easy to see how some people may feel overwhelmed in it. A part of me feels sad for the sacrilege that the two are just another place for people to visit.
The Louvre, wow. Paintings and sculptures of the pre-modernist age. If there were impressionist works, I didn’t see them, but greek and roman mythology was well represented subjects, and I like greek deities. I took too many photos there and ran out of battery, which was the only thing that stopped me from continuing. And of course, I didn’t want to say I went to the Louvre but didn’t see the Mona Lisa.
I wanted to walk up the Eiffel Tower, but my companions didn’t want that, and my shoes didn’t really have good support anyway. The view is nice, but my attention was captured by this little girl with really pretty eyes, and views are never nice on point-and-shoot cameras.
Tags: paris, 2008, summer, louvre, montmartre, eiffel tower, art, kids
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