Paris/London Vacation: Paris Part 2

Ciao! I'm continuing from the fountain in the Gardens of Versailles in which people are turning into frogs. Shown again below (and click on the picture for better quality)...


And of course leading down the gardens are plenty of statues. These statues are everywhere. I just got used to them but its astounding to think that they're all hand carved out of marble and of course they're all pretty big. The one below was one of my favorites...


And after the fountains is a series of modern balls that extend down the lawn. For some reason there's modern "art" at Versailles that I think is pretty ugly and out of place. But the balls on a stick made for a good picture...



And after that was another fountain, with this fountain being extremely significant. The way the palace is built this fountain is exactly in line with the middle of the palace which of course is Louis' bedroom. This means that the sun sets on Louis' bedroom before it sets on this fountain. Well what do u know the fountain is of Apollo, the god of the Sun. I think its pretty cool to do that because that required a huge ego and tons of money and power of course...
And the view with ducks completes the set of photos for this fountain (which wasn't on because the Gardens weren't officially "open")...



That's pretty much all I saw of the Gardens even though there were infinite number of pathways and shrubs and trees and statues. Some of the major attractions were closed that day but what you see above is the jist of it.


After that we went to the Eiffel Tower again, this time to climb it. A lot of steps. Something like 1000 steps. And those are just the steps to get to the elevator. Here we go with the ascent to the top! Here is the first floor which I got to after climbing too many steps. When I started I said I wanted to run up the stairs like Rocky Balboa and then hold my arms up in celebration. Yeah that idea changed. And each floor has a lot of posters and visuals explaining the history and building process of the Eiffel Tower... I got many different views as I ascended the Tower. Here they are...


This is one view of the Seine River which runs through France. Its hard to say whether I prefer this river to the Thames River or the river I live next to the Tiber River (although I prefer its Italian name il fiume Tevere) because they're all pleasing to me. Let's just say its a three-way tie.

Here's another view of the rive Siene with more of the city surrounding it. The view gets better the more you ascend...


More view. This is the park area that is in line with the Eiffel Tower. And it leads to the one skyscraper which is not centered. Whoever thought of that wasn't too bright...
I'm not going to describe climbing all those stairs but instead lets go straight to the top. This is Paris from a bird's eye view atop the Eiffel Tower (just like the view from my backyard). Here's the famous fountain next to the Eiffel Tower. At the stairs leading down to the fountain there were people who gained speed on their BMX bikes and then rode down the stairs at high speed. I'm surprised they didn't crash and die. They also jumped over people who were lying down and then rode down the stairs over there. For those of you who saw Rush Hour 3 Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker parachuted from the Jules Verne restaurant and landed in this fountain. Then they shot someone...
Try and see why I took this photo. Can you find out why? (Ok its kinda obvious)



It turns out I was really too close to home after all! Its only a couple of minutes away...



After that the next couple of days I went to some museums (including the Louvre) and inside the Palace of Versailles and walked around Paris at nighttime. Here's some pics of all of that..


At the Palace at Versailles there were room to rooms (literally, antechambers galore) and every wall was decorated. It was all very aesthetically pleasing but it all blended toghether at one point. But what I did want to see was Louis XIV's bedroom and his royal bed. His entire room is decorated with gold. Quite a grand motif...



The ceilings and wall are all filled with paintings like this. You just get used to it because they are everywhere, but its still astounding to think that these fine artworks were all done by hand on walls and cielings. No small task...



This is the Louvre, only the world's best (or one of the best) museums. For those of you who saw the move The Da Vinci Code (pretty much everyone) this should look familiar. This in the internal courtyard and the museum is a chateau converted into a museum that surrounds this pyramid.


Of course there was the artwork. From what I heard there is more artwork in the Louvre than any other museum in Paris. Its huge. Art is everywhere you can imagine and in some places you probably didn't even think of. And I also visited another museum, but I forget the name of it now. After a quick google search its the Museo d'Orsay. Here's what I saw in both museums...


Van Gogh of course. From the internet it says... " "Chaumes de Cordeville" 1890, olio su tela cm. 73x92, Museo d'Orsay, Parigi.". So there you have it. For anyone who goes to the Museo d'Orsay, skip the initial statues and sculptures they show you and go straight upstairs to the impressionist paintings. That's where all the good stuff is.
Monet is always one of my favorites. If anyone knows what this is called, please let me know. I just know that Monet liked to paint the same scene many times in different times of day and thus different light patterns, and this is one of those paintings. In real life its pretty big too. I want one of these in my living room...


Some of my favorite artworks from the Louvre are this....and this; it's Winged Victory of course (in my spare time I have B.A. in art history). I liked this so much I bought a magnet of this as my souvenir from the Louvre.
There was way too much art in the Louvre. I was all arted-out by the end. But wow, now I feel bad when I draw shapes in my notebook during class and think its art. Its not even close. Good art is hard to make. To conclude Paris, a typical Paris vacation wouldn't be complete without seeing the one and only...



And of course the Eiffel Tower when it sparkles at night every hour on the hour for 5 minutes. I just happened to be there when it did. One of my favorite sites ever. I loved it...
No description necessary...

Well that about does it for Paris. I took the chunnel to London and continued my vacation there. I'm all blogged out (this took a long time) and I have to say au revoir to Paris. Next up... London. Cheerio good ol' chap!

Paris/London Vacation: Paris Part 1

Now onto my week long vacation to Paris and London. We get two week long travel breaks and so I went to Paris for 4 days then took the chunnel to London for 3 days before returning to Rome for classes. When I got into Paris I was on practically no sleep but that didn't really matter. I feel asleep on the bus ride from the airport to the middle of the city. Then we went to the metro to get to our hotel and we noticed how huge the metro line is. Later on I counted 23 different lines that truly made a grid on the city. This compares to Rome, which only has two lines that make an X and barely covers the city. What I also noticed that the city is very open. Unlike Rome, there's actually grass the buildings are seperated. All the buildings look like a movie facade that you see of Paris, especially with the cafe chairs spreading onto the streets. After we took the metro to our hotel from what I remember we went to Notre Dame. Here it is...

Inside the cathedral was amazing with the stained glass and the Gothic design. I loved the stained glass and there was a service there too with an organ and everything. The gargoyles on the outside of the building did remind me of the Disney movie. As you can see below the stained glass is pretty intricate and the side of the building is very Gothic.

This is one of the side doors of Notre Dame.

And these pics below are some of the stained glass on the windows, which is almost never found in any Roman church.

After that we hopped on the metro and went to this little tower called the Eiffel Tower. But being Paris you find many beautiful things along the way. We came across this church by following the main road with all the cafes lined around it...

A typical Parisian day involves sitting at the cafe in the streets and chatting. Once you buy something you can sit there all day if you want and they won't kick you out. This means that there are tons of people just sitting there talking and chatting with each other everyday. People like to enjoy their days for sure.

While on our way to the Eiffel Tower we came across more sites, such as...

And then we came to a popular street that had some street attractions. Among them were break dancers and an old man who fought people. Of course yours truly had to get in on the action, and here I am. I thought it was pretty funny and I was laughing the whole time (As a note I really don't like pictures where I'm forced to pose and smile for the camera. I prefer action pics where I'm doing something. That's why the pics below are some of my favorites.. And also I always look younger in pics than I imagine myself looking, but I've gotten used to that).

Before the fight started I told the guy I'm Rocky Balboa. He nodded in agreement (that part is questionable)

I won the fight. By straight knockout of course! (that part might also be questionable)
The video of the fight is on my facebook page. Don't believe ANY of the commentary on the video. I easily won that fight. Before the fight I said the words "Rocky Balboa"to the guy and he nodded his head. He knew I was legit. And watching that video makes me realize the shoddy commentary that was going on while I was WINNING the fight...

Once we got to the Eiffel Tower I was amazed. Seeing it for the first time was really breathtaking. You can see images of something all you want put being there and having it right in front of you is really special. The one if Vegas is exactly 1/3 of the size, and I think the Vegas one is kinda big. But the actual Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1889, overtaking the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Before the Eiffel Tower the world's tallest structure was an ancient Egyptian pyramid. And to think that the Eiffel Tower was built from 1887-1889 is astounding. I'm glad I was born on the 100th anniversary year of the Eiffel Tower. But anyways, when we got there the first thing I did was admire its greatness. I walked right under the tower and all the metalwork looks like 1000 spiderwebs on top of each other. Here's what I saw...

I always like taking pictures looking upwards. Its a cool perspective to look at. Plus the sky that day was beautiful.
I started messing around with the settings on my camera. I didn't like this pic at first but I've grown fond of it. Its unique for sure.
Then I accidentally put my camera in black and white. I like it though. I should do black and white pics more often.
I wasn't lying about the sky. The sky always looks better when its surrounding the Eiffel Tower!
And this is the view from underneat. This is one of the only skyscrapters that you can walk under. Not pictured in front of me are the million people selling miniature Eiffel Towers 4 for 1 Euro. EVERYONE sells them.

I would add more pictures of just the Eiffel Tower but these pics take a while to load up. But I'll probably put more later this post anyways, since we went back to the Eiffel Tower two more times that trip. And after the Eiffel Tower it was the Arc de Triomphe (French is impossible to pronounce and spell. It made Italian seem like a walk in the park).

In the evening (one of my favorite pics)

It's surrounded by a roundabout that full of traffic so I didn't even go next to it. And of course its the start of the famous Champs-Élysées. When the French surrendered during WWI the Germans marched through this to symbolize how thoroughly they conquered France. Judging by the fact that they don't speak German in France that victory didnt last forever.
The next big stop was the Palace at Versailles. The first time we went the Museum was closed but the Gardens were free. The second time we went the Museum was open but the Gardens cost money. Weird. Anyways what I noticed about Versialles besides its being on the fringe of town a 40 min train ride away (which I slept on each time) is that its HUGE. It looks like a nice little palace but the Gardens go to the horizon practically. And its wide too. Let's see below...

This is what I was leading up the Palace. Louis XIV and Marie Antionette lived here. Since they had this grand palace and the people in the streets were starving, the French peasants revolted and made the French Revolution. Louis XIV and Marie were guillitioned by the people. I really don't blame them after seeing such unneccessary opulance. Wasn't there a point when they just stoped decorating? Honestly I was like "wow, this is a lot". Less is more was definitely not applied here. Louis' bedroom is in the middle of the Palace in line with the sun. He liked gold a lot, as you can see in this pic...

We went to the Gardens (the price was right) and this was one of the walls on the outside of the Palace facing the Garden. There is a lot of detail on this wall. The only thing is that the entire palace is like this on the inside and out. It took a bunch of people who I really feel sorry for something like 30 years to build. I really wasn't surprised after attempting to see parts of the Palace. There was no concievable way I could see everything.

This is one of the side gardens leading up to one of the two main gardens. Yes, that's a lake there. I really liked the hedge patterns. Once again I have to repeat: the Garden is big. Really big.This pic is a good reference pic for the Garden. Statues line the entire circumference leading to walkway with the shrubs on the side. But lets zoom in a little on the same area. Notice the first fountain, the balls on the lawn (some modern art that just found its way there, like the purple horses and carriage in the pic of the gate to Versailles), and the second fountain in the distance followed by the lake. Then another lake that goes back really far. Notice how the Garden goes all the way back to the horizon and spreads in all directions. More on everything mentioned here later...

This first fountain features frogs turning into people. More detail below because this is one of my favorite fountains...

I want one of these in my backyard once I have a house. All I have to do is waste a entire country's wealth on my own personal garden. Done and done.
This blogging with pictures takes a long time. The pictures take a while to load up. That means that this will all be continued later. I have to now add on to the title of this page Part 1. I'll finish Paris soon, that's a promise. Ciao!

Summary of the First Three Weeks Part IV (Orvieto)

Now on to my day trip to Orvieto on the next Saturday. Orvieto is a small fortress town on top of a mountain a couple of hours from Roma. It has a pretty ancient history because of its strategic location while the Etruscan ruled Italy. Once the Romans took over the city was abandoned for all of the Roman Empire, and it only came back from a ghost town in the Middle Ages. The pope liked Orvieto and because of its papal influence this small town got a huge basilica built in. The church has some world famous frescos that I wasn't able to take pictures of. The church itself is too big to fit one camera picture of mine.

Here is another picture from the internet showing you how the front church facade is taller than the actual church itself, like almost all churches in Italy.  What it seems is more important than what it is with any church.

The sheer size of the Orvieto Cathedral doesn't even compare to the level of detail it is crafted with. Everything is done really well. The sculping on the outside columns is really detailed. Notice the columns have spiral carvings that continually go around the columns AND the columns make an arch. And since the whole cathedral is dedicated to Virgin Mary (and since most people in the Middle Ages couldn't read), the mosiacs with the gold backgrounds show the story of Mary. Let's see below...


This statue of Mary holding some guy you might have heard of is right above the door to remind everyone who the church is dedicated to. Get used to these reminders.

The church has this circular sun-like symbol that lets in light. It also has two guardians on each side if the main door...

These are the guardians to the left of the door...

and to the right of the door.

There is a lot of detail on each column. All the way up and around each column too.

After seeing the outside the tour guide took my group inside for a look. The inside was pretty amazing to see. Let's explore...


This is just a base sculpture on the feet of a table. I really like animal sculptures so I had to take a picture of this.

This is a famous sculpture of Mary holding a recently crucified Jesus with a carpenter there with the tools of the crucifixion in hand. It was all sculpted out of one piece of marble.

One of the roof sections. A lot of detail all over the various roof sections.

This is some stained glass which lines the walls periodically. Some of it has been restored as seen while the original stained glass turned brown. This is one of the few examples of stained glass in all of Italy, because churches in Italy almost exclusively have frescos.
And of course this is the opposite side of the front of the church. There is an altar where services take place behind where this picture is taken and important rooms that branch off in each direction; we were not allowed to take pictures in those rooms though.

After seeing the cathedral part of the daytrip was going to a local ristorante italiana and having a traditional italian meal. This means 6 servings of different italian foods served over a 2-hour period with dolce (dessert) being, of course, tiramisu. It starts with tomoatoes on bread, and there's pasta, beef, rice, cheese, oil and vinegar and bread, and tiramisu in that order. It was a lot. I struggled to eat but I did it. While waiting for the restaurant because our tour guide got us there a little early I saw a cat on the street. Since I like cats I take pictures of each cat I see. Here she is. I wish I could lie down on the street all day. She was fun to rub also.

Here is another cat I saw on my way back from the tunnels. There was another black cat too...

... and here he is. Hard to photograph because he ran away quickly and I had to stay back from the group a lot to get a couple of pictures.

After the restaurant the tour took us through the underground tunnels in Orvieto. The caves are a constant 15 Celsius so it was like constant air conditioning from the hot day; really amazing. The view to the outside hillside was really amazing too. Each house had its own underground tunnel with pigeon holes to house the pigeons that they used to carry messages and eat (they still eat pigeons in Orvieto according to the tour guide). The underground tunnels are more extensive than the actual city above ground because the whole "dirt" is made of highly compacted volcanic ash rock that actually chips off if you pick at it, which i did. Since digging was so easy and they people needed to protect themselves from invaders on the outside when they ventured out to get water, an extensive network of underground tunnels was built. The first room we entered was a general room where they grinded corn and was an atrium to the different pathways. Then the tourguide showed us a map of all of Orvieto. The black dots are above ground structures and the red are underground tunnels; there are more than 1200 underground caves. The tunnels were pretty cool literally and amazing to see. I like the idea of each house having a pigeon hole under it; quite clever. These are just different views of different rooms with the pigeon holes in them of course. Some the passageways to get to different rooms are very narrow, but of course that didn't bother me. Only two caves were available for tourists out of the 1200 plus caves, and some are currently undergoing restoration.


I don't even know what was up there. It was probably really narrow to go in anwyays.
More pigeon holes. Every room had tons of then and then this was just a pigeon room. Pigeons used to be everywhere.
Here is one of the underground wells. I think it goes down 50 meters or something like that.





After the tour of the tunnels we met back at the cathedral, I bought a souvenir, I took some more pictures of the cathedral (below), and we went home. To get up and down the mountiain there's this slanted rail car that goes on one rail but then divides to a roundabout for a couple of feet only when the rail car on the approaches. Back in the day they would have had a water powered car (water running on a windmill I think). Here are some more pictures...


This is a carving of Hell at the bottom of the columns, hence the glass protecting it. Definitely one of my favorite parts.
This is what's called a Joshua tree, with Joshua sleeping on the bottom and he dreams up a family tree that goes all the way up.
People in the middle ages couldn't read, so sculptures were needed to tell Biblical stories. This of course is Adam and Eve with serpent and the forbidden fruit. Finally, something I can agree with!
More architecture and sculpting, which goes spirally upward. If the pope likes your town you get one of these.
Since I leave for Paris and London for a week tomorrow, that will be the next post. The time period from this Orvieto trip to now was more sightseeing and just going to school and going out, nothing too special like Orvieto. Stay tuned for Paris and London!