Quite a busy day. I think my head is still spinning. Paris has to be one of the most beautiful and generally overwhelming cities in the world. Twenty percent of the French population lives right here in the capital city. It's always moving, and if you slow down at the wrong moment you might be run over by a mob of tourists and locals rushing from Point A to Point B. This happened to a poor pigeon who failed to move for a passing car with the rest of his buddies this afternoon. This was a pointed reminder to mind the Parisian drivers and only cross when the little man turns green.
Our first full day in Paris started with a bus tour of the major sites in the city. We stopped at the Trocadero to gaze at the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the river, backlit by a curtain of clouds. We stopped briefly at the Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte at Les Invalides. Those were nice opportunities to take some photos without the glare of a bus window, but the best stop was a stroll across the Jardin du Luxembourg. The gardens and the nearby Palais du Luxembourg were built by the queen Marie de Medicis as a way to escape from central Paris following the assassination of her husband, King Henry IV, by a crazed monk. Today, the gardens are used by the locals as a giant outdoor living room. You can catch a puppet show with the kids at the puppet theater, play a game of petanque, or practice tai chi with other stressed out Parisians.
Our final stop on the bus tour was the cathedral of Notre Dame. A church has stood on this spot since the 4th century. Before that a Roman temple occupied the site. Ground was broken for the current cathedral in 1163, and construction continued until its completion in 1345. Notre Dame is constructed in the gothic style that was so popular during the middle ages. This style allowed churches to stretch to unimaginable heights and contain huge stained glass windows to bring a heavenly light into the building. Notre Dame only has one original window left; the rose window in the northern transept.
The windows, like much of Notre Dame, were victims of revolutionaries during the French Revolution who wished to completely secularize the French state and French society. To these revolutionaries the monarchy represented the exploitation and repression of the people, and the church was an instrument of that monarchy. They turned Notre Dame into the Temple of Reason, tearing down and decapitating the statues of the biblical kings of Judah on the western facade, whom they mistakenly identified as kings of France.
After a break for lunch the group headed off to the Louvre. This former royal palace was opened to the people as a museum in 1793, following the execution of Louis XVI. This is probably the busiest single place in Paris, and today was no exception. We were free to explore the museum for as long as we would like. I confined my explorations to the Denon wing of the museum. This is the wing that contains the classical and medieval scuptures, Italian Renaissance masters, and the neoclassical and romantic French painters. I made sure to hit the highlights, including an extended visit with Mona just to annoy the shutter-happy mob. The rest of the day was free time. I chose to get out of the madness that is the Louvre and to head over to the Orsay to see my favorites, the impressionists and post-impressionists of the 19th century. Da Vinci, Botticelli, David, Gericault, Delacroix, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Renior... all in one day! Not bad.
Tomorrow... Versailles!
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