16 october 2018
This past week was travel break number one at DIS where some students had planned travel with their core course and others had the week off. My study tour is during the next break so I spend the week wandering Paris and Barcelona.
Saturday
I left Copenhagen Saturday afternoon and landed in Paris around 3:45. Between the bus and metro and trying to figure out where I was going it took me around two hours to get to my hostel. The neighborhood I was staying in reminded me of Devon St. in Chicago. I got some Indian food for dinner and then walked back to the hostel and got to bed.
Sunday
On Sunday I had planned to visit Musee d’Orsay (A) and save the Louvre for Monday so I could maybe skip out on a bigger crowd since the first Sunday of the month is free admission. It turns out the Musee d’Orsay has free admission the first Sunday of the month as well so I’m not sure I avoided large crowds but I did get access to special exhibits that I think would otherwise cost an extra fee. I took the metro (red line) to the museum and got in line about 30 minutes before the museum opened and was inside around 9:45, about 15 minutes after the museum opened.
This was one of my favorite museums that I visited over the past week. It had a variety of styles which made it interesting to walk through and, while it was big, I was able to keep track of where I was and where I had been.
The Picasso exhibition had a large number of pieces from his Blue and Rose periods. I also enjoyed seeing studies and sketchbook pages. The exhibit also made a point of noting Picasso’s age throughout the exhibit which is kind of disheartening when seeing what he could do at age 19 or 20. Also got to see the drawing Two Nudes and a Cat in person which was pretty great.
After about 6 hours at the museum I called it a day. I had plans to walk by the Louvre (B) and then walk to a taco place (C) for dinner. The taco place ended up being closed but I stumbled across this cool basketball court.
My second plan for dinner was to just grab something at a grocery store but there were limited options since it was Sunday night and everything was starting to close. I went to a Franprix but I they only accept French cards and cash so it was onto more walking. I ended up at a cafe called Odette & Aime (D) which where I got a pretty good veggie burger and sat next to a guy with a dog. After dinner I walked back to the hostel (E) and called it a night.
Monday
I spent pretty much all of Monday at the Louvre (A) which opened at 9:00. I got in line around 8:30 and was inside by 9:45. The Louvre is very big and very overwhelming. I started with the Greek and Roman statues and antiquities section, which was nice to go through before it got too busy.
I then went through lots of rooms with lots of paintings. Even through everything was super crowded it was still cool to see paintings that I had learned about in art history in real life. The size and amount of detail in them is what surprised me the most.
After spending a while looking at the Italian, French, Spanish, and American paintings I went down to the Egyptian and Islamic art sections. Not only was the art interesting and different to what was in the rest of the museum but the area was also less warm and crowded.
After the Islamic art I went in search of some more paintings realizing I had missed an entire wing of the museum. This was around 5 hours into my time at the Louvre and I was starting to get tired. The surprisingly large number of paintings of cows and still lives with dead rabbits were starting to blend together and the museum was getting very hot. I ended my time at the Louvre in this open area with trees and sculptures that I wish I had found earlier. I didn’t sketch at the museum because I didn’t want to block any art or walkways. This lower section was was basically empty and the few people that were down there were sketching.
After a total of 7 hours at the Louvre I decided I’d had enough art for the day and continued on with my afternoon. I walked to the post office to get some stamps and then to Monoprix, a grocery store that does take US cards, to get something to eat. I had to weigh my own produce there which was not difficult but definitely a new experience. After getting a wrap and some pears I walked to the Tuileries garden to sit and eat. After dinner and writing a couple postcards I started the walk to the Eiffel Tower.
If I’m being honest I wasn’t expecting much from the Eiffel Tower. I was worried it would just be one of those tourist traps that wasn’t as great as everyone said it was but I was pleasantly surprised. It was especially impressive to think about what it would’ve been like to see it when it was built in 1889. Though the people trying to sell souvenirs kind of took away from the atmosphere it was overall a nice time. After about an hour sitting at the Eiffel Tower I walked to the metro station and went back to the hostel.
Tuesday
Tuesday was my last day in Paris so I spent a slow sleeping in and packing up. I checked-out at 11:00 and stopped into a design bookstore that was next to the hostel and also had a very cute dog inside.
Then I took the metro to the Père Lachaise Cemetery per request of my mom on behalf of my brother to visit Chopin’s grave. While at the cemetery I also saw the graves of Oscar WIlde, Jim Morrison, and Théodore Géricault among many others.
After the cemetery I walked to the Jardin des Plantes with the idea of going to the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution. Turns out that it’s closed on Tuesday so instead I sat in the gardens for a couple hours. After that is was time for the 3 hours of bus and train to get to the airport and then it was onto Barcelona.
Overall I’m glad I went to Paris and saw the museums but I’m in no rush to go back. Seeing the art was cool but something gets lost when there’s a huge crowd taking photos around some famous piece. I don’t love big cities and not being able to speak French stressed me out. If anyone plans on going I would recommend getting some cash and also walking a lot less than I did. If, unlike me, you don’t have problems committing to times and plan trips in advance it could be nice to buy tickets before you leave. I prefer having the freedom to wander around and not be committed to being certain places at specific times. Plus, I don’t mind waiting in line; the 2 hours total I spent waiting in Paris was still 3 hours less than how long I stood in line for the 2017 Iowa State vs. Kansas basketball game and it was 34° and raining that day. Stay tuned for the Barcelona post hopefully later this week.