So dark the con of man...

We've had "The DaVinci Code" on the brain all morning! We spent the morning touring the Lourve, checking out all of the famous art and sculpture. It was amazing. There is so much there, its kind of hard to process it all. We walked in and directly went to the Mona Lisa. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to show you all, but they don't let you take pictures of it. It's not like they tell you not to use your flash. It's no pictures, period! I think it is more of a function of a bunch of people standing around taking pictures as much as damaging the art. Anyways, the Mona Lisa is amazing. You kind of can't believe that you are standing there looking at it. I was surprised that it was a bit small. It's definitely not like what you see in the movies. It's in the middle of a big room with other paintings as well. I was also expecting some guards with machine guns, but there is none of that either. It kind of gives you a weird feeling to actually see it in person. You start to notice all of the things you hear about; the little smile, the no eyebrows, the messed up horizon. It's weird. I think Ryan said it best when he said "I could stand here and look at this all day and I don't quite know why. We saw the Venus di Milo which was also impressive. The detail involved in some of the marble sculpture is amazing. Someone spent a lot of time with a hammer and a chisel.

After the Louvre, we caught the metro back over to Notre Dame. Notre dame is impressive, but a bit touristy for me. There are tons of people all over the place along with all of the beggars and the guys hocking Eiffel tower key chains (they're all over Paris). We went inside and it was pretty impressive although, not nearly as good as St. Peter in Rome. I thought the stained glass inside was pretty neat, until we went to the next place...

I think I found the best kept secret in Paris. Two and a half blocks from Notre Dame is a lesser known church called Sainte Chapelle. Its a little hard to find because the French government built the Ministry of Justice around it (figure that one out). Also, because it is in the Ministry of Justice, security is crazy, but once you get in, it is worth it. Sainte Chapelle is not a big church, I'd say the inside is about the size of a big basketball court, however, the stained glass is incredible. Its not a window here or there, we're talking windows 40 feet high by 10 feet wide. I bet there wasn't a piece of glass anywhere that was bigger than a silver dollar. I'm glad I went in.

After Sainte Chapelle, we took a boat ride down to the Eiffel Tower and back. The ride was very cool. We saw the Lourve, the Orsay, the Eiffel Tower and all of the other sights from the river. It was kind of an interesting viewpoint (and it was nice to sit down for awhile).

After we got off the boat, we walked up to the street to head back to the hotel. As I was standing on the corner, a 1938 Bugatti went flying by me. The Bugatti was followed up by a 1928 Chrysler 75. Come to find out, there is a car rally that runs from Peking, China (yeah, China!) to Paris. It takes a month or so and there are cars from 1908 to 1950 in it. Can you imagine driving a car from China to Paris that was built just after the turn of the century? On the upside, I guess it would be easier to fix. Turns out today is the last day, and they were headed for the finish line across town. I thought it was pretty cool.

We're going to head out for some dinner here soon. After dinner I think we're going to turn in early. We need to get up and get to the train station for our 150 mph bullet train ride to Dijon tomorrow. The train leaves at 10:30am and we should arrive in Dijon about noon or so. I'm looking forward to getting out into the country. You never realize what a country boy you are and how much you miss looking at fields and such until you're plopped down in a city like Paris. I need some elbow room! I also need my wife, but there isn't much I can do about that until I get back.

A quick run down on the pictures above... The first two are Sainte Chapelle, the third picture is the famous pyramid at the lourve, the fouth is Venus di Milo, and the 5th is a 1927 Bentley 4.5 Le Mans flying by me (and I do mean flying...after all, after driving from Peking to Paris I'd be looking for a bathroom too!!).

Anyways, hope all is well with everyone!

Getting cultured...

I decided that today would be a great day to get out and see a little bit of art. Since I was flying solo today (my roommate for the trip Ryan wanted to spend a day at Disneyland Paris), and I didn't want to go seeing anything huge that Ryan would mind missing (like the Louvre), I headed over to the Musee d' Pablo Picasso this morning. KJ, this is the is the museum for you!! I know how much you guys love Salvador Dali, so this would have been right up your alley. I enjoy painters like Picasso (and Pollock, and Basquiat as well...), so the museum was great! Lots of interesting paintings, drawings, and other types of art. I had no idea that Picasso was big on sculpture and other mediums as well. I kid you not, I saw some stuff made out of fabric and even metal. A few of his metal sculptures looked like the details were cut with a plasma cutter (although, I don't know if plasma cutters were big in his day). The architecture in the building was amazing too. The outside of the building looked just like any old Paris building, but the inside was full of big and small spaces which made use of interesting walls, steps, hallways, and passages. Must be the old architect in me coming out...

After the Picasso Museum, I made my way over to the Musee d' Orsay. The Orsay was pretty interesting. Lots of older art that you don't see in the bigger museums. Lots of Renoirs, Monets, Manets, and Van Goghs. Its funny to actually see the pictures that you see so often elsewhere (like the picture of the old lady sitting sideways in her rocker).

After the Orsay I headed back to the hotel for a little afternoon siesta. When Ryan got back, we caught dinner at a little place down the street. Afterwards, I went for a walk down to the river. Lo and behold, Notre Dame is only like 3 blocks from our hotel. It was quite nice to go for a walk around the Notre Dame square and the river. I'm looking forward to seeing the inside tomorrow. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Louvre too!!

The first picture is one I took of Notre Dame when I was out walking around after dinner (more to follow tomorrow). The next two pictures were taken at the Orsay. The last two pictures I took at the Picasso museum (thought I'd get a good one of the sculpture for all of you pregnant moms...).

Oh, one more little note... I got off the metro and headed over to the Orsay where there was a HUGE line. I just whipped out my Paris Museum pass and I went right by everyone. Definitely worth the price there, and even more so tomorrow when we get to the Louvre.

Oh, and Magnum P.I. on TV... in French! All I can say is......awesome!

Hope all is well with everyone at home!!

Eiffel By Night...

So, after dinner (ravioli at the corner cafe that was fantastic), I headed back over to the Eiffel tower to see it at night. It was a bit of a trek, but VERY much worth it! Every hour on the hour they turn on the strobe lights (that is what the little flashes on the tower in picture on the left are). It is quite the sight. Check out the pictures...

Oh, I'm sorry about the last picture, but hey, how often do you see Paris Hilton?

I'm getting the hang of it!!

Bonjour, All!!

Okay, so I've discovered how to get from one place to another and how order meals, so things are going pretty well! The parisans are extremely nice and very helpful. Don't buy the old line about parisans being rude, they are not! I actually had a lady ask me if I needed directions when I was standing on a corner looking at the map. Now if I could just speak french, she could have been a great help!

We got up at 6am this morning and had breakfast. We were quite surprised to find that no one really gets going until 9am here. Things aren't even open until 9 or 10! We made our way to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc d' Triomphe today. It was quite spectacular! I really enjoyed the Eiffel Tower.

I think I'm going to hit the Musee d' Orsay and the Musee national Picasso tomorrow. I'm going to have my fill of art by the time this trip is over!

Anyways, hope all is well at home. Take care everyone!!

Home Sweet Home

Day 1 - Ryan and I arrived in Paris at midday today. We learned a very valuable lesson right off the bat; suck it up and pay for the taxi from the airport. While you can do the subway/trains, its a huge hassle with a bunch of luggage. We emerged from the subway, and found the hotel after a couple of wrong turns (oh, it looks so easy on the map)... We checked in to our broom closet... er, room and we took off for a quick walk and some dinner. We sampled some of the fine McDonald's cuisine just down the street. I think we're too tired to attempt ordering a meal, so we settled with "Le Big Mac, Frites, and a soda (with no ice)."

Anyways, I appologize if this post is incoherent, I've been up for about 27 hours now. I'm going to get some sleep and start in on the sites tomorrow!

The two pictures I'm including are of our tiny little room. The beds look next to each other, but there is a whole 6 inches between them! The other picture is a shot down the street in front of our hotel.