Golden Cow Parts

This is a French cow on the Champs Elysées. There are herds of oddly colored cows all over the city, I may have already written about this, I just can't remember. I'm not sure where these cows are coming from, but it certainly explains all the odd cheese. On second thought, I am sure that I have written about these cows already. I think I even used the same cheese joke. Be prepared, you're likely to hear it again.

Yes Monsieur Eiffel, I like your tower

After some intense research at break neck speeds I was able to find out when the Tower is sparkly. Every hour, on the hour, for ten minutes from dusk until two a.m. This is just the sort of inside information a fella like me needs when trying to impress a girl like Sara. Also, I discovered that the beams that shoot out from the top are really big. One thing that I wasn't expecting about the Eiffel Tower is that you really don't see it very often, even when you qre in the same district as the tower. It seems to always hide behind buildings and, its not exactly hot pink. There have been a number of times where I had to check the map to see if I was heading in the right direction, then all of a sudden I'll turn a corner and boom! there it is. It is certainly worth staying up until 10:30 to see the Eiffel Tower in the dark.

Oooooo, it sparkles

I spent a long time sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower last night. I was just getting up to go when about a gazillion lights up and down the entire structure started flashing on and off very quickly. It was amazing!! I stayed for quite a while longer. Finally, all the people making out below the tower and on the grounds surrounding it made me really miss Sara so I went home to call her. This is a pretty poor idea of how cool those flashing lights are. They flash so quickly that it's hard to depict it with a camera. Anyhow, I liked the night's version of the tower. You can't tell in this picture either, but there are two beams of light that shoot out the top of the tower, similar to the Luxor in Vegas.

The adventures of a French Lady and my camera

I've been here in Paris for nearly a month now, and it wasn't until yesterday that I'd seen the Eiffel Tower at night. To commemorate this historic event I asked a very French person to take a picture in front of said tower. Unfortunately, this lady was quite unable to figure out that you have to push the button in order to get it to take the picture. After some lessons and a lot of miscommunication I got this picture. I believe it really captures the magnificance of the sidewalk in front of the Eiffel Tower at night. The look on my face is one of, "Holy Cow, no wonder Citroën doesn't make cameras". I think the problem was that this lady was around in the days when cameras looked a lot like paint brushes. I told her around five times that it might be best to turn the camera on its side, but...yeah.

The Axe Historique

About fifteen blogs ago I was explaining the Axe Historique; a straight unobscured view from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triumph to the Grand Arche at La Defense. Here is the view of the Axe Historique along the Champs Èlysées. You can barely see the Grande Arch underneath the Arc de Triumph, but it is certainly visible. It would not have been worth it to try to get this view from the Pyramid at the Louvre, because there have been gates and trees put up that obstruct the view. I planned on going out to the Grande Arch to take some pictures today, but I ran out of metro tickets, and sort of wanted to spend the day reading in the sun by the Levallois branch of the Seine anyhow. I'll get out there eventually, don't worry. I've also yet to post any pictures of the Arc de Triumph. What's wrong with me? Maybe next weekend will be Le Weekend de les Arches.

View from the roof of the Musée d'Orsay

If you know about it, and can successfully navigate the signs through the cafeteria and around the corner, you can access the outdoor terrace on the roof of the Musée d'Orsay, facing the Seine. I took a bunch of neat sky line photos of Paris up here, but having posted so many from the Sacre Coeur I figured you'd all be a bit bored with more, like I've said so many times, you sorta have to be there. It's a bit hard to see, but the tower that appears to be jutting out of the right side of that building in the trees is the obelisque at the Place de La Concorde. It stand in place of the original guillotine used to behead the French Royals. I figured I'd post it since that's the next place I visited following my four or five hours at the Musée d'Orsay. Unlike the Louvre, I'd say that this museum is doable in an afternoon. I spent most of my time just looking for famous names. The sculptures in the main room are certainly worth long looks. I just loved the architecture on the inside. Also, be sure to climb the six flights of stairs to the top, the Van Gough stuff is up there, as well as the great view.

From d'Orsay to the Louvre

The Musée d'Orsay is absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure how much of the interior design was part of the train station, but if any of it was it must have been the world's most beautiful train stop. There were signs saying not to take pictures of the art work all over the place, but few people paid any heed. I, on the other hand, have a hard time taking pictures of original works of art because it is just a waste. You sorta have to see the original in person. Plus, I don't want to get thrown into a French prison, so I sorta played it cool with the camera in there. I figured it would be okay to snap this picture of the Louvre through the face of that neat clock. I never knew what time it was during my day in the Louvre, but at Orsay there are huge ornate clocks on every wall, so you've no excuse to ask an unexpecting Japanese tourist what time it is.

Musee d'Orsay, exterior

After spending a bit of time hunting down the Metre Standard I spent the rest of my Saturday afternoon at the Musee d'Orsay. This picture was taken from the middle of the bridge over the Seine which leads to the Louvre. This beautiful museum used to be a train station until it became the home of French art dated from 1848 to 1914. I guess you could consider it the historical bridge between the Louvre and the Pompidou Centre. Most of the works of Impressionist artists such as Manet, Monet, Renoir and Degas are in this museum. Those artists are great and all, but my favorite part of the whole place was the Van Gogh gallery. Most of his famous paintings are found within, and it sort of makes the three hour wait in the ticket line worth every second. My advice to those planning on visiting this museum is to get there at 8:30, a half hour before opening, in order to avoid the line that snakes around the building for what feels like miles.

The Metre Standard

In the 1790's the French government decided that they probably ought to do something about standardizing the country's unit of measure. At the time people were using the foot, but the length of a foot, and the number of inches in it varied from region to region, and often from street to street. The government decided that the best way to define a standard unit of measure was by way of the "metre" (from Greek "metron" meaning "a measure") defined as one ten millionth of the length of the Earth's Prime Meridian, which at the time passed through Paris. This is a great example of making something simple, very difficult. Judging on the measurements of the French scientists, this granite bar is representative of one metre. There were 16 of these bars made and placed in the busiest of Paris's neighborhoods, with the bar calibrated in tenths so that those needing to measure could do so. Of the 16 this is the only one remaining (half of one is on the other side of Paris). I 'd wager that the reason this one is still around is that it is awfully hard to find, and it happens to be in a little nook in the wall of the Senate building. By the way, this same measurement of the meter was adopted by the rest of Europe, and is still considered the meter that we use today.

The sceptor of the Silent King

This is Eric Clapton's beautiful guitar. I worshipped it. I also got a picture of Bob Dylan's chest-mounted harmonica, and Flea of Red Hot Chili Pepper's bass, but, I just don't feel like posting any more tonight, so you'll just have to imagine their awesomeness.

The Axes of Those Who Rock

The best thing about any Hard Rock Café are the guitars hanging up on the wall. About every other one was owned and signed by some super incredible rock god. The other ones between were usually owned by an artist who I don't consider Rock and Roll and isn't worthy of being walled. Pictured here are the best ones; the up top belonged to Slash of Guns 'n' Roses, you know him, the guy who was always wearing the top hat, and had such long hair you never saw his face. To the right is a pair of Tom Petty's jeans and a guitar belonging to The Traveling Wilburys, a band who put out three albums, and was made up of Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison. Yeah, no kidding. Pretty much the best band ever. Down in the bottom is the bass played by Bill Wyman, bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1991. I like the Stones, quite a bit, but this guitar is mostly up there because it looks really neat. All the sudden I have a terrible need to listen to November Rain.

Some pretty Rockin' jackets

Here you will see the jackets worn in concert by three of the finest musicians to ever step on the stage. To the left is the one worn by John Lennon, which I went and looked at around four times. It just drew me in, like I was supposed to be wearing it. I think the picture of John in the case is pretty cool, I'd never seen it before. He was a pretty skinny guy, that jacket is tiny. The Jacket to the right was worn by Jimi Hendrix, you can tell it was his because of the psychadelic colors. Sorry its a bit out of focus, I was trying to figure the flash out, but don't think I did it right, I eventually just gave up. Finally, the set of clothes (I just can't say "outfit") in the middle and below was worn by Angus Young of AC/DC who was famous for wearing a school uniform on stage, apparently because he didn't have enough time to change before band rehearsal. You just can't walk by such an ensemble without taking a picture.

Rockin' with Mercer

This is a picture of the Mercer International crew taken during the post-lunch chat hour. We're a pretty happenin' group. I was very impressed with the Rock 'n' Roll knowledge possessed by my coworkers. We all had a pretty good conversation. It was nice that we had the entire upper level of the Café to ourselves, we were able to hear things pretty well, even the music. I'm sorry if the Hard Rock isn't as interesting to you as it is to me, I guess you could call it some sort of a "collect 'em all" fedish. You haven't really been to a knew city until you've eaten at the Hard Rock. I think this was just to be funny, but that bottle of mustard is French's brand. I've never seen this brand in any other Hard Rock. It is certainly not made in France. Anyhow, the food was good, the company was excellent and the place rocked. You will now be subject to some of the best stuff on those walls.

The Hard Rock Café, Paris!!

You know I had to make my way there eventually. The Hard Rock Cafe in Paris is certainly the coolest one I've ever been to, mostly because it has room to walk around in and look at all the rockin' paraphenalia. For those of you not hip to the place, the first Hard Rock Cafe was founded at the site of a old car show hall in London, 1971. It was just a regular old Rock-themed joint until Eric Clapton, the Silent King, gave them a signed Fender Lead ii, which was mounted on the wall. Customer sales went up when the guitar was acquired, and in a rush to not be cut out of the fame, Pete Townshend sent one of his guitars with the note, "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete." From then on, rock stars and musicians have made it a point to donate their stuff, and the Hard Rock itself often makes big purchases at Rock 'n' Roll auctions. Currently there are 143 Cafe's, including the one in good ol' Salt Lake City. Paris' HRC boasts a great collection, as you will soon see.

Cemetary scape

Sorry, this will be the last picture of the cemetary. I've got much happier things to post now. I just thought I ought to show a bit of an idea of what the cemetary itself actually looks like. We American folks just aren't used to such a three dimensional cemetary with large tombs and hills. Looking at pictures of seperate graves, just doesn't quite do the place justice. One could walk among that stew of graves for like three miles without coming to a fence. Another thing that I thought was really neat about the cemetary were the hundreds of monuments to the fallen soldiers and victims of the many French wars. The most moving were definitely the ones dedicated to the millions of French Jews that were killed during World War II, each one bearing the familiar phrase, "Forgive, but don't Forget". Is it fair to ask, "aren't there certain things that simply are not forgiveable?" I've yet to get to the point of forgiveness, but somehow these monuments make it a little easier to not forget.

The Grave of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde is a name that I believe we have all heard, but few actually know who he is. This may be because his life style was such that many people are uncomfortable talking about him a lot. He was a Dublin born poet, playwrite and author who lived from 1854 to 1900. He wrote a lot of things that are apparently quite famous, but I really don't know very much about. The only of his works that I am familiar with is The Importance of Being Earnest, which features a scene that may be considered the most poorly overdone High School drama competition piece ever. Though the writing of such a scene was certainly merit for being sentenced to two years of hard labor in a British prison, that was not the reason for his conviction. Instead it was sodomy with minors, which was not only illegal back then but very disgusting. As it is now. This monument over his remains was comissioned by Oscar's number one lover, Robert Ross, and Robert's ashes were buried underneath the monument as well. All the red dots on it are the kiss marks from lip-stick wearing fans, as goes the tradition. The question I still have in the back of my mind is, how many of those kiss marks were placed there by those who really shouldn't be wearing lip stick?

The Grave of Rafael Trujillo

Alright folks, put away your French history books, its time for a bit of a lesson about the Caribbean. This is the grave of Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, a name that makes some beam with pride while others duck in fear. I am more of another school, which wants to spit on his grave. I didn't. Trujillo used money and politics to take over the Dominican government in 1930, and spent the next 31 years doing noble things such as renaming everything larger than a tree stump Trujillo (Santo Domingo became the Ciudad Trujillo), and killing any one that stood in his way. He impisoned three men, the husbands of three sisters who were very much against Trujillo. As the sisters were driving home from visiting their husbands Trujillos henchmen tortured and killed all three. This was after his massacre of 20,000 Haitians all within two days. Trujillo himself, along with his machete-toting army walked through the sugar cane fields, and picked up any dark-skinned worker who couldn't pronounce the word 'perejil' ('parsley', Haitian Spanish speakers can't pronounce the r) and killed them on the spot. 20,000 is a lot. Finally, in 1961 his own men shot him in his car. His body was taken to Paris to be buried where his family had escaped to in order to avoid being killed. I find it very fitting that every day people walk by his grave speaking French, the language of the people he so brutally murdered. Sorry, but I just can't stand this man.

Our Love Become a Funeral Pyre

The true Rock'n'Roll fan would make the pilgrimage to Pére Lachaise with the sole purpose of seeing the "grave" of Doors front man Jim Morrison. There is reason for putting the word grave in quotations. Morission moved to Paris three months before he died in an effort to avoid publicity and focus on his writing. He was only 27 when he died, and just two people, his girlfriend Pamela Coursin and the police officer, actually claim to have seen his dead body. Only a few days before he died he told his band members that he planned on faking his own death in order to avoid publicity. He said that he would move to Africa and send his band members letters under the name "Mr Mojo Risin" if he did so successfully. No one in his band ever go such letters. Adding even more conspiracy to the theory, Pamela Coursin has told more than four different randitions of how he died; heroine, cocaine, heart failure etc. French law prohibits the autopsy of a person whose alleged cause of death was not criminal, and so no autopsy was performed. I'm quite sure he's hanging out somewhere in Africa with the real Paul McCartney, Buddy Holly, and Ronnie van Zant. The inscription below his name is greek: KATA TON DAIMONA EAYTOY, which means, "down with his own demons". Lovely. There used to be a bust atop his headstone but it was stolen. That, and a lot of grafiti, lead to the fence and the 24 hour guard next to his grave.

The Grave of Chopin

This is the grave of Polish born pianist and composer Fryderyk Chopin. His body is below the monument, but his heart is located in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw. This grave is very hard to find, but well worth it. The Pére Lachaise cemetary is only navigable by map, and it still takes a few hours to start getting a feeling for how to get around. You really just can't show up and hope to come across famous graves, they are mostly hidden away in the most obscure of mazes among the 300,000 seperate tombs and sarcophagi. Bruno and I visited and took pictures of 20 graves, there's no way I will subject you to all the pictures, but there are quite a few tha you just have to see. The cemetary is gorgeous, and not any where near as creepy as one might think. I was so used to just seeing headstones, it is odd to see that all these people aren't usually buried, rather entombed.

Monument to all the Dead at Pére Lachaise

Today marks the 40th day since Easter, known as Ascension Thursday. Nobody in the country has to work today, but they do tomorrow. That's a bit weird, eh? Whatever, it just means for me that I get a day off. On the airplane ride over here, the French couple sitting next to me recommended that I go and see the Pére Lachaise Cemetary. When I looked it up on the internet I was surprised to see the all star cast that is buried at this, the largest cemetary in the country. I decided that I would celebrate Memorial Day a little early and go check it out. I invited my buddy Bruno to come along. We pulled out the list of the famous deceased, circled the ones we wanted to see, and set out to search them down. Our first stop was this monument built over eight years and dedicated to the memory of all the dead in the cemetary. The monument is very sad, and it certainly set the appropriate mood for such a sacred piece of land. The top ledge features couple walking together into the gates of the after life. Originally the woman at the left of the door had her hand on the shoulder of her husband across the way, but her arm has since fallen off. The bottom pier features a very skinny couple and their baby being swept away by an angel after dying of hunger. Honestly, I have never seen a more moving and heart-wrenching sculpture. It sort of just sucks you in. I am so glad to know that I'll be able to live with my dear wife and family even after death. Death is a lot less tragic under such a knowledge.

The Smart Car

I am very impressed with the European way of driving. It has been said that good Parisian drivers get home with scratches, not dents. Mostly I really like the cars they have out here. This is a picture of the notorious Smart Car, a little two-seat wonder that was made specifically for its fuel economy. Allegedly this little guy gets 20 kilometers to the liter. There's about four liters to a gallon, and a kilometer is 60% of a mile, so that's 20*.6*4 = 48 miles per gallon. Not too shabby. Not only that, but you can pretty much park it anywhere in Paris, so long as you know how to parallel park. According to a web site I just looked at, they are fixing to start selling these in the United States. Sign me up! I want a red a black one just like this. Believe it or not, the parking spot this is in is for compact cars. It sort of looks like a little kid wearing his dad's suit coat.

The actual Gates of Hell

Alright, alright, quit twisting my arm I'll post one more picture tonight. Its none other than the alleged Moulin Rouge. Honestly, I din't find it all that spectacular spectacular. Perhaps its because I had to wade through far too much filth to get there. Dear future Paris travelers; do not go to the Moulin Rouge in order to take a picture, its just not worth it. Its pretty much just a building with a windmill on it. My Portuguese office mate, Bruno, told me to procede with caution to this house of burlesque, and I should have taken his advice, and just not gone. It was also his advice to go to the Sacre Coeur, I should listen to him a lot more. He invites me to go to dinner and stuff all the time and its been a lot of fun to conquer Paris as a Potuguese-American team. The Moulin Rouge is just below the Basilica, so I figured I might as well just go see it.

A Vicious Gargoyle

This is a scary gargoyle that tried to eat my head while I was walking below the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. It looks a lot like his brothers and sisters over at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, but he's lower so you can see him better. I think this is a pretty good picture. While walking below the beast I discovered that Sacre Coeur actually has four stories below the ground that you can see because there's a bit of a moat around it.

I figured I'd add this picture to give an idea of about how tall these building are. The buildings in Paris are relatively all the same height so in looking at a city scape one tends to assume that those roofs are the ground. They're not, they are actually about ten stories up. I am sure to go back to Montmartre to get more pictures, when I get home everyone should plan at least six hours to see them all, and the video I will take as well. Be sure to bring a pillow and a drool cup because it is sure to only be interesting for five of those hours.

Paris City Scape

Alright, time to play some Paris monument trivia. In this picture you should be able to see two significant Paris sights. Can you find and name them? Hint, they are the bigger buildings that stick out like a sore thumb. You may have to enlarge the picture. Click on the picture, and then wait for literally like a minute or two and you can click on a hidden enlarging button on the bottom right of the picture. For those of you who can't tell, the building that looks like the US Capital building is the Pantheon (Parthenon is in Rome, it has an R in it), and the building just to the right of that little white tower is the front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Pretty neat, eh. From up here I also took a pretty good picture of Napoleans tomb, aka the Dome Church, and the Pompidou Centre. I think I'm not going to upload them because there really isn't much more to say about those buildings right now. I'm sure you'll hear more when I go there again.

La Tour Montparnasse

This is a view of the box that the Eiffel Tower came in. Actually, it is the Montparnasse Tower, the tallest sky scraper in Paris, with 58 floors. The tower was built in 1968 and is made up of offices, except for the top two floors which are tourism based. I reckon I ought to go up there and look around. In Paris there is a historic line of buildings called the Axe Historique, this building is not part of the Historic Axis, rather it forms a second Axe Historique that intersects the first. If one were to stand atop L'Arche de la Défense he would see that Montparnasse is exactly in front of the Eiffel Tower. If he were to carefully turn a bit to the left he would see the original Axe Historique: Grande Arch (1900s), Arc de Triumph (1800s), Place de la Concorde (1700s) and the Louvre (1600s). There is an unobscured road leading from the Grande Arch to the Louvre. You'll notice that each point in the Axe Historique is a monument commemorating the major events of each century. Recall that the Louvre was a palace in the 17th century, most French royals were guillotined in the Place de la Concorde in the 18th century, Napolean triumphantly came home to Paris through the Arc de Triumph in the 19th century, and the Grande Arch in La Défense was built to commemorate Parisian industry and modernism in the 20th Century. If that's not cool, I don't know what is.

View from the West of Montemartre

This is taken from inside a bunch of bushes along the side of Montemartre. The general view from in front of the Basilica is really neat, but you can't see the Eiffel Tower, or the Arc de Triumph. I kinda had to do some bushwhacking to get to this one. I think it was worth seeing though. I put it as the background on my computer, and all my coworkers still think I just got it off of a post card. Am I tooting my own horn or what? Anyhow, be prepared for tomorrow's posts, mostly featuring some awesome views of Paris from high above it. I guess the neat thing about the city is that even from far above, the building are still pretty miraculous.

The legend of Saint Denis.

A Basilica is very much different from a Cathedral. Cathedrals are generally the center of a Catholic Dioces, whereas Basilicas are built for the sole purpose of commemorating a miraculous event that took place, or is taking place on the site of the building. For example, the Virgin Mary appeared at the Higüey Basilica and left a picture behind, and Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, houses the body of Saint Peter. The Basilica of the Sacre Coeur is no exception. The patron Saint of Paris is Denis, the bishop of Parisii who was beheaded by a martyr's sword on the top of this hill in 250 AD. Hence the name Montemartre. After his beheading, the body of Saint Denis picked up his head, washed it off in a nearby fountain, and walked down the hill for many miles, all the while delivering a sermon. The place where he finally died is now the location of The Basilica of Saint Denis, the Parisian version of Westminster Abbey, holding the remains of Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI and many French royals. Sacre Coeur is now standing in the spot where Denis was beheaded, atop the fountain that cleaned off his severed head. If that's not worth seeing, I don't know what is.

Sacre Coeur, inside and out

Here's a bit of a feeling of the sort of hill that Montmartre is. Tall. The hill is always covered with loungers, both French and tourist, who are drawn to the view more than the Basilica. Of course, there are a fair share of tourist harrassers at the same time, but they are very ignorable. The two horse-mounted statues atop the large front door of the building are Joan of Arc and King Saint Louis IX. The outside of the building is magnificant, but you must experience the inside. No cameras were allowed, but I would have felt just rotten taking pictures anyway. One of the largest mosaics in the world is of Christ and his Sacred Heart surrounded by Maries and apostles. Holy Cow it is amazing. The stained glass windows are beautiful, and quite different from those in most cathedrals. I found the interior so impressive I sat and stared for a long time. Before I knew it mass had started so I stayed to listen. The nuns had the most beautiful singing voices which reverberated throughout the building as though I were surrounded by angels. This, and the organ, and the French, and the beauty, and the text we sang, all contributed to a very spiritual experience. I must go again.

The Basillica of the Sacred Heart

This Basillica is absolutely gorgeous. It is located at the top of Paris's tallest hill, and looks down at a spectacular view of Paris. You will fall subject to many pictures of this church, and the view around it. There's no way you can get out of it because I am the king of this blog! Hah! You'd think that since it is up so high, it would be an easy building to find. Perhaps I should turn in my Oreinteering merit badge, but I got very lost between the metro station and the Basillica. The area around it is generally accepted as the scariest part of the city, to the East of the hill is where all the Haitians live, and while I was meandering about looking for the correct leg of the labyrinth that would carry me to Sacre Coeur, I felt like I was back in Little Haiti in Higüey of the Dominican Republic. To the West is Pigalle, Paris's sex district (excuse my French). That place make Vegas look like Provo. Anyhow, I made it to the church alive and well and its a good thing because every step was worth what I saw and did while on Montmarte.

Parisian Carousel

Whoever is in charge of keeping Paris beautiful should be given a raise. Not only has this person found away to put the most gorgeous parks in the middle of a cement jungle, but he or she has made the entire city perfect for people of any age. In so doing, there has been no compensation of beauty to make the city tolerable for children. Every park has a bunch of boring statues and flowers for mom and dad, and a fenced-off part with the most exciting of play things for the children. This is a carousel that I discovered in the middle of what seemed like the Haitian Ghetto on my way to the Basillica of the Sacre Coeur (which you'll be hearing A LOT about later). These carousels are beautiful and just pop up in the middle of nowhere, even at metro stations. What's more, they don't even play obnoxious music.

Another Pompidou Centre photo

This here's the East side of the Pompidou Centre. The top two floors are the museum, and the bottom three floors are the boring old library. I think the building was planned like this so that all the tourists had the chance to use the really cool escalator you can see on the exterior of the building. Just because I've got the space, here's a tip for while you are looking at the blog. If you click on the picture it will be enlarged in the same page as the blog. If you then wait for a few moments you can click on the super secret hidden enlarger in the bottom right-hand corner and the picture will get even larger. This will show further proof of how amazing my camera is. Be sure you know how to do this because in a few more posts from now you'll need to do some extreme close ups.

Pompidou Pipes

I've already said nearly everything I want to about the Pompidou Centre, but I just have to include this picture and the next one, just because they are actually of the Pompidou Centre. Also, it took me a long time to figure out how to correctly spell "Pompidou" so I figure I better use it as much as I can. Like I said before, I really like these pipes a lot.

Skeleton, Snake and Birderfly

I thought this skeleton was pretty cool. There was a lot of water squirting out of him, and he's dead, so I wonder why he seems so happy. I really should post a picture of the elephant just to the right, but I think if I did I'd be beating a dead horse. I'm surprised this fountain doesn't include a dead horse, it would fit in well with the odd-looking mermaid. By the way, all the colorful ones are done by Niki, and the metal ones by Jean. I think I would rather hang out with Niki.

Saint Merri

This is a "cute" little church en right behind the Stravinsky fountain. I really dig the tiny little buttresses along side the walls. Buttresses are used as an additional way to stabilize the vaulted ceiling going over the open space inside the building. As you can see, the big windows and doors cut into the sides of the main walls are so large that without the buttresses, the building would topple. This whole area is interesting to me because right next to this super old church you've got a building devoted to the newest of the new. There are always a lot of people lounging about around the fountain there, and in the church yard. If there weren't so many people trying to sell you stuff, this would be a really neat place to hang out.

The Stravinsky Fountain

Between the Pompidou Centre and the Saint Merri church lies a cool little fountain dedicated to the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. This fountain is best enjoyed in person, or on video because all the little statue things move around and spit water and the like. The art was designed by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, who were likely very odd and misunderstood people, but had really neat imaginations. This is certainly not an amazing picture, but I just had to include the lips, the treble cleff, and the swirly thing. Notice the big pipes in the back ground, the Centre is surrounded by these pipes. At night they spit out light, but during the day they just sort of sit there. I think they are perfect.

Worship Me!!!

This is an idol-lookin' artsy sort of dude that sits on a tall pedestal to the South of the Pompidou Centre. I assume that the innards of the building are quite full of similar statues, this is why I've reserved touring the museum of modern art for when Sara is with me since she can explain things. This idol sort of looks like ET, a gremlin, and Condor Man. I'm certain the artist was trying to describe his angst for not being the director of an 80's movie.

Me at church. I'm not a missionary, please stop asking.

WAIT!! Stop! Skip down two posts and work your way up on the virtual tour of going to church. Once you've figured out how to get in you are greeted by the most heavenly sight; me. Here I am looking very wide for some reason, as some loony tourist from Houston, took my picture. Notice the sign on the wall over yonder. It says, "Eglise De Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours". That is French for, "Congratulations on finally making it, unfortuanately church is over." If you zoom in on each car in the lot, you'll find that each one represents a different country in Europe, this is the sort of melting pot the church is. It's been a great experience going to church here though, I have a chance to learn a bunch of French, and the people are really nice. Sunday School is taught in English because half the attendees of the branch are tourists from Sandy, Utah. It's sort of a charming little place though. Also, French people are a lot better at singing the hymns than Americans, and certainly Dominicans, no offense to either.

The Big Blue Doors to Church

Non-Parisians are often very confused about how to enter a building. The security in this city is quite intense, to the point where there is not a single door in all the city that doesn't require a code to enter. Even worse, in most cases, after entering the door you are faced with trying to figure out which door to go to next. Even still, there will be a series of other doors, or even exterior roads to take in order to get to the place you want. Getting to the church is no exception. In order to get to the courtyard where the church is located you have to push the button next to this big scary blue door. The fact that it is open here is some sort of miracle, because it is always shut tight. I think someone was coming out when I took the picture. The internet site explaining to tourists how to get to church makes no mention of pushing the button and just coming in. Every week there is usually two or three families of Americans waiting outside the door absolutely clueless. I gave myself the calling of opening the big blue door every week two minutes before church starts to invite in the lost souls. By the way, that face above the door often moans, "Jacob Marley" as you enter.

How to get to church

Come along with me on a tour to the LDS church in Paris. That's right, the only LDS church in this city which has been around for thousands of years, and has 2.15 million people in it (ten million including the suburbs like Levallois) is used for one branch made up mostly of tourists and interns, and one ward. The church is located on Rue Saint Merri, which runs along the North side of the Pompidou Centre of Modern Art. It is so simple to get to; you just get off the Rambuteau metro station, walk along the Pompidou Center and turn left. Here is a picture of the front of the building where the church is. The neighborhood is a little bit shaky, but I've seen a lot worse. I think those little planters in the windows are cool, everyone in the city has them except for me because without Sara's help the plants would probably jump off the ledge due to neglect enduced depression.

See the new link!

Not to sell out on everyone, but check out the link to the right that will take you to Rick Steves' advice about traveling through and around Paris. I've found that every single thing he says is absolutely right, especially his articles about the metro and the Champs Elysees. It's pretty good stuff. This was brought to you by Aunt Janet Stucki, by the way, she knows her way around Europe.

I'm still alive, ça va ça va

Hello everyone!
Like an idiot I left my camera home today, so I haven't any pictures to post. I spent all day at the laundromat anyhow, so I doubt there would have been any interesting pictures in my camera anyhow. Just wanted to apologize for not posting anythin in a bit. I'm still alive, just busy at work and stuff. I think Monday will be a good day to get some things posted, so check back then. The weather here has been absolutely atrocious, it actually said that there was a one hundred percent chance of rain today. It certainly rained, just as I was bringing home my dry clothes. Grrrrr. Hopefully it will get to be sunny by the middle of June. Anyohw, there's my status, 'til Monday then. Au Revoir.

The Grand Canal at Versailles

After sitting alongside the Grand Canal reading and watching a bunch of people get way into their game of croquet, I decided that I would walk to the other end of the canal. When I got the far end (waaaay out there) I discovered that the canal then extends for what must be miles out the left and the right. I tried to walk all the way around, but I just couldn't ever see an end. And this isn't a river, Louis had this built. He must have been quite full of himself. Wow. When Sara comes out we're totally going to take one of those little row boats out on the canal and see how far out there it goes, I'm dying to know. This is such a neat place, I must have walked around it for hours, and I doubt I saw even a quarter of the grounds. Next time I head out that way I think I'll cough up the 25€ and go into the palace to see the hall of mirrors. Hopefully by then they will be all finished up with the construction. Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you that during the times that the fountains are running they play an opera that was performed for the first time for King Louis back in the 1700s. You can't hear it in this picture because the gardens are so huge. The music is a good feel though.

One of like a hundred Versailles fountains

The neatest thing, in my opinion, about Versailles is that it has a whole bunch of working water fountains that were built and used without the aid of electricity. The fountains are rarely running now a days simply because it takes a whole bunch of work to keep them going. If I'm not mistaken, during the non-summer months you have to be on the grounds from 2 to 5 on Sunday afternoons to see them going. It is certainly worth working it into your schedule. The foutain pictured here seems to be one of the main ones, but certainly not the grandest, nor the largest. My favorite one is down the way a bit and includes all these cool horses and chariots coming out of the water. Honestly, the grounds are so overwhelming I just quite even trying to take pictures. Notice that there are statues along the pathway. They are incredible, and all over the place. You can also see the stream of another fountain out in the distance, that is one of the tall ones, you likely pass about four smaller ones just to get to that tall one. And this is only one fourth of the gardens!! No wonder it took forty years to build.

The Château of Versailles

This is a teeny tiny bit of the Versailles Palace. This place is absolutely huge!! It is located south east of Paris, and takes a bit of time to get ot on the metro, but is certainly worth the trip. The castle was built for King Louis XIV starting in 1682, and French nobility only lived in it until 1789. Holy cow, I could not believe it. You walk up to the front of the castle and you start to wonder how this ever could have been built by anyone. Then you walk out into the gardens (after paying your 7€ of course) and you just stare out for miles and miles into gardens, forests, man-made lakes and rivers, statues, fountains, hedges cut in perfect designs...holy cow. The first thing most people, including me, think of is, "how much did this cost?" According to Wikipedia it cost 25% of the French GDP to build this place, and 6% per year to maintain it. Wow! You've got to see the Palace of Versailles.

The mini Statue of Liberty

It was quite a walk from the Eiffel Tower, but I just had to go and see the mini Statue of Liberty in the middle of the Seine. What a beautiful statue. Someday Sara is going to take me to see the real one in New York. This statue is looking directly at her big sister out in New York Harbor. The Parisian statue is 11.5 meters high, while the New York statue is 46 meters high. So that means that there is exactly a 4 to 1 ratio. Just in case you didn't know, both statues (one being an exact replica of the other) were designed by Frederic August Bartholdi, while the internal supporting structure of the New York statue was designed and built by none other than Gustave Eiffel. Pretty cool, huh? I propose we build a mini Eiffel Tower in the Hudson river facing toward the Champ de Mars. This could be a very cheap venture if we allow the replica to be key chain sized.

The Phone Underneath Eiffel's Skirt

I am one hundred percent sure that the only reason this phone booth was ever put here was so that jerk-wad tourists could call their loved ones and thell them where they are. I am that jerk-wad tourist. Phone booths grow like weeds in Paris, they are every where. The odd thing is that it seems that they are always being used, too. I'm glad that they are on every corner because I haven't a phone in my apartment (there wasn't enough room), and there are often times when you just gotta make a call. I am impressed with Paris for being able to make public things like phone booths and subways very clean and "private-feeling". The men's bathrooms here at Mercer have a seperate room with a lock for each toilet and they smell like oranges. Oranges! I like Paris. Oh, I should mention that the Eiffel Tower machine gun-toting soldiers walked by like twenty times while I was on the phone. Isn't that weird?