02 SPRING BREAK | PARIS | 01.04.13 - 03.04.13
Paris, a majestic city all lovers admire. My hostel was located right by the canal and I couldn’t ask for a better location to stay; it was beautiful and so lively with multiple nationalities residing in the same place. We set off for a day packed with sight-seeing; beginning with the Musée du Louvre. The museum is famous not only for its architecture, [a glass pyramid entrance that lights the underground museum lobby] but equally for the valuable works of art it shelters [Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Code of Hammurabi, etc.]. I encountered a swarm of people eager to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, a masterpiece by the one and only Leonardo Da Vinci. After a little bit of nudging, pushing and being thrown around, I managed to make my way to the front where I again struggled to keep my spot and snap a few quick pictures as I grinned at a comment I was within earshot to catch; a little girl sitting on her father’s arm with a confused and inquisitive look on her face says “but daddy, she’s not even pretty!” To be honest, I was thinking the same thing, but then again it takes more than just 5 minutes of observing to catch a mere glimpse of what the artist sees in his own work. A piece of art he spends unaccountable time on, that we foolishly try to grasp in a matter of minutes.
The next couple of stops were along the Champs Elysees, which we walked all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. The 50m tall Triumphal Arch was built to commemorate all the lives lost during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Next on the list was the Eiffel Tower! Upon arrival at the site, I gaped non-stop at this prodigious structure designed by Gustave Eiffel. The tower was to be torn down in a matter of 20 years after its fabrication in 1889 for the World’s Fair, but it proved to be beneficial for transmitting radio signals during the First World War, and thus remained standing. A long queue away was the elevator ride to the top which was just as breathtaking as the structure itself, if not, a little more perhaps. As much as I would not have complained spending the rest of the day up there, it didn’t take long for us to take our snaps and head down with no further delay as the wind was unbearably brisk.
Post dinner and a little souvenir shopping, we were once again charmed by the beauty of the Eiffel tower in the dark as it was lit up, and as if we weren’t amused enough, the tower begins to glitter…sparkling continuously for a few minutes. We literally lost our minds, the last time I saw this group this ecstatic was on our first night out in Krakow. We were quite a scene; of pleasure and overflowing energy. We ended the pleasure spree with some dessert and finally some rest for the next day of exploring.
The next day proved to be exhausting. Our first stop for the day was Versailles where we visited the grand Chateau de Versailles once occupied by the royal family, it is still known for its grandiose and elegance. The vast gardens spanning 800 Hectares are designed by landscape architect Le Nôtre while the palace itself is the work of Le Vau. The Hall of Mirrors is especially famous for being the place where the peace treaty was signed in 1919, terminating the First World War.
What came next was a series of hectic conveyance disasters, all this hassle just to get a glimpse of the Villa Savoye; probably Le Corbusier’s most famous project showcasing the 5 points of new architecture. We encountered pretty much every problem we possibly could, that included getting to the wrong metro station, not having the right tickets, and above all, not having enough time. With a very short time frame left before closing, we resorted to jumping a few metro gates and sprinting to the bus stop just in order to make it there a few minutes before closing time. It all seemed worth it when we caught our first glimpse of the Villa Savoye as the trees cleared. A few quick snaps and we walked out with the superintendents as we chatted up our struggle to catch a mere glimpse. We assumed our professors would be proud to hear of our dedication…skeptical about whether or not our parents would appreciate the minor laws we broke all in the name of architecture. Of course we took our time waiting in queues for the right tickets on our way back.
The last day in Paris was occupied slow paced, visiting the Notre-Dame cathedral and the Centre Pompidou. The gothic arches and buttresses of the cathedral, the brightly colored stained glass windows and the monumentality of its very existence were all breathtaking. The Centre Pompidou on the other hand drastically contrasted the Notre-Dame. This high-tech postmodern building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers is characterized by a brightly colored chaotic display of exposed mechanical system tubes and structural steel framing members.
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