Versailles and Sacre Coeur

Over the last few days I visited the Palace at Versailles and the basilica Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. Versailles was as majestic and awesome as you might expect. Beautiful and enourmous. I saw a movie being shot near Sacre Coeur and recognized some landmarks from Amelie. There were lots of entertaining musicians around, the church was beautiful and a grueling hike to the top, but a spectacular view! Photos below...

Versailles and Sacre Coeur

St. Sulpice and Luxembourg

Today I visited the St. Sulpice church. I think I may have stayed a christian if I had worshiped in a place like this. It was quite possibly the most beautiful church I have ever seen; setting an instantly powerful and, dare I say, spiritual mood. It's very large and there was a choir singing a'capella which echoed beautifully throughout the entire structure. It was such a testament to object making, I couldn't beleive how old everything was and that it was still standing in it's place just as it may have looked back in the 1400s. I thought I could stay there all day. That is until I wandered over to the gorgeous, peaceful, Luxembourg Gardens, completely by accident, where I wandered around for at least an hour and probably could have spent many more if I didn't have to get back home. It was a beautiful day in Paris.

Churching

Round 1 of churching began today, after combing through the local flea markets for antiques and vintage clothes I hit the famous Notre Dame cathedral and Sainte Chappelle. Both are beautiful works of architecture and offered some amazing views, gorgeous stained glass, and a whole lot of narrow stairs to climb.

Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle

I visited the Centre Pompidou, an incredible contemporary art museum. It was huge and a fantastical structure inside and out. There was live music inside, a band of three teenage girls playing french punk music. There were films running, a huge exhibition of feminist works (mostly from the 70's), lots of modernist movement paintings and sculpture, and a special exhibition for Kandinsky and Alexander Calder. It was an enlightening and interesting day out and I will have to go back!

Rodin, oh Rodin

Yesterday I visited the Rodin Museum. It was beautiful! Situated in an old hotel with a huge, gorgeous sculpture garden, I think it has become my new favorite spot in Paris. It's located in the 7th arrondissmont, which is also a really nice part of town which I enjoyed a little stroll through. Check out some pictures from the museum in the slideshow below. PS- there are mirrors all over and if you look hard you might catch me in a few of the shots- enjoy!

Rodin Museum Photos

A Trip to the Louvre

It's been raining for four days straight, but I braved the weather anyway to go do some drawing at the Louvre. Here I am cold and wet passing through the beautiful Garden of the Tuileries. You can check out some of my photos from the museum below!

Just a few photos from the Louvre

Again I apologize for the poor quality, no flashes allowed and my camera just can't handle the low lights...

Photos from the Musee D'Orsay

Musee D'Orsay

Today I visited the Musee D'Orsay, a great art museum just across from the Louvre. It houses a lot of impressionist work and some really great sculpture. I plan to go back a few more times before I leave! Culture shock of the day: instead of mustard or mayo the French put butter on their ham and chese sandwiches. It's actually pretty good and I orderd and paid entirely in French!

Bonjour!

Paris so far

We spend the first couple of nights in some great hotels including a luxury Hilton (thanks Sandy!) hanging out with John and his boys who were very helpful and brought along with them food, a car, a GPS toy, and a phone (THANKS!). After the first couple of nights we had a rough go of it trying to find an apartment and changing hotels. I spent some time along after Dad left finding a hotel and figuring things out but I am finally settled in the Territory, an artists' commune where I will be living and interning. It's situated on the most charming little cobblestone street I have ever seen. Here are some pictures of the hotels, sights so far, and where I live.

Leaving and Arriving

It was a long long flight. I started off so full of energy and am now struggling to stay up until Paris-night- 8 hours ahead of what I'm used to. It will be no surprise to anyone that the first food I ate at my hotel was a cheesebuger. But so far Paris is beautiful!

Leaving for Paris

Hello friends and family! Please know this is strictly a communication tool while I am overseas as I refuse to actually be (gasp) a blogger. Now that that's out of the way, I am so ecstatic about spending the summer in Paris! For those who don't know I will be doing an internship at the studio/gallery space called the Territory. I'll be using this blog to show you all pictures and keep you updated on what I am doing, so check in whenever you like. Check the link below to read about the Territory in the Times. I love and miss you all!

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/05/18/style/t/index.html#pageName=18metcalf