Exploring France - Paris
I'm back in Rennes after a week of travelling around by myself while Jim went back to work/study. The previous week we joined the hordes of tourists and took a trip to Paris to see the "sights".
We visited Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Musee Rodin and wandered around the city checking out landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, that obelisk Napoleon stole from the Egyptians, and various other notable buildings and streets in Paris.
It was all a bit crazy, and nothing demonstrated the madness as much as the farce that is the Mona Lisa. The room in which the painting is hung was incredibly crowded and we dutifully lined up to get close enough to inspect her properly. For many people there, their view of her was through a camera lense instead of their eyes. Most of the people in the room did not even look at the other (more?) incredible paintings hung in the same room, including ones by Titien and Tinteretto.
The contrast between the Louvre and the Musee Rodin was striking. The Louvre is like a triple chocolate cake - too much. Too many people, too much good art in one place and hence most of it underappreciated. The Musee Rodin has a lovely garden setting for much of Rodin's sculpture, and a small Museum with more stuff. A lovely place to wander for an hour or so without having to battle crowds.
I'm slowly figuring out that I don't like being a tourist. Seeing "sights" is so passive and I feel removed from the life of the place I'm visiting. I like new places, but I prefer to visit a local and see how they live or do something more active in a place. I'm not sure what I really mean by "active", but I'm thinking of such things as study (as in Montreal or Oslo) or bushwalking in the Rockies or the Snowies, or some sort of course (such as the voyage on Young Endeavour or the science school in Auckland).
When there are less tourists around it's easier to pretend I'm not one myself.
We visited Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Musee Rodin and wandered around the city checking out landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, that obelisk Napoleon stole from the Egyptians, and various other notable buildings and streets in Paris.
It was all a bit crazy, and nothing demonstrated the madness as much as the farce that is the Mona Lisa. The room in which the painting is hung was incredibly crowded and we dutifully lined up to get close enough to inspect her properly. For many people there, their view of her was through a camera lense instead of their eyes. Most of the people in the room did not even look at the other (more?) incredible paintings hung in the same room, including ones by Titien and Tinteretto.
The contrast between the Louvre and the Musee Rodin was striking. The Louvre is like a triple chocolate cake - too much. Too many people, too much good art in one place and hence most of it underappreciated. The Musee Rodin has a lovely garden setting for much of Rodin's sculpture, and a small Museum with more stuff. A lovely place to wander for an hour or so without having to battle crowds.
I'm slowly figuring out that I don't like being a tourist. Seeing "sights" is so passive and I feel removed from the life of the place I'm visiting. I like new places, but I prefer to visit a local and see how they live or do something more active in a place. I'm not sure what I really mean by "active", but I'm thinking of such things as study (as in Montreal or Oslo) or bushwalking in the Rockies or the Snowies, or some sort of course (such as the voyage on Young Endeavour or the science school in Auckland).
When there are less tourists around it's easier to pretend I'm not one myself.
posted by Lee at
7:15 pm
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