Deuxième jour à paris: le Louvre et de Notre-Dame

Bonjour! Welcome to day 2 in Paris (Sunday, March 27th), which consisted of visiting the famous Louvre museum and Notre Dame cathedral. If you haven't read about day 1, then click here; if you have, then enjoy!

Initially, the layout of the Louvre was slightly confusing. I'm sure many of you would recognize the glass pyramid of the Louvre, but, and hopefully this isn't just me being uninformed, I had no idea that was the museum's actual entrance. Is that common knowledge..? We walked through the doors above to enter a sort of square or courtyard and saw the 'pyramid' in the distance then headed that way after direction from some other tourists.

Unreal blue skies in Paris that day. This is the first courtyard area we walked into; you can see the museum's entrance through the archway.

You actually go underground to enter the museum into Hall Napoléon, then proceed up sets of escalators to each of the 3 different exhibit entrances: Richelieu, Sully, and Denon. These different entrances take you to different corresponding sections of the museum. You can see the buildings for Richelieu and Denon on either side of the pyramid in the above picture. 

 "The Winged Victory of Samothrace"

 Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities: Hellenistic Art (3rd-1st centuries BC)

When entering almost any museum or church in Europe, don't forget to look up.

Mom enjoying some art.

Ah yes, the infamous Mona Lisa. There was a crowd and a half around this one - popular lady. I'm not sure what the debate is all about, because she's definitely smiling. My dad kept referring to the painting so casually as "Mona", which made me laugh. "Let's go see Mona". So, no big deal, but my dad's on a first name basis with the Mona Lisa.

Fragment of the frieze of the Temple of Artemis Leukophryene at Magnesia ad Maeandrum.

The forty-three panels of the Ionic frieze of the Temple of Artemis Leukophryene make up the largest group of architectural sculptures in the Louvre.

Took a close-up of this one simply because I liked it.

Joseph Ducreux's self-portait. You may recognise this painter from around the internet. 

This guy. You know you're an internet kid when this excites you almost as much as seeing the Mona Lisa. Almost.

 "The Department of Egyptian Antiquities presents vestiges from the civilizations that developed in the Nile Valley from the late prehistoric era (c. 4000 BC) to the Christian period (4th century AD)."

- http://www.louvre.fr/en/departments/egyptian-antiquities

Left: the Crown of Louis XV

Right: the emerald and diamond tiara of Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

It was a beautiful day out in Paris when we left the Louvre. We were lucky to hit this good weather just in time for a walk to the Notre Dame and then back to our car to top off the trip.

Like the Eiffel Tower, it is so difficult to explain just how amazing the cathedral is in person and to capture it in pictures. I guess you'll have to go see for yourself. Due to a crazy amount of people surrounding the cathedral on Easter weekend, we unfortunately weren't able to make it inside. Time was limited and the lines were just way too long to tackle. Yet another reason why I'll have to return to Paris some day.

Some funny little gargoyles sticking out from the walls. Educational fact time: the purpose of gargoyles in architecture is actually to draw water away from the roof to prevent rainwater from running down the walls and eroding the mortar.

The Notre Dame was among the first buildings in the world to use flying buttresses, which are those arches you can see acting as support between the inner and outer walls. Initially, they weren't a part of the design, but the thinner walls (popularized in Gothic style) paired with their height called for extra support.

The very last stop on our way back to the parking garage was a little corner gelato shop called Amorino. I opted for a scoop of coffee and a scoop of speculoos - no regrets. This was the best ice cream I've had in a very long time.

Enjoy my beautifully chipped nail polish.

That wraps up our weekend in Paris! I hope you've enjoyed my short narratives and extensive photos so far. Coming (hopefully) soon(-ish) are my trips to Brugge and Dublin, but I'm off to Barcelona on Thursday, so I make no time-specific promises...

Thanks for reading :)

- Alexandra

Premier jour à paris: Versailles, la tour eiffel, et la Seine

I wrote this title without a translator, so I hope it's correct. French 102 better have been good for something. This first Paris post won't be very long, but I wanted to split the posts according to days not only to lighten the reading in one go, but also so I could whip this first one up quickly... (lots of homework this spring break, unfortunately). My family flew to visit me in Belgium during the first half of spring break and we had planned to drive to Paris from Leuven for the Easter weekend (March 26th and 27th). The trip overall went by far too quickly and I will definitely have to go back in my lifetime.  I'll be experiencing Paris in a new way through these pictures, because I was frustratingly very sick during this trip. It was hard for me to concentrate on being in the beautiful city of Paris when my body was betraying me :(

Anyways, this post will cover our day 1 excursions to the Château de Versailles and Eiffel Tower with an evening illumination cruise along the Seine to top it all off. 

Friendly warning: if you plan to see Versailles, then plan to wait in a standing line amongst a sea of people for 2+ hours. It was slightly brutal. But as a European Union student my admission was free, so that sort of made up for it. What totally made up for it, though, was the palace itself. As much as I'd love to give you the historical lowdown and fun facts for every photo, I just don't have the mental alertness or ability right now, so enjoy the visuals!

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part un

 One of the areas blocked off from visitors - makes for a clean photo.

I wasn't going to leave this post totally blank; so I'll give the palace an introduction. It at least deserves that. What is now a grand château once began as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge. His son, Louis XIV, later completely transformed and expanded it, also moving the court and government of France here in 1682. Three French kings have since lived here leading up to the French Revolution and added improvements to make it more and more extravagant.

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part deux

Also, some beautiful doors of Versailles. This place is unreal. 

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part trois 

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part quatre

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part cinq 

The Bust of King Louis XIV is completely made of marble and was sculpted by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1665. This sculptural portrait has even been considered by many experts as the baroque age's grandest piece of portraiture.

Louis XIV moved his chambers to this room so that he could wake up facing the rising sun. In 1715 he died in this room after reining for 72 years (democracy isn't perfect, but at least our leaders don't stick around for 72 years and spend the country's money on feathered bedposts).

The Hall of Mirrors, or The Grande Galerie (as it was called in the 17th ce.), acted as a day-to-day passageway and waiting/meeting place. It was frequently visited by both courtiers and the public. Can you imagine this being your "hallway"? Crazy. Every metre of this room was made to gloriously exhibit France's political, economic and artistic success. There are thirty paintings on the ceiling that illustrate Louis XIV's first eighteen years in government. Mirrors at the time were very luxurious objects and this room is absolutely covered in them. Louis XIV sure wasn't a humble guy when it came to interior design.

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part six 

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part sept 

 The Galerie des Batailles (Gallery of Battles) is a 120 metre long gallery on the Palace's first floor.

As you probably guessed, it's a gallery full of paintings of battles. 

Beautiful ceilings of Versailles part huit 

Versailles has so much more to offer than just the Palace itself, but if your time isn't endless then the Palace is definitely a worthwhile sight to choose. I would love to go back for a full day in the future to see the gardens, The Grand Trianon, and Marie-Antoinette's estate.

Next, we drove to Paris and found our hotel. We then navigated the city's metro system to get to Paris' main iconic attraction - The Eiffel Tower.

I remember telling my brother how I was oddly blown away by just how massive the Eiffel Tower is (984 feet, to be exact). I'm not sure why, but I was expecting to be slightly let down by the hype - but no, this landmark lives up to the fame and more. The tower was lit up with the colours of the Belgian flag as a sign of solidarity following the recent terror attacks in Brussels.

Cheesin' with my parents in Paris.  

The day ended with a lovely night cruise on the Seine river. Again, I would've unfortunately enjoyed it much more if I wasn't sick (and I think the same goes for the people who sat near me). However, looking at these photos reminds me just how beautiful it was. I would definitely recommend a river cruise to see many points of interest without having to walk and navigate.

The Orsay Museum 

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris 

I hope you enjoyed this post all about my first day in Paris. Part 2 featuring the Louvre museum and Notre Dame Cathedral will be coming at some point, I promise. Thanks for reading :)

- Alexandra