4.28.2011

Bienvenue à Paris!

(Warning: Extremely picture heavy!)
JFK airport.
Flying Air France, we took off 10pm NYC time & landed in Paris at 11am their time.
Paris is 6 hours ahead, so it was really 5am in NYC - 8 hour flight.
Luckily, on this plane I was able to choose from a wide selection of movies/TV shows.
I watched the movies: Life as We Know It & Vanilla Sky - Both excellent.
As well as reruns of Friends & the Paris episodes of Sex & the City.
Paris - Charles de Gaulle airport.
We stayed in two hotels - The first was Pershing Hall.
Great service, beautiful rooms, free wifi & mini bar, great area.
From our room, we experienced the first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower -
Right outside of our hotel window.
(The second hotel we stayed in was Hotel de Sers, it was excellent there as well.
And we had TWO terraces in our room, but the view was pretty dull.)
Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
Arc de Triomphe.
Louis Vuitton on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
Arc de Triomphe.
Freshly baked pain chocolat for breakfast.
An example of why we didn't do much shopping in Paris.
It's a good thing I live in New York City.
The Eiffel Tower.
The Seine.
Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Dôme des Invalides.
Musée de l'Armée.
Musée du Louvre.
Pyramide du Louvre by I.M. Pei.
My mom purchased the 4 consecutive day Paris Museum Pass before our trip.
It granted unlimited access & even some line-cutting to all of the museums in Paris.
We purchased the same type of pass when we visited Madrid, so I definitely recommend it.
It's a life-saver and prevented us from having to wait on that 500-person line for admission into the Louvre.
From within.
Les Trois Grâces (The Three Graces) - James Pradier, exhibited in the salon of 1831.
Venus de Milo - Alexandros of Antioch, between 130 and 100 BCE.
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss - Antonio Canova, 1777.

Long story short, the Louvre was the worst experience of my life.
Even if I return to Paris, I won't be re-visiting this museum.
Anyways, onto better experiences...
Musée d'Orsay.
Manet, the Man who Invented Modernity.
Great exhibit where I was able to experience Manet's two most famous works:
Olympia & The Picnic on the Grass.

(Pictures were not allowed here, but I was able to sneak a few - Sorry, Paris!)
Burial at Ornans - Gustave Courbet, 1849/50.
The main reason I was dying to visit this museum.
This painting is HUGE.
The flowers in Paris are so stunningly beautiful.
I wish I were able to take some home.
I'm not sure what type of cheese was on this burger, but it was heavenly.
My chocolate mousse birthday cake from Hediard - So delicious!
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Amazing exhibit - Extremely inspiring.
Raoul Dufy & General Idea.
XXX Bleu - General Idea, 1984.
ImageVirus - General Idea.
Infected Mondrian - General Idea, 1994.
La Tour Eiffel - Robert Delaunay, 1926.
Reclining Nude - Henri Matisse, 1907.
The Windows of the Day - Marcel Jean, 1983.
La Danse de Paris - Henri Matisse, 1931-1933.
The back of this museum is used as a skate park/graffiti haven.
The sickest part is that the police don't even bother the youth.
Made me feel right at home, as if I were back in NYC.
Great street culture.
The gardens in Paris are remarkable, so green and vivid!
Rained for a few moments to cool down the hot temperature,
but then it cleared up right away and the sun/heat returned.
Protest.
Musée Rodin.
The Thinker - Auguste Rodin, 1902.
The Gates of Hell - Auguste Rodin, 1880 until the year of his death in 1917, never completed.
One of my favorite works, ever.
The sculpture garden made this museum the best one we visited in all of Paris.
Between the sunshine, sculptures and beautiful flowers, we didn't want to leave.
Inside was awfully breathtaking, as well...
The Kiss - Auguste Rodin, 1889.
Colossal Head of Pierre de Wissant - Auguste Rodin, circa 1910.
Centre Pompidou.
Ten Lizes - Andy Warhol, 1964.
Auto-portrait - Henri Matisse, 1900.
Reclining Nude I - Henri Matisse, 1907.
Harlequin - Pablo Picasso, 1923.
Homage to Louis David (Les Loisirs) - Fernand Léger, 1948/49.
Flower of Evil - Georges Rouault, 1930/45.
Miaudulation de Fritance - Arman, 1962.
IKB 3, Untitled Blue Monochrome - Yves Klein, 1960 (left) &
SE 71, Large Blue Sponge - Yves Klein, 1962 (right).
6 Random Distributions of Four black and White Cares for After Even Numbers
and Odd Numbers
- Francois Morellet, 1958.
Untitled (Black, Red over Black on Red) - Mark Rothko, 1964.
Untitled (Last Light) - Felix Gonzalez-Torres, 1993.
I like Olympia in Black Face - Larry Rivers, 1970.
Igloo of Japan - Mario Merz, 1968.
Giant Triple Mushroom - Carsten Holler, 2010.
View from the 6th floor of the Center Pompidou.
Sunset on the Seine.
Our last night in Paris - Delicious Italian dinner at Del Papa.
Fin.