Paris

Mom & I at Notre Dame Cathedral

Me at the Eiffel Tower.

Metro sign in the Art Nouveau style...

Bon soir au Paris! Well, actually from London but I just got back from a fabulous weekend in Paris with my Mom.  We popped over on the Eurostar for a three day weekend of art, eating, and joix de vie!  It was a really great time and I am so glad that I have finally been to Paris!  What was I waiting for?

We arrived on Friday morning.  After a small navigational error on my part (whoops!) we landed at the Hotel Britanique.  It was a great little hotel just one street back from the Pont de Neuf over the Seine River.  We made the most of our first afternoon checking out Notre Dame Cathedral.  No lightening strikes to report.  It is an amazing building especially when you realize that it was begun in 1163 and it is still used everyday for mass.  Yikes!

Friday night I arranged for Mom & I to take in a show at the Moulin Rouge.  Some of it was pretty cheesy (for example, I believe that the male dancers started the show in the same suit my Crystal Ken Barbie had in 1985) but on the whole it was actually enjoyable.  The in between musical number bits were the best part: a ventriloquist, a woman who swam with snakes (a giant pool rose out of the dance floor for this), and a Cirque de Soliel inspired couple who did these amazing feats of balance & strength like him triceps pressing her while she was balanced in a handstand in his hands.  I'm thinking normal push-ups aren't so bad after all!  And gentlemen, if you like T&A (don't bother lying), this is a good ruse to get to go to the "ballet" with your significant other.

Saturday was a marathon of culture: Musee d'Orsay, L'Orangerie, the Eiffel Tower, L'Arc de Triumph, the Champs Elysee and A LOT of walking!  Mom was a total trooper.  Pretty much everything on my list of things to see in Paris in one day!  Plus a lovely dinner.  Sunday we continued with a trip to the Carousel de Louvre (the mother of all gift shops...it's own mall) and then onto the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in le Lourvre. Definitely feeling a little arted out at this point.

My highlight would definitely be all of the fabulous Art Nouveau!  It is my absolute favourite period (1890 to 1910ish) and I have only ever seen a few pieces with most of my exposure, until this weekend, being pretty pictures in art books or on-line.  But not anymore!  Paris was at the centre of the Art Nouveau movement and there was so much to see live and in person.  It was absolutely spectacular.  And, I got to see a painting by my favourite artist, Gustav Klimt (which was also the first time I've seen one for real and not in a book).  Even the Metro station signs date back to the Art Nouveau period... c'est magnifique!