Paris mon amour

Oh I know, here I go again with Paris, Paris, always Paris. Well, deal with it. Cuz it never gets old! And I will never stop going! 😀 I mean, imagine falling out of love with Paris. How would that work? It’s not actually possible, there is nothing she can do to disappoint me. 😡

Anyway. This was a winter visit. The first once since March 2009! But Paris was very kind to me. It was around 10°C and tho it rained some of the time, it was also nice for some of it. And it was a seeeeeriously amazing trip! 😀 😡 This is what I did:

Tuesday
– I arrived and went to my flat, which was pretty nice – super location just off rue Montorgueil, and tho the flat itself had less charm than the previous one I’ve used, it had a lift and a TV and better lights and stuff. I was happy. 😀 But I did not linger (despite the wifi) and went for a wander. I had loooaaads planned so had to get cracking! No cycling today as it was all quite central.
– First stop was the Crypte Archéologique which had just reopened with a new exhibition (I’d seen all the previous ones :)) ). They hadn’t quite finished it yet and there was water dripping from the ceiling in places *lol* (actually a bit worrying cuz they have ancient Roman ruins in there), but it cost only €3.50 instead of €5 to make up for it. 😀 The new exhib was cute, very 3D and interactive (also available here apparently). While I was there I saw that there were no queues for my little church, and short ones for the towers (usually massive), so I resolved to return the next day.
– Then I wandered on towards the Luxembourg for Le Cercle de l’Art Moderne (Collectionneurs d’Avant Garde au Havre). This was greeeaaaaaat! Many artists I like (impressionists, fauves…) and also I just love art collectors (people who do it cuz they like art, not as an investment). On the way there I also saw a retrospective of the past century via political cartoons on the grilles du Luxembourg, which was entertaining.
– So that was three things I’d seen within a few hours! So I had a break in a café, then went to my usual cheapy 2nd hand book store on boulevard St Michel where I was delighted to find the final instalment of my WW2 trilogy for €0.20! 😀 And then I went shopping for food and home and ate all the food. :))

Wednesday
– Cycling day! Started off with the Notre Dame tower as decided the previous day. Awesome, amazing, so beautiful and moving! The views were breathtaking (hmmmm, Paris at my feet =P~ ) and also I felt like I was getting to know my little church better – it was especially nice meeting all the chimeras I had read about etc. 😀 Then I went and stood on the viewing platform they’ve erected for my church’s 850 years (not entirely sure what the point of that is… you have a slightly higher up view of her façade, but it also blocks off the whole of the parvis and any further away views of her are ruined) aaand since I was in Notre Dame mode I also went inside again. It had a very fun (huge) nativity – the rest was the same as always. :))
– Theeen I cycled to Concorde to see the allegedly highest Christmas tree in all of Europe. It was… high? Bit skinny tho. Not that impressive. :)) Onwards to the Musée d’Art Moderne for Collection Michael Werner. This was pretty meh. I’ve always found everything pretty meh at that museum, so I think I’m officially giving up on it. But at least there was a cute food market outside. I love French food markets. 😡
– I also went to the Christmas market along the Champs Elysées, had fruit dipped in white chocolate and a €1.50 cappuccino from a machine which wasn’t half bad. 😛 And then I kept walking through the Tuileries, sat for a short while (but it was cold), kept walking and then it started drizzling so I thought that was a good excuse to go home and have a break and dinner and stuff.
– The last item on the Wednesday schedule was the Dalí exhibition at Centre Pompidou at around 8pm. This was nicely not-too-crowded (cuz I’d used their “when to go” guide) and I had a really interesting experience once I started listening to Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna. I usually find Dalí somewhat impenetrable, but this track was perfect – truly eye-opening. Hard to describe, but really great experience.

Thursday
– Last day, oh noes! It was meant to rain all day so I wasn’t sure I’d get much outsidey stuff done. It was however only drizzling again so I did get a bike pass and half walked, half cycled to the Orangerie. I still got pretty damn wet, especially my coat, which I then had to stuff into my bag so the wet soaked aaall the way through. *lol*
– Orangerie was for Chaïm Soutine, one of my favourite painters ever who is amazing and the exhib was amazing, especially his landscapes which are the best, especially this one which I hadn’t seen before and spent about half an hour admiring. 😡 =P~ 😡 It’s with a private collector now, so I see from that link what they paid for it. I WANT EEEEET!!!!! 😐 (but I do not have that much money *lol*)
– Then it was still raining so I wandered towards the Pinacothèque for Van Gogh but decided to have a sit first, but because it was lunchtime it took me aaaages to find somewhere and I ended up in a little crêperie and stayed there quite a while reading and writing.
– Then Van Gogh! This was about Japanese influence on his painting, which was partly moving (he got so enthusiastic about Japanese stuff!), partly obscure (the actual parallels they drew between his art and Japanese painters’ was often a bit o_O) and partly sad (I so wish he could’ve gone there! Would it have made him happier?). I tried the music effect again, this time with Smetana’s String Quartet No.1. This was also quite an interesting combination, tho only the first movement really fit.
– Then it had stopped raining! It was obvious what that meant: on your bikes, get set, go!!! And it was aaaaawwwwweeeesome! I still had my music on so ended up cycling along the Seine listening to (some of) the Hannibal soundtrack. And OH. MY. GOD. Seriously, I wondered at some point if I was high, it was just this “WOAH, IT ALL MAKES SENSE, THIS IS PERFECT” moment. Everything slotted into place: the melancholy, slightly dark and threatening music and the vast, wintery, timeless scenery… soooooooooooo incredibly beautiful!!!! 😡 =P~
– I cycled around some more after that and the actual sun actually came out! Up Bvd Raspail to the 14th, went for a wander around Cimetière Montparnasse, then back down through the 5th and around both islands, to Bastille and finally St Paul where I had my last coffee of the day. And then went (cycled) to Gare du Nord and eventually home.

Thus ended another Paris trip, a rather special and magical one. There is no place like Paris, nowhere at all in the universe and other parallel universes, this one is the most bestest place of all existence. 😡 😡 😡 😡 😡 😡

Also: no headaches! Boo yeah! I must go back soon.