Musée d'Orsay

Situated directly across the Seine from the Louvre is the Musée d'Orsay, a building that looks rather out-of-place next to the much older structures that surround it. It was originally a train station (the Gare d'Orsay), built in the Beaux-Arts style from 1898 to 1900, but was only used for the purpose for about 40 years. After that, the platforms at the station became too short for the longer trains now being used. In 1970 the building was almost demolished to make way for a hotel, but France's Minister of the Interior at the time fortunately put the kibosh on that. After a number of years of design competitions and work on the buildings, it opened as an art museum in 1986. It houses mostly 19th and some 20th century art, and it particularly known for its impressive collection of Impressionist artwork.

I have two different reactions to the Musée d'Orsay. I think the building itself is incredibly impressive and gorgeous. But at the same time, I was underwhelmed by it, and I believe that that has nothing to do with the Musée d'Orsay itself and everything to do with the fact that I'd been to the Louvre three or four times before going to the Musée d'Orsay. And, let's face it, every other museum on the planet pretty much pales in comparison to the Louvre. Besides, while I like Impressionism, the rest of the collection at the Musée d'Orsay doesn't interest me as much as the older, Renaissance-era work at the Louvre.

But don't worry, that doesn't mean that I didn't take pictures! Unfortunately they are very strict about not letting you take pictures of the art itself, but the staff doesn't mind if you take pictures of the building as a whole and such:

The view out of the window at the top of the museum, over the Tuileries Gardens with Sacre Coeur in the background.

You can see the Louvre on the other side of the river.

The inside of one of the clocks you can see on the outside of the building.

The main atrium inside the museum.

The museum has several levels of rooms full of art under the glass-filled arches that you can see on either side.

A close-up of the clock on the other side of the atrium.

After I left the museum, I wandered over the river and down along the quay to get a look at the museum from the outside.

I kept walking past the Louvre to the Pont des Arts. Couples come here to this bridge and place a lock with their names on it on the chain-link, then throw the key into the Seine. Cute, no?

The view fro the Pont des Arts, looking over Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris.

And the view in the other direction.

In Which My Best Friend and I take Paris by Storm

As if my circumstances in Paris couldn't get any more perfect, I am incredibly lucky that not only do I have a good friend and roommate in Brian, but also that my best friend in the entire world is studying in Paris this semester. While Alexis and I do not, unfortunately, go to the same college (neither back home in the States nor here in Paris), we went to the same high school. I've known her for about seven years, and we've been dreaming of studying abroad in Paris together almost that long. A few weeks ago we spent an evening just wandering from the Louvre all the way to the Eiffel Tower together, and I just wanted to share some of the pictures I took:

We met up outside the Louvre....

...then wandered through the Tuileries Gardens.

If you walk all the way to the other side of the gardens, you hit Place de la Concorde...

...where there are pretty fountains...

...and the famous 3300-year-old Egyptian obelisk that marks the spot where the guillotine did its thing during the French Revolution

Then we crossed over the river to walk down to the Pont Alexandre III.

"Alexis! Alexis! Take an artsy picture of me!"

Me taking my own artsy photos...

Accidentally moving my camera too soon after taking the picture...

True love. :)

Le Palais Garnier

Folks, I'm about to say something that will shock some of you: the Palais Garnier is, so far, my favorite place in all of Paris. Not the Louvre, not the Eiffel Tower, not Versailles, none of it. I loved the Palais Garnier more than any of them.

The Palais Garnier is Paris' premiere opera house. It was built from 1861 to 1875 and was designed by the architect Charles Garnier. Nowadays, the Paris Opera usually only performs ballet in the Palais Garnier. Actual operas and other shows are performed in the much newer, much larger, Opera de la Bastille. But the Palais Garnier is most famous for inspiring Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera. And I'm a HUGE fan of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and this, along with the fact that the opera house is absolutely beyond gorgeous, is why I like the Palais Garnier so much. In fact, I walked around listening to the soundtrack the entire time.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go into the theater itself while I was there, as they were having a rehearsal. But I'm definitely planning on going back at some point to see the chandelier (and Box 5, of course).

When you walk into the Opera House after buying your ticket in the entrance lobby, you come in underneath the famous staircase, which looks like this:

They are currently displaying throughout the opera house various costumes and accessories from past productions, which is what you see here. For two seconds I thought I was walking into another ridiculous modern art exhibit like Versailles, but thankfully that's not the case.

The grand staircase, as seen from the upper level. It looks EXACTLY the way it does in the movie version of Phantom, just with far less open space at the bottom. One of the first things I did here was plant myself in front of one of the pillars across from the bottom of the staircase and listen to "Notes/Prima Donna" and "Masquerade" in their entirety. Magical.

All of the upper levels above the staircase look like this.

The main hallway at the top and opposite side of the staircase. 

I thought that hallway was spectacular, but then parallel to this hallway on the left of the above picture is THIS hallway:

I was in awe. I think this hallway is far more beautiful and opulent than even the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

Just a fraction of the murals on the ceiling.

Close up of one of the many chandeliers. 

At each end of the hall is a fireplace with some pretty magnificent art and architecture.

Then, parallel from THAT hallway to the left, you go outside.

The view.

Then, back inside, they have this section full of paintings and photographs of the opera house and people who have performed there. They also had these little dioramas of sets of different operas, which I thought were cool.

Each one is probably about 18 inches tall by about 24 inches wide, and between 12-18 inches deep.

The entryway at the middle of the staircase.

Some of the costumes on display.

The main facade. It's pretty much impossible to get a picture without a tour bus in the way. I stood there for a couple of minutes waiting to no avail. But up there is from where I took the photo of the view out over the street.