Paris!! Day 5: Monet's Gardens!!!

Thursday was my last full day in Paris and it was my favorite!!  I had really been wanting to see Monet's gardens in Giverny, France for about a year now.  However, it is about a 2 hour journey away from Paris and therefore Camille could not go because she had class.  I was planning on going by myself and was in the process of sorting out the details when Camille's parents surprised me with the trip of a lifetime!!  They bought a tour of Monet's gardens AND the Palace of Versailles!!!!!!  I was SO excited about the trip and completely humbled by their generosity!!!  I was planning on making a huge blog entry of the whole trip, but this first section ended up being so long that I thought I better break it up.  So this is what the first part of my amazing trip entailed....

About 35 people were in the tour group together and the guides spoke both English & Spanish, which was wonderful because it helped me to practice my Spanish after not speaking it for a week!  We took a very nice charter bus into France's country side.  The drive was absolutely beautiful!!!

After winding around the bends of the country we arrived at Monet's house and gardens in Giverny!  It was a crisp foggy morning.  The foggy mist was so beautiful and truly added a bit of magic in the air.

Monet's House!

Looking out over the gardens from Monet's bedroom window

It was really fun to be able to tour Monet's house and see where he lived.  They had his gallery room set up with copies of some of his artwwork, and many of the paintings I had seen the originals of in the Musee d'Orsay!!!  It was so much fun to be able to have seen the origional painting by Monet of his garden and then two days later be actually standing in the exact place that he painted.  I truly felt like I had stepped into one of his paintings!

I would have assumed that Monet decorated his house with a similar impressionistic style artwork, however almost all of the art consisted of Japanese paintings. 

My absolute favorite room in his house was the dining room!!!  Since Giverny gets a lot of fog and rain, Monet wanted his dining room to look like sunshine and for those in it to feel bright and warm.  I think he captured the feeling perfectly!!  I absolutely LOVED this room and would have one like it in my own house, even though everything was yellow.  I was not overwhelmed at all by the yellow, I absolutely adored it!!  It was just so happy and bright!  The room also had bright rich blue accents, which suit the room perfectly.  I just LOVED it!!  So this is my fair warning that my dining room might be this intense one day (minus the floor)!   : D

Monet said that his greatest piece of artwork was his gardens, this is because he carefully placed each flower and color in a certain spot for him to paint.  He was able to see the picture in his mind that he wanted to paint before a seed was ever planted.  Only after "growing" his painting would he pick up his paintbrush.

I had such a wonderful time exploring his gardens in the cool mist and discovering all the different types of flowers exuding their brilliant colors, I could have stayed there all day!

The Exquisite Gardens!!!

The flowers were truly incredible here!!!  I was in Heaven!!!

 

The pretty mist

There were SO many brilliant shades of tulips that were all in their perfect peak of blossoming.  They were absolutely stunning,  I have never seen tulips this remarkably beautiful.  Purples, pinks, yellows, reds, oranges, whites, it was truly spectacular!!

 

The colors in these tulips are so strikingly beautiful!

 Monet's gardens were broken up into two sections.  The first section by the house can contained most of the flowers.  The second section was across the road that used to be railroad tracks when Monet was alive.  Here is the second part of his gardens where his famous waterlilies were painted.

Daffodils by the pond!  One of my absolute favorite flowers in the whole world!

I've never seen daffodils like this before!  How fun!!

Beautiful weeping willows by the pond

The famous bridge in his water lily paintings!

After we finished touring the gardens, we ate at this delicious restaurant!  Our meal was so delicious!  We had salad, salmon pate, chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, apple pie, red wine, and coffee.

I sat by a lovely woman from Australia who I had made friends with on the bus.  She has a 19 year old son whose father was never in the picture.  She said she was very lonely now that he was at college and decided to do something for herself, so she is taking a 5 week vacation and traveling around Europe.  She was so shy and sweet, I was so glad to meet her.  She had been in Paris for a week but this was the first time she ate at a sit down restaurant here, because she had just been picking up a sandwich an take it back to her room to eat alone.  I really liked this woman, she was so sweet and thanked me for sharing her first meal in Paris with her. 

This artist was painting outside our restaurant.  I just loved him, he looked so authentic and very French, complete with his scarf, hat, and cigarette.  We had a lovely conversation and I truly enjoyed meeting him even if it was only for 15 minutes, and his paintings were so good!

Beautiful tree outside the restaurant and sweet little swan bench

There was a watermill beside the restaurant too!

Foggy pasture beside the restaurant

The charter bus was parked beside this pasture with several horses!  I'm sure most people didn't even notice or care, but it made me so happy!

Headed to Palace of Versailles!!

This part of France was so incredibly beautiful I could easily move there tomorrow!!  The town had little quaint stone houses with ivy that were nestled amongst the rolling hills covered in grass and flowers.  I really fell in love with Giverny and am dying to go back already!!

Paris!! Day 4: The Louvre

On Wednesday Camille and I went to the Louvre!  This is the largest art museum in the world and is located in a former French palace!  I talked to a guy who had seen everything in the Louvre and he said it takes 2.5 to 3 weeks to see everything!  So I decided to focus on the paintings, Napoleon's apartments, and the sculptures.  Needless to say I only got a sampling of what was there, but I feel like I saw a lot in the 5.5 hours that I was there!

The Arch in front of The Louvre

Underneath the famous Glass Pyramid!

This is the first thing I saw in the Louvre, the famous "Winged Victory" statue!!

It was situated at the top of a grand staircase and did not have any other artwork nearby competing for viewer's attention!

I thought this paining was interesting because if you look closely, you can see that the baby is actually a winged angel, but it is hovered on the floor like a pet dog.

All of the ceilings were incredibly ornate, one could spend all day solely admiring the ceilings!!

Shortly after arriving, I saw the Mona Lisa!!!  There were so many people crowded around, it was crazy.  I of course, wanted to get right in the front and in the middle to get the best picture possible (like everyone else).  So I braved the crowd and got so squished that my shoulders were rotated in as far as they could go, and I had bodies pressed up against me from every angle.  To be honest, I kind of liked the crowd, it added to the experience!  There is a protective glass over the Mona Lisa which makes the painting appear a little fuzzy and discolored in pictures.  However, in person you could see the woman in her full glory! 

All of the painting titles and explanations were in French in all of the museums that I visited, which at times was a bit frustrating because I wanted to know all of the titles.  So I would just try to interpret them and make up stories behind the painting in my own head.  Perhaps this one is of Romeo & Juliet?

Camille was so wonderful to have with me while we were going through the paintings!  Unfortunately I did not study this era and style of paintings very much in high school.  I knew a lot more about the art at the Musee d'Orsay.  However, Camille knew so much and I loved listening to her tell stories of the paintings!

She told me that this one is incredibly famous, and is of a fortune teller who is reading a man's palm.

David looking at Goliath's head after slaying him!

Mary & Jesus

 I really love this painting.  The woman is riding on a centaur, half man and half horse!  He lifts her so effortlessly and joyfully as she admires the sky with her dress blowing in the wind.  It's such a fun and imaginative painting!

 This girl was one of Camille's favorites  : )

I really loved this one as well.  However, I had a completely different interpretation than what Camille said the title was in French!  Those pieces on the ground look like parts of a scorpion's body; so I thought that the little boy had just killed the scorpion and was reflecting on both the impact of his actions and of ending the creature's life.  To me, the expression on this face portrays a bit of inner shock of realizing his own power to kill and perhaps feeling a little shameful.  However, Camille told me that those were shrimp that he was eating.  But I really like my interpretation so I thought I'd still add it to the explanation!

I don't know what this painting is supposed to represent (probably some historical, Biblical, or mythological story), but I think the artist did such a fantastic job capturing the lighting that is shining down on the girl.

This painting is absolutely huge in real life!!  The picture below is of the focus of the painting, but it only shows about 1/5 of the paintings total content.  Camille told me it is a very famous depiction of the infamous historical event when Napoleon took the crown from the church to crown himself.  Normally when the king and queen are crowned, it is done by the church.  However right before Napoleon's crowning, he took the adornment from the priest's hands and said "Only Napoleon is worthy of crowning Napoleon."  So it was a big moment in history where the king was took away the church's power.

This is also a very famous painting as well depicting the conflict over Sabine women.  The mythical story depicts Rome as a young nation Romans nation who lacked women, so they decided to steal Sabine women to ensure future offspring and the nation's growth.  Three years later the Sabine men came to reclaim their women however the battle was prevented because the women stood in between in front of the Roman men whom they had grown to love.

Next I saw the Napoleon Apartments, which were so elaborate & ornate!!  Since the Louvre was the former Royal Palace of France, this portion of the art museum displays what the inside of the palace used to look like.  Pictures do not even begin to properly portray the elegance and splendor.

Pearl & Diamond Crown

These were my two favorite replicas of Jesus

I really fell in love with the paintings at the Musee d'Orsay that I visited the day before, however here in the Louvre it was the sculptures that I liked the most.  There were so many magnificent ones!!  Here are some of my favorites!

I love this sculpture, she has such a peaceful and beautiful serenity about her.

This sculpture is of a soldier giving water to a baby.  It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the man's expression is so tender and kind, I just fell in love with this statue!!

Spartacus

Upon first glance, I thought that this couple were just in the throws of passion.  However when I examined closely, the man is actually the devil with horns who has ripped off the woman's clothing!

I'm sure this statue has a different meaning, but since I don't know what it is truly supposed to be since the description is in French, I like to think of it as Adam attempting to take revenge on the serpent after he and Eve have eaten the apple.

Pretty Woman

 

This was just part of a bigger sculpture, but I love this little girl's face and her expression of awe and surprise

Again, I'm not sure what this is supposed to be; however I interpreted it to be baby Jesus holding a nail in his hand while contemplating the impact his future momentous sacrifice on the cross.

And this is my absolute Favorite piece of artwork in The Louvre!!!  I absolutely LOVE this and really wish I could have it in my house.  It is called "Psyche Meets Cupid" or "Cupid Awakens Psyche" and it is positively magnificent.  I love absolutely everything about this sculpture... the intertwining arms, the magnificent wings, her cascading hair (viewable from the back), I could go on and on!!  This statue is so brilliantly created a such a perfect manifestation of the title.  I think you have to be a true genius to create such a piece of artwork!

Later that night Camille and I met up with her friend Sarah who's birthday party we went to on my first night in Paris.  We went out for dinner at a Crepery!  I had a chicken crepe with tomatoes, cheese, and spinach.  It was delicious!

But my favorite was dessert!!!!!  This is a chocolate and banana crepe that had a little rum on it that was burned off right before I it was served to me.  I got to see it in flames right before my eyes.  The chocolate is so warm and melty, it was truly heaven!!!