|
When we weren't eating food, we walked a lot, and went to a lot of museums.
|
This is the Institute du Monde Arabe. Its wall consists of a matrix of irises which are supposed to regulate the amount of light and heat getting in the building. Unfortunately they didn't work very well. There was an exhibit on the history of Arab contributions to the sciences. |
|
A closeup of an iris from inside. |
|
A beautiful skylight in a bank in the center of Paris. It turns out they don't like you taking pictures inside banks. |
|
This lamp was made out of Campari bottles. |
|
People sleeping on the street. I wonder if there is a formal social structure by which these tents are handed out? |
|
A model of the Châtelet theater you could use to evaluate potential tickets. Tickets for the Valkyrie ranged from 20 to 200 euro, depending on visibility. |
|
Sainte-Chappelle on Île de la Cité, with incredibly detailed stained glass. |
|
Detail: the parable of the cut celery. |
|
"Centaur", near our hotel. |
|
An unpopular law intended to boost youth employment by giving them fewer worker's rights had just been withdrawn, and this was a victory rally. The parade was maybe three blocks long. More pictures of the rally... |
|
If you go to Paris, you must visit Musee d'Orsay. And don't be like everyone else and rush to see Vincent Van Gogh and then leave — it's all great. And only the Van Gogh room is crowded, at least in April. |
|
The museum opened in 1977 in a former train station. You can see the ghost of the station. |
|
A model of the old Opera, beneath a glass floor. A cutaway of the interior was nearby. |
|
|
Sacre-Coeur, shot through the old station's exterior clock. |
|
Beneath the pyramid in front of the Louvre. More from the Louvre... |
|
A big hotel near our little hotel. |
|
A quick shot from the bus. There's supposed to be a good restaurant in this building but we didn't get to it this time. We were on the way to La Musee Marmotan, featuring the work of Claude Monet. |
|
|
An absinthe shop. We had no idea we'd be waved through customs coming back, so we didn't buy any. |
|
Letters on the ceiling of a subway station. The first time I came to Paris I was 11 years old and it impressed me the number of people on the Metro who were kissing each other. Now I'm impressed by the number of people reading. Didn't see so much kissing. |
|
Shoes left next a shoe store. |
|
From the top of the Arc de Triomphe. |
|
The stairs back down. |
