when i woke up thursday morning (january 15), i could hardly believe ten days had already passed since my arrival in this most magnificent city and my departure was just two days away. a dark, dark, dark cloud of malaise started to settle over my head and a lump developed in my throat (this time, not strep related) and my eyes filled with crocodile tears. i'll admit it: i wallowed for a while -- about 30 minutes, during which time i was unable to pull myself out of bed, hoping to simply freeze time by not moving. and then the spirit of my perfect flat tapped me gently on the shoulder (he knew i was feeling down, hence explaining the "gentle") and then screamed, directly in my ear: "quit wasting the time you have left! get up and get out there. now!" that was enough (plenty, actually) to move me to action: i leaped from bed, put on a little shakira (for motivation and a mood lifter), got myself showered and dressed, and was ready to live one of my last days to the fullest in record time.
to be honest, by this point in the trip, i'd had my fill of antiquity, the middle ages (medieval times), romanesque, and gothic art -- i needed a change of perspective. thus, to the musée picasso i walked (after stopping for another of those chocolate croissants, that is). the museum doors opened at 11:30 a.m. -- i arrived shortly thereafter to find that a queue for entry had already formed. no worries, thought i, with the paris museum pass in hand, allowing me to enter the side of the queue that was only a mere three people deep. much to my dismay, however, i was informed by the attendant that entry to the museum is not covered by the pass (thus, making my new best friend rick steves a liar!) and i'd have to join the queue of people without tickets (which had almost doubled in about three minutes). prepared to pay the admission fee, i joined the other line -- where i watched the queue of people with tickets grow exponentially in about four minutes.
i waited in line for about an hour -- then i overheard the couple in front of me say in english (when everyone else was speaking in french) that it was still going to be at least another hour before we non-ticket holders would stand a chance of entry. and that's when the spirit of my flat pushed me out of line and told me to find something more interesting to do with my time.
plan b: to the centre (georges) pompidou, home of the musée national d'art moderne (largest museum for modern art in europe), i go.
you can read all about the centre pompidou's unique architecture here; i'm going to simplify and say it's a really cool building, both inside and out. and it's another place in paris from which you can get an impressive panoramic view of the city, simply by taking the escalator, which runs through the tube you see above (inside view below), to the 6th level of the centre.
although this isn't the greatest picture (it was taken through a window on an overcast and rainy day), you can still see sacre-coeour in the background, overlooking the city (i felt a particular sense of pride when i viewed this scene, knowing i'd walked my way to that point in the city ...).
i spent the better part of the day, wandering through the six floors of the centre. the jeff koons, an american artist known for his reproduction of banal objects, exhibit was particularly interesting and fun to view. the photo below is balloon dog (magenta) -- one of five unique versions, blue, magenta, orange, red, and yellow (huh. blue's clues inspiration?). interestingly, orange sold at auction for $58.4 million in 2013, making it the most expensive piece of work sold at auction by a living artist.
after spending quite a bit of time with mr. koons, i made my way to the permanent collection at the national museum of modern art, which houses more than 50,000 (!) works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other media (including some picasso!). i lost myself four hours, observing the various forms of expression, manifested in color, shape, texture, and, even, sound...
afterwards, i stopped by a crepe stand and treated myself to a jambon et fromage crepe (ham and cheese) and took a leisurely stroll back to my flat, pausing to grab this photo (a common scene along many-a-street in paris).
thank you, apartment spirit, for not letting me waste a most precious day ...
No comments:
Post a Comment