K&G Go To P&B part deux

Hey folks, I meant to get this up last week but I got a last minute job to shoot Annette Bening and the full cast of The Female of the Species for the cover of Backstage West! Woohoo! So now I bring you day two of our trip. Please enjoy and remember to click on an image to see it enlarged.


We began day two with a trip to the Musee D'Orsay. This is the clock just inside the front entrance to the main hall. Before its reincarnation, this building was the main train station in Paris.


This is the most realistic painting of a vagina I've ever seen. There were tons of people crowded around this one. Hilarious


This is a view from the far end of the main hall. This is also where the trains would come through.


I believe that this is the worlds first horizontal headshot. I would totally cast this guy!


She is very sad because she is trapped in a marble slab


I don't remember the name of this one so I call it tiny dancer






When one looks upon these sculptures, it is hard to comprehend that they are not real people. The detail and emotion in their faces is stunning.


Ok, I don't mean to offend anyone, but as near as I can figure... this is the gay Jesus! Okay, okay thats what I thought until I deciphered the placard which called this "The School of Plato." However, if you google "the gay jesus painting at Musee D'Orsay," you will find others who thought the same thing. Hmm...


This is the grand ballroom which was once part of the hotel that was attached to the train station.


After we left the Musee D'Orsay we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then walked across the bridge to the Jardin des Tuilleries which is the park between the Louve and the Musee de l'Orangerie. At this point it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, in other words, the night sky was approaching!


This is the Arc de Triomphe du Carousel


The Louvre


The Hotel de Louvre on Rue Rivoli


The next day we visited Monmarte and our first stop was Sacre Couer.


Your typical street scene in the Montmarte area



We found some cool steps down the hill that took us past this tiny theatre about half way down


Once we got down off the "Mont" we made our way over to Moulin Rouge. Apparently, if you want to see a show at Moulin Rouge it will cost you 150 euro. So instead we went to the "Erotic Supermarket." Next door was the Porn Warehouse.


Next we headed to the Marais district and I caught these folks walking down a side street with what I'm assuming was there grandson.


Marais street scene


Place des Vosges, yeah pronounce that.


We finished our day in the Marais. Tomorrow we leave the city on a day trip to Rouen in the Normandy region.

K&G go to P&B (Our first full day in Paris)

Hey folks, hope everyone had a great holiday season and new year. Last August, Gina and I decided to bite the bullet and plan a trip to Paris and Barcelona. Neither of us had ever been and we were tired of procrastinating. So, because I hate crowds and Gina works at a school, we decided we would take our trip over Christmas. After 16 hours of flying and layovers the first thing we did in Paris was take a 3 hour nap. Once we got out and about, we discovered a Paris that very few vacationers have been lucky enough to see and it was amazing. I will be doing several posts over the next few weeks starting in Paris and ending in Barcelona. Because of the sheer volume of images I am going to show you, this post will be very light on the literary content. However please feel free to shoot me any questions you have and I'll be more than happy to provide you with an extensive dissertation on the subject matter. I hope you enjoy our trip!

Click on the pics to see them full size

France's ingenious bike program allows Parisiennes to pay 30 euro a year to have access to community bikes that are maintained and restocked nightly all over the city



Newly delivered Christmas trees on Rue Cler



Cheese


We stayed in the Rue Cler neighborhood. Rue Cler is packed with cheese shops produce markets, and boulangeries where the locals go to by groceries. Very charming.
p.s. this is 8:30AM. In winter the sun is only up for about 8 hours and the people follow suit. We got up at 6 something and thought we'd get started early only to find out that things don't open until 8:30 or 9. It took a little adjusting.



Our first "American Breakfast" in Paris. Gina with her trusty map planning our day.



Voltaire monument off of Rue St. Germain near the Latin Quarter


This is the little known Notre Dame. As if you didn't know what it looked like.



The vast and incredible interior of Notre Dame





The original rose window


Tombs along side the main altar


Welcome to the world famous Notre Dame... and here is the beautiful and elaborate nativity scene constructed out of plywood, house paint, some figurines purchased at walmart and glitter.
Really?


The side facing the Seine







On our way to the next stop along our walking tour, we passed this OFFICE BUILDING! A prime example of how even the most ordinary things in Paris are magnificent.


This is the oldest tree in Paris


The Shakespeare and Company bookstore and reading library opened in the early 1900's by Sylvia Beach was a meeting place for the likes of Hemingway, Man Ray, Gertrude Stein, F Scott Fitzgerald and others. This is not it. The original was closed in 1941 because of the war. This store was opened in 1951 by George Whitman under the name Le Mistral. After Sylvia Beach's death the store was renamed Shakespeare and Company in honor of the original.


The creepy gargoyles/raingutters on the exterior of St. Chapelle Cathedral.




Inside St. Chappelle










The whole upper floor of St. Chappelle was reserved for royalty and clergy to pray. No commoners allowed!








This is some awesome neighborhood I can't remember the significance of.


At the end of our first full day in Paris, Gina and I ventured to Rue Moufftard to find dinner. Much of the street is pedestrian and is a popular meeting place for locals. Dinner was as you would expect, delicious, and the house wine was very tasty and very cheap. Gina liked it so much that she drank two carafes by herself. Atleast that's how she recalls it.