Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Paris, France, 24 Dec 2003: Notre Dame de Paris
Christmas Eve Mass
     Christmas Eve. Crowds pack into the cavernous Notre Dame Cathedral for Evening Mass. As the congregation waits eagerly in anticipation, the altar cross becomes brightly illuminated, drawing all attention to the Pieta at the base of the cross. |
| After the service, the men and boys' choir sings a plaintive French carol as the congregation files out of the pews. Some linger on wistfully. |
| Outside, Notre Dame's mighty bells toll resoundlingly. More worshippers crowd into the square in front of the cathedral doors, all queueing patiently for coveted seats to the Midnight Mass. |
Labels: architecture, event, France, music, Paris, religious site
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Paris, France, 14 Dec 2003: Musee Louvre
Les trois dames et plus
 Musee du Louvre is the largest repository of antiquities and art in the world. Restoration of the august institution met with initial public outcry, but I M Pei's pyramids soon became the Louvre's favourite icons. The understated underground entrance atrium and brilliant light-filled courtyards in the Richelieu wing - Cour Marly and Cour Puget - are the architectural centrepieces from which collection-rich galleries radiate.  |
 Three pieces - da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace - are the Louvre's undisputed mistresses. Priceless. Enigmatic. Ethereal.   |
 Greek statuary line the sculpture gallery. Renaissance sculptors recapture Grecian artistry. Michelango's Rebellious and Dying Slaves convey a life-like contrast in curtailed muscular tension and flaccid resignation. Poetry in marble.    |
  Antiquities from Egypt and the Near East, bounty from Napoleon's Egyptian expeditions, are a collection highlight. Hammurabi's Code is one of the first recorded wriiten laws, preserved in Sumerian cuneiform script on an imposing stela. Awesome.  |
Labels: architecture, art, France, ladies, museum, painting, Paris, sculpture
Paris, France, 13-30 Dec 2003: Tour Eiffel
Steel, Lights And Magic
   Eiffel Tower is the crowning glory of Paris' Left Bank. For a dramatic approach to the Eiffel Tower: take the metro, exit Trocadero station, bear left. The tower springs into immediate view unexpectedly. The impact is unforgettable. Champs de Mar - Fields of War - stretches south along the axis that extends from Palais de Chaillot across the Seine to Eiffel Tower, leading to the Peace Monument and Ecole Militaire at the other end.    |
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 At night, Eiffel Tower transforms into an illuminated jewel box. A beacon at its pinnacle beams proudly into the dark sky, drawing admiring gaze from near and far. The best view is from the terrace of the Palais de Chaillot. The audience waits with bated breath. On the hour, Eiffel Tower sparkles into live. All eyes stay glued as a scintillating light show play out in front of an appreciative audience. |
Labels: architecture, France, lights, Paris
Paris, France, 16 Dec 2003: Butte Montmartre
Sacre Coeur And Surrounds
    Sitting magisterially on the summit of Butte Montmartre, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart - Sacre Coeur - dominates the the northern Parisian skyline. From her feet, the vast city of Paris spreads out interminably into the horizon.  |
  Montmartre was the bohemian hub of French painters and artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Place du Tertre, a short stroll from the Basilica, breathes the vestige of this artistic heritage: the square is now inhabited by a plethora of street artists and caricaturists. |
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   Nearby Abbesses metro station is famous for the Art Nouveau entrance and the spiral staircase flanked by colourful art murals that leads to rail tracks 30m below ground level. |
Labels: art, France, Paris, religious site, transport
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Paris, France, 27 Dec 2003: Musee Rodin
Sculptural Gems And Garden
  Before he died, Auguste Rodin bequeathed his life's works to Paris. Musee Rodin houses several of the artisit's sculptures in a beautiful building, Hotel Biron, just east of Les Invalides. The irisdescent golden dome of the Invalides Church, Napoleon Bonaparte's final resting place, overlooks the museum garden. |
    Rodin's sculptures inhabit the museum garden. The Gates of Hell was Rodin's first major commission. Phantasmagorical scenes of Hades from Dantes' Divine Comedy play out in vivid high relief. Full-sized realizations of elements like 'The Shades' and 'The Thinker' stand, or sit, in solemn vigil nearby, iconic symbols in their own right. |
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| The Burghers of Calais is one of Rodin's most dramatic and powerful sculptures. During the Hundred Years' War, Calais was besieged by the English. The city had to surrender six of her elite for presumed execution. Six men, led by Eustache de Saint-Pierre, volunteered. Stripped of their outer garments, with nooses around their necks, the men poured out conflicting emotions of fear, desperation, sorrow and calm resolve as they marched to their uncertain fate. |
    The Kiss. Magic. |
Labels: art, France, museum, Paris, sculpture
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These are the 30 countries that I have ever set foot on. Airport stopovers don't count!
