The Marais

The Marais is probably my favorite part of Paris (so far). There are TONS of things to do, good places to eat, and it is super walkable. I go there more than I go to any other neighborhood in Paris, which I sometimes feel a bit guilty about, but whatever, I love it. The Marais used to be the Jewish Quarter in Paris and while there is still a pretty signficant population of Jewish people living there, I would say most people now are young, professional/creative (can you join those two with only a slash??) types. It's really expensive to live there now, though, because it's gotten pretty hip. Some vestiges of a larger Jewish population remain, though, such as delicious falafel all up and down the Rue des Rosiers and the fact that things are closed on Saturday and open on Sunday, instead of vice versa. I avoid it on Sundays, though, because that's when there's an influx of people/tourists (see above reasoning).

The most famous falafel shop on Rue des Rosiers is L'As du Falafel. This sandwich is from their across-the-street rival Mi-Va-Mi because when I went, L'As du Falafel was closed for Passover (Mi-Va-Mi is also Jewish run but I guess they have a better sense of competition than religion?). Like I said... some of these are pretty old pictures...

Them's fightin' words...

The Marais also has some of the best thrift shopping in Paris. It is sooo different than the thrifts in the US. Everything was nice and organized and not overwhelming, but shockingly not overpriced either. I got a skirt and a shirt for only 5 euros each here.

One of my very favorite things about the area is that there is street art everywhere, EVERYWHERE. You just have to look around a bit. Though, sometimes it kind of hits you in the face, like with this:

I tried to come up with a witty caption for like 3 minutes. Didn't happen. TIGERS.

This was a bit more subtle. I thought the 3-D part was really cool.

Shot taken in what is probably my favorite cafe in Paris, Le Loir dans le Théière. It's Alice-in-Wonderland-before-Disney-got-to-her themed. 

Maybe the best part, though...?

The good stuff. The chocolate marscapone tarte is killer.

Saint-Eustache

Saint-Eustace is a half-Gothic half-Renaissance church located in the 1st arrondisement. As much as I would like to say that I'm doing my alma mater (and grandmother) proud and systematically hitting up all the Catholic churches in Paris... I'm not. I actually went to Saint-Eustache on assignment for a class but it turned out to be beautiful and fascinating.

Begun during the 1500s (read: Gothic architecture) and finished during the High Renaissance (1600s-ish), Saint-Eustache is a little bit all over the place, which is kind of what makes it great. The most striking thing about the church is the huge contrast between the stately, somber, non-ornamental architecture and the highly decorative, super intricate, gold gold gold, finishing details and artwork.

Slowly deteriorating decorations

There's just a little bit of difference...

This is supposed to be the important part-- all gold, all the time. (Oh hey, we discovered this new continent? They seem to have a lot of this shiny thing. Let's use it to make our churches pretty!)

Surprisingly, I did not really feel tiny when I was in there. I kind of feel like I should have, looking back at these pictures.

Can't go anywhere in Paris without running into famous dead people.

What I loved the most about this church is that it still continues its tradition of incorporating new art styles into the existing structure. There are many alcoves running along the sides of the church that have really great modern art.

This looks 1000x better in person. At first I thought it was mineral exposed by the ages but it's not. It's an amazing painting that is expressive and glittery and almost looks like a part of the wall.

A triptych by Keith Haring! In a semi-random Gothic church in Paris! And there's a twin in SF! So many good things!

I think this church is off the tourist track which makes it nice and quiet. There were architecture buffs mixed in with worshippers when I visited. It's a church that still seemed to belong to Paris, changing and adapting with the times but also still keeping reminders of the past.

"I've never seen Jesus in a Speedo before."

Quote from my friend Mari, upon seeing a truly odd 17th-century painting of Jesus wearing what looked like a tropical-print Speedo. (Sadly, I did not get a picture of this.)

View from a window inside. Tiny ant people swarming.

Everyone always says it but it's true-- the Louvre is Huge. Gigantic. Exhaustingly enormous. I was there for 3 or 4 hours and I still think I saw only a tiny fraction of a fraction of the collection. Luckily, that tiny fraction still included lots of works of art that I've studied in my various art history classes. It was mind-blowing to see the scale of some of these works, especially ones like The Coronation of Napoleon (erm, might not be the exact title...) by David.

Look at the person for scale.

We went with some friends who were visiting from Berlin who wanted to "see what people come to the Louvre to see," so we also made the obligatory stop to see the Mona Lisa. Going to see the Mona Lisa is funny, there are lots of signs with just the picture and an arrow pointing in the semi-right direction and then as you begin approaching the room there are lots of signs warning about pickpockets. The thing about the Mona Lisa is, everyone always says it's so much smaller than you would think, but it's really not. It's totally a normal portrait-sized painting. Because the smallness had been so hyped up, it was actually bigger than I thought it would be.

The crowd was more interesting than the painting.

Saucy Odalisque. Can't believe I got to see her in person!

Really amazing cup made out of some sort of stone.

Maybe the best thing about being a kinda-sort-well-at-least-I-have-an-ID-card-that-says-so French student is that I can get into pretty much every museum for free. I get to see all this stuff for free! Anytime I want!

This privilege is extended to students in other EU countries as well, which my friends in Berlin kinda-sorta are. So, in anticipation of tough French ticket takers, we tried to teach them how to say "I am a German student" in French (JE SUIS ETUDIANT ALLEMAGNE JE SUIS ETUDIANT ALLEMAGNE) but they still got stopped. And questioned. And required to show passports and visas. Finally one of my friends just sort of shoved his German police papers (??!) at the lady, all flustered, and that finally let them through. (Apparently you have to register with the police when you move to Berlin. You might have more questions, so do I. But alas, that is the extent of my knowledge.)

FIN

The Human Hamster Cage

View from the ride up to the main gallery at the Centre Pompidou. Old Paris and new Paris in one picture.

On Friday I visited "the eyesore," aka the Centre Pompidou, a modern and contemporary art museum / film center / library / over-priced cafe. The whole building is super spare and industrial, which is in total opposition to the grand 19th century style of the surrounding architecture (and, you know, all of Paris...).

The best part is that in order to get to the main gallery, you have to ride up these external elevators that are encased in glass tubes. Admittedly, I felt very much like I was in one of the hamster exercise cage things, but it was still pretty cool. I mean, how often do you get to empathize with a hamster? Maybe don't answer that.

I feel like I only saw a fraction of the collection, but I might be wrong. Here are some highlights:

Clay bags? Sand bags? Neon? When I saw that the artist's label used the word "dialectic" to try to describe it, I was sort of done.

Mari and Justin: Serious Art Lookers

I love the idea of a woven fence

PS- If you are ever in the area, there is a really good super-small boba and empanada place only about a block or so away. I ironically (considering how popular it is in the Bay Area) had my first boba here, in Paris. Also, the empanadas were surprisingly great. Try to find it if you can! It's a small orange storefront.

PPS- Definitely made an American faux pas at the little orange restaurant. We were sitting outside chatting and I accidentally started speaking too loudly (in English) because I was telling a story and got excited and then I got a miffed side-long look/glare from a Frenchman at the restaurant next door (there was only a plastic sheet separating us). Oops.