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2006-01-06 23:27
by Merlin
in Ntrips, Paris, Trips
My last few days in Paris were spent with Jen, being the tour-guide, and having a good time doing so. It was quite enjoyable for multiple reasons, like enjoying the view and other things at the top of the Sacré Coeur and the Eiffel Tower, as well as being a portable heat source :)
I'll admit that there were a couple of places I hadn't gone to before, and that were nice to see too, in addition to the places I had already seen, but not in a long time. I also figure out for the first time that the Eiffel tower only flashes its strobes at night between 0 and 10 minutes past each hour, and plays lighthouse after that.
Many pictures to show, but here's an excerpt below, and the other ones are
here
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2007-01-02 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
We didn't spend as much time visiting this time because we had seen a lot last year already, but amongh other things, we visited the Louvre, well portions of it that is.
Of course, there was still the opportunity to get some good shots of Paris too, always pretty:
While in Paris one more year, amongst the visits, Jen and I spent about 5H in the Louvre, and as I knew, it's a huge museum, it would probably take a week to go through it. Either way, it was impressive to see how many floors and displays above ground and underground, were packed in there...
Somehow we managed to walk through all of it, but obviously 5H wasn't enough to go through it properly:
My dad, among other things, took us to Park Astérix
, which was cold as shit :), half closed, but it was fun to see what was open, as well as the ice skating show that my dad's friend setup there.
We tried to spend a little time
visiting Paris
, namely La citée des sciences et de l'industrie @ La Villette, seeing an IMAX movie at La Géode,
visiting le Pantéon
, and an exposition on the TGV at le Grand Palais.
After a couple of days with my Mom, we did the
usual trip to Holland
to see all my aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces.
And after just being back from Holland, we barely had enough time to pack, and see Rani, Severine, and Benji for dinner:
After all this excitement and little sleep before the monday morning plane, we ended back up in SFO, but without our luggage :( (although it should get there by tomorrow, I'm told). Thank you again Air France, and the lazy ass folks who work at CDG.
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2008-12-30 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
For New Year's Eve Eve, my Mom invited us to a boat on the seine we were able to eat on while watching the views of Paris at Night. It was quite scenic. Since we didn't have time to go visit Paris, this was a good excuse to see some of it.
Our departure day, with remnants of snow from the previous day.
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2010-01-04 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Since we were in Paris almost 2 weeks this time, we had planned to go visit at least a couple of days. In the end due to the very cold weather we only went portion of a day since interesting things like climbing to the top of the sacré coeur were closed due to ice and cold (I think even the Effeil tower was closed some days for the same reason, which sucks since the view would have been good for a change with no smog).
We went to see the musée de cluny:
haha, good one :)
the famous dame à la licorne
We were hoping to get more of an inside tour of Notre Dame, but we only got the 3 euro tour of 'les trésors du sacré coeur' (the outside was closed due to weather)
closed :( too bad it'd have been cool to visit
Last, but not least was the Conciergerie, used for centuries as a prison in Paris
Oh yes, also dinenr with our friends:
And yes, that's it: crappy weather made it so that we didn't visit too much.
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2010-12-27 00:00
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
On our first day out, we went in the cold to climb the Eiffel Tower and hopefully have a slightly better view than we had last time. It wasn't great, but better than last time that was plain foggy :)
Pont Alexandre III and Obélisque
Snowy Paris
Overflowing Seine, almost at bridge level in some places
Trocadéro
Ice skating on the 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower
Oh yes, lots of snow meant that the Seine was a bit high :)
Then, we went back to Sacré Coeur since the air was better than last time, and I figured we'd have a better view than last time:
Place du Tertre:
Back for night shots:
On a different day, we went to Notre Dame to try and get to the top. Unfortunately at least one unachieving lazy frog could not be bothered to show up for work, and no one was there to substitute for him/her a whole 5 days, so we got up but not to the panoramic view at the top :( Still, it was nice to go up and see what we could.
La crypte de notre dame gives you an interesting view of ruins from very old Paris under ground level:
Speaking about lazy frogs brings us to the topic of La Sainte Chapelle. It's a very nice church that is unfortunately imprisonned in the middle of la Cour de Justice, which means that you have to go through a slow airport-like X-ray where they will make you get rid of your swiss army knife and so on. This creates a 1H long line which will then stop at 13:00 as they go out for lunch all at once for one hour.
The trick is to go to La Conciergery next door and buy a combo ticket that lets you skip most of the Sainte Chapelle line.
the ludicrous line that doesn't move much
We went to Boulevard Haussmann, and the top of Printemps for a nice view:
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2011-12-24 00:00
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
The first day, Jennifer and I went to visit a somewhat park in Bagnolet where I grew up just outside of Paris. It's not an awesome park, but for there, i's pretty good still :)
When then took advantage of great sunny weather and unseasonably high temperatures during the winter to visit Paris:
Jussieu, one of Paris' main universities is being rebuilt from the ground up to remove all the toxic asbestos. Doesn't look shabby right now:
We then went towards Sacré Coeur to see if we could climb to the top this time, something I had tried 3 times already but failed due to chronic Xmas absentees, preventing staffing for ascent to the top. It was beautiful weather:
The views from the top were great that day:
Sainte Chapelle
Grand Palais and La Défence
After that we headed to the Panthéon, which I had never seen inside (bad me). Lots of famous people are burried in the crypt, and the foucault pendulum is cool:
[rigimg:1024:302"]
and we then went through the jardins du luxembourg towards tour Montparnasse:
We unfortunately got to the top a tad late, just as the sun was setting, but we raced to get some pictures while the light was fading:
Pont Alexandre 3 and Grand Palais
Notre Dame
La Défence in the background
Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries leading to l'obélixe
Centre Georges Pompidou and Tour St Jacques
The next day we went to the Musée des arts forains and Court St Emilion
After that, we walked the Champs Elysées from the Obélix up to see all the little Xmas shops, and then went to see some of the displays in the last section:
Piggie!
We then went to the Grand Palais to see a computer game expo and the faire in the main hall:
and finished the night with Duck Choucroute and foie gras
A few days later, with another nice day, we went to the Sacré Coeur for some great clear views of Paris and seeing their own Xmas shops:
Centre Georges Pompidou
More piggie!
We then went to the nearby Place du Tertre:
Yet another day, we went to Musée Grévin:
Then, we walked through Passage Verdeau, Jouffroy, and Passage des Panoramas, and we finished at the Louvre's shopping gallery:
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2012-12-26 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Like every year, here are a few pictures from Paris over Xmas. This year wasn't nearly as cold, and there were a few nice days:
Louis Vuiton is happy to sell you simple handbags for as many thousand euros you're willing to pay
We then walked by the little Xmas houses (think winter wine and art festival):
Macaroons! :)
Piggie :)
Chocolate tools and gears
Made it to the end, time to turn around
going nowhere, fast
and we walked all the way back from l'obelisk to the arc the triomphe, time to go home
While there, we also went to see car displays, with went on its own page.
A few days later, we went to visit le Marais, which I actually had never seen before. We stopped by a fair amount of little stores, which my dad loves doing:
Started from centre pompidou, with a silly long line we avoided
awesome scenes from top french movies
that is an inventive bakery :)
Place des Vosges, which I had never seen
House of Victor Hugo
more stores
more chocolats
A couple of pictures from Auchan:
And before going home, we went to la Villette, citée des sciences et de l'industrie with special expo on Léonard de Vinci
an actual flying RC bird
Léonard had thought about it, just didn't have the technology back then
And this is it for Paris this year. Not a whole lot, but I've already posted a lot of pictures in the past.
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2013-12-20 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Like each year, I tried to plan some things to see while we were in Paris over Xmas. Since the weather isn't great on average, I only picked the 2.5 days that were nice outside to go out (we also spent 1.5 days at the Bourget Museum of Air and Space indoors when it was raining).
Friday after work, we had a quick look at Boulevard Hausman to see the Xmas tree and animations and climb at the top of Printemps for a good view:
The next nice day, we went to Jardin des Plantes to see the multiple museums there, but first I wanted to stop by les Arènes de Lutéce, which I found out about after watching a documentary on how Paris came to be what it is today over the last 800 years or so.
As the name implies, they are left over Roman Arenas, which weren't destroyed by urbanization. There are also thermes that can be seen by special appointment (by orangerie) which I hope to see another time. To be honest, it doesn't look like much, but it's a cool part of history left in Paris:
We also had a quick look at the Mosque next door which is more visitable than the one in Jakarta we weren't able to enter. They had a few displays to try and fix the very bad PR their religion has been getting due to their extremist followers:
Next, we went to Jardin des Plantes which was of course a bit devoid of plants outside during the winter season. The indoor plants were nice to see though:
these were actually artificial art
Then, we saw displays on plants, animals, and evolution:
they have an impressive compact collection
'No, I didn't come from monkeys' always amuses me
There was much to see, it was a packed visit. The last nice day of sun in the forecast, I planned a boat ride on the seine leaving by the Effeil Tower:
this put a lock on the bridge fad is getting out of hand...
Paris is running out of bridges to put locks on now...
locks, locks, and more locks...
Musée d'Orsay is one place I yet have to go to
Parliament
Next, we went to see the little houses selling overpriced Xmas stuff:
very very overpriced foie gras
after which, we walked towards the small copy of the statue of liberty on a very small island in the middle of the seine:
this one is in French :)
From there, we took a cab to Arc the Triomphe and went to the top:
can't beat the view
winters are cold, but have cleaner and clearer air, that's a win for pictures
We then proceeded towards place de l'Etoile while looking at things on the way
Car manufacturers had new cars on display which I like to see each year:
The last outing we did was a half day to see the Chateau de Vincennes which had been totally renovated after years of me going to the school next door. The visit was quite nice what seems to be one of the oldest castles in that shape you can visit in France today.
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2014-12-23 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Jennifer and I went out one day when the weather wasn't too cold, and walked around some sights around central Paris:
Colonnes de Buren
We then went to the Musée d'Orsay, inside an old train station, a fantastic building:
We then walked outside a bit more, now that the main bridges are filled with locks, their are selling locks on the remaining bridges, and headed to Musée de l'Orangerie by the louvre park:
We then took the remaining time to walk the Champs Elysées and maisons de noël:
Another day, we went to the Musée des Arts Forains with my dad:
Another day, I drove to the Cathedral of St Denis where over thousand years of French Kings and famous people are burried:
the last french king and his wife, who both got beheaded for their troubles :)
Some other Paris pictures left over:
map of all the churches in Paris ;)
And after all this good fun was time to fly home. We found a nice passenger in the Air France lounge ;)
The Air France business seats we got (with miles, thankfully I didn't pay for them) were the worst business seats I had had in an overnight flight so far (true in both directions). Note to self to avoid them in the future.
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2015-12-29 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
I wasn't out in Paris much this year mostly because I was by myself, and had a little less time this year, but still, a few pictures. Actually I started at my Mom's place in Bagnolet, which happened to have a very small urban farm on top of a vacant lot, os that was kind of cool go see:
Paris, despite the current crap that's been going on, is still nice to walk around, especially in the unseasonably warm weather:
Paris City Hall
Walking around the old Paris in the middle of La Seine, always yields easy pictures ;)
Notre Dame, pretty as always:
Tour Saint Jacques:
The last day, I went to and around the Google Office near St Lazare:
unusal Xmas ornaments :)
Les Halles, still being built, alledgedly it should be finished next year
Paroisse St Eustache
And I had a quick look at centre pompidou which you used to just be able to enter back in the days. Now it has a 2-3H queue no matter when I've gone in the last years :-
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2016-12-31 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
After meeting Mathias in Paris, we went to spend the afternoon in Paris. We started with Musée des Egouts. We got to learn how most streets in Paris have an underground street for sewers and the machiens they use to clean all the crap that accumulates in the tunnels:
old Paris during Roman times
early plan of the underground sewer system
the big balls they use to clean the tunnels
After that museum, we walked to the Effeil tower:
new orthodox church built recently
Android Nougat in front of Nougat. Well done Mathias :)
A later day, we walked by the Xmas store displays:
And yet another day, we walked La Coulée Verte, a nice green path through Paris using the right of way of an old train line not in use anymore:
Then, we finished with Place des Voges and Victor Hugo's house:
There are also plenty of art stores there:
And that was it for this year, not too much, but then again we spent a bunch of our time in [Belgium this year|/perso/belgium
the street that used to be for cars to get out of Paris more quickly is now pedestrian. Not everyone loves this...
the worst part is how the effeil tower is now behind airport gates and bad looking temporary roof covers as gates :(
Another day, close to Opéra Bastille
don't get conned, that's a different church, I don't like lines :)
After arriving at Les Halles we went to see the small Xmas market, given that the big one at Champs Elysées was cancelled this year due to suckage of the new Paris mayor:
After too long, Les Halles was finally re-opened:
Nearby St Sulpice Church:
Quick stop at Google and the grand magasins and their displays:
La citée de l'architecture et du patrimoine is an interesting museum just across fom the eiffel tower. They have one floor dedicated to architecture and modern building design, while the other one has a good collection of replicas of famous buildings for study and backup.
A few pictures:
Les Invalides is actually a museum complex, including a church and tombs for Napoleon and related people. Last time I went with Jennifer, we didn't have a lot of time, and we breezed through it quickly. This time, we spent almost 5h and had to hurry a little bit at the end.
The Quai Branly Museum collects first nations art from around the world, and it's a pretty thorough collection that is worth multiple hours, although I'll be honest that I overdozed a bit after a while, probably because I was getting tired...
A few pictures:
The Rodin Museum is not huge, but once you add the tour of the gardens with statues, it's worth a good 1.5 to 2h, especially with the movies that show how the bronze statues are made.
Turns out Rodin actually made the plaster models and others went through the complicated process of making the bronze statues:
A few pictures:
Paris has 2 Opéras. The newer one, bastille, doesn't look as fancy from the outside, but has a one of a kind stage moving system that allows them to have multiple stages ready and they can be moved from center stage to underground for building or rehearsals. This allows them to play different operas on different nights.
While it may seem overkill (no other theatre in the world has this capability to that scale, this theatre can almost host a couple of 747s hidden underground), it was super cool to see this on their backstage tour. Most of the pictures were underground up to 22m (many stories) below ground level:
The tour finally ended up in the main stage that was going to be used that evening after our tour:
So, Cluny aka the medieval museum, has quite a good collection of medieval artifacts, including exquisite books. However, it's known specifically for the "dame á la licorne" and other beautiful tapestries. We had done a quick tour in the past, but it was worth going back for a better look, and a special guided visit to the roman baths in that same building.
just like the Bayeux Tapestry, they have a long colorful tapestry telling a full story
The museum's building has a colorful history, but its older parts go all the way back to much bigger roman baths that were 3 times bigger than the footprint that is left, as well as an old castle/hotel that was build next to what was left, re-using some of the walls. However, underground, you can still see what is left of the baths, and while it doesn't rival Bath, UK, or Baden Baden, Germany, it's still interesting to see that in the middle of Paris:
It has been so many years since I was able to enter Centre Pompidou due to a completely ridiculous line to even enter the building, never mind the exhibits which can have hour+ lines themselves too.
I thought pre-purchased tickets would help, but really not so much. Thankfully the line getting in wasn't terrible, but some temporary expos still had very long lins. So, we went to see the other ones first, and thankfully they were open late, so we were able to see the other ones later.
Modern art is well, variable. There were some interesting bits, others were so-so:
I definitely wouldn't put this first in a visit of Paris, starting with how hard it is to get into it, but I'm happy we got to see it eventually.
I can't believe that in all these years, I never went to Musée des Arts et Métiers. It's a wonderful science museum that focuses on machines over the years, and doesn't have the hords of screaming kids, which is a huge plus :)
Most people don't know that the first heavier than air aircraft was french and dated from the late 1800's. It was however a poor aircraft that was not well controlable, so history didn't remember it as the first aircraft:
More interestingly, the museum is attached to a church was was repurposed as display space:
We ended up spending much longer than planned there, and it was worth even more. Greatly recommended.
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2018-10-14 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Coming back from Spain, we spent the afternoon in Paris before flying home the next morning.
In hindsight, I made the mistake of lining up a couple of museums when in fact we should have just spent the entire day out to enjoy the summer in Paris, which we otherwise never get to do.
We started with Musée des Arts et Métiers (on its own page):
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2018-12-24 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
We went to the Louvre underground shops which have nice decorations and stores that my dad, likes:
We then walked around the neighborhood:
and made it to les Halles and Mairie de Paris for their little Xmas houses:
After seeing my mom another day, we walked around concorde and Madeleine:
We then headed to "grands magasins" (printemps/haussmann):
0 euro bills, cute
Another morning, we went to Musée de l'homme (museum of man) that had been recently rebuilt. It's right by the Eiffel tower:
From there, a few nice views:
We then headed towards la déefence where we hadn't been for 10 years. They had a big collection of Xmas houses, which sadly closed earlier than I planned, but we got to see quickly:
Then, we saw the houses:
The stores nearby were also nice, as well as the surroundings with lighting:
Our last Paris views were a few views from the new Google Paris building:
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2019-06-18 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Since we were going for my Dad's birthday during a nicer season than the usual Xmas, we got to enjoy Paris with nicer weather.
We got to enjoy the SFO Polaris Lounge and its sit down restaurant, which turns out to be fancier looking than it actually was, and had a good 45mn wait to get in. Still, we went to check it out for fun :)
I got the Polaris Burger
Here's a quick overview of where we went:
Once in Paris, we went to check out Atelier des Lumières, which used an old warehouse to project nice stories. One was about Japan:
The longest display was Van Gogh:
Not too far was cimetary Père Lachaise, the most famous cimetary in France:
Jim Morison
Racine
La fontaine
Oscar Wilde
crematorium
Then, we went to the Buttes Chaumont Park, where I went a few times as a small kid:
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2019-12-28 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Things aren't good in Paris, probably the worst year so far, that said, that didn't stop us from still going out for a few pictures. The first time out was to see the Palais de la découverte:
After that Grand Palais' expositions on Toulouse Lautrec and Greco. We started with Toulouse Lautrec:
I actually like Greco, he's different enough to be interesting to me
After the expos, we took a few pictures outside, and some more when we came back to see Palais de la découverte the whole day:
grand palais
We then went next to the louvre for the little Xmas houses:
we got a seared foie gras sandwich, yum
We then finished up with pictures around the louvre and walked out nearby streets to a subway station that was meant to take us home, but didn't because of the strikes:
On my last day in Paris, I went to the Google office for a bit (few people were there because of the stupid strikes), and then went to walk nearby Printemps and Hausmann department stores for their Xmas decorations and terrace views:
I then had a show by the eiffel tower theatre, took a few shots while there:
the incapable government, has now put the tower behind airport security gates. Pathetic...
And then, I had to walk quite a while before I found an open subway station to get home. Sigh...
Palais de la Découverte was the first science museum I went to when I was a kid, it had impressive exhibits then some 30 years ago, and they just added even newer ones, keeping the old favourites. Unfortunately the museum is scheduled to be moved to a lesser and smaller location in 2020, losing irreplaceable history and impressive exhibits.
I've been to many science museums around the world, and this is one of the top ones in the world, and honestly the best one in the world in amount of cool big scale experiments they had in a single building.
When we found that out, we spent 1.5 days going through all the presentations they had during the Xmas holidays, and we saw most but not all of the static exhibits:
it is located at the back of the grand palais, an iconic building in Paris
The different presentations were definitely a highlight:
exhibits on magnetism, showing magnets lose their properties when they are too warm
more interesting: stream of liquid gas is susceptible to magnetism
supraconductive material, when cooled sufficiently will stay in a magnetic equilibrium
The museum's high power experiments (static electricity and electro magnets) have been there forever and are always a favourite:
nice generator, 330kV
go big, or go home
induced electric currents from magnetism allow for levitation, and it's hot
There were lots of other exhibit of course:
it's all about density, yes this is real water and a real bowling ball
Multiple sections on animals
the ants exhibit was cool
the queen
termites too
the octopus demo was cool too
it gets to open a jar with a crab inside
and eat the yummy crab
The 2nd day, we came at opening time to see some static exhibits before the presentations started:
We then went to see the excellent supraconductivity:
and then came the time for the full scale maglev demo
a bit of time to cool down the supraconductive magnets
and then it was Jennifer's turn:
There plenty of other presentations:
turning gas into solid
oxygen in the air liquefies first, and causes flammable liquid
safety goggles are for other people :)
they had bucket fulls of liquid gas to play with
After 1.5 days, we didn't quite get the time to see it all, but we made a good dent. The staff and demonstrator were awesome. I'm really sad that this museum will close forever in less tha na year.
After being up all night for the 4th day of untold, and hurried to the airport to catch my flight out (only a single flight to Paris from Cluj and the next non stop one was 2 days later). After arriving in Paris, I went to bed for some much needed sleep:
After getting up, I had a nice buffet dinner with my dad and family that could make it (thanks to them for coming):
The next 2 days, I went to Paris to see some friends and a few things outdoors:
hadn't seen Rani in a few years and got to meet Siri
I'm glad Paris has money left over for random BS like this
Another dinner with my dad;
And another day out:
tried to get into google Paris, but they wouldn't let me in because of covid
One last dinner with my dad, couscous:
And I had an early flight the next morning, going through FRA (no more United direct flight to france for now):
and the plane invented something great: things you can watch in the flight time you have left, genius!
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2021-12-26 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
Another year going to Paris, Air France has had much better deals in business seats for miles, so I've been going with them again. Nice 1-2-1 layout (especially during covid):
The previous year, because of covid and no vaccines, I literally didn't go out at all, or see anything. This year I was triply vaccinated, so I went out to enjoy the city again, plenty of pictures:
nice views from top of Printemps
newer building, not sure what happened there
Printemps was great to see as always:
yum but totally overpriced
Great to meet some of my friends for lunch while I wsa there:
Arc de triomphe:
I went to arche de la défense to check out the view and the Xmas market:
The top of the arch has a small expo each time, this time photos:
I then went to the Xmas market (remembering that it closes at 18:00 on the last day, but 20:00 on previous days). So many yummy things:
so yum
I was weak and got a seared foie gras sandwich
those bottles were beautiful
look at the patterns blown inside the glass!
Random pictures while walking around in Paris:
the flower market is always nice
that weird building again, I'm not sold
cartoons showing the rebuild
we shall rebuild!
it rained many days, but not every day
After doing the Xmas market at arche de la défense, I did the one by jardin des tuileries:
yeah, I didn't have of those, fixed :)
Oh yeah, I also went shopping for the essentials. The entire row of cookies fell from the shelf into my cart :)
that's why I shop for chocolate in france :)
Back another day for some night pictures:
While I was in Paris, I also saw (click on the links):
This was another idea from my dad, there are so many museums in Paris that seeing them all is a never ending task :)
Musée Méliès was really good given how pioneering and famous this French cinematographer, was, especially as he can be said to be the first real one, and with so much success.
The museum does a great job recounting his life, inventions, and firsts, including how he built his cameras based on the frères Lumière's work who didn't believe their own invention would be worth anything:
There were multiple screens showing some of his early short movies:
even then, some of the movies were hand colorized, frame by frame
the whole story board for 'voyage vers la lune'
He built an entire studio, the first one, in Montreuil:
Really cool visit (and we got lucky to have a guide walk by and give us nice explanations). After we were done, we went to see a different expo on Jean Paul Gaultier, the famous French fashion designer, and how his work got into many movies (including 5th element):
I had never heard about Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte, it's about 1H outside of Paris, an was a famous castle with fancy garden that were used as an example for Chateau de Versailles, built later for the king. It's a pretty impressive castle that I'm happy I got to see thanks to my dad:
They had cool indoor displays:
The castle had timed entry and very nicely decorated rooms:
nice 3D video mapping
very nicely done show
After the visit, I went to walk the grounds to the end back (long walk, almost 1H):
sun started setting on my walk back
Finally it was time for the night show with more video 3D mapping on the castle, very nice:
Very nice castle with very good decorations, well worth the visit.
I happened to walk by the former French Mint (was in Paris, now moved somewhere bigger and cheaper for higher production volume). It's a very interesting museum that shows how the coins were designed, made, and even goes into each metal's pros and cons, as well as the history of coins over French history. Quite fascinating.
original old equipment, not used anymore
a cool artifact is they had an original KG prototype #17, used to verify that the main one, wasn't losing weight
movie that showed how coins are made today
Really cool thing is they showed how coins and medals were made:
an artist was working on this big model
big models
the big model goes on the right, and is used to make the target size small coin model on the left
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2022-12-21 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
First night, I went to Odeon with my dad to see an interesting play. It was sold out and I didn't have tickets, but I was able to get one from someone who had a spare when I got there and got to see the play:
fun restaurant across the street with tables in ski gondola cabins
The next evening, I spent a bit of time in Paris and walked around to see the lights and Xmas houses before seeing a show that was a cross between circus and a play:
A few days later, went to Paris again to meet some school friends for lunch:
plenty of random nice churches, popped in a few on the way
small cars are always fun :)
Great to see Rani, Laurent and Franck
went back out to see a few lights
cool Xmas houses, always fun to see
The next day, I went out during the day for more sightseeing staring with the center of Paris:
Then, going back to the Panthéon felt like a good idea, especially since it was going to rain. The building has fascinating history. Sure enough, there was a long line to get in too and no online tickets for that day. I had to get creative again to get in:
the underground crypt is quite interesting and houses lots of famous people
Marie Curie is properly recognized for the brilliant scientist she was
Back to the 1st arrondissement to enjoy lights and Xmas houses:
yummy but ridiculously overpriced nougat
lime scooters despite hard to find or park legally, came in handy
The next day, given the somewhat ok weather, it felt like a good idea to go to Sacré Coeur:
one of the 2 above ground subway lines
all the locks removed around the seine river are now ending up here?
after 'a few' stairs :)
funny that the streets around are still open to cars somehow
I tried a drawing for the first time
Interesting smile-smirk :)
Back to 1er arrondissement, the seed and plant store is always fun to see:
Conciergerie was next, lots of history in that building that used to be a jail during the kings and french revolution. It also contains documents from the first republic (yes, France has 5 republics and constitutions, so that it's in better shape than the US whose constitution is hard to update for current times):
very cool sand structures
the video guide was interesting and showed views of how the place used to be
Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful churh but very hard to get into due to its location in the palace of Justice
Then a quick trip to les jardins du louvre et l'arc de triomphe du carousel:
The nearby festivities had the big ferris wheel with great views, and another Xmas fair:
arrived just in time for sunset
nice views
I went with the seared foie gras burger :)
more overpriced nougat
yes, I went for a bumper car ride, those don't suck and have proper power
L'obelisque was not very far, so it was a good next stop leading to Champs Elysées:
After NYE dinner with my dad, I figured it would be fun to do NYE in the middle of Paris, something I hadn't done in 22 years, but the dinner ran late and by the time I got to the subway it was packed and it was clear it would be impossible to get to Effeil tower, so I aborted and got out around République:
I was able to find the last lime bike available and barely get it by reserving it with my phone before someone else was able to snatch it, and biked like crazy to get to Obelisque just in time, literally down to the minute. A bit too close for comfort, but it worked out:
plaee was packed of course, champs elysées was actually shut down because it was full
I then tried to complete my plan to get to Effeil tower, which was done by lime bike again since the whole city was gridlocked. Even biking was hard due to the number of pedestrians everywhere and all streets blocked with cars all stuck. But I made it:
The following day was a good day to see les grands magasins boulevard hausman and Google:
Thankfully it was a nice day for a change, good time to go to the eiffel tower:
I tried Batobus, not the best viewing but easy to get on and off
After getting off the boat, a semi random walk to see some sights:
another random church on the way
This interesting bit is the biggest piece of the wall that used to be around Paris:
And ending at Place des Voges with interesting art as always:
And that was the end of a good trip:
The flight home was nice until we failed to land in SFO due to terrible weather:
so we had to land in Sacramento
after a multiple hour stop in Sacramento, finally landed in SFO
But once in SFO, the torrential rain had not stopped and caused a landslide on hwy 280 with fallen trees in the middle of the freeway, so it took a while to get home:
While in Paris, le Jardin des Plantes had beautiful illuminations. It reminded me of Dubai Glow Park. It being France, they actually put work into the science part, showing interesting insects and even microbes:
It had been 15 years since I last went to the Louvre, apparently not even a full day. This time I planned to do the full 13H you can do on a friday, unfortunately arrived almost 1.5H late and by then the lines were already terrible: 5H line outside for the main tourist entrance, and 2H for the "fast" underground entrance for those with tickets. And advance tickets were sold out days in advance anyways. Getting in was a bit challenging, but I managed as always :)
ridiculous line already
all this to go through the security gate which I guess wasn't there before
Eventually got in and had aroud 9H to see most everything, still a lot but manageable if you're efficient. This time I started with the underground ruins of the castle that used to be in the place of the museum:
before
after
really cool that they only found this semi-recently when digging for extra galleries
Lots more to see:
Then was time for the main museum, lots of rooms:
the audioguide wsa quite cool, based on a nintendo 3DS with geolocation
quite cool
I never take selfies :)
found my fellow leo :)
unexpected statue :)
Paintings came next:
the room with Mona Lisa was packed with people trying to take selfies
for this
all these people
More rooms still:
inside joke :)
The King/Castle section of the Louvre is better than Versailles in my opinion:
And more to see still, by then the day was getting a bit late, got to see almost everything before they started closing around 21:30:
It had been about 15 years since I last went to Versailles, and I kind of forgot how it was, as well as was surprised at how it now almost sells out now and advance tickets sell out before the day of, thankfully I was able to get tickets the day of onsite, event though the website said they were sold out. Visiting Paris has gotten complicated and a bit ridiculous...
Getting there from the east side of Paris takes a while since it's quite a ways out by mid range train and it just happens that during those days there was another strike, so there were a lot fewer trains, thankfully getting there worked out in the morning (on the way back, after missing a train, getting uber back was expensive, but way faster):
10mn walk from the RER station
Visiting the main palace wasn't too terribly busy:
the most famous room
Ironically while the Versailles gardens are way better in the summmer, I actually prefered the palace in the Louvre. The gardens are huge but not as impressive in the winter when most things are dead. A 20mn walk way is the Trianon, other quarters away from the main palace, not as impressive to visit:
And that was it for Versailles. It still took a good 5H to visit between getting tickets, going through the gardens and visting the somewhat skipable Trianon residences. It was fun, but soemeone short on time can appreciate the royal rooms inside the Louvre, just as much, if not even more.
π
2023-06-27 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
I was able to go to Paris to visit my dad and celebrate his BD late and my BD early. Spent a few days to visit Paris.
Went to check out notre dame basements again, including a VR tour of the cathedral that was very nice:
the VR tour used an entire desktop computer strapped to your back and a pretty good VR tour
Next was Sainte Chapelle, which I hadn't seen in a long time, with advance tickets, the only way to get in:
A bit of time through Paris:
Next, went back to Musee d'Orsay, a beautiful museum in a former train station:
Oh yeah, and France is more fucked up than ever, immigrants tend to half run the country now. If anything happens they are unhappy about, they burn everything. Lovely...
I arrived in Paris just after the Olympics, when most of the mess was over, but many installations were still there, and some were there for upcoming para olympics a few weeks later. It was interesting to see Paris in this different way:
Lafayettes Gourmet is fun to visit, so much yummy food:
A little bit of chocolate:
Checked out some more unusual museums:
musee du parfum is in a pretty old private residence
Nextdoor-ish, flyview Paris had multiple interesting VR movies:
Place vendome:
Jardin des tuileries was a bit weird and still half closed due to olympics. It had this interesting hot air balloon in the middle:
Had dinner with David at La Plume, nice restaurant with view:
Then it was time to see Luminiscence at Eglise St Eustache:
Found Mathias and Nicole in SFO airport, going in the same plane to Paris as I did:
first class looks nice, but hard to justify the price they want
this was more than good enough :)
I didn't have much time to get out, but still did a bit, the highlight was the Xmas market at la Défense:
cold, but beautiful day
yum!
my favorite, seared foie gras sandwich
double yum!
beautiful bottles
the bad news is the elevator to the top is now closed forever, bit downer :(
Beautiful sunset, selfie time!
A few more pictures of the beautiful weather and sky:
On Jan 2nd, it was time to go shopping:
that was yummy
chocolate dessert refill!
and my favorite, blood orange juice
heaven
just a few :)
this should do nicely :)
In the afternoon, a few hours to go in Paris:
Finally got to see Legay shock bakery:
The 1st arrondissement and nearby stores are always fun to visit:
Notre Dame was finally re-opened after many years to repair all the fire damage, although it still had scaffolding outside. Unsurprisingly, there was a ridiculous line (looked like maybe 2H) to get in, in the 'no reserved slot' line as well as the other line for people who had reserved slots (making them kin dof useless). It would have been nice to go back in, but I've been many times and it wasn't worth the wait:
This was my 2nd time in this natural history museum in Paris' Jardin des Plantes, because of the holidays, it was hard to get in (the available slots had filled up, but I found a way by being creative). It is a very packed museum from an overachieving team probably around 100 years ago, in bringing lots of specimens and sorting them by type:
Very quick stop in Paris on my way back home from Malta for a last chance to get things from my dad's house and see some of my Dutch family that was visiting at the same time:
After dinner, went for a short walk around Paris at night before heading back, maybe my last such walk in a while:
