Paris is such an amazing city! Just when I think I’ve seen it all,
I discover a whole new batch of historic landmarks that keep me
thrilled for another week.
Arguably the most beautiful sight I saw these last few days was
the Luxembourg
Garden – or, as it’s called over here, the Jardin du
Luxembourg. My friends and I took photos of ourselves in the trees
and in the flowers, but I noticed the native French people were
giving us weird looks. It turns out we weren’t supposed to step
over the small little fence blocking off the foliage – whoops!
But seriously, the garden looked amazing. It’s huge and was
constructed in the 1600s by Marie de Medici, who was the widow of
Henry IV. It contains over 100 statues, monuments and fountains,
including the very first model of Frederic Bartholdi’s Statue of
Liberty. It was cool to see a miniature version of what has become
an iconic American landmark.
I also visited the Pantheon, which is a building that holds the
remains of distinguished French citizens. It’s a very interesting
structure in terms of its design and serves as a perfect example of
neoclassicist architecture, modeled closely after the Pantheon in
Rome. I thought that the giant dome of France’s Pantheon made the
building look very much like the U.S. Capitol in Washington,
D.C.
By far the coolest part of the Pantheon is that it contains the
remains of France’s greatest thinkers, Voltaire and Jean Jacques
Rousseau. How crazy is that? The Pantheon ranks as one of the best
landmarks I’ve seen since I’ve been abroad.
Meanwhile, I made sure to get a taste of contemporary French
culture by checking out a local art gallery.
The art I found there was reminiscent of graffiti artwork back in
New York. David Cintract, the artist whose paintings struck my eye,
uses vivid colors and an assortment of random objects to create his
unique pieces. The original paintings were about 16,000 euros and
up . . . so I chose to buy a five euro poster.
I’m coming up on my last week here in Paris, so I’m going to try
and make the most of my time. I’ll be absorbing as much French
culture as I can, and I may just eat a snail after I’m done with
finals. I’ll be sure to keep you posted! Au revoir!