pass the french toast: walk 5: place de la concorde: the guillotine and more

friday, may 4 (did 2 walks today)

first this walk took us through a really fancy neighborhood where some really important people live.

the RF stands for republique francaise. This is the home of the president of France. When I took the picture, it was Sarkozy that lived here, but I guess he has probably since moved out since he was not reelected last week. We walked past several other embassadors' residences and lots of very expensive clothing stores until we got to sit down in this lovely park to read about the history of the Place de la Concorde.

All you need to know is that Place de la Concorde is where thousands of people, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, were beheaded during the French revolution. But you probably already knew that.
Speaking of killing.This was under the park bench we were sitting at. In case you were wondering what Paris is really like, well, this sums it up.

smoking kills.

I am not sure why literally everyone smokes in Paris. The legal age to buy cigarettes here is 18 but I see babies lighting up on the streets and nobody bats an eye. I will come home at night and my hair will smell like smoke because of everyone blowing their smoke in my face throughout the day. Even the homeless people who can't afford to buy a baguette have a cigarette in their hand. I don't understand how that could ever be considered appealing. I love Paris but they need to learn to read! Smoking kills-and that doesn't just mean for the smoker, it effects everyone else around you too! To the Parisians that don't smoke-thank you, you are a breath of fresh air (literally).

Sorry about the rant. So..next in the walk was the Orangerie museum. Definitely one of my favorites. For any impressionist art lovers out there, this is a must see. Upstairs there are 2 rooms with Monet water lily paintings going all the way around the room. You can just sit in the middle and contemplate for as long as you like. It's very calming. There are no photos allowed in that section, but I took a few downstairs.

Monet-les bateaux rouges a Argenteuil

Cezanne-flowers in a blue vase

Matisse-Le Divan

There was also a temporary exhibit on Debussy, I really enjoyed it but we weren't allowed to take pictures. However, I took note of my favorite piece there so that I could find it again later. It's by Leon Bakst, called projet de decor pour le ballet prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune.I love the color scheme and his style of painting. I would love to get a print of this for my apartment! Maybe I will have to make my own imitation :)

After our wonderful experience at the Orangerie, the walk was over but Melissa and I decided we were going to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. On our way there we came across this newlywed couple who were literally stopping traffic on the Champs Elysees for over 5 minutes. Nice.

Next we stopped to get some food at a bakery, and the whole time we were in line I was listening to the birds chirping. I would have sworn that they were singing La vie en rose. Melissa thought I was nuts but then when we got out of the bakery there was a man standing there whistling exactly like a bird, trying to get money. So I'm not crazy. Haha.
Once we finally found the entrance to the Arc de Triomphe (its a little confusing) we went to the ticket booth and ended up getting in for free with our art history student cards! It would have cost 9 euros otherwise. I love these cards! We climbed all the stairs to the top, and when I looked over to take this picture my head started spinning. Talk about vertigo. I am actually getting dizzy just thinking about it.