MARATHON

It seemed appropriate that the Paris Marathon would be taking place on Sunday because we felt like we were running the Paris Architectural Marathon. On the first Sunday of every month all the museums are free. As I mentioned earlier, our professor is very efficient and he was determined to see all of the museums in Paris in one day.

We began our day at the Louver waiting in line an hour before the museum opened. Once we were inside our group was practically running though the museum to keep up with our professor. Three hours later we had seen every wing in the Louver, but there was hardly any time to look at the paintings or enjoy our time. We were able to take a break while we waited in line at the Monet museum and then before I knew it we were running to the d’Orsey museum. While in the d’Orsey I saw a few sculptures by one of my favorite artists, Medardo Rosso.

Monet museum

Our next stop was Sainte Chapelle, which according to our professor was a must see for anyone visiting Paris. Apparently during World War II all of the stained glass was removed and hidden to prevent damage and theft. The cathedral was very impressive! We had to beg our professor to stop for a lunch break and he gave us a few minutes to eat while we walked. I don’t think I have mentioned our addiction to Kebab yet, so I will explain. Every city we visit, most of us will stop at a Kebab place for lunch and we now have a running tally of the best Kebab places in each city. Before coming on my trip to Italy I had never had a Kebab, but it is now one of my favorite quick lunches. The sandwich is made with a large pita and stuffed with shaved pork or lambs meat, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, French fires, mayonnaise, ketchup and hot sauce. Delicious!

Sainte Chapelle

Kebab

Now that lunch had put us behind schedule we ran to and through the Cluny baths which are located under the Hotel Cluny. We were all excited to get to the Pompidou Center which was our last stop for the night. I really enjoyed having a few hours to spend looking at contemporary art and exploring a building we have studied endlessly. When the center was built in the 1960’s they had expected around 20,000 visitors per week, but they have had over 200,000 every week since its opening. With so much traffic, the carpet is replaced every 20 days and the wood flooring is under constant repair. Our professor worked on the Pompidou restoration while he was working in Renzo Piano’s office and had some inside information to share with us.

Cluny Baths

Pompidou Center

After the museum closed I went with some friends to play pool at a bar near our hotel. We enjoyed a few beers and played a few games of pool before we decided to go home. To our surprise it had started to snow while we were inside and we all looked at each other with only one thought on our mind: SNOW BALL FIGHT! The snow had not started to stick to the ground, but there was enough snow on the cars to provide plenty of ammunition. We were the only ones on the street enjoying the snow, but when an errant snow ball hit a group of big biker looking men our snowball fight turned into a snowball war. The guys weren’t too angry, but I think we learned our lesson after they pegged us with a few ice balls.

After a long day and a long night, we headed home to get some rest before our architectural marathon would begin again in the morning.