Victor Hugo

Writing by alysemarie on Thursday, 5 of June , 2008 at 11:58 am

Before we went to the Musee Carnavalet we visited Victor Hugo’s (author of Les Miserables and Hunchback of Notre Dame, in case any one was wondering) house The house was beautiful but very dark. It was hard to get any good pictures of his house. His bedroom was especially dark, and his bed was so little. I am a pretty short girl and I don’t think I would be able to lay down completely in his tiny bed.

This is the room decorated completely in Chinese art. Victor Hugo and his peers found the east extremely exotic and alluring. This house as well as the house the Musee Carnavalet is in has one room dedicated to Asian art.

Both of these museum’s are in a really cool part of Paris. This area is where the Bastille was charged and demolished, the initial movement of the people to overthrow the royal family. The history of this area gives it a progressive feel today. This is where many of the protests in France today either begin or end.

It is home to the Opera Bastille, an eye-sore to many Parisians. It was built in 1989 and looks like a typical building you would see in America. It does not have the historical, traditional charm the other structures do.

I really don’t know what the counter-part would be in NYC to give you all a reference. My mom said SoHo but I am not quite sure.

The park in the middle of The Place des Vosages, the oldest square in Paris, was full of young mothers with their children. Actually, looking back now, they were more likely to be the children’s nannies.

I imagine the young, aristocratic Parisians live in this neighborhood. The kids of huge families starting their own families. I could be COMPLETELY off base but this is my conclusion. There was undoubtedly but discrete feeling of money and prestige with the inhabitants of this neighborhood.

The shopping was incredible. It wasn’t huge name brand stores Like Christian Dior or Prada. They were stores of smaller designers I had never heard of so I wasn’t intimidated to go into. Once I started to look through the clothes in a few boutiques I became intimidated. These clothes were great, with huge price tags. In my rainnbows, torn up jeans, patagoina fleece, and fanny pack wallet, (a typical american student in Paris, right?) I started to feel especially out of place. I wanted to buy everything and put it on in the store and shed my layer of grummy “Americanisms”.

Again, the discreteness of this neighborhood. It seems like its a small humble area but when you look closer its a hotspot for culture and art, a consequence of having such a grand history of residents.

We walked by a designer who was hand sewing wedding gowns. We were in complete awe of the dresses in the window.

After being shamed by these gorgeous people, clothes, and lifestyles we found lunch closer to the metro (the busier part of town) and had lunch on the steps of the Opera house. Which was pretty cool to me.

After seeing the girls in the neighborhood looking so Parisian and chic, I called my mom that night to send me clothes on the fly.

now I’m rambling. Its dinner time and its a girls birthday tonight. We are going to find a discotech of her choice and celebrate like the parisians do! and don’t worry Nancy, we are classy girls, but thank you for your loving advice.

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Category: Art, Museums, Shopping

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