Thursday I went to the Salvador Dali exhibition in Montmarte. I had already seen a few of his paintings in other museums but I really didn’t know too much about him or his work.

He was was a very important surrealist artist in Paris, his paintings are so incredibly detailed and bizzare. His images are known to be not exactly as what they appear. Some people would say he was insane, but aren’t most artists a little crazy in their own right.

My favorite paintings of Dali were his illustrations of Alice in Wonderland, they were must brighter and lighter than some of his famous paintings. And plus, Alice in Wonderland is such a fun story to illustrate!

All though Dali was obviously very…. ecentric, maybe borderline insane, his sense of humor was rock solid.

I was laughing out loud by myself as I read an interview of Dali from Time Magazine. It was just a series of simple questions qsked by Philippe Halsman with hilarious one liners from Dali with pictures of him and his mustache. The interview is called Dali’s Mustache. I bought the book form of the interview. I think Ben would find it really funny, because he does love a good mustache.

“How do you celebrate Mother’s Day?”

The picture was the only response. 

Dali was not just a painted or sculpture, Dali designed clothes with Coco Chanel and Christian Dior as well as made movies with Alfred Hitchcock. He was set to make a movie with Walt Disney but it was never completed…. What if Dali HAD done a disney movie? I would LOVE to see that.

It seems like life has been pretty slow over here, all though in reality it hasn’t been.

This morning I went to the park across the street and read for a little while.  In a little bit I am going to go have lunch with Ashley and then go back to the park.

The weather is really pretty today. I am trying to get a suntan…. all though I am not seeing results in my attempts.

Wes, you will love this-

Saturday night we went to a White Party at Le Cab. It was pretty interesting. I went with Ashley, Tasha and Fabien. It was nothing like Wes’s White Party. Wes’s parties are way better. I mean I was in Paris at white party at one of the coolest clubs in Paris and I still thought wes’s party was better. So Kudos Wes! You now how to throw a party!

The RER, one of the subway lines in Paris is one strike. This is a little bit of an annoyance because I use the RER EVERYDAY. It stops right in front of my dorm and takes me directly to school. So instead of a small 10 minute journey to class It has become more or less a 30 minute trek.

There was also a strike at one of the Museums we went last week. Parisians LOVE to go on strike.

I am currently reading Seven Ages of Paris. Its tells the history of Paris starting from Ceasar and ends in 1969. I am currently only on the 1st age of Paris, the age of Philippe Auguste.

It is a really difficult book to read but I am enjoying it because now I know a little bit more about the history of these sites I am seeing all over Paris.

Do  you remember the blog I wrote about the area around the Bastille? It is the Marais area. It is known for its huge jewish population. In the book I am reading it talks about the way Philippe acquired the money to build all of these huge buildings was from taking the money from the jews. He caused a lot of problems for the jewish people, even exiling them out of Paris. But when they returned they settled in Marais.

Lunch time!

bissous!!

On Monday we went to Musee Carnavalet. It is the museum of the City of Paris which moves through the history of Paris in a series of rooms that combine painting, sculpture, photography, city models and actual period rooms, furniture and all, which document Paris and the Parisians from medieval to modern times.

This is a scuplture of Louis the XIV, the “Sun King”. His outfit is VERY roman.

This is from a bridge that was destroyed during the Revolution

These dainty men are part of a larger painting that also got ruined during the revolution. This was the only piece of the painting that was restored. These men were VERY important and powerful in France during their time. It’s interesting how truly dainty they look. What you can’t see in these pictures is how life-like their faces are. It was actually surprising how alive they looked.

I would love to have this chaise in my house.

This room was my favorite room BY FAR. We actually only went into this room to stall while another group was in the room we were going to next. This room is a Jewelry Boutique from the early late 20th century. It was very whimsical.

These are actually locks of Marie-Antoinette’s hair! creeeeepy, right? These are pieces of jewlery with her hair. On the left is a ring with braided hair and the on the right is a locket with her hair. It is a little unsettling at first but weren’t giving locks of hair a gesture of love?

In this same museum there was a room with all the furniture from the prison Marie-Antoinette occupied at the end of her life. All though the room looked comfortable and filly to us today, it was truly a prison to Marie-Antoinette who had been living in luxury that none of us could ever imagine. It was also a prison because she was waiting to be put to death and watching her husband and children taken away from her one by one either by death or by force to another prison.

this past weekend was VERY busy.

we were studying Romanesque and Greco-Roman Paris on Friday. We stated at the OLDEST church in Paris. It was right next to Notre Dame. Notre Dame DWARFED this church in size and ornateness. It was a very simple but beautiful church. They still hold services there. I would love to go back on a Sunday for a service. I wouldn’t understand a word they were saying but it would still be be a great experience.

After the church we walked to the Louvre. On the way there we saw a production of a movie. I do not know the name of the movie but we found out that its Russian director and its about a couple during WWII. They were filming on the Seine.  I did not recognize any of the actors. But ill make sure to keep my eye out for a period movie set in Paris during the second world war!

The Louvre was AWESOME! its so big though! I have to go back when I have more time to discover.

we spent a really long time at Venus de Milo. I really find this art interesting because of my Freedom in Rome class from last semester. I could have spent HOURS just in that one wing.

I had to leave the Louvre early to get to my cinema class. I was a little disappointed to take this class at first. I didn’t want to spend my time in Paris watching movies while I could be experiencing Paris for myself. But the class actually turned out to be really interesting.

We watched “The Beat that my Hear Skipped” its about a French gangster who’s really interest is becoming a concert pianist. If it is available in the US, you should rent it!

Our first day of class was at the Musee du Moyen Age in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The museum was a gothic townhouse of the abbots of Cluny…. I have no idea what that means either.

The main feature of the museum was a set of five tapestries from medieval Paris. The tapestries were used to insulate the cold castles as well as a means to communicate with the illiterate since the only people who could read or write back then were royalty and clergy.

There tapestries were so detailed and ornate as well as very mysterious. There is not much known about their origin.

There were also MANY other pieces of art from medieval Paris.

A lot of the art was of the Virgin Mary and an infant. ALL of the art had very strong Christian themes. This one was BY FAR the chubbiest of the sculptures.

This is a comb used during that time

I just finished a class at OU called Freedom in Rome in which we studied the rise and fall of the Roman Empire so I was espeicially excited to see the ruins of the Roman baths but unfortunately they were closed for restoration. My teacher did reassure me that we would see some Roman baths.

These were the heads of statues that had been beheaded. I can not remember why the people decided to be head these particular statues. I think it has something to do with the fear that they might be kings? I definetly zone out while my teacher was explaining the significance of these statues. The restored replicas of these head are in Notre Dame which I will see next Friday and I’ll be sure to remember why they were beheaded

Alyse Marie › Edit — WordPress

But don’t worry, even amongst all of this culture and refinement in Paris, I’m still reminded of my roots often.