An Amazing Two Weeks

I've landed in the Villa St. Exupery (still in Nice, just a different hostel) with delicious free internet! So it's time to give a little more detail on the places I haven't had time to talk about. Excuse the spelling though. Even though this keyboard is proper, it types too slowly and I make mistakes.

The British Library, London England
Anyone who is a bibliophile MUST go here. The British Library contains a room set aside to showcase its collection of antique books. And I don't mean antique as in the 30s. Let me give you an example: Upon waling into the tastefully darkened room, I caught sight of an illuminated (big word for "it's got pictures") bible. Approx age? 350 AD. Next to it lies a huge leather bound first edition by some guy named Shakespeare. Over in it's own room is a series of documents written on what I first assumed was sheep's bladder. This presents a certain amount of confusion on my part until the exhibit explains that the grey shrivelled hanging off the bottom is in fact a wax seal and not some vestigial organ that proved too difficult to remove. These documents are original versions of the Magna Carta. And all these for free!

Hostel Le D'Artagnan, Paris France
Interesting place. The decore is something out of an arcade. Every wall is a different colour. Weird signs on the walls. I liked it. Though I will admit the blue light by the computers is bloody hard on the eyes. And the pink light in the laundry room meant I thought I'd turned my knickers purple.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris France
This was the first thing I did when I arrived in Paris. I came out of the Metro station, rounded a building, climbed up some stairs and BAM! There was the frickin' Eiffel Tower. Couldn't have asked for a more dramatic reveal. Didn't stop smiling for hours. It really drove home the fact that I definitely was not at home. That I was really on this trip. I'm on it. I'm in it. And it's awesome.

The Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Musee D'Orsay
The next day I pried myself out of bed as early as I could (7:30am, rough I know!). As it rurned out it was the first Sunday of the month and many museums were free. Including the Louvre. Now I figured there'd be a line up (or a "queue" in brit speak). If I had read it in my Lonely Planet then so did everyone else. But even pre-warned as I was the line up blew me away. Still it only took about 45mins or so to get in. Not bad considering it took me an hour and a half to get up the Eiffel Tower!
Like everyone there I scooted over to see the Mona Lisa, but opted out of the DaVinci Code audio guide (voiced by Jean Reneau!). Mona is a beautiful panting, a bit dark, yellowed, and small, but still very beautiful. Though she seems a bit dwarfed when you turn around and on the opposite wall is an absolutely mamoth battle painting in gorgeous vibran colours. I recommend the rest of the Louvre too. And if you need a break from the crowd, but don't want to leave, head for the Objet D'Art section. Dead quite and you get to check out some amazing tapestries and things.

Taking a look at my trusty map, I noticed that Notre Dame (the famous one, they're all called Notre Dame something something) wasn't too far away and decided to hoof it on over for some photos. But as maps often do, it lied and those tiny blocks were a lot longer than they looked. I got there eventually though and have pictures to prove it. It's pretty and curly and sufficiently gothic. Great gargoyles too!

The Musee D'Orsay was another map error, but unlike the Louvre it's closed on Monday's so it had to be done. They have a reconstructed Art Neavaux (spelt wrong I know, sorry there's no dictionary here) room that I wanted to stay in forever. The Renoir and Toulouse exhibits were good too. Always neat to see something in real life that you've only known from books. Though I wasn't all that impressed with the Rodin they had. I've seen better.

Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris France
This is where Jim Morisson, Oscar Wilde, and a whole lot of other people both famous and not so famous are buried. It's only about 25mins by foot from the hostel, so I figured what the heck. Crazy place. It's packed with mausoleums with hardly any space between them. Was torn between finding it very beautiful and being really creeped out. But there are lots of gardens and trees though, so it's not totally barren. Jim Morisson's was small and modest, very unlike the man. But neat to see it covered with gifts. Oscar Wilde's on the other hand was a huge naked art deco flying man covered in lipstick marks.