Paris

Art, Fashion and Love

Excerpts from my Little Green Book

The next day I bought a one week ticket to the metro, but lost it after using it only once. I discovered that I had lost it when we got to the Louvre , the huge art museum in the centre of Paris.

The huge glass pyramid of the Louvre Art Gallery dwarfs an archway leading to it.

I'd had enough of Art, and left Anne to browse on her own while I went walkabout to see what Paris was like. I started by walking west from the Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries. I soon reached a small pool with a fountain in the middle. People were sitting relaxing in chairs around the pool while children pushed little boars across with sticks. It seemed strange to me to find such an oasis of tranquility in the middle of such a big city, but at the other end of the Jardin there was another one, though this was full of birds, not boats.

Parisians relax around a pool in the Jardin des Tuileries while their children sail boats across the water.

Next to the second pool there was a large tent erected, and the tent was surrounded by a large crowd or photographers. I asked someone what was happening and was told that this was the Christian Dior show, part of Paris Fashion Week. Not wanting to let the opportunity of pretending to be a professional photographer slip by, I had a lot of fun photographing models and celebrities for a couple of hours. I got so into it that tourists going past kept asking me what was going on, and who people were.

The Models, Photographers and celebrities of the Dior show of Paris Fashion Week If anyone knows who any of these people are, could they email me?

As I began to get tired and cold again, I headed back to the Louvre. I had about an hour before I was to meet Anne again, so I decided to go in to see what is perhaps the most famous piece of art in the world, the Mona Lisa.

Behind layers of glass, the Mona Lisa is protected from the flashes of all the cameras that are inevitably pointed at it.

On entering the museum, I could tell it was something really special. There was amazing art all around me, but to be honest, I was 'arted out' having seen more art in the previous week than in the rest of my life. I just couldn't get interested in it. I quickly made my way to the Mona Lisa, glanced at it and then started heading out through the nearest exit, and it was then that I started enjoying the museum.

An art fan browses the African Exhibition at the Louvre.

I came across a collection of African sculptures. The difference between these pieces and the European Art I had been dragged through was so marked that I spent an enjoyable hour looking around and appreciating what was there.

The glass pyramid of the Louvre is lit up by the setting sun.

I connected up with Anne and we made our way from the Louvre to the nearest Metro station and then on to the Eiffel Tower.

Paris seems to bring out a certain feeling. It wasn't hard to take pictures of lovers, all in a world of their own.

I'd missed going to the top the last time, but was determined to go up this time. The base of the tower was crowded with hawkers all trying to sell models of the tower, but I didn't need to buy one of those. What I did need to buy was a ticket, and due to the late hour, there was no queue.

The Eiffel Tower, the most visited attraction in Paris.

Once I got to the top, the view was worth it. I had been carrying a heavy tripod around for three days, which was only contributing to my exhaustion, but I was finally able to use to take a series of night-time shots of the city.

As the searchlight beam swings around the sky, tourists look out from the observation platform 300 meters above Paris.

We packed up and made it back before the last train left, and crashed into bed.

Next