Au Revoir Paree! Buongiorno Venice!

Getting Lost



A nice view of the Doge's Palace in San Marco's square



a mask menagerie



Embarking on our first day expedition through Venice.

Ali: From one amazing city to another, we made our way to Venice on the night train, bunking in a tiny little cabin with four other strangers. Besides the total lack of privacy, night-training it to Venice is a pretty neat experience. Our arrival to Venice was wet and cloudy. Thankfully the next day completely cleared up and we enjoyed Venice in the full splendour of the sun.

D'Orsay, Pompidou, Versailles, and a few cemeteries

Somber excitement at finding Manray's grave



Lazing in the Versailles grass



Making friends





Versailles Gardens...some of it.



anti-art



The futurist tinkertoy jumble of metal that is the Pompidou



The famous cafe where Sartre and Beauvoir drank espresso and smoked cigarettes, now a ritzy, over-priced tourist attraction.



Ani outside the D'Orsay

Ali: We just couldn't get enough of art museums in Paris. The day after the Louvre, we hit up D'Orsay (unfortunately cameras are a big no-no there, so no inside pics). The collection was amazing, Van Gogh, Degas, Matisse, Cezanne, Jean-Leon Gerome, even some Camille Claudel! Our art kick didn't end there. On Saturday we went to the Pompidou, which houses some of the most famous modern art pieces in the world.
No trip to Paris is complete without a tour of the Versailles. Incidentally, We ended up making two days out of Versailles. We forgot to check when the Palace is open and came on a Monday, which is the only day it is closed. Fortunately the massive gardens are still open, and free on Mondays too. Ani had a very close encounter with a swan. That was probably the highlight of the day. Otherwise it was quite refreshing to relax on the green grass after hitting the pavements of Paris for a solid week.
The Palace Versailles itself is also rather impressive. It actually wasn't as huge as I imagined it and it looks rather stumpy from the outside I think. Once inside though, I found that it is a maze of chambers and ante-chambers. It was pretty amazing to think that the floors I was walking on were the same floors that Marie Antoinette and Napoleon daily traversed 200 years ago. My favorite chambers were the Dauphin's apartments. They weren't as pompously ornate as the main chambers, but absolutely adorable.
I also think that no trip to Paris is complete without a trip to some cemeteries. They are actually tourist hot spots. We went to the Montmartre cemetery, Montparnasse Cemetery, and of course Pere-Lachaise cemetery. Be warned (as we were not) that maps are not provided for the first two, and we had quite a bit of trouble finding the tombstones of our favorite personages. No luck finding Jean-Leon Gerome, that's for sure. At Montparnasse we had more luck finding Sartre, Beauvoir, Beckett, and Manray. Pere-Lachaise was a city of graves, even with my rough, hand-drawn map, we were still able to find Frederic Chopin (the greatest piano composer that ever breathed), Oscar Wilde (with his lipstick graffitied tombstone), and Edith Piaf (the little troubled french songstress).

Mercredi: the Louvre!

Ali: One word: Humongous. We descended the elevators of the I.M. Pei's pyramid-inspired atrium around 1 o'clock had a quick lunch and emerged not until 8 at night. We started in the hall of European sculptures, journeying to the ancient civilizations of the middle east, and ascending to the Rubens and his northern European counterparts. I quite lost my patience by the time we hit 18th century French painters, mostly because I was hungry. After lunch we decided to get the mona lisa over and done with. Quite a mad house she stares back at. I enjoyed Delacroix and then the Greek sculptures much more. At the Venus de Milo, all the women were having their picture taken with her, so I thought I would too. It turns out the de Milo might not even be a Venus. Minerva or Diana is a better role model for women anyway.
The Louvre is just way too big to do in one day, even for a pretty patient person like myself, but we managed to hit the major works and then some without succumbing to a "one look, take a picture, and move on" method. Taking the time to sit down and study one painting or sculpture is much more rewarding than giving a five-second glance to a hundred of them.

Eiffel Tower day

Eiffel Tower at night




Ani Kerr and the restroom line. Paris restrooms look more like space pods than a place to relieve oneself.


Place des Invalides and Eiffel Tower


Ali's favorite Rodin sculpture


Les deux penseurs



One of the prettiest bridges in Paris is named Pont Alexandre


Ani Kerr and the Eiffel Tower


All I need is a beret


Ali: We made the essential pilgrimage to the Eiffel Tower On Tuesday. It's quite awe-inspiring. To think that it was meant to be a temporary exhibit when it was first erected. Good thing someone decided to keep it up. Judging by the crazy amount of tourists, including us, the tower is an incredible source of revenue for the city. For lunch we had baguettes and a view of the tower. The Musee Rodin collection was amazing. The staff are pushy for you to get out at closing time though. We went back to the Eiffel Tower in the evening after a stroll down the Champs Elysees, lots of shops they have everywhere else in the world. We weren't expecting the Tower to light up in a glittering frenzy. C'est tres beau!

our little flat in montmartre

Ani: it feels like home already!

Montmartre is very hilly. there are lots of steps to climb. the nearest Metro station to us has 115 steps itself. i love the area, it's really artsy with all the 'graffiti' (think Banksy, not gangsta) on the walls and buildings. my favourite has to be the picture of Kafka pasted on one wall. i kept seeing all these faces poking out of walls, so i have a collection of pictures of those.

Paris in the Summer: First days

Ali: After making a blunder of check-in at our Paris flat (forgetting to bring enough money for the deposit and spending 20 minutes trying to unlock the ancient door we now call the door of agony [porte de l'Agonie in French]), we finally found a place to eat. It was only natural for us to be as cliche as possible with our orders,,baguettes and crepes.
Our first full day in Paris included lunch at a restaurant with a creepy, pervert waiter, endless stairs, an essential tour of the Sacre Couer, more endless stairs, a trip to the raunchy Rue du Clichy and the Musee Dali. The Musee Dali was the highlight of the day,,the creepy waiter I'd rather forget.
Verdict: I love Paris.

Alas, all good things come to an end: Last days in Cambridge

Ali's modcon room at Stephen Hawking Building


Ali's allergic reaction to the English countryside


The Beer Portal of the old Nunnery at Jesus College


Inspired at Jesus College


Intelligent Cambridge Conversation


Ani Kerr and the Gate of Virtue


Quite a fancy set-up


Last Supper


Post-Hamlet group shot


They were so young..



Fish and Chips at The Eagle...it's okay.


oop! did I just step on the sacred grass?

Ali: Dear Cambridge,
Thank you for giving me, if not a love for, at least an appreciation of Rabelais' Pantagruel and Gargantua. My love of literature on the whole has grown tremendously...Hardy, you are a genius. Also, thank you for international nights at Soul Tree, an abundance of bookstores and pubs, and romantic evenings on the Cam. And because of that, I will not complain about the thistles that gave me leper-like sores for an hour, or the freezing, rainy weather during pretty much the whole of my last week there.
Truly,
Ali