A walk about Paris…
“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.”
-Thomas Jefferson
During my initial days in Delft, I decided to explore the city and trace its history. I found that on the second weekend of September every year, most tourist places in the Netherlands are open for free. This is called Monumentendag and this year it was on 13th and 14th September.
During Monumentendag, I visited all the places (except Museum Princenhof and Vanmeer Museum) that I could think of. I took a boat ride on the canals of Delft, visited Molen de Roos and also got a chance to go inside Stadhuis (City Hall). The most treasured visit was to a house where paintings made 500 years ago (estimated) on the ceiling were discovered recently. The weekend was wrapped up by a ride on an old bus which used to ply on the roads more than 30 years ago. I had visited Museum Princenhof in August and felt it is a wonderful museum. The story of Willem Orange was presented in chronological order in a very interactive manner.
In early November, after my quarter 1 exams, I had one week before quarter 2 began. I visited a friend of mine in Paris. I stayed 3 days at his place and went around Paris. Though Tour Eiffel and Musee Louvre are the most famous places in Paris, Musee Rodin and Musee d’Orsay stood out for me. The works of August Rodin, especially the Gate of Hell and the Thinker (which is a part of the Gate of Hell), are marvelous. One could observe them for hours and still miss out on details. Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone was the highlight of the visit to Musee d’Orsay. The manner in which Van Gogh captured the colours of the night is amazing.
Musee Curie was a small and informative museum about the Curie family and their works. Notre Dame Cathedral with its impressive yet asymmetric architecture was worth a visit. I wrapped my Paris trip with a sumptuous French dinner. I must say that the best thing about Paris is that all places of interest can be visited by foot. The beauty of the city lies in observing the small things that remind you of the good and the bad of the past. Not many talk about the Algiers memorial which is very close to the Tour Eiffel. It is not by accident that there are no modern skyscrapers within the city limits of Paris. Finally a visit to Paris cannot end without a mention of Art Nouveau architecture.
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