Cadiz - Getting away from it all

After spending the last few months exclusively in Paris I must admit that this particular trip to eeeeSpain has been somewhat of a count down in my life.
If I return to paris this will mark  roughly one year spent in the city that I love, but wait what do I love? the people? the place? the culture? yes. But to what ends? What have I achieved in this year? I've had fun, made many great new friends and left an ever widening gap on my CV  while procrastinating about starting a career.

How ever even Parisians will admitt their love for getting away from it all. For how long though? Well this blogger might be about to decamp to Switzerland. Whether this is a permanent decision depends on the job front.

However in the mean time I have certainly been enjoying my trip to Spain, after getting one of the worst sunburns of my life on the first day I have not returned to the beach since and have been sheltering in the shade and undertaking my workshop.
For those if you who do not know this is not strictly a holiday but a working holiday. Working in the sense that I only pay 300€ for two weeks of accommodation and breakfast lunch and dinner. But I am part of a team of 3 people who tutor a workshop called "Umbrella" this workshop releases a daily newspaper on the events of EASA Spain (european architectural students assembly). So as well as partying and sunbathing I am responsibe for a group of 8 people and have to deal with things like submission deadlines, layouts and faulty photocopiers.

For those of you interested in reading any of the results of this "holiday" all the newspaper issues are uploaded daily onto the issuu.com website.

Anish Kapoor - inside the Leviathan

So after many an unfruitful attempt at visiting this exhibition I finally managed to gain entry to the inside the belly of the Leviathan.

The day we went happened to be one of the most unpredictable days weather wise I have ever experienced. One moment the sun is shining down, and the next, usually when you have finally decided to brave the concept of going outside the heavens open up and release a deluge that seem to suggest that god himself is angry with you. 

However this did result in a smaller than usual queue at the exhibition, but this didn't matter as I had already booked and printed out our tickets from on-line

Visiting this time with 2 friends from Ireland, we proceeded to take photos in the spirit of the exhibition.

After a quick stroll around we  entered into the belly of the beast with absolutely no wait, apparently there had been a performance on in the space last time I visited and this resulted in the large slow moving queue. Entering the dark space through a rotating black door you instantly notice your ears popping as a result of the change in air pressure required to keep the large structure inflated. The sound of people tapping and banging the outside skin is also far more interesting from the inside as the noise echo's and reverberates remarkably. 

While I had previously been cursing our fowl luck with the ever changing weather I was now enraptured with what seemed like a veritable performance from the sky, one moment the sky being cloudy leaving the Leviathan dull and dark

inside

and the next the sunlight piercing through the clouds creating dramatic cast shadows and a series of ooohs and ahhs from the enveloped crowds. 

After enjoying the internal experience of the Leviathan as well as the now obligatory posing we proceeded to go back out to the rest of the exhibit have a further look around the beast.

speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil

A browse through the book shop was required in order to escape the fresh shower that had just started, but after another series of funny poses we were more than satisfied and happily on our way. 

 

For those of you still interested in going the exhibition finished on the 23rd of June. Sorry

Rock and stroll - Cité de la Musique

With only 2 days left before my 26th birthday I finally managed to get out to the visit the Cité de la Musique. This Museum is not as central as the rest and is located in the 19th Arrondisment in the Park de la Villette, this however is a bonus as it allows me to take my favourite route along the canal to get to the museum.

Arriving to the the museum the entrance is clearly posted and is actually incorporated into one of Bernard Tschumi's  red “folly's”. When you enter the space you are instantly impressed by the size of the space. 

After getting my free ticket I proceeded through the music shop to the start of the exhibition. Clearly a question that had come to my mind before attending the museum was how do they exhibit something visually, that can really only really be experienced by listening, without having a series of clashing speakers blaring out random sounds in an effort to compete with each other. Well the solution was actually easier than I imagined. This museum provides every one with a audio guide, this guide has headphones and allows you to key in a number beside displays, screens and instruments. This allows you to synchronise up to the relevant TV screen and listen to the opera being performed, the historical background of the instrument, interviews and you can even listen to individual instruments being played.

The museum itself has a large collection of very ornate and old instruments and as you slowly wind your way up to though the different ages it becomes very interesting to learn when and how new instruments that we now take for granted were invented and introduced to the public, as well as seeing instruments that are now nearly obsolete.

triple guitars?

The day we were there was very quiet but there was still a live demonstration by a very talented man on the trombone. He explained the instrument how it worked and how he created the different sounds, as well as playing some very good music.

Arriving into the final space is the most impressive as this is housed in the topmost roof space.

This space also starts to chronicle the development of modern recording and mixing techniques, and has a good selection of early mixing desks which now seem so large and cumbersome that its funny. However the museum does only have a limited amount of stuff about the development of modern music, as it seems to concentrate mainly on the classical side, which is a shame as it hardly acknowledges the development of rock punk techno. But then I suppose you would need an entire other museum to properly chronicle the development of music in the last 100 years. 

The final displays deal with instruments from different cultures such as India Africa and China, these sections are quite small though but still impressive.

Only after exiting the museum  did I see the sectional model and realise that there is actually a entire theatre music space located just beside the museum, and that is why the entire building is called the Cité de la Musique. Next time I visit I plan on seeing a performance.

the museum is the small narrow part on the left of the auditorium

Otherwise the museum was very enjoyable even for someone who has no grounding in music and does not play any instruments it was very basically and easily explained. The museum is also much larger than I thought and as a result my audio guide ran out of battery in the last portion of the museum. With lots of bicycle parking located in the park de la Villette right outside I would recommend going for a picnic with some friends before heading in.

3rd time lucky for visiting Anish Kapoor

The name of this series of exhibitions at the Grand Palais is called “Monumenta” and despite first impressions this does not make direct reference to the size of the queue at the door

So after trying to go to this exhibition 2 times previously I finally bit the bullet at bought the tickets on-line before going as time was running short. The effort and extra €1 of having bought the tickets on-line was definitely worth it as we swanned directly with no hassle and more importantly no queue.

For people that have never been to the Grand Palais before lets make one thing clear. Its a one trick pony. That trick being one giant space with a 200meter long Nave and a 45 meters beneath its central dome and the pony being the Epic (capital E) building that it is.

Entering the space I was at once hit by the sheer size of the work of art. Its HUGE. After a quick wander around though I noticed another queue. That's right there is a second queue inside the exhibition to enter into the space of the “leviathan”. Yup, another queue. And this one was also quite long and to top it off seemed to be moving slower than your average snail.

this photo was taken from our position in the queue (see left)

After queueing for 15minutes, we realised that this was a pointless effort as we had planned to meet friends for drinks soon. And decided to enjoy the rest of the exhibition. The rest of the exhibition was really good, in so far as we just walked around the giant object and were constantly impressed by its sheer size.

When we did finally manage to meet our friend for drinks, I was disappointed to hear that the best part of the exhibition is indeed getting inside the object. Still I did enjoy the exhibition and will definitely be going again soon to see the interior.

Here are some tips given to me by my friend who has already been.

• Try and go first thing when it opens in the morning
• Buy your tickets on-line
• Go on a sunny day as apparently the shadows of the roof structure of the Grand Palais on the inside of the leviathan space is quite striking.

A late start with the Gustave Moreau Museum

After a late start to that day I decided not to be discouraged by the time and  take a quick spin to check out the Musée Gustave Moreau. The museum is located up a quiet sub-street around the Galeries la Fayette, Trinité district in the 9th and thanks to my handy map book was it okay to find, but not great for bicycle parking. 

For the record this museum is the house where the artist worked and lived and he apparently made all the modifications himself to allow him to turn the very large house into apartments and a workshop.

When getting my ticket in the ticket lady informed me that the museum rooms were going to be shutting in 20min, however I was none the less discouraged and proceeded with my visit.

The first part of the house is pretty boring especially if you are not a Moreau fan and don't really know any of his work or any of the family's history, but it is an authentic snap shot into what a house of this era was like and to sum it up in one word - cluttered. I suppose the best thing for me was the old school toilet. The fittings were pretty awesome, and probably used by the artist himself! 

Anyway after leaving the apartment part of the house by moving up  the next flight of stairs I was impressed, the space was massive and covered wall to wall with giant paintings, all of which are reminiscent of the pre-impressionist glory days of the academic salon. 

Sketches and smaller scale paintings were also on show but being so numerous they were housed in cleverly hidden and organised wall units or boxes with sliding panels in the centre of the floor.

After going up the impressive winding staircase finding myself in another large room full of paintings, it was similar to the last one, but I decided to stop and read some of the information sheets and learn a bit about some of the more famous paintings.

Shortly after I left overall feeling contented but not impressed. Once again the museum is impressive and a true snap shot into the life and works of this amazing and significant artist. The only problem for me personally though is that I don’t really have any previous knowledge of the artist and found it hard to be enthusiastic about paintings or the house, especially as a basic guide to the museum was not provided to me.

My advice bring someone who knows about Gustave Moreau and can help fill you in on what your supposed to be appreciating, otherwise you can technically visit everything in 20 minutes.

The Jewish Museum Paris

The Jewish museum of Paris is located in the Marais, for those of you who don’t already know this is historically the Jewish district, which is now shared by the very trendy (and apparently rich judging from the property cost) gays.

Tucked around the corner from the Rue Rambuteau, the museum makes very little impact on the typically narrow street of this district.

bonus prize if you can spot my bicycle in the picture

This museums street frontage is however deceiving because as soon as you pass the complicated security entrance you enter into a large sun-kissed courtyard.

The Museum is actually quiet large and in the space of an hour and a half I managed to see about three quarters of the exhibition. Also a rarity in Parisian museums is the free coat check and hand held audio guide I received with my free entry ticket, but also the NO photography allowed, even with flash off.

Once again the Architecture of this building is slick and the old building as been beautifully adapted to suit its current purpose. The exhibition flow through a seamless sequence of spaces which are wonderfully varied and don’t dominate the enjoyment of the exhibition. The exhibition itself is a mix between artefacts and history. I over all enjoyed this topic that had previously been limited to Sex and the City episodes with Harry and South park. The temporary exhibition of Chagall and the Bible might also be worth a separate visit.

The bicycle parking right outside the door was a big plus.

Cycling by the Seine

Museum of the day was the Museum des Arts Asiatiques –Guimet, this museum is located in the 16th, just a little bit down the road from Palais de Tokyo. I took the same cycling route as the time I had visited the Musée d’Armée, down along to Bastille and across the Pont de Sully to the south side of the Seine before just following the combined bus and bike lane west.

This route while enjoyable for me, it is not for the faint hearted, it involves a combination of wonderful dedicated bike lanes along tree lined avenues and fighting tooth and nail with bumper to bumper traffic, while travelling at speed.

nice bike lanes

One tip, don’t hesitate. There are a number of on and off ramps and bridges along the south bank of the Seine and these can result in you being cut off mid cycle, if you don’t just go for it you will end up looking like a two wheeled deer caught in the headlights.

Another thing I remarked upon on my way to the museum was this:

That's right a Segway tour of Paris. Hmm before passing too much judgement on this concept I decided to look up this tours website to get a little more info, well to be honest more so the price of the tour. The result is barely any info on their website, no prices, duration, frequency or routes. Guess this is all something they do by phone. After reading some of the many, granted positive reviews of these types of trips on line and some more in depth research into price(starting from €85), I still remain largely unconvinced. Most of the people I saw on the tour seemed to be spending most of their time looking at their Segway rather than taking in the sights and to top it off the slow group were blocking up one of the nicest stretches of cycle lane I had been on. Maybe that is the main reason I have not taken to the idea. If you want to stand up and sight see, walk. 

Without continuing too much on this tangent I’ll reserve further judgement until I decide to blow the whopping €85 euro on a four hour segway tour.

After finally arriving to the Museum, I cruised in with the now usual no queue, no cost routine. 

Note ably on entry there was a large pink replica of the Taj Mahall occupying the first and principal exhibition space. I quite enjoyed the spectacle actually, as the contrasting colour was quite striking. 

As for the rest of the museum I must confess the content was not so much of interest, mainly due to the fact that I have little or no knowledge of Asian art and religions (most of the information I have gleaned through the years has been from Apu from the Simpsons). I sped through most of the exhibits, sometimes pausing to read from the hand-held info boards that were located by most of the entry points.

There were a great many statues and sculptures, mostly grey and lacking any kind of accompanying information. 

this one should work the cafe oz weekend shifts

 How every things did perk up temporarily, when I passed though into the Japanese section where there was some lovely screens and art, as well as more Ming Dynasty Crockery than you could shake a baseball bat at.

While the overall exhibition was not to my taste I would recommend going with a friend(possibly Asian) who has some knowledge and interests in these things and can help promote some enthusiasm about the history of one of the greatest civilisations in the World. 

However what I did thoroughly enjoy was the Architecture, the building was amazing with an interesting sequence of architectural spaces that circulated around the large central exhibition space and eventually leading you back to the Stairwell that would bring you to the next level of exhibits. The building also very elegantly used discrete materials that were very well detailed so as not to dominated the often grey or monotone items it exhibited.

beautiful circular bordmarked marked concrete pillars

 While the visit was enjoyable, I would recommend having an interest in either Asia or Architecture before going.

A month of museum madness

So in preparation of my last month as a 25 year old I have decided to take full advantage of my youthful benefits and “en profitez” of all the museums I have access to for free for the next month. Lets be fair here, I've already visited most of the major museums here in Paris but there is something in me that just will never pay €6.80 to visit the “Museé D’art et d’histoire du judaisme”. Not that i might not enjoy it, but lets just say that just that it doesn't interest me enough. Actually that is not the worst of it, how about €8 for a trip to the Arc de Triomphe, I mean there isn't even an exhibition. unless you count the very entertaining traffic that circulates one of the most dangerous junctions in Europe.

Anyway, the one month left countdown has begun. So I have decided to visit the following 28 museums. I haven't worked out the exact days and timing of all of my visits, and I will have to factor in closing days and other such things. Anyway here is the complete list of what I hope to visit.

1. Arc de Triomphe*
2. Musée de l’armée – Tombea de Napoléon 1er
3. Centre Pompidou*
4. Musée national des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet
5. Les arts decoratifs
6. Musée des arts et Métiers*
7. Musée du quai branly*
8. Chapelle expiatoire
9. Conciergerie
10. Musée National delacroix
11. Museé D’art et d’histoire du judaisme
12. Musée du Louvre*
13. Musée national de la Marine
14. Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine- Musée des monuments francais*
15. Musée gustave Moreau
16. Musée de cluny – Musée national du moyen age
17. Cité de la musique – Musée de la musique
18. Tours de Notre- Dame
19. Musée National de l’orangerie*
20. Musée de l’ordre de la libération
21. Musée d’orsay *
22. Panthéon*
23. Musée des plans- reliefs
24. L’adresse musée de la poste
25. Musée Rodin
26. Sainte Chapelle*
27. Villa Savoye*
28. Chateaux Versailles*

Okay so that brings it to a grand total of 28 museums, which while technically achievable is not very realistic considering things like sleeping in, hangovers, shopping and just life in general. Now there might be some hope as I have in fact already visited all the ones with this symbol *, twelve in total, so that brings the grand total to like 16, and considering that some of these museums are visit-able in like a few hours it might mean that fitting in 2-3 things in on my more “active” days is possible. 

Also before the final bell tolls I hope to sign up as a member to the Louvre and the Pompidu Centre. The cost of a years youth membership to the Louvre is only €15, definitely worth the cost if you ask me, especially seeing as this gives you the right to enter the museum via the priority queue, aka not queuing for 2 hours to get in and then another hour to get your ticket. The Pompidu Center one is slightly more expensive at €22 but this also gives you a 5% discount in the bookshop, so it basically pays for itself if you buy enough architecture books, as well as all the priority queue stuff. 

Seeing as today was the first day I had told myself I was going to start this mission I headed out to the worlds most renowned museum The Louvre, granted it was a little late by the time I had finished making some unexpected and impulse purchases at H&M, but none the less I was convinced that it was open until 10pm. After strolling leisurely into the entrance Pyramid my sense of satisfaction soon got a swift kick in the balls when I realised why there was no queue or security check.... the exhibition rooms due in fact close at 6pm, and it was now about 7.30. Ahh well just my tough luck. 

As I now know, the museum closes on a Tuesday and late night openings are Wednesday and Friday. Noted. 

Not in the least discouraged with with this setback I decided to visit my most favourite of museums, the Pompidu centre, which I know for sure is open until 10pm. While I have been to this museum hundreds of times before, I still enjoy it and to be honest didn’t want to get the month of museums started off with excuses and setbacks. 

It was a quick but enjoyable visit, here are some of the high lights. Specifically mentioning the special section on colour and decorating, which I particularly enjoyed.

The melty bicycle also gets a special mention .

As for tomorrow, I guess the Tomb of Napoleon seems like it might be with a visit.