albi: part 1

Albi is about an hour away from Toulouse by train. It is famous for its beautiful brick cathedral, Saint-Cecile, and for being the home of the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

First stop: Saint Cecile

Brick is a very common building material in Toulouse, and I think south western France in general, but we had yet to see a cathedral made out of brick. St. Cecile is, and it’s huge! The interior is painted, wall to wall to ceiling, in gorgeous, bright colors. The ceiling paint is all original from the middle ages. I couldn’t believe how colorful it was! It was also kind of cool because there was a huge wedding going on when we got there so we listened to their vows and also got to hear the organ play “Ave Maria”. Awesome acoustics. 

Second Stop: Musee Toulouse-Lautrec

This museum houses a ton of the artist’s work. The building is called the Palais de Berbie and was completed in the 13th century. Behind it is this incredible little garden and a great view of the river Tarn. It was kinda funny, because as we were leaving we saw the couple from the cathedral. Talk about a great location for wedding photos. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside at all, but he is famous for lithographic prints for Moulin Rouge, as well as some really cool paintings. 

adventures on the road of the bull

After three weeks of being in Toulouse, I finally stumbled upon an open air market! Noemi and I were walking over to Rue du Taur to see St. Sernin basilica and a few other sights (to be discussed in subsequent posts), and as we passed through Place du Capitole, there it was-rows and rows of people selling clothes, shoes, used books, jewelry, etc. etc. I bought a book of Jacques Prévert poems for 2.5 euro. Pas mal!

We then proceeded down Rue du Taur to see the ever so lovely St. Sernin Basilica and Toulouse's museum of antiquities.

St. Sernin is a beautiful, romanesque church. No angry priests this time around, even though I was reading my Jacques Prévert book instead of scripture while sitting in the pews. 

The museum was free (of course, Toulouse is a student's paradise), so even though we're not particularly interested in Toulousian antiquities, we ran in. It was actually really cool! We spent maybe 30 minutes just breezing through it, and it was quite enjoyable.

And, it is 2:00 AM here, and we are tired from a day spent in Carcassonne, so I will continue this little narrative later. Fireworks, Olivia Ruiz, more random pretty shots of Rue du Taur, food, fun, excitement, everlasting joy to come!

a day in which science and art collide

So Marie Curie is my hero.

Because she was a girl and a chemist. 

And she won the Nobel Prize twice and discovered two elements (radium and polonium) and did a ton of stuff with x-rays (and then died because of it).

She is buried in the Pantheon in Paris.

I got to go there.

And pay my respects.

Thanks Marie, for all your inspiration.

Her husband Pierre, also a scientist, is in the tomb underneath hers.

After the Pantheon, my mom and I went to the Rodin Museum. I loved, loved, loved it. It's really small, in the house where he lived (more like a mansion, big for a house, small for a museum), and then in the gardens behind the house as well. All of his sculptures looked like pieces I would actually want to display, because they were beautiful. They looked so alive! I loved all of the ones of hands, like The Cathedral (below) or The Secret (right). I also really liked any of the ones that looked unfinished, like they just emerged from the stone. And of course, the Thinker was great. I even bought a little Thinker eraser (like it's a man thinking...and you can erase pencil with it...bwahaha). 

a day in which we saw many works of art, from 1000 bc to 2010

Dear Monmartre,

We love you. We love your break dancers, child yo yo prodigies, Asian caricature painters, "Italian" restaurants, Avatar: The Last Airbender posters, and Amelie cafes.

Even when it rains.

Love always,

The Andrus foursome

Dear Louvre,

Becky and Jeff did not particularly enjoy you (quote from Becky's postcard to Sadie, "Isn't Mona the worst?"), but I did. Thanks for letting me see Miss Mona, Winged Victory, the French Revolution painting that is now the cover for Coldplay's album, Napoleon crowning Josephine (also in Versailles, does anyone know if Jean Louis David just painted two enormous paintings of the exact same thing?), Venus de Milo, and a bunch of Egyptian stuff. Also, thanks to the textile/design museum next door for the awesome look at vintage Chanel and Yves St. Laurent (Bec liked that, no more "fat naked ladies"). 

Love always,

Kat

rick steves is my new best friend

Versailles!

The chateau enorme that Louis XIV built to glorify himself was quite the fun day trip for us. We took the train out to the city of Versailles and explored a teeny tiny fraction of the castle first (you can only go through the chapel, king and queen's chambers, the Hall of Mirrors and a few other rooms). The extravagance in that place is overwhelming. I just kept thinking, "No wonder the French people stage a revolution..." The entire court of the king used to live in this place, and it is huge huge huge. I tried to take a picture of the entire thing, and I couldn't fit it all in, even a hundred yards back from the gate. Afterward we rented bikes and biked all over the grounds. Somehow we missed the place leading to the Grand and Petit Trianons and Marie Antoinette's little hamlet, so we biked forever around all the canals. Eventually we did stumble upon the hamlet and had so much fun pretending to be cute French peasants ourselves. Afterward, at the recommendation of Mr. Rick Steves and his guidebook, we ate at this delightful little creperie. Twas delish. And we're now sick of crepes.

Today was filled with open air marketing, Louvre-ing, and Monmartre-ing.
Becky got a caricature.
I got to see Les Deux Moulins, the cafe where Amelie works.
We both got a photo in front of a poster for Le Dernier Maitre de L'Air!!!!! aka Avatar: The Last Airbender!!!! It comes out on July 28th in France, and you can bet that I will be watching it that very night.

Bon soir, mes amis!