paris
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Monuments to Life
Humanity is obsessed with life. The mantras of YOLO and Carpe Diem are modern reflections of the romanticism of living. While breath in the body makes you technically alive, it can be difficult to determine how to frame and fully live a life. There are thousands of blog posts describing how to achieve a life full of vigor, ranging from the electric beat of active community involvement to the mellow refreshment of the quiet life. Whatever path we choose, there is a similarity we all share in life: the desire to commemorate it after death. Through this logic, it is clear that it is natural for funerary art to exist as a way to express an aura of a life dearly missed.
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Touring Europe's Major Art: Catch the Classics
European countries house some of the world’s most famous pieces of art and recognizable architectural triumphs. Millions of tourists visit the continent each year to personally witness these masterpieces, but it can be overwhelming to decide which cities to prioritize and what to visit when you’re there.While there are many ways to see the major art centers of Europe, the following path allows visitors to see the continent’s masterpieces while limiting the amount of travel from place to place. However, if you need to adjust your schedule, every location on this list is only a short flight or train ride away from the others, so it’s easy check everything from Rembrandt to da Vinci off your list.
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Shakespeare and Company Bookstore
Just across the street from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, sits the iconic English-language bookstore Shakespeare and Company. George Whitman founded the current Shakespeare and Company in 1951 after being inspired by Sylvia Beach’s original bookstore and library of the same name. Beach’s bookstore became a gathering place for expatriate writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, and Eliot, to name a few. Following suit, Whitman’s Shakespeare and Company has served as a gathering place for authors such as Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Henry Miller, and countless others. At Shakespeare and Company you’ll find a broad range of antiquarian, used, and new books, as well as a café, a piano room, and several typewriters that patrons are invited to use to leave letters in the store for other visitors. You may even run into the cat who lives in the store. This bookstore is a must-see for any book lover who visits to be Paris.
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Think Outside the Frame: A Guide to Lesser-known Works of Art to See in Paris
Paris, France, is known throughout the world for its museums and vast collections of art. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all there is to see, so many people choose to see only the most famous works of art in each museum. While it’s great to see the Mona Lisa, it may not be worth spending your entire day at the Louvre, pushing through crowds to see one painting when there is so much beautiful artwork in Paris that often gets overlooked. Here are some of the lesser-known pieces that should be on your list of art to see in Paris. If you like Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait, go see
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Secret Gardens
Throughout the hustle and bustle of cities, you will find whimsical pockets of nature tucked away between alleyways and abbeys. Some are cached away, kept as a secret of sorts from unsuspecting passersby; others may be better known yet inadvertently overlooked.
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Holy Emblems: The Symbolism in Sacred Gothic Architecture
As you walk into a Gothic church, the ethereal atmosphere is immediately evident. The reverent hush and the dark stonework lit by brilliantly colored stained-glass patterns of light create this aura that is completely unique to sacred Gothic architecture. Most people, whether seasoned or amateur travelers, are relatively familiar with Gothic churches. But the symbolism hidden within these centuries-old structures is often lost on visitors. Gothic churches were built with symbolism incorporated into every element. While each building differs slightly in terms of symbolic components, every symbol allows the visitor to have an enlightened and almost otherworldly experience.
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Back to the Blueprint
At the center of the small town of Chartres, a ninety-minute train ride away from Paris, sits a towering cathedral. This edifice, completed in the thirteenth century, has been the center of controversy because of a decision made in 2009 to renovate it. This is not the simple, patchwork maintenance performed on many old monuments; the cathedral’s once gloomy interior, blackened by centuries of use, is currently being painted a sunny, pale yellow. The paint job is part of a monumental attempt to restore the cathedral to its medieval appearance. But the renovation has inspired polemical responses.
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Artwork in Action: Saying Yes to Street Art
Though graffiti is often seen as vandalism, many places throughout the world have embraced graffiti as a valid art form and as a way to enhance the community. Any vacation can be complemented with a stop to look at one of these legal graffiti destinations. Found in typical art hubs and less expected locales, graffiti art is visually impressive. A side trip to these outdoor art displays can offer an untamed perspective of any tourist hotspot.
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The Take Home of Souvenir Shopping
It’s tough to find a souvenir that encompasses the life-changing experiences, memorable people, and indescribable sights that only travel provides. A few Google searches before your trip will help you avoid on-the-spot thoughts like, Maybe I’ll just buy a snow globe or an “I love Moscow” T-shirt—even though both gifts were probably made 14 time zones away. Here are some tips for taking home a piece of the places you visit and eliminating the stress of souvenir shopping.
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Exploring Paris’s Catacombs
Many tourists who fill the bustling streets of Paris do not realize that there is a twisting network of tunnels and caverns deep beneath their feet—and that it is lined with the bones of the dead. These tunnels and caverns are part of the eerie underground world of Paris’s catacombs, which continue for miles on end. More than six million Parisians—nearly three times the population living in the city above—have found their final resting place here. Although Paris’s catacombs often go unseen by the typical tourist, they are a must-see for adventure-seekers and history buffs.
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Ticket Through Time
Longing for another time or place isn’t a concept singular to the twenty-first century, but we have definitely mastered it. Nostalgia is everywhere: In our music. Our movies. Our television shows. Our clothes. Our books. We seek the retro fashion of the 1960s or ’80s. TV viewers are mesmerized by award-winning dramas like Downton Abbey and its depiction of Britain’s servants and elite of the 1920s—or Mad Men’s business executives of the ’60s. We dream about the beautiful culture of Paris in the 1890s. Books take us to cities and times that are not our own. In a time when war and political conflict are common, we often yearn for the earth’s simpler “golden” ages.
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Famous Streets: These Roads Are All the Rage
Many big cities around the globe have world-famous streets that provide the culture and excitement you’re looking for, all in one location. Here are some of the most famous, exciting, and culture-infused streets in the world.
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