More of my favorite art, The Musee d'Orsay

The Musee d'Orsay has the best collection of major French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting anywhere in the world. It also has a few other great period pieces. A visit there was a nice and peaceful way to spend an afternoon, exactly what I feel Impressionism was made for.

I saw this Manet a few years ago at the Met in New York, still looks the same I reckon.

Above and below: The museum has a great collection of Art Nouveau furniture and decorations, this section was my personal favorite despite the plethora of famous Manets, Monets, Degas, Tolousse-Lautrecs, and other rediculously famous paintings.

These are from a wall display I loved featuring the props from a famous shadow puppet theater from in Paris during the late 19th century. Other figures include soldiers, armies, bourgoise figures, farmers, animals and more.

A great painting I remember nothing about :(

Chinese Tombs in Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Something I never expected to see in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery was a bunch of tombs for Chinese people and families. Some of them also Christians. Here are just some of the Chinese tombs I found.

Cemetery Fun!

In doing research before I came to Paris, I came across a few websites about increasing tourism in Paris' cemeteries. Two particularly popular stops are the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the Montparnasse Cemetery. I made my way to both on my last full day in Paris, in the cold and under light rain. Still, it was probably the best new thing I did on my trip. I saw the tombstones of people like Edith Piaf, Charles Baudelaire, Jim Morrison, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Man Ray, Serge Gainsbourg, Susan Sontag, Rossini, Oscar Wilde... and a million rich and ornate family tombs some dating back hundreds of years.

Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvior

A personal highlight, the tomb of Serge Gainsbourg

Edith Piaf

Oscar Wilde's tomb, something really amazing and unlike anything else I've ever seen

Pere Lachaise is the older cemetery and seems endless. It feels like miles and miles of tombstones and family plots fighting each other for space and attention. I highly recomend these excursions for a break from museums and other more formal and established tourist sites in Paris. All cemeteries provide a map with the names of noteable people buried there and an approximate location of their tomb.

My favorite art in Paris, some of it anyway

I spent most of my time in Paris wandering (lost is the more accurate word) the halls of "the great museums". Here are some of my favorite pieces.

Above: A great show at the Centre Pompidou on Alexander Calder's Parisian years in the late 20's and early 30's, where he created a toy circus and started the wire scultptures and mobiles that would make him tremendously famous years later in America. This show was my favorite art thing I saw in Paris.

Below: Also at the Pompidou, a giant and complete retrospective on Kandinsky's paintings, prints and drawings.

Above and below: More important stuff (above), and things i really liked (below) from the Pompidou

Above is a Hawaiian funerary mask made of shells. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It was at the Musée du Louvre.

Above and below: Also at the Louvre, Egyptian and Mesopotamian art. Two of my favorite ancient cultures, it was quite amazing to make my way through the vast and well presented collections this museum has.

Figure Drawing

Silvia, Ross and I started hiring models to come to the apartment and host our own figure drawing sessions. We invite friends over for a few hours and turn the upstairs into an open studio of sorts. We've been at it for about 2 months now. These drawings are a few of my favorites from these sessions. The first four were all 5-20 minute poses, the last one is a 2 minute gesture.

The Drum and Bell Towers

All the ancient Chinese capitals have a Ceremonial Drum and Bell Tower near the town center. Both Xi'an and Beijing's are really impressive. Above is the Drum Tower, below is the Bell Tower, below is the Bell Tower.

The travelers. Silvia, Ross, Andy and I in front of the Drum Tower at night.

The Spring Festival City Wall Spectacular!

These great, great things were on the Xi'an city wall during Spring Festival. They're a little craptacular and at night they light up! The colors are really intense, even in the desert-y grey of Xi'an's afternoon skies.

I don't really get this one.

The Terracotta Army

Xi'an's biggest tourist attraction is undoubtedly the Terracotta Warriors. This 3000 year old, completely lifesize ceramic army was only discovered about 30 years ago by a local farmer digging a well. Today the site is still an active archeaological site with thousands of broken and standing soldiers of all ranks, life-size horses, and a full array of ancient weapons spread over half a mile in 3 plots.

Some of the best restored figures are on display on site with real weapons found alongside the soldiers. There were thousands of actual spears, bows and arrows, swords and knives, and crossbows as well as fully equipped chariots.

The sheer number of warriors (over 8,000) is impressive enough, but what really shocked me is the amount of detail in each and every soldier and weapon. Every figure's face and hair is completely unique and retains traces of a once vividly colorful past. Their uniforms, armor, and vestments all have a surprising amount of detail and movement. All weapons are ready for use against any potential enemy, all armed and ready to protect the tomb of Emperor Qin, the first emperor of unified China.

More Fireworks!

We received the new year nearby at our friend Emelie's house. She and her roommates live in the hutong; the old, disappearing Beijing neighborhoods. Her home has a rooftop balcony which allowed us a great view of the night's fireworks.

These are the rooftops and lanterns typical of the hutong (胡同)

Ross

Silvia

Fireworks!

Chinese New Year, called 春节 ( pronounced CHOO-en jiE, means Spring Festival) is in my opinion the best time of year in China. Chinese people go crazy with fireworks for days and days. Here are some pictures of the pre-midnight fireworks we saw from home.

from Silvia's room

upstairs from the open balcony, a bunch of fireworks going off right inside our complex