Hello, everyone!

Well, I'm back from a 13 day trip to Paris and the Netherlands. Wow, that was certainly something. A whirlwind of walking, sketching, photographing, filming, analyzing, presenting, touring, travelling, and more made this quite an exhausting, but extremely fun trip. I feel like my worldview has been drastically enlarged in only a couple of short weeks. In short, Europe is still amazing.

I will be sending this Paris report in segments. It spans five days and an absurd number of photographs, so I would suggest clearing your email if you want to continue receiving them. It'll be about 13.4 megs of photos when all is said and done, and that'll only be half of my trip! Yes, I do indeed take way too many photos, but that's what makes me... me!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006

We boarded a TGV train to Paris midmorning and arrived at the capital of France around 2:00 in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel (the Hotel Royal Bastille again), we set out on our way for our first [half] day of field exercises.

We got off the metro stop at Hotel de Ville and emerged to a spectacularly massive stone building towering over a plaza. This used to be an aristocratic estate, but now I'm told it's a museum that isn't always open. We didn't actually visit Hotel de Ville, so unfortunately I don't know much about it.

However, we continued on our way to our first stop: the museum of archeology, which was supposed to show us the Roman origins of Paris and explain the historic growth of the city. Imagine our professor's dismay when we walk to the plaza at Notre Dame and descend the stairs to the museum entrance (the museum is actually located under the plaza and extends slightly under the cathedral), only to find that the museum is closed on Mondays. Our professor's face went from exhuberant anticipation to squashed disappointment in an instant. The look of dispair on his face was comically agonizing, like the look of a child who opens up his Christmas present only to find a pair of socks, or perhaps the look of George W. Bush when he's trying to do a Sudoku. In any case, he claimed that the web site and his tour book had said the museum was supposed to be closed on Tuesdays, not Mondays.

Not to fear. We did have arguably the world's most famous cathedral a hundred yards next to us.

Here is the Cathedral of Notre Dame. In all her majestic glory.

And here is a closer look using my patented "diagonally framed photo shot." Okay, not really my shot. But it looks nice, eh?

Inside, a long central nave is filled with ethereal light. The cathedral was crowded with tourists, but it still commanded the silencing awe that all such buildings do. And so, even though were were mobs of people sightseeing, the volume level was still relatively low.

Here's a look at the nave wall, which emphasizes the verticality found in cathedrals of this time.

The quality of light here is exquisite. The stainted glass windows playing on the rib vaulting and arching show just how beautifully immaculate the Gothic Style could be.

Outside, there is a little park behind Notre Dame with gardens and a fountain. You can see the flying buttresses projecting out from this side.

Our second and final stop of the day was the Pompidou Center, a very controversial building (when it opened in 1977) that has become Paris' most popular tourist destination and a jewel of the city, even to the Parisians! (The French, it seems, have a long and repeated history of despising anything new, modern, and drastically different that is built, then warming up to it over time, and then eventually loving it so much that they could not imagine the city without it.) The Pomidou Center features a completely open interior plan on five levels, each supported by 14 ong trusses that rest on columns on either side. Architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano also turned the building inside out, placing all the electrical, plumbing, mechanical, circulation, and ventilation systems on the outside. They even color coded them to communicate the systems to the public, although most people simply felt that the building had "vomited its innards." This is all to reinforce the idea of a totally free plan, meaning everything inside the building could be rearranged in any manner. Walls could be moved, removed, or added in any way, without worring about structure and loads.

There's also the exterior planning. This design was one of the few submitted entries to the contest that did not use the entire site. Instead, Rogers and Piano crafted large, public squares that encouraged people to congregate and infuse the surrounding area with life. The Center is located in The Halles, and area that had been derilect after World War II. So this project certainly revitalized things, and we saw firsthand how popular it was. Children frolicked around (and sometimes in) the fountains, sat on the hardscape, chatted, and just generally hung out. It was quite wonderful to see such liveliness in the city, especially since I'm from Los Angeles, and our Downtown absolutely sucks.

From atop the Pompidou Center, guests could see great views of the Paris skyline. This view shows La Defense in the distance. La Defense was planned as a new business/commercial downtown, only it was placed at the edge of the city. In a way, it began life like what L.A.'s downtown is today: people went to work there in the day, and at night it was deserted. But then they got smart and added residential areas, retail, and honed the plan, so that now, it's a pretty nice (and ultra-modern-looking) place. Notice what looks like part of a cube with a hole in it in the center of that cluster of buildings. That's the Grand Arch, which is meant to call back to the Arc de Triumphe. La Defense lies on a perfect axis off the Champs Elysses, so if you draw a line extending that boulevard outward, it goes right through the Arc de Triumphe and later, right through the Grand Arch.

And, um, you can see the Eiffel Tower too. Like I said, magnificent views.

One note about the Paris Metro system: it is WONDERFUL! The Metro system is basically light rail, mostly underground (ala a subway) but sometimes above ground as well. It is incredibly efficient (you're never supposed to be more than 500 meters from a station) and pretty fast (I've never seen trains more than 7 minutes apart, and they're usually more like 2-4 minutes apart). And they take you everywhere in the city. I asked a bit about the history, and apparently, the Metro system was began at the beginning of the 20th century. Paris had the foresight to build mass transit for its citizens. I wish LA had kept with their's. *sigh*

Anyway, the Metro system is great, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that light rail is indeed the only possible way LA may ever have a successful mass transit system.

So that's Monday. We finished up around 7:00 after going into the Pompidou Center and looking at the modern art exhibits (perhaps I'll throw up photos of those later if anyone's interested) and had dinner. And then we might have gone out for drinks... I don't remember. The next reply will cover Tuesday, which was a day spent covering the "hotel" type. And back then, "hotel" did not mean what it does today... more on that later. =)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

This was a day spent studying the "hotel" building type in Paris... and a night spent exploring the city.

The hotel type, as our instructor explained to us, refers not to places where visitors now stay en masse, but rather the style that aristocratic homes used to be made. Often, these places were composed of the actual house surrounding multiple courtyards. One would serve as an entrance off the street and allow carriages to pull in and maneuver around before exitting. Others often became gardens or private gathering spaces.

Our first visit was to Hotel de Sully. A garden greeted us in the back.

Exiting through a door in the building shown above took us to Place de Vosges, a square park surrounded by buildings following the same layout all around (with subtle differences). This park was built for Louis XVI, I believe. Famous people like Victor Hugo have also lived in the houses around. I think.

Our last stop of the day was at the Musee Carnavalet, which featured a wealth of historical art depicting France from medieval times through post-Revolution and even to the 20th century. The building's courtyards, however, were lovely.

Yup, lovely.

I also love the stone and detail used on the building articulation.

Later that night, I decided to take a little expedition of my own and visit the Arc de Triumphe. I didn't feel I was getting the most out of my week-long Metro pass. We'd been walking more than taking the subway! In any case, I made my way to the Charles de Gaulle / Etoile stop and emerged at Napoleon's greatest monument (I mean that in a literal size sense).

The Arc de Triumphe was big, all right, and the roundabout that surrounded it was massive, but after a while, it was simply an arch. I guess I say that because I didn't have a chance to go up to the top, so there's only so much one can do standing around it.

Definitely big though.

Then I walked down the Champs Elysses. Here, for the first time, I saw real traffic in Paris. This thing's as clogged as the Las Vegas Strip! Cars everywhere despite the wide boulevard, and plenty of life on the sides.

The Metro closes at 12 nightly (meaning the last train leaves its first stop at 12), and though it was nearing midnight, I decided to get off and make a detour at nearby Notre Dame and see it at night, then walk back to the hotel. After getting off at the Hotel de Ville stop, I promptly got myself lost for five minutes until I found a well lit, relatively populated spot and whipped out my map. After figuring out where I was, it was time to visit Notre Dame... after dark!

I think it was worth it. The cathedral is gorgeous at night.

This picture shows the east side of the building. I did a longer exposure, and though the full sized version is a little blurred (you can probably tell here as well), I thought the lighting that came out looked very ethereal. The building positively glowed, almost in a heavenly way.

Much clearer this time, here's a zoomed out view of the cathedral, with the moon to the right.

And here's a really nice shot (one of my personal favorites) of the cathdral across the Seine River.

Finally, as I was walking home, I noticed some police boats searching for something or someone in the Seine. There were ambulances on the bridge over the water, and while I'm not sure what really happened, I can only guess they were looking for some bloke who fell or jumped in.

That covers Tuesday. A very fun night, personally. And I walked a LOT!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

This was a museum day. We went around to various museums and institutes to study things.

This is the Pavilion d'Arsenal, a museum devoted to the architectural and urban development of Paris. The main lobby has a nice arched truss space and is pretty neat.

There's a giant model of Paris featured front and center. Projections shine on it showing development of the city through the centuries, green space, places, and other city icons.

This is La Defense, the "business downtown" located on the outskirts of town, on its northwest edge. Its style is totally different from that of Paris proper, and many people decried it as a Los Angelesfication of the city. However, they seem to have straightened things out by adding residential towers and retail to keep the district active at day and night. Keeping the main plinth of the development pedestrian (all streets pass underneath) helps too.

This is the Institute of the Arab World, by Jean Nouvel. It's best known for its light-controlling irises that open and close to control the amount of light that enters this center.

Another view. You get screened when you go in. My [Jewish] friend Jason joked, "What are the metal detectors for, to make sure you HAVE a bomb?" Yeah... terrible. LOL

On the roof deck, you get a really nice view of the city. Here's Notre Dame.

And here's me in front of Notre Dame. Sort of.

Here's an example of the irises that I mentioned earlier. They open and close to allow more or less light into the interior of the building and form the building skin for the entire south facade, creating an abstract pattern not unlike that of Islamic art.

And the interior light is pretty nice as a result. The panels were also a lot bigger than I expected. They're basically taller than a person!

Walking to our next destination, we passed by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Again. I keep on taking pictures of it because it keeps on being gorgeous.

This is the Musee Quai Branly (literally, the Branly Street Museum, I guess). It opened only a few months ago and is also designed by Jean Nouvel. The museum is devoted to primitive art and features exhibits on art and crafts of old civilizations around the world. We were here, however, to study how the architect engaged the site. We were encouraged to think about our own site, which is similar in size and scale.

I found a lot of great architectural "moments" while strolling around. In addition to lifting up the building so that the landscape flows underneath, Nouvel also utilized a lot of sun shading devices, cutting into the space around the buildings.

Did I mention it's like right next to the Eiffel Tower?

I like the louvers. And the garden that flows underneath. Now, normally, when you put a building above something, the space below it seems dead and dark. Not so here. The roof above you when you're underneath is undulated and sculpted to look like a different facade. The building is also at least 20 feet up, so there's plenty of light to come through, since the only support structures in the way are a group of pretty sturdy columns spaced 60 or more feet apart (I'm estimating based on visual memory).

So after we were let out, my friend KT and I decided to go to the Eiffel Tower and take pictures.

Here's me acting like an idiot.

The whole group (well, nearly) went back later that night to take pictures and go up the tower. This shot shows the tower during its light show, which occurs once every half hour. As I discovered after uploading the pics to my computer, these pictures were harder to take, because the rapidly blinking white lights made it hard to focus on anything. Quirk of the camera, basically.

Here's the tower again, looking normal.

Going up the tower provides some nice aerial views of the city.

The Arc de Triomphe from the top of the tower.

And here's the Musee Quai Branly from the air. It glows. Quite pretty. I liked it alot.

I heard this from a person we chatted with briefly that day: In a country whose history is dominated by short men with massive (overcompensating) egos (Napoleon comes to mind), it's appropriate that Paris' crowning icon is a 1000 foot phallus." =D

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006

This would be a day devoted to places (plazas). To get a sense of the urban network of the city, we'd visit several places to study the manner in which they brought people and cars together, and how buildings and programs were organized around them. But first, we had to pay a visit to the Archeology Museum that we missed on Monday.

Here's a shot inside the museum. Basically, some number of years ago, they wanted to build a parking lot under the plaza in front of the Notre Dame cathedral. And then they found Roman ruins dating back to the origins of the city. Well, this being France and not the U.S., they simply moved the parking structure deeper into the ground and make a museum around the ruins. Problem solved! The result was the Archeology museum, which has Roman ruins on display in an underground building.

Next was Place de Vendome, featuring Napoleon's big column tribute to... himself. Yeah, I don't think it's a mystery that he was a very insecure man.

We arrived at Place de Marché around lunchtime. This was a different style, organized more like a street than a central plaza. The middle is a pedestrian route, and cars navigate around the perimeter. There are a host of nice restaurants with outdoor dining spots as well. It's quite nice, really, although I'm not too much of a fan of the all glass building.

Sketching "inside" the central path. That's my friend, Yusheen.

Did I mention I *love* the streets of Paris? So full of historic character. You don't find this in LA. Or if you do, it's deserted.

At the Palais Royal, there is a sculpture exhibit with a bunch of highly reflective chrome spheres.

Beyond that is a courtyard with a bunch of columns. Oddly enough, despite initial criticism, it's proven very popular. Probably because it invokes people's natural desire to climb things.

Example: Greg, who scaled this taller column.

He's so high up!!!

Eventually, all of us got on a row of columns, and our instructor took a photo. This picture, though, was before I got up.

And finally, our day ended at the world-famous Louvre Museum. Here's the trademark glass pyramid that marks the entrance. Designed by I.M. Pei, it ingeniously reconciles the old palace with the need for something that looked modern. Like all new things Parisian, it caused an outcry at the time ("It doesn't look like the palace! It clashes! It's hideous!") but has become accepted over time.

Lets not forget that the Louvre used to be a royal palace. As such, it's sprawling and exquisite.

Close up of the pyramid juxtaposed in front of the Richileiu Wing of the museum (I believe).

And there's me.

And there's me recognizing there's a glass pyramid.

We didn't go into the exhibits on this evening, since we got to the museum with only a hour to spare, and 11 euros for an hour at the Louvre really doesn't seem worth it--especially since it's free on Friday nights after 6. So we went through the free parts of the Louvre instead...

Here's the pyramid inversee, an inverted glass pyramid on the west end of the complex. Could I really be standing on the final resting place of Mary Magdeline??? (Da Vinci Code allusion).

It's crazy how I can hold the whole pyramid up, eh?

Once we emerged outside, we decided to take a stroll through the Tuileries Gardens, a sprawling park that connects the Louvre to the Champs Elysses.

Here's a view back toward the museum at the Arc de Carrousel. Small tidbit: a carousel used to be a place where horses were parked after being unhitched from carriages during parties and such. They circled around the carousel until the party was over and were then rehitched to their carriage to be driven to the main entrance to pick up their passengers. Later on, makers of amusement park rides used the same term for what is now commonly referred to as a merry-go-round. Small tidbit #2: the difference between a carousel and a merry-go-round? A carousel can only have horses; no other animals. A merry-go-round has any sort of animal. So if it has more than horses, it's not technically a carousel.

The Tuileries Gardens. Very, very beautiful.

Ducks at a fountain. This picture's for my brother, Raymond. And my friend, Chloe, too, I suppose. =P

Place de Concorde, at the other end of the park. You can see the Eiffel Tower from here, obviously...

As well as the start of the Champs Elysses.

Paris rules.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

Our last field study day in Paris. Talk about a lot of sketching! Saturday would be a free day off, and Sunday would be a travel day to the Netherlands. So this was the end of the first spurt.

It was also our first bad-weather day in France. But you can't have everything, I suppose.

Most of day was spent on a new development by the 13th Arrondisement (district) of the city, "ZAC River Seine," located on a long trapezoidal patch of land by Gare Austerlitz. Home to the Bibliotheque National (National Library), this area was divided into three zones and meant as a large scale residential, retail, and office development meant to link two sides of the city that had been split by the rail lines running from the Austerlitz station. They basically buried the rails and built on top of it. I wish we could do cool stuff like that in the U.S.

So here's the first parcel of ZAC on a gloomy day. Not as vibrant as the other areas of Paris, but then again, it's still under development technically.

The national library. There's a foresty courtyard below that you can't actually enter, and the four trademark towers of the library store a kabazillion books.

A nice thing about the ZAC project is that they have different areas, each with their own rules for design, that set a guideline on general features buildings should have but still allow for variety. Another nice thing is that many of the buildings try to be sustainable or keep landscaping into mind. Like this pleasant little private courtyard with a playground and park.

The newest bridge to cross the Seine is this sexy footbridge. It's got sexy curves.

Indeed, USC structures professor Goetz Schierle would love this.

On the other side was Parc de Bercy, which features a really cool cascading fountain water feature thing (how eloquent was that jarble?) leading down to the entrance of the park.

At the far end is the relatively new Cinematheque Francaise, which reminds me of what Frank Gehry originally wanted to do with the Disney Concert Hall (back in the late 1980s): create crazy shapes like the one that was built, except wrap it in stone.

Later that day, we went to the Pantheon. No, not the one in Rome, the one in Paris. Which is giant and classical and similarly shaped (thought a lot bigger). This is where some of France's greatest figures are buried in crypts underground.

Inside, they had some massive art exhibit with lots of hanging orbs. Insert your own testicles joke here.

Great Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire is buried here. So's Rousseau.

Here's a set of tombs in the crypt. Other famous bodies here include Marie and Pierre Curie, Victor Hugo, and Alexander Dumas.

Balls. Or as the British would say... bollucks.

We took a tour to the top of the Pantheon, which offers great views of the city. Too bad it was gray and drizzling.

And here's me.

At the end of the day, we decided to visit the Louvre Museum. As I mentioned in the last email, it's free on Fridays after 6 (until 9, when the museum closes). So there's no way we were going to pass this up! Our main goal was to hit the big three exhibits (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace), then see what other exhibits we could stroll through. Yup, three weeks worth of artwork in three hours. Or as much as we could do.

Here's the Venus de Milo.

An interior shot of the museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Mona Lisa, so the four of us used a group effort to sneak a pic (I distracted, two others blocked, one took the photo).

When we emerged from the Louvre just before 9, it was dark.

But still beautiful.

Lastly, a picture of me with Sarah and KT (left and right respectively).

Tomorrow... Disneyland Paris! Yup. No way would I miss a perfect chance to visit one of my favorite parks of all time--favorite even though I'd never been there before.