It is going to be almost three years since I've been living here in Paris and I can only thank my stars that I have been lucky enough to have had the chance to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the world. However, even two and a half years down the line, I still find it hard to think of reaching a point in the near future when I might be done exploring the city.
Just another piece of work on a sequestered wall in Montmartre
There is an endless list of things to do in Paris. Probably that is why I love it. However, all the good things come to an end and I know that I might be moving on to some other part of the world soon. Before that happens, I thought I will jot down a list of my favourite things to do in Paris.
Food
Every city has its own charm and one of the most charming things about Paris is the superlative quality of food everywhere. From the best boulangeries to the amazing cafés, Paris is full of great places to eat. Apart from the regular bistros and brasseries, there are also so many other places to explore in Paris. It wasn't tough for me to decide which food l should start this section with.
Burgers
Burgers = Happiness.... and there are so many burger places serving the much needed happiness in Paris. Although I could easily list out 10 to 20 burger places on my list, I would like to keep this post as short and simple as possible. So out of all the burger places that I have visited these are the ones that I would recommend:
L'Artisan du Burger
Big Fernand
Roomies
Hank Burger
Mamie Burger
Coffee
Coffee is the best way to start a day. Among the cafés that I have visited so far, these are the ones that really made my day:
Holybelly
La Caféothèque de Paris
Strada Café
13- A Baker's Dozen
Matamata Coffee Bar
Other interesting places to eat
Les Antiquaires - My undisputed number one. Almost every dish that they serve is great, never disappoints.
Au Petit Sud Ouest - The best foie gras and duck confit in Paris.
La Gare - It used to be an actual underground Metro station, later converted to a restaurant.
Urfa Dürüm - A small and crowded place but amazing for kebab rolls.
Bouillon Chartier - Classified as a 'monument historique' since 1989.
Things to Do
A post about Paris without the Eiffel Tower is incomplete. So here it is.
The Eiffel Tower
Now let's move on. Paris is home to a few of the most visited monuments and museums in the world. In fact, there are so many famous places in Paris to visit, that even though the city has a giant Ferris Wheel, just like the London Eye and Singapore Flyer, this wheel doesn't even make it to the 'Top things to do in Paris' list.
The Paris Ferris Wheel
Museums
Out of all the museums that I have been to these would be the ones that I liked the most:
Musée du Louvre
Musée d'Orsay
Musée Rodin
Movie Locations
From French Kiss to Da Vinci Code to Inception, all kinds of Hollywood movies have been shot in Paris. If you have the time it is fun to check out a few of the most famous movie locations in Paris. In fact, there are a few Bollywood movies that are set in Paris as well. Significant parts of movies such as Queen, Befikre, Don (the new one released in 2006) and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom were all shot in Paris.
Le Pure Cafe from 'Before Sunset' Then (left) and Now (right)
There is also an app called Secrets de Paris, which contains an endless list of things to do in Paris.
Seine River Cruise
Each and every cruise has its pros and cons. However, the best ones from the tried and tested list are:
Bateau le Calife - Best dinner cruise
Bateaux Parisiens - Best lunch buffet and cruise
Vedettes du Pont-Neuf - Best value for money cruise
View from Bateaux Parisiens
Bastille Day Fireworks
On 14th of July every year, France celebrates the Bastille Day, which commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. This celebration starts with a military parade and a fly-past of the French Air Force in the morning and ends with one of the most spectacular firework displays in the evening. With perfectly coordinated music, lights, and fireworks, it is one of the most beautiful events that I have ever witnessed.
Here's the video. Also, if you're a Coldplay fan like me, here is the shortcut link to the best part...
(Click here for the Coldplay part).
Walk along the Seine
Finally, if you're just looking to just spend a relaxing evening in Paris, you can always take a walk along the river. It's beautiful, buzzing with people and absolutely free!
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." - Ernest Hemingway
After staying in Paris for more than two years, I finally managed to visit the Louvre recently. During this visit, I was surprised to find out that most of the visitors at the museum were there just to see the Mona Lisa. From the moment you enter the museum, you can see almost everyone moving towards Salle des États, the hall where the masterpiece is displayed. Yet according to this article (Read: How Long Does it Take To Look at a Painting?), the average time people spend looking at the Mona Lisa is a mere 15 seconds.
The famous Mona Lisa behind bulletproof glass displayed at the Louvre (Image Courtesy: ourescapades.com/)
The Mona Lisa (a.k.a. La Gioconda, which means The Laughing One in Italian) is undisputedly the most famous painting in the world. It is seen by approximately six million people every year. But why is it so famous? To find out, I did my own research about the painting and found out some interesting facts.
Creator: Leonardo Da Vinci
One of the first reasons why the Mona Lisa was considered a masterpiece initially was because of its creator, Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath with a huge following. With his interests spanning a multitude of areas such as invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography he literally epitomizes the word genius. Leonardo was so famous during his lifetime that the King of France carried him away like a trophy, and is said to have supported him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died.
Apart from the various pieces of art that he produced, he is also credited with the invention of the parachute, helicopter, tank, scuba gear, and self-driven carts (Visit: The Inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci). Da Vinci's top 7 inventions are illustrated in the short video below.
Techniques
Apart from Da Vinci's prodigious patronage, connoisseurs of art also find the Mona Lisa particularly fascinating because of the techniques used by the artist in the painting.
Sfumato: Derived from the Italian word "fumo", meaning "smoke", the technique allows tones and colors to blend gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms. Da Vinci was the most illustrious practitioner of this technique, which was later on used by other famous artists and Da Vinci's followers.
Silberblick: This German technique, which literally means "silver look" in German, creates an illusion that the subject's eyes are always gazing at the person viewing the painting. In this technique, instead of painting symmetrically, the irises of both the eyes are shifted slightly towards the center. This is the reason why the Mona Lisa always appears to be looking at you.
The theft of Mona Lisa
The most recent event that increased the Mona Lisa's popularity exponentially occurred in the twentieth century. On 21 August 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. When one visualizes the Mona Lisa being stolen, the first picture that comes to mind is that of a super smooth museum heist carried out by slick thieves having state of the art tools. However, surprising as it may sound, the Mona Lisa thief (an Italian man named Vincenzo Peruggia) just hid inside the museum overnight knowing that it was going to be closed the next day. In the morning, he removed the painting, hid it under his smock and exited through one of the staff entrances of the museum. The short video below illustrates just how simple it was.
For the next 26 hours, people didn't even notice that the painting was missing. Later on, when the authorities realized that the Mona Lisa had been stolen, the painting was all over the news. In the next few days, thanks to immense media coverage the Mona Lisa was transformed from just another artwork to the symbolic celebrity painting that we know of today. People thronged the Louvre just to see the empty space with four iron pegs on the wall where the Mona Lisa used to be displayed.
Visitors look at the empty space where the Mona Lisa used to be before being stolen (Image Source: pagebenkowski.files)
By stealing the Mona Lisa, Vincenzo Peruggia wanted to prove his patriotism for his country and "return one of the most celebrated Italian artworks back to its homeland". However, the news about the theft spread so fast that Peruggia had to shelve his plans and keep the Mona Lisa hidden in a trunk in his apartment for the next two years. Afterward, Peruggia returned to Italy with the painting. He was finally caught when he tried to contact Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence. Geri took the painting from Peruggia, verified the authenticity, and then informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at the hotel where he was staying. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre on 4 January 1914. Its popularity has been snowballing ever since.
Controversies
Apart from these facts, there are numerous controversies surrounding the Mona Lisa that make it a hot topic for discussion. Out of these, the three main controversies are the ones mentioned below:
Who was Mona Lisa?
The history of the Mona Lisa hides behind a veil of mystery. There are several aspects of the painting which still remain unclear. However, it is widely believed that the lady in the painting was Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. Although most of the evidence about Mona Lisa's identity so far has been inconclusive, in 2015 a team of Italian researchersclaimed to have found the remains of Lisa Gherardini after years examining the remains of bodies buried below the Sant'Orsola convent in Florence(Read: Who was Mona Lisa?).
There is a second Mona Lisa painted by Da Vinci
The Isleworth Mona Lisa, which is a slightly wider version of the Mona Lisa, is also speculated to be a work of Leonardo Da Vinci. The painting was discovered shortly after World War I by an English art collector, Hugh Blaker, in the home of a Somerset nobleman where the painting had been resting for the past 100 years. Later on, Blaker moved the painting to his art studio in Isleworth, London. As the figure in the Isleworth Mona Lisa looks a bit younger, many people surmise that it was painted by Da Vinci before the Louvre Mona Lisa so that he could practice his strokes before creating the final masterpiece.
Left, the Louvre Mona Lisa and, right, the Isleworth Mona Lisa. (Image Source: ft.com)
There is a third Mona Lisa painted by Da Vinci's pupil
Another copy of the Mona Lisa is said to be displayed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. As the details of the painting very closely resemble the Louvre Mona Lisa, it is believed that it could be the work of one of Da Vinci's pupils.
Left, the Louvre Mona Lisa and, right, Prado's Mona Lisa. (Image Source: wikimedia.org)
Is it worth all the hype?
Although I am not the best person to give a verdict on whether the Mona Lisa is worth all the hype, I believe that it is one the very first instances in history of something going 'viral'. Even if I believe that the Mona Lisa is overhyped, I am still writing an article about it. That's the beauty of something going viral! Once people start talking about your work, it keeps on spreading like fire, no matter how good or bad it is.
However, looking back at all the findings, we can definitely infer that the Mona Lisa has had quite an eventful history so far. It is this history, which makes it stand apart from the rest of the paintings in the world.
