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Paris

Photo Essay: Sainte-Chapelle in Paris

Every once in a while I just have to go back to the roots. Back to my roots as an art historian. I can't go too long without writing about my beloved Gothic cathedrals. If you have read my little art historical background you know that I decided to become an art historian while being moved to tears in the shimmering ambulatory of Basilique Saint Denis, one of the most magnificent Gothic cathedrals of all times. Medieval churches are my favorite places, my emotional safe havens. They are places to calm down, to think, to catch your breath, to be still. To [...]

By |2015-05-11T09:10:56+02:002013/08/07|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , , , , , |14 Comments

Photo Essay: Canal Saint-Martin – The Different Paris

We've all seen 'those' Paris photos: The unmistakable landmarks, the fancy cafés and the wide boulevards. And although I truly adore all these features of the stunning French capital, I've always longed to see another Paris -- to look beyond the picture-perfect façades of ornamental balconies and beyond what first-time visitors see of Paris. For my visit to Paris last month, I booked a hostel located near Place de la République which turned out to be the perfect location to explore an entirely different kind of Paris: Canal Saint-Martin. To be honest, until recently, I didn't even know that Paris had [...]

By |2013-08-03T18:31:56+02:002013/07/08|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , , |6 Comments

Photo Essay: Place des Vosges on a Summer Morning

Usually I never sleep in when I’m visiting a city for only a few days, because I just don’t want to waste any of my precious time sleeping. But still, I rarely leave my hostel before 9 am (which I still consider somewhat early!). On my June visit to Paris however, I arrived in the City of Lights at 5.30 am in the morning. Obviously, I couldn’t check into my hostel this early so I had no other choice but to go out and explore Paris while it was slowly waking up on that beautiful warm June morning. Sideways were [...]

By |2013-07-16T21:50:38+02:002013/07/01|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , , |7 Comments

Photo Essay: The Centre Pompidou

It was during my last years in high school during my art class when I realized that I'm biased when it comes to architecture. I quickly fell in love with medieval cathedrals and I admired ancient Greek and Roman architecture. I learned to read Renaissance footprints and I was charmed by ornament-rich 19th century historicism. But at in the beginning of the 20th century architecture somehow lost me… When I saw a photo of Paris' huge museum for modern art for the first time, my reaction simply was "ugh, that's ugly". And it's true, the Centre Pompidou cannot be considered [...]

By |2013-07-06T21:25:37+02:002013/06/25|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , , , , , |8 Comments

Photo Essay: The Promenade Plantée

In a city like Paris you can never see it all. And Paris and I sort of have the tradition that every time I get back from a trip, I hear about a really cool thing to see or place to have coffee at within a week of my return, which I have just missed. When I got back from my visit to Paris in November -- on which I in fact managed to see a lot of the lesser known attractions like the Jardin des Plantes and Cimetière de Montmartre -- I learned about one place I definitely had [...]

By |2013-06-30T23:11:37+02:002013/06/17|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , |8 Comments

The Truth About Paris on a Budget

Paris on a budget? Isn't that a paradox? A city with incredibly high rents, a city where desserts are topped with gold foil, a city where the most expensive handbags have to be updated every season? A few months back, I just randomly booked hostel in Paris on a whim. Just because I felt like it, but I didn't really think I would actually go. It was just one of those procrastination things I did while writing my thesis -- reading hostel reviews, comparing prices, researching about which arrondissements are good areas to stay in for a girl traveling solo. [...]

By |2015-08-13T09:06:35+02:002013/06/12|Categories: Destinations, Europe, France|Tags: , , , |26 Comments

The Street Art of Paris – In Pictures

I don't know how I discovered street art. Somehow it was suddenly there. Maybe I am just a lemming of a huge new hipster street art hype. But no matter how I came to like street art in the first place, I know I do. A lot. And Paris has plenty of street art. un regard est si vite arrivé - a glance happens quickly by MissTic During my first visit to Paris back in 2006, I was totally fascinated by the stencils of the French artist MissTic. Her art was omnipresent in Montmartre back then. So even without even [...]

By |2013-05-07T04:40:41+02:002012/12/20|Categories: Destinations, Europe, France|Tags: , , , |6 Comments

Photo Essay: The Louvre in the Rain

Paris in the rain is one of the prettiest clichés in the world... Paris is gorgeous in the sunshine, romantic at night - but it feels most unreal and beautiful in the rain. This may sound like a combination of a Woody Allen movie and a Cole Porter song, but for me it's most certainly true. When I was about to enter the central square of the Palais du Louvre last month in Paris there was a sudden massive cloudburst. Within seconds the downpour wetted the large Louvre court. All the tourists that were posing in front of the pyramid before [...]

By |2013-06-23T22:29:23+02:002012/12/03|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: , , , , |2 Comments

A Walk Around Cimetière de Montmartre

I admit I'm a little quirky... I love the middle ages, I love churches, I love Gothic architecture. And with all that comes that I also truly love cemeteries. It sounds morbid, but I like the intense stillness on graveyards. The veneration that slightly overcomes you, and the subtle shivering that makes you hush... It inspires me. When I visited Paris six years ago, I was really sad that I did not make it to the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. I wanted to see it ever since. When I spontaneously spent a weekend in Paris this month my host and personal guide Janina, [...]

By |2013-05-07T04:41:16+02:002012/11/30|Categories: Destinations, Europe, France|Tags: , , , |6 Comments

Around the World in 80 Coffees?!

When I was skimming through the pictures I took on my trips during the last year I realized that I developed a strange habit: I take pictures of my coffees. A lot. It may be an unconscious result of my addiction, but I consider coffee to be picture-worthy. And pretty. And very cultural. Are you aware that "Coffee" is one of the easiest words to learn in so many languages? Coffee, café (French, Portuguese, Spanish - all covered in one word!), caffè (Italian), Kaffee (German), koffie (Dutch), káva (Czech, Slovakian), kava (Croatian, Slovenian, Lithuanian - again, 3 languages, one word!), kaffe (Norwegian, Swedish), [...]

By |2013-05-07T04:41:25+02:002012/11/24|Categories: Specials|Tags: , , , , , , |24 Comments
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