My school occasionally does little excursions in the afternoons and I just look over them on the website, but there was one particular excursion to tour Hôtel de Ville that I just couldn't pass up. I missed the day in September where the entirety of Hôtel de Ville is open to the public, including the mayor's office, so I figured this could be the next best thing. I signed Laura up as well, as getting inside is a special treat not shared by many!
I was shocked to see the inside with its beautiful statues, painted ceilings, and crown molding to impress (I don't know why...that seems to be a standard in EVERY French building to date). It was very grandiose and magnificent. Our group was fairly large the old creaky floors didn't allow much listening to go on, that, and perhaps the fact that whenever someone says a year/date in France I lose all content after I hear it and have to concentrate on what year is being said. Example: 1899 is said, mille huit cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. I don't know why but numbers here are my enemy. Still not even really sure those hyphens are right.
The original Hôtel de Ville was burned down in 1871 and the new one that we see today was inaugurated in 1882.
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| The main room, can accommodate up to 800 people. |
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| Ladies painted on the ceiling represent each region of France. Here? Bourgogne and Bretagne. |
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| Stately. No? |
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| New mayor Maggie of Paris? Has a nice ring to it don't ya think? |
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| Being silly. I imagine there is going to be a lot of that going on next week in Italy. |
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| Just your average ceiling. |
It was certainly worth going and I'm so glad I looked ahead of time for this one! Apparently they do tours Monday-Friday with a rdv ahead of time, and I totally suggest it to anyone interested! It's one of those mystery buildings where we
think we know what's going on behind those doors but really....you don't......ha!
And yes, I am again taking an 8 day hiatus from the blog! I may sneak in a couple of updates but nothing too important. I will be viewing da Vinci's
The Last Supper in Milan
, taking romantic boat rides on the canals of Venice (with Laura of course..ha!), drinking from the WINE FOUNTAIN in Piazza San Marco, celebrating Mardi Gras and Carnival in one of the most popular Carnival destinations in the world, making wishes into the Trevi Fountain, and strolling along the Tiber.
Life's ROUGH....no?!
Luckily after the spelling reforms in 1990, the French made one thing about their language easy. Any time you numbers, there are hypens, e.g. 1789= mille-sept-cent-quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. Of course they could have made it even easier like the Swiss and Belgians and just used septante, huitante, and nonante. Although for some reason the Belgians still use quatre-vingts.
ReplyDeleteDon't be discourage by French numbers is the moral of this story. Heck, I'm getting my PhD in French Linguistics and I still bumble over numbers.
All right, Mah-gee, now that Italy is over, it is time for you to get back to your main job of throwing stuff up on this blog so that we can continue to hang on your every word. You've had 2 weeks off, and we are WAITING for your next entry. Photos of phountains would be nice, also. I have missed seeing you here.
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