After walking around the city, it’s easy to see that Paris has a wealth of phallic symbols, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, etc…
Joke if you must also about France’s Napoleon complex, but whatever shortcomings we may think they have, I believe the Parisians have some serious bragging rights: look left, look right, look behind you…everywhere there is an architectural marvel to behold. One of my favorite monuments is definitely the Eiffel Tower. There is a lush park around the base of the tower and it often feels like Jurassic Park to me, with the tower stretching its long neck over the treetops like some giant metal dinosaur.
In fact, I see some parallel in these next two pictures:
Besides the obvious tourists, other people also come here to celebrate certain hallmarks in their lives, so it’s always fun just to people watch if you don’t mind the crowd. If this picture below had been taken at night I would wonder how many of these people here had just gotten engaged. It’s almost like the base of the tower frames life’s events into a single photograph:
But my favorite view of the Eiffel Tower is from a near distance, because it reminds me of the giddy anticipation I always feel when approaching it. It always feels like a first date.
Tags: dinosaur, Eiffel Tower, Jurassic Park, Obelisk, Paris, phallic symbol, Place de la Concorde
I’ve not lived in Paris but have spent enough time there for each subsequent visit to trigger a sense of deja vu. The nice thing about visiting Paris is that it seems to take on a different hue each season, so even if you walk through the same neighborhood every single time it still feels like a new discovery, albeit amidst familiarity. Same, same but different. To me, Paris is the perfect city for photography. Morning, noon, or night you can take brilliant pictures without doing anything. The iconic architecture does it all for you. You can basically stand anywhere, even just outside of a metro stop, and your picture will look very…Parisian:
There’s no mistaking this city for any other place in the world. In my next few blogs, I will feature some pictures of what it’s been like for me to be a Vietnamese-American in Paris, if only for just a few days.
On this particular trip I get to experience the city in the middle of a heat wave. It feels like the entire planet has converged in Paris. Tourists pour into every air conditioned inch of the city, and where there is no cool air I find the Parisians out and about. The Tuileries Garden is covered by people baking in the sun, and picnic baskets are everywhere. The steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica are always packed, but during these hot few days, the masses are out in droves. I suppose it is as crowded as it gets during the holy days when pilgrimages are made. I hide in the chapel for about an hour to lower my body temperature. Plus the nuns are singing when I’m there. Whether you are a religious person or not, the sheer acoustics in this Byzantine basilica move you to believe in something greater than yourself, your universe. Here are pictures of the trek to the top of the hill in Montmartre:
I always make time to stop by the Sacré-Cœur because there’s no better view of the city than from the front steps of the church:
There’s a greener path around the side of the church that winds down to a park below. That park is also jampacked with families and couples.
Tomorrow, more sights from my walking tour. À demain!
Tags: basilica, France, Montmartre, Paris, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries Garden
Note: click on any of the pictures in my blog to enlarge it.
If you think about it, every time you put a bunch of people together, a leader emerges. I bet even in the days when man first started walking upright there was a designated cave captain. So whether you assume the top dog position by force or by birthright, somewhere somehow you get to enjoy the swanky digs that come with the power. It’s no different in Japan. After a fierce struggle against the shogunate forces, the Emperor restored his power in 1868 and in 1869 moved his residence from the Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyōto Gosho) to the Tokyo Imperial Palace (Kōkyo). Can you imagine the move way back then without U-Haul? Just think about the blood and sweat that went into building these palaces from the ground up! It’s nice to be Emperor but God help those who were born to serve him. Today’s photo essay contrasts these two great structures. It’s a tale of two palaces.
The first thing I notice is that the palace in Tokyo is now surrounded by highrises. The moat around the palace couldn’t be more appropriate in marking the balance between modern and imperial Japan.
Inside the gates:
The grounds are enormous and I’m exhausted just thinking about the staff it must take to maintain this place.
In Kyoto, more of the grounds is open to the public so I’m able to take some interior shots. Notice the roof made of cypress…
…the Emperor’s symbol decorates the roofline…
Here’s a glimpse of one of the great halls as I approach the courtyard of the palace:
On the walls of the chamber are rich silk screens:
This sure is nice real estate if you can get it. Wish I were Emperor for a day.
Tags: cypress, imperial palaces, Kokyo, Kyoto Gosho, silkscreen
I believe every cultural stereotype the world has about Japan can be found in Kyoto. Once the imperial capital of Japan, this city is presently and understandably a tourism hotspot. Come visit Kyoto in the Spring and be enthralled by the blooming cherry trees that line the magnificent palaces, shrines, and temples. To see these flowers in person is to understand why the sakura is a national obsession.
I’ve read that the cherry blossoms represent many things, from love to Spring to affection to rebirth. But my favorite analogy is to the fleeting nature of life; the flowers have a very short blooming period and the story is that a cherry blossom was painted on the side of war planes by pilots about to go on kamikaze missions to represent how quickly life can come and go. So the blossom then took on new patriotic meaning. It was a stirring reminder of blind devotion to country. Leave it to the Japanese to relate serene beauty to something as violent as death in battle. This is the incongruity that I sense in quite a bit of their culture and history. It’s complex, hard to decipher. I can’t get enough of it.
In ancient Kyoto you can walk through the Gion or Pontocho geisha quarters and soak up the history of days gone by…
In fact, if you don’t have a lot of time but would like to catch a show that includes 6 or 7 of their national art forms, stop by the Gion Corner (Kyoto Traditional Musical Theater) and get a taste of Bunraku (puppet play)…
Chado (tea ceremony)…
Kyomai (dance)–here is the Cherry Blossoms dance:
Here are some videos of the dancing–I think they should be called the Kyoto Rockettes:
Two short videos of another performance. Too bad lack of planning gets me cheap seats and the performers look like ants, but check out the killer kimonos:
Then there are the historic monuments of ancient Kyoto (collectively designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site) such as the amazing Nijo Castle built by shoguns (more sites to come in later blogs):
Don’t even get me started on the history of shoguns! Perhaps their legend has been romanticized too much in film, but it is the power struggle that plagued each shogunate that I find so interesting. It is not much different from the fierce battles we find in corporate America (and the world) today. But in lieu of assassination attempts on the life of a competing shogun, the corporate world now wields just as sharp a sword in taking down the reputation or power of modern moguls. The code of the old boys’ network remains the same, as does the paranoia. Speaking of paranoia, in the Nijo Castle above, they installed a nightingale floor (uguisubari) that “chirped” when walked upon to alert guards to any intruders. Is that any less efficient than today’s alarm system? I have to say, though, that the armors worn by shoguns back then were way cooler than our power business suits:
I am certain that in one of my past lives I was a shogun who got to ride a beautiful white horse through the evergreen forest that I blogged about yesterday regarding the Meiji Shrine. How else could I explain feeling such a profound sense of connection to that place the first time I set foot there? Well, I named one of my cats Shogun. Does that count?
I’ve saved the most beautiful sight in Kyoto for last. Kinkaku-ji (or more formally Rokuon-ji ) or Golden Pavilion Temple is covered in pure gold leaf and probably one of the most photographed temples in the world. It sits in a pond surrounded by an idyllic strolling garden and, to me, captures the very essence of Japanese aesthetics, bringing sky, land, and water together in perfect harmony:
Tags: bunraku, cherry blossoms, Gion Corner, Golden Pavilion, Japan, kamikaze, Kinkaku-ji, kyomai, Kyoto, nightingale floor, Nijo Castle, Rockettes, sakura, shogun
Regardless of your personal position on whether the sun does rise above its empire, Japan is one of those places that you must experience in 3-D to appreciate. From everything I’ve ever read or heard about Japan, their minimalist aesthetics and obligation for order have always resonated with me. Their culture seems to operate on a higher level of civility. I couldn’t wait to see whether the polite restraint exercised in their art forms of ikebana (traditional flower arrangement) or bonsai (container grown plants) or chado (tea ceremony) permeated other parts of their daily life. Or whether this controlled facade is just a mask to a much more flamboyant society that’s waiting to burst at the seams. Otherwise, how else do you reconcile the outrageous fashion found on the streets of Harajuku with the elegance of Ginza? Personally I’d love to be 19 and living in Tokyo just to wear outrageous outfits daily and fit in by not fitting in. But I also love to see kimonos on a busy street:
I got a sliver of an answer from my first real interaction with a local Japanese when I was rushing to board a train from the airport. You have to understand, my biggest nightmare is always fighting the crowd on a train with suitcases in hand, so my instinct is to kick into running back mode and prepare myself for the onslaught. The mission is always to be the first one on in order to find space for the luggage. Hey, when you weigh 90 pounds you can’t afford to just waltz in at the last second where mass transportation is concerned. Anyway, as I hurried to board the train, an older, uniformed man stepped in front of me and shooed me with his hands without speaking above a whisper. Realizing that I did not understand Japanese, he pointed at his watch and then got on the train ahead of me, signaling for me to step back behind the line marker on the platform. Then he pulled out a towel and wiped down the seats, windows, and doors. When done, he half nodded and half bowed at me, motioning for me to embark. I’d been in Japan for less than half and hour and already felt like a barbarian at the gate. Konichiwa Tokyo! I’d just been schooled. Only heathens dream of rushing on a public train without refreshing the cabins first, right?
Tokyo is like any large, overcrowded metropolis in the world. Except you don’t feel the frenzy of Hong Kong or New York there. Chaos inevitable from the sheer number of people is never evident, even in the middle of a very busy, crowded rush hour. Yes, people are walking very rapidly, and yes, you do fall into the patterns set by the school of human sardines on the trains just like in the movies, and yet it is all very efficient. Drama free. Detached. Politesse, whether genuine or fake, goes a long way in crowd control. But perhaps above all, I always feel safe in Tokyo. Where else but here would I find very young schoolgirls traveling on their own on the subway?
There are many beautiful sites to visit in any of the 23 wards within the prefecture of Tokyo. But for me, hands down, the most romantic stroll in the world is the long walk from the torii (wooden gate or as my father later tells me literally means “bird dwelling”) at the entrance of the park to the Meiji shrine itself.
I’m trying to wrap my arms around the pole to show how big it is:
To many people this is just any evergreen forest. But what makes it extraordinary is the fact that this 175-acre forest is smack dab in the middle of the concrete jungle of Tokyo. And as soon as you enter the gate, any sign of a modern Japan disappears.
There are two major areas (Naien and Gaien) of the shrine. In one area, there is a treasure museum of the Emperor and Empress. In the other there are sports facilities and a memorial hall.
Many weddings take place here, and on one of my visits I am lucky enough to witness a wedding party having their pictures professionally taken:
Here are more pictures of the shrine:
The walk along the long gravel road is great exercise not only for the body but also the mind. It is so…zen here that you can literally cleanse the toxins of the busy world outside with every step you take into the forest…
But Tokyo is so much more than its shinto shrines, and my next blogs will reveal other sights and sounds of the city.
Tags: bonsai, ginza, harajuku, ikebana, Japan, kimono, Meiji shrine, Tokyo, zen
