Blog

Revisiting the Louvre with Localers in Paris
Hannah Wilson

Revisiting the Louvre with Museums by Localers

5 Comments Art, See & Do

I have a kind of love-hate relationship with the Louvre. I love that it houses some of the greatest works of art and most precious bits of history in the world, but I hate how damn huge it is. On one hand, I love the idea of getting lost in a labyrinth of culture, but on the other, my feet and brain start to become fatigued after hours of slow-walking and observing. Appreciating art is hard work!

Despite having visited the Louvre more than 10 times, I realized I know very little about it. I had a vague idea that the Louvre started out as a much smaller military fortress, and that the Mona Lisa is WAY smaller than you’d expect, but honestly – that’s not much. Anybody could know those trivia facts with a quick peek inside the informational booklet.

Read more

Hannah Wilson

Discovering the 16th Arrondissement of Paris

Comments Paris, See & Do, Wandering

The other day, I met up with my friend Laura from Ciao Amalfi to explore the 16th Arrondissement. Our primary objective was to visit the lesser-known Musée Marmottan-Monet, but we decided to stroll through nearby streets afterwards. Photographs weren’t allowed inside the museum, but I must admit that it had an excellent collection! If you love the Orangerie with Monet’s waterlilies, you’ll like this museum. They also had a pretty fabulous collection of medieval illuminated manuscripts, most of them extremely detailed and shining with golden gilding.

Just across the street from the museum, we spotted some unique architectural details. One door was guarded by two panthers amid roses. Another was decorated with pinecones and evergreen boughs. Panthers and pinecones are not typical motifs in Parisian architecture. These buildings definitely fall under the Art Nouveau category, but there was something else about these designs I couldn’t quite put my finger on…

Read more

Hannah Wilson

A Calm February Morning at the Eiffel Tower

3 Comments Paris, See & Do

The last time I took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower was 3.5 years ago and after that, I swore I would try my best never to do it again. Doing it once is enough, I thought, and who wants to deal with the pickpockets and con-artists that lurk below, the long lines and cramped elevators, the sheer tourism of it all?

But then I found myself accompanying a friend to the tower on Monday. She had a free ticket and after some indecisiveness, I decided to take advantage of the free entry. Honestly, I was not really looking forward to it. The main reason I wanted to go was to take some pictures of the brand new cherry blossoms making their early appearance for Spring. I accomplished my goal and ended up getting some amazing shots of the blossoms – blurred Eiffel in the background – but I also managed to have a good time.

Read more

Hannah Wilson

Christmas in Sweden

1 Comment Diary, Travel

My 2015 holiday season was wonderful. I was so glad to be able to spend Thanksgiving in the US again, where I spent lots of time just hanging out, sewing pajama pants, making christmassy crafts and eating. After we got back to France, we had just a week’s rest before heading to Sweden for Christmas. I was excited to see how the Swedes do Christmas. We stayed for about 10 days and split our time between Stockholm and “the north,” as Erik calls it, where it’s rural and snowy, with endless trees and lots of quaint farmhouses.

We didn’t do a ton of sightseeing while in Stockholm, but I was totally ok with that. I hadn’t done one ounce of travel research before arriving, simply because I knew we’d mostly be spending quality time with Erik’s sister, with whom we were staying.  I was also traveling with a Swedish native, so I figured there was really no need to do much cultural research!

Read more

Hannah Wilson

The Gardens of Versailles in Autumn

2 Comments Versailles

During the two years I’ve lived near the Versailles gardens, can you believe I’ve never seen the fountains when they’re turned on? You see, there are lots of Baroque fountains and groves peppered throughout the massive gardens, but since they’re so old, they can’t be running water constantly. So every weekend (excluding weekends in winter), all the fountains turn on and the entire garden is filled with the sounds of water and Baroque music. It really adds to the ambiance – which is impressive, considering the gardens already have a ton of ambiance to begin with.

Read more

Hannah Wilson

New Year, New Me?

4 Comments Diary

I’ve been thinking a lot about the New Year. I’ve also been thinking a lot about self-transformation. I love the idea of putting your old self to sleep and rising out of the ashes like a new being, with new habits, a new body, a new outlook and focus. There are many things about myself that I want to change, things like patterns of behavior and thought that usually function to bring me down. I’ve been living with them my whole life, but they’ve really outdone themselves in the past two years here in France. They’re the source of my insecurities and they prevent me from accomplishing my goals. I am positive that one of those things is called “Fear.” The other ones? I’m not so sure what they’re called, but I know for sure that they’re Fear’s best buddies. These bullies, they hang out together all the time, ganging up on me. It’s really quite hurtful, and the worst part is – I made them. I also continue to let them stay, firmly planted in my brain.

Read more