London vs Paris (can you really choose?)
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of museums, monuments and travel, and I have loved every minute of it. We spent the first week getting familiar with each other, London and our gorgeous house on Gower Street. Just as we were feeling quite at home in London, we got on a train to Paris. It was like starting all over again! (Though still amazing).
London and Paris are two very different cities. Surprising when one considers that both are centuries old cities founded by the Romans. To any onlooker the similarities seem to stop there. As one of my peers put it, “It is impossible to like London and Paris equally, they are so different.” I found this statement to be very true. Though I loved Paris I could hardly wait to continue my explorations in London.
Since this course is entitled “Art and Architecture in London and Paris” I’m going to start by comparing the architectures of the two cities. As I said earlier, since both cities were founded by the Romans, you would expect to find two city filled with old Roman buildings. The Roman influences can still be seen in both cites but in different ways. One of the main reasons for this, I found out during this trip, is that the buildings in Paris are not as old as you think. Napoleon III rebuilt the entire city in an attempt to make uprising more difficult, and so made the appearance uniform. This means that all the buildings in Paris have very similar architecture. Even newer buildings are built in this style to prevent them from sticking out.
In London the very old is mixed with the very new. Standing next to the remains of the Roman wall is the modern looking Museum of London. On a street corner you can find anything from a McDonalds to a Victorian era house. The centuries of changes are not forgotten in London. Each is represented in some place while still leaving room for styles to develop. To me the conformity of the Paris streets felt suffocating, as if the new were being stifled by the desire to maintain appearances. In London I feel as if the perfect blend has been reached between history and technology. Neither more important, and neither preventing the other from existing.
One of the things I like most about London is the churches. In Paris many of the churches (and not just Notre Dame) are built to be imposing. They tower above other buildings. They are elaborately styled with beautiful stained glass. The churches in London are not lacking stained glass, though arguably its not as beautiful as those in Paris. The thing I love most about the interior of London’s churches is the frescos. Walking in feels like a walking into a jewelry box. Compare this to the bare stone ceilings in the churches in Paris, and it is easy to have an automatic attraction to one over the other. One of the other things that I find particularly pleasing about the church in London is that (with the exception of St. Paul’s and Westminster) the churches are not imposing structures. Instead of large buildings you can see for miles, all you can see is a spire rising slightly above its surroundings. They are breathtaking on the inside, but not overly ostentatious on the outside.
There are a million more differences between the cities, from the transportation systems and museums. I could continue to go on pages about them. Overall, I love London, but I must admit nothing beats the view of the “City of Lights” from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
~Amy Esser
