Paris is a city of art. From fashion to architecture, art is everywhere. Today was Versailles and the Pompidou, while tomorrow is the Louvre. The Pompidou was tough for me, because modern art doesn’t seem very artistic to me. Not that the more realistic-looking paintings are much better- it seems that in all the old paintings, half the subjects have halos and the other half are naked. Anyways, back to the point, I would say that abstract’s a bunch of junk that children could make, but Joylani seems to see something more. She sees things that I don’t see, sometimes interpreting the meaning and emotions of certain paintings.

At first, I thought she just was imaginative, creative, and ascribed her own perspective to the paintings. But having visited many art museums over the past few years, I noticed she’s consistent with what real art critics say. I’ve tested this by comparing what she says to what art books or Wikipedia. Not the most scientific method, but the consistency leads me to believe that there is a common “art language” if you will. It’s like how bees can see ultraviolet light, which humans cannot see. Maybe a better analogy would be how the daily stock tables in the paper look like abstract to Joylani. But the numbers make sense to me and I can even conjecture what happened in the markets that day.

The most beautiful thing I saw today though, was from the top of Notre Dame. The outside and inside were unbelievable, but nothing compared to the view from the top. On any other day, I’ll admit the view from Sacre Coeur was better. But not today. After raining on and off all day, the sun was just breaking through the clouds as we reached the top of Notre Dame. In front of us, rays of light rained down on the Right Bank, bathing the city in light. Behind us, the cathedral’s spire was illuminated and the dozens of gargoyles lit up too. The sun continued to emerge until the entire city was shining. It was beautiful. It was art.