France Day 7

This was our last full day in France which is a little sad but we are starting to miss home and all the people and comforts there. We both think two weeks was just about right. :)

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis - located north of Paris in St. Denis (where we're staying). We hadn't originally planned on going here, but it turned out to be a very worthwhile trip.  It's the burial place of the French Kings (nearly every king from the 10th to the 18th centuries is buried here, as well as many from the previous centuries) and queens were commonly crowned here.  In the 12th century the Abbot Suger rebuilt portions of the abbey church using innovative structural and decorative features that were drawn from a number of other sources.  In doing so, he is said to have created the first truly Gothic building.  The basilica's 13th century nave is also the prototype for the Rayonnant Gothic style, and provided an architectural model for cathedrals and abbeys of northern France, England, and other countries.

Among others (both in the crypt and above in the sanctuary), these are the tombs for Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette, Louis XVIII.

Mark smiling for me.

Lunch! Mark had Steak Haché avec Frites (ground beef & fries). My salad was full of thinly cut roasted veggies and roasted duck (I thought it was bacon but it was not, thankfully).

War memorial outside the Versailles mayoral/city council building.

Gate to the Château de Versailles (Palace of Versailles) in Versailles, France - about 20 km SW of Paris.  The court of Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution.

View of the Southern Parterre and l'Orangerie, part of the ridiculously large gardens of Versailles. We spent about 3 hours in the gardens and made it through maybe half.

Some of the orange, lemon, & pomegranate trees are over 200 years old.

Latone ornamental lake/fountain - this fountain illustrates the legend of Apollo's mother and Diana protecting her children.  It was originally mounted on a rock in 1670.

France Day 6

Thanks for your comments everyone! Becky, glad that your big finals are over! Yay! Thanks again for caring for my kitties! My cold has been much better. It was almost finished by the time we got to Paris but you know how these sinus things like to hang on. A lot less snoring on my part now, thank goodness. :)

Yesterday was another beautiful day...

Cinéaqua - a combination aquarium and cinema.  Unfortunately, it was all dubbed in French, so we didn't get much out of the films.

Shark!

Replica of the Statue of Liberty on Pont de Grenelle on Île aux Cygnes.  There's another replica at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris (among others)...who knew there were so many Lady Liberties in Paris?

Musée Rodin - The Thinker

Rose garden!!!

This is Rodin - grand sculptor.

I want to paint this with someone looking out from the balcony. :)

Eve

Église Saint-Eustache - considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. Louis XIV received communion here & Mozart chose the sanctuary as the location for his mother’s funeral.

With 8000 pipes, the organ is reputed to be the largest pipe organ in France, surpassing the organs of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame de Paris.  The organ was originally constructed by Ducroquet and later modified under the direction of Joseph Bonnet.  The present instrument was designed under the direction of Titular Organist Jean Guillou (pictured above) and dates from 1989.  It was built by the Dutch firm of Van den Heuvel retaining a few ranks of pipes from the former organ.  Monsieur Guillou played Vivaldi's Concerto en La Mineur and Bach's Toccata, Adagio et Fugue en Do Majeur (the church puts on free organ concerts just aboue every Sunday evening).  The sound was huge.

France Day 5

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! Sending love to the three motherly figures in my life! Love to my mom, Lucy; my step mom, Mary; and my mother in law, Becky! Thanks to each of you for making my life better because you are in it! <3

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So, yesterday, Day 5 in France was wonderful. It may have catered a bit more towards my likes than Mark's ;). We started with a mid-morning cup of tea (for me). Vert Boreal - some type of green tea.

The Au Jardin Teashop at the Musée de la Vie Romantique (located in painter Ary Scheffer's house built in 1830 and decorated so visitors see the artistic, literary, and musical life of the romantic period; also contains numerous George Sand items - portraits, household possessions, jewelry,etc.)

Very sweet, small shop surrounded by a flower garden.

Flowers along the Montmartre Funiculaire (the lift that saved my knees from 300 stairs)

Sacre Coeur Basilica (Basilique du Sacré-Cœur) at the summit of Montmartre

Artists at the Place du Tertre...if only you could see the hordes of people milling around...

Espace Dalí - more than 300 original Dali paintings, sketches, and sculptures. In high school, I fell in love with the art of Dali - not especially for the technique but for the creativity and imagination involved in the work. Seeing his originals brought back good memories.

The Profile of Time

Getting all dressed up for dinner & a show at the Moulin Rouge

Before the show

After the show
Sadly, photos were not allowed during the show but it was spectacular. We were served dinner from the "Can-Can Menu" where we had some tasty selections. Between the two of us, we got to try most of it. My favorite was the apple ice cream and jelly combo for dessert. The show included a lot of song and dance, yes, some of the dancers were topless but that was such a minor detail when compared to the magnificence of the show. Such a fun day!

France Day 4

Laundry (en Francais)

Arc de Triomphe

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Place de la Concorde - the largest square in Paris (by size) and the sight of many beheadings during the French revolution (King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, etc.)

Jardin des Tuileries (facing the Louvre)

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel...another of Napoleon's "triumphal arches"

Entrance to the Louvre (Musée du Louvre) !!!!!

The new(ish) entrance.

SO many statues! I took a lot of pictures so that I have a large amount of "models" for my own art. :)

Adorable.

The Aphrodite of Milos (better known as the Venus de Milo).

The Mona Lisa

I have to research which painting (and painter) this was - but I love it.

Some of Notre Dame Cathedral's flying buttresses lit up at night. Here ya go Dad!

I am really enjoying the trip and now I have a lot of ambition and inspiration for art when I get home. We will be making prints of our favorite photos to decorate our house and I will be painting some of the scenes as well. Thngs I have learned most from seeing these amazing works of art : use reference and pay special attention to light and shadow. This is kind of a "duh" in my mind because of what I have learned in school but sometimes it takes a master's eye to draw out what is important in a scene.