Louvre

The Louvre isn't something you can cover in a day. I think it would take me several weeks to really look at everything.
People are quite funny. Here we are, all wanting to see the Mona Lisa, she is behind glass, and a
large area in front of her is roped off. You can't get very close to her at all. Not enough to see the brush strokes. Did you know it's not a very big painting?


Winged Victory

Musee Rodin

The first time I visited the Rodin museum was in 2001. It's here that I fell in love with sculpture. The picture above is the step by step process to create a bronze sculpture. It is called the lost wax technique This is passion, a true labour of love.
A very moving sculpture is Les Bourgeois de Calais.
La Porte de l'Enfer based on Dante's Inferno.


A close up, do you recognize Le Penseur? An incredible amount of effort, wouldn't you say?Camille Claudel was a student of Rodin....his muse, his mistress. Her work is amazing...emotional.
She wound up in an insane asylum for 30 years. Learn more about Rodin and Camille here

The house that Jacques built

Construction here is very different as walls, ceilings floors are concrete.
Stucco, brick or stone (veneer) will be put on top of the concrete.

Gas prices

The Europeans are feeling the gas prices, this is per litre in Euros...you do the math.

Nice place to visit?......

We spent the day in Montmartre, an interesting place to walk around is the cemetery....
Unbelievable monuments...many of them unreadable, being weathered and over grown with moss. Narrow iron doors open to a small panel of stained glass and a place to knee and pray.
Interesting to see new shiny granite crypts juxtaposed with the worn.
Many famous people are buried here, Edgar Degas, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Jim Morrison (no relation to Dave).

The Metro

We're inside the Metro, it's a maze of tunnels--you can get anywhere in the city.
At this moment the Metro is fairly empty....to get to your destination, you go up and down lots of stairs. Which reminds me to tell you that it's a good idea to pack light, because whatever you bring....you schlepp....up and down, down and up.
Once you get the map figured out, it's easy to find your way around.
Into the tunnel.......
This mosaic on the on the ceiling of the stop near the Sorbonne. Names of writers, poets.......
It's gorgeous!

We met Marci (our dear friend and neighbor) at the airport. Doesn"t she look excited! She had never flown before. We took the Metro (x3) back to the hotel, then walked around the area we are staying in. We stopped for lunch, then walked to a park near the Eiffe Tower. Marci was looking at everything else until we were very close to the Eiffel Tower, she finally saw it and let out a squeal. Two older gentlemen were sitting on a park bench nearby and started laughing.
More later.....