Yes, I have a hanky and I'm wearing sensible shoes: December 2005

one of Notre Dame's rose windows; these are massive windows

Detail of one of the 35+ chapels around the sides of Notre Dame; beautiful marble sculptures

Inside Notre Dame

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

And a view from below

Some nice British woman snapped a pic of us

Mary at the stamp market at Place Franklin Roosevelt on the Champs Elysees

Lapin Agile - Steve Martin wrote a great play that takes place in the cabaret

Street in Montmartre

Place de Tertes in Montmartre - Mary is looking at the disneyfication of this historic place. Guy in the foreground was taking pictures of himself with this cell phone....

Sacre-Coeur, with its carousel in the foreground

Yes, I found a Starbucks on Saint Germain

View towards Le Procope on Rue de l'Ancienne-Comedie. We care because Voltaire and Rousseau ate there; we ate pate and pasta at a trendier place down the street....

Winged Victory at the top of the stairs in the Louvre

View looking east from Pont des Artes toward the Ile de la Cite

Aphrodite and fans at the Louvre

2nd day - sunny skies - Mary leaning on a bouquiniste's stall along the Seine

The view from our hotel room - uh, yea, it was wee

Inside Ste Chapelle - fabulous stained glass windows from the 13th century. The thin columns are 50' up to the vaulted ceiling

A small window at Ste Chapelle - windows have needed almost no repair since their placement in the 13th century

Notre Dame

On the Ile de la Cite, one of the art nouveau metro station entrances

A fromager, vespas, and one of many little cars at Place Maubert

Mary with Notre Dame's steeple in the background - very near our hotel

Eiffel Tower from the steps of the Pantheon

Mary fooning at Musee d'Orsay

Eiffel Tower

I turned 50 in May 2005. A friend suggested that a special trip was in order. As it happens, Air France had a sale and, voila! my sister and I booked a trip to Paris for December. We spent the rest of the year practicing French numbers and key phrases, reviewing guide books and maps, and reading books about France and Paris. The result was a wonderful trip to the City of Light where we were treated most cordially by all.

We didn't see everything, but we made a strong endeavor. Here are just a few pix by way of illustration.

We were walking along the Quai de Conti heading to the Pont des Artes and passed a bank. The banner hanging by the doors said, roughly translated, "Thank you for twelve centuries of business." Twelve centuries. Here in Virginia we're excited about our upcoming 400th year -- how very young these united states are.

Reading List included:
Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon
and Americans in Paris
Hemingway's A Moveable Feast
Monique Truong's The Book of Salt
Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Williams' The Impressionists' Paris
DK's Paris
Michelin Green Guide: Paris

Yes, I have a hanky and I'm wearing sensible shoes

Monday, December 26, 2005

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

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