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

2007-05-07T17:09:00.000-04:00

My to-do list includes posting images of trips to Texas and Maine...last year. I was particularly taken by this yellow house with aqua trim on Campobello and the moose were, of course, a highlight despite the mosquitos.

2006-01-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

How to get back to Paris? I'm contemplating this on a daily basis along with how can I declutter my house so that it's either easier for me to clean/find stuff or so that I can hire a housekeeper to clean it. Dreaming is free, isn't it?

Flights are cheap before March 31 and then, who knows? The dollar has dropped a couple of cents in relation to the Euro. Not prime time to return. If money was no object, here's what I'd like to do. There's a Cezanne exhibit opening in DC on January 29. A different Cezanne exhibit opens at the Musee d'Orsay on February 28. I'd like to see the exhibit in DC and then see the exhibit in Paris. This might be one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to see most of Cezanne's work.

Cezanne in Provence opens at the
National Gallery of Art.

Cezanne et Pissarro opens at the Musee d'Orsay in the end of February.

April in Paris...?

2005-12-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

Inside Notre Dame

2005-12-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

And a view from below

2005-12-26T10:35:00.001-05:00

Some nice British woman snapped a pic of us

2005-12-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Street in Montmartre

2005-12-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

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....

2005-12-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

Sacre-Coeur, with its carousel in the foreground

2005-12-26T10:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, I found a Starbucks on Saint Germain

2005-12-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

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....

2005-12-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

Winged Victory at the top of the stairs in the Louvre

2005-12-26T10:08:00.001-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:08:00.000-05:00

Aphrodite and fans at the Louvre

2005-12-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T09:58:00.001-05:00

Notre Dame

2005-12-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-26T09:52:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

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