Paris: Art

In Paris there is art.

The principle reason for Annette to travel for Paris, and to live there for six weeks, was of course art. She enjoyed much, much more art during the previous four weeks, but she was gracious enough to take me and teach me while I was there.

Before I left, someone asked me, "What is the thing you are looking forward to most?" I answered, the first time that I walk from our apartment to the Louvre."

That day was Friday, August 2.  We went again on Monday, August 5.

Our apartment was just half-mile away from the Louvre, just the next bridge down! It was indeed a thrill to put on walking shoes and stroll down to le premier musée du monde, Musée du Louvre.

Photo by Annette

Photos are ludicrous. There are better images on the internet. and no image matches the experience of standing in front of a masterpiece and taking it in, and taking it in, and taking it in. But, I was there, at the Louvre, two days. And to prove it, here are my images. Go look up better images. Learn about the work. Learn about the artist. And better yet, go to Paris and soak them into your brain!

Winged Glory of Samothrace and a sea of humanity

She's also known as Nike of Samothrace

 

You can't get very close to La Jaconde (aka The Mona Lisa). The people-watching is interesting! Being in the same room with her is amazing in any case. For all of us 1,290,896 people there!

This is as close as I got. Proof. I was feet away from Lisa!

Of course, we also saw the last of "The Big Three," the Venus de Milo.

Photo by Annette

Photo by Annette

I took the above picture because as I walked through the museum, I was impressed that so many artists, both sculptors and painters, glossed over (literally) women's lady parts. This was a piece that was actually close to reality. Of course, The Origin of the World (1866) by Gustave Courbet (at Musée d'Orsay) pushed the boundaries!

A few of my favorites:

The Young Martyr by Paul LaRouche stopped me in my tracks. No photo does it justice. 

My Princess, crowned

Photo by Annette

Tour groups were everywhere. And they were clueless that there were others who wished to view the art.

Somewhere on Facebook or Blogger there is a picture of me taking a picture of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.

 Learn more about this piece here.

 This candelabra, Persian-made, was an amazing piece of metalwork. It was one of my favorite objets d'art in the Louvre. Unfortunately, I can't find more about it. There was a long audio description at the museum, and I thought I'd have no trouble finding it on the site when I got home, but I can't find it. Darn.

From what I remember, it was made of one piece of metal, and all the little duckies on top, as well as the decorations around the base, were pounded out of the metal. There are intricate inlays, as well. It was huge, an amazing work.

There was an installation of Michalanelo Pistoletto, a contemporary artist, throughout the museum. This was my favorite of his, Venus of the Rags.

During the one rainy day we had, we went to Musée d'Orsay. FABULOUS museum. The whole top floor is filled with Impressionist art. Renoir is one of my favorites, ever since I visited The National Gallery of Art in 1975 and fell in love with A Girl with A Watering Can.

And here are some postcards of some of our faveys from both museums.

 

On one of the last days, Annette didn't feel well, so I headed out by myself again to l'Orangerie, a small museum of mostly impressionists, and two rooms dedicated to Monet's large Water Lilies. I gazed and gazed and got lost in them. The more I sat and gazed, the more amazed I became. It was quite a moving experience. No pictures to share; no photography allowed, but here is a virtual tour.

And here are some of my other favorites from Musée d'Orsay and Musée l'Orangerie.

Bourgereau - L'assaut
Radon - la coquille
Cross - La Chevelure
Cross - Les iles d'or
Gallé - La Main Aux Algues et Aux Coquillages
Morisot - Le Berceau
Manet - vase de pivoines sure piedouche
Bouguerearu - Dante et Virgile
Renoir - Gabrille et Jean
Picasso - L'entreunte
Picasso - Grande Nature Morte
Picasso - Femme au tambourin

I also went out by myself to Musée Rodin one day. I love Rodin. The museum is housed in the artist's own home, and the gardens are beautiful, filled with his work. No photography is allowed inside. Here are some of the works I enjoyed:

Femme-poisson
La mort d'adonis
L'illusion, sœur d’Icare
La défense
Romeo et Juliette


I very much enjoyed sitting by The Thinker in the garden. I got to ponder deeply about some of my fellow Earth Travelers' stories.

 

I love our species!

England and Ireland: England. Part 8: Bath

Bath, Somerset, England

One of the places I wanted to visit while we were in England was Bath. My dad had told stories of partying getting some R n R in Bath during his leave time while stationed at Polebrook in WWII. I wanted to go see!

We were so lucky that the places we wanted to visit and the geography we needed meshed so well!

Bath was only about 60 miles from Georgie's house, so bright 'n' early on Monday morning, she dropped us off at the car rental place.  The next adventure began.

OK.

Steering wheel on the wrong side of the car: uh-oh.  Gear-shift in my left hand: dang.  The narrowest roads on Earth: crap. Cars coming toward me on the wrong side of the road: Oh Sh*t!

To my credit, I did not run into any stone walls. I did not crash into any cars. I did not run into any person or other mammal. The paint job on the passenger side may not have been any better for the bushes on the left, and there was a ditch or two that threatened to swallow our car, but we made it safely to Bath, not in small part due to Cyn's calm demeanor while she sat shotgun, navigating and watching for ditch threats!

Bath is, of course, home to one of the world's most wonderful archeological sites: an intact ancient Roman Bath.  There is a wonderful museum integrated into the site, and it is full of Roman artifacts. The mineral springs still flow in. It is pretty cool. (warm, actually)

Here are a few pictues. Of course, you need to go yourself and take the tour!

There were statues around the top which were placed much later.

The lady, Minerva, herself! (And surely, one of her descendents behind!)

Shhhh!  I touched the water right in that corner.

The most interesting artifacts in my opinion were the small bits of lead on which people wrote to Minerva for help getting retribution for wrongs. If an item got stolen, for example, the citizen would write a curse on the lead, perhaps add a list of names of possible suspects, and throw the piece of lead into the river for Minerva to read and mete out justice to the wrongdoer.

Brocks Guest House was our first bed and breakfast of the trip. It is a pretty building in the block between the Royal Crescent and the Circus. In fact, it was built by John Wood the younger, who built the Royal Crescent!

Brocks Guest House:

Our room was on the top floor.

View from our window:

View from Trish and Cyn's window:

Photo by Trish

View from the Loo!

 The lobby/breakfast area:

Photo by Trish

The famous Circus:

 The Royal Crescent:

Photo by Trish

Other views of Bath:

The Bath Abbey

Public art in a park by the River Avon; Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

In the evening, we took a "Bizarre Bath" tour which was a fun comedic walking tour. Our guide:

And we got some R n R in Dad's memory!

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

Cheers!