Saturday, November 17, 2007
I finished my 60th birthday present of spending 60 days in Paris: one day each for 60 years lived. I’ve tabulated below my activities, whereabouts, and visits for those 60 days. Tuileries Garden: many walk-throughs Notre-Dame Cathedral: many walk-bys and visits; walking up the stairs for view from the top: 1 time Louvre: 4 visits Musee d’Orsay: 3 […]
Friday, November 16, 2007
I’ve listed below my top ten reasons to travel to Paris. Maybe you’ll be able only to visit a day or two, or stay for a week, or maybe you’ll be able to move your household to the Left Bank. In my modest 60 days here, these are the reasons I think make sense for making the […]
Thursday, November 15, 2007
It was supposed to be foggy and cloudy, but it was sunny. We were supposed to be tired, but we were energized. There was a transportation strike, but we were walking. These factors all made a perfect combination for a trek up la butte of Montmartre. I hadn’t realized we were walking up to the Montmartre’s […]
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Sometimes you fool yourself into thinking you’ve pretty much seen all the gorgeous art there is to see. You’ve seen towering sculptures by Michelangelo. You’ve seen the sketch-like brushwork of Fragonard. You’ve marveled at the pastels of Cassatt, and you’ve looked goggle-eyed at works by Van Gogh, Soutine, Lautrec, and Monet. I just hadn’t realized […]
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
 Marie Antoinette (pictured in marble above) was Queen of France from 1770 to 1793. She was beheaded on October 16 by guillotine in the present Place de la Concorde. And she apparently never did say, “Let them eat cake.” Her husband, Louis XVI (pictured below), had been beheaded in January, nine months before her, during the height […]
Monday, November 12, 2007
There was a memorable party given at the gorgeous chateaux and gardens at Vaux le Vicomte by Nicolas Fouquet in the summer of 1661. And I’m not talking about the wedding of Gina Logobria and Tony Parker. Mr. Fouquet put on his celebration in the 17th century in response to a request from Louis XIV, king of France (1738-1715). […]
Sunday, November 11, 2007
I visited Paris this time on my own. Not on a tour and not with a group, I was usually a lone traveler. Thus, these rules are more for the traveler taking care of everything herself. However, even if you are on a tour or with a group, these rules apply. Take care of your […]
Saturday, November 10, 2007
One of my most memorable art exhibitions on this trip wasn’t at a museum. It was at a library. I braved a cool, breezy afternoon to go see the Francisque Poulbot exhibition at the Bibliotheque de Fornay just north of the Seine across from Ile Saint-Louis. Â Â Â Â Poulbot (1879-1946) was famous for his illustrations of […]
I live in the 2nd arrondissement (district), the Montorgueil-St. Denis quartier pieton (pedestrian neighborhood), and the St. Eustace Church parish. Serving the arrondissement, the quartier, and the parish is the market street Rue Montorgueil, just west of my apartment. Montorgueil is pronounced “mont-or-goo-ee,” and it translates to English as Mont Orgueil or “Mount Pride,” referring to the hilly […]
Thursday, November 8, 2007
St. Eustache Church serves the parish where I live in Paris. The church has an impressive organ, and there are free concerts every Sunday. But who was St. Eustace? Eustace (in French it’s pronounced “oo-stash”)Â was originally a Roman general and captain of the guards named Placidus. He served the emperor Trajan. While hunting a white […]
