The Road Goes Ever On

Monday, August 17, 2009

Louvre I

Our crew consulting a local map

Before the Louvre was the Louvre, or even the Palais Royal, there was a six-towered royal fortress on the site, much of which remains beneath the present Louvre

At the outbreak of WW2, the major assets of the Louvre were packed up and distributed around France for safe-keeping; there is a great exhibition on this under-way

Unusual stern view of Venus de Milo; by this time I was getting restless

Another sculpture hospital

Still my favorite, the Winged Victory

Closer view

It was a warm day in Paris

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Pompidou I

Ugliest museum in the world, but always interesting and provocative exhibits

Georges himself

We mostly looked at the current "Elles" exhibit, which draws together the Pomp's enormous resources by women

Sometimes political, sometimes just aesthetic

Sometimes political

View from Pompidiou

Ditto

Rebecca and Rachel, and their boyfirends, Jeremy and Will, had rented an apartment for the week in Paris, on Boulevard Sebastopol, 3rd Arrondisement, about two blocks or so from the Pompidiou, four or five from the Seine, a great location. It was their home and family headquarters. Vicki and I stayed, as always, at the campground in the Bois Boulogne, a bit further out, a bus ride and then the Metro, but quite manageable. It is still one of the best and most popular campgrounds in Europe. Anyhow, we spent the week in Paris, sometimes together, especially meals, sometimes apart given different interests and priorities. The succeeding posts will capture some of what we did and where we visited. It was a most memorable family vacation.

Rachel had put together a large bound notebook of Paris

and France resouces, sites, maps, timetables, descriptions,

etc., and this itinerary, which we adjusted for weather and

other exigencies

View from the apartment, fifth floor

Boulevard Sebastopol from the apartment

St. Jacques Tower, near Chatelet, from the alley behind
Sebastopol

Sebastopol street level

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Down on the Ferm

It was mostly a wheat farm

With a rooster

Some chickens

Some cows

And an orchard

Where we all stayed two nights. Very nice, very French, very bucolic.

Rouen

700 half-timbered structures in old Rouen

Not all are completely up-right

The very famous Rouen clock

A flamboyant Gothic church, not 100m from the Cathedral (the place is full of churches); the flags make it even more special

At the flam church...not Brussels

Monet and Joan of Arc own this town; here is where she was tried (the first time)

And here is where she was burned

Statue in the Joan church

Black Death victims were buried in this square

Detail

Bodies, by the 1000s, deposited down this well

On a cheerier note, employees of the tourist office are outfitted by Printemps (Travel Montana note)

Moving day in the city

Rouen Cathedral

The next day we did Rouen, particularly the famous cathedral. And a great lunch at Brasserie Paul.

The cathedral is so closed in by the city, it is not possible to get a full view

Interior

Rose window

Statues hospital...undergoing repair...an unusual opportunity to see them
close-up

The Vikings raided Normandy so often in the 9th and 10th centuries that the French
finally just gave it to them, and their king, Rollo; William the Conqueror (1066 and
all that) was his grandson

Richard the Lion-Heart; his heart, that is ("I left my heart, in ...Rouen"?)

Help! One of Sponge Bob's colleagues is trapped in the ceiling at Rouen Cathedral!

Abbey of Jumierge

Rachel arrived very early Sunday morning at CDG and we met her at 7AM. She and Rebecca had wanted to spend some time in Rouen prior to our week in Paris, so we drove north/northwest. The girls had rented a room at a farm B&B near Rouen, with provision for us to park there, but first we went to the Abbey Jumierge, reputedly the oldest and most extensive in France. It did not survive the Revolution, among other things.