Louvre Again, 1

Sunday Vicki and I did the Louvre, for the upteenth time, but this time better prepared than ever before. We stayed the whole day, opening to nearly closing--with lunch and 2 short breaks--a personal best for me at an art museum. Despite the heat of the Louvre, and the crush of visitors, we had a most enjoyable and edifying time.

Being so far behind in the blog, and visiting places I have blogged about before (see 2009), I'll try to limit the pix posted to a few classic things, a few we particularly enjoyed, and a few about which I can offer some special insight.

I can never resist this one

After enough art history videos, reading, and museum visits,
even Rubens begins to interest and appeal; I'll have a lot
more Rubens in a succeeding post; here, the coronation of
Maria Borghese 

A particularly good Vermeer, his Astronomer

Rembrandt's Bathsheba, being copied

Norway's Nordkapp, the northernmost point of Europe,
by Peder Balke; special meaning for those of us who
have driven there...

Rene Descartes, by, of all painters, Franz
Hals; no broad brushing here, though;
don't get Descartes before Deshorse, as we
used to say

Bruegel's Mendicants; many more and better Bruegels
coming up in Vienna, Munich; nearly our favorite

Cranach's Eve; he used this model and this
pose for several works, both religious and
secular; we'll see her many more times

Durer's youthful self-portrait; we'll see his
later, much celebrated, 1500 self-portrait in
Munich

Jan van Eyck's, Chancellor Rolin, having a chat with
Virgin and Child; van Eyck was the first to work
extensively with oil; a very old painting, even by
Louvre standards; note the landscape in the background

Ingres' Turkish Bath; a work of imagination, no doubt

Ghirlandao's Old Man and Youth

To be continued...

Summer 2012 European Travel Interim Report

It has been a month since I posted last, in the midst of our wonderful week in Paris with Tawana and Wes. I owe three or four more posts from Paris, and then much, much more. In my defense, I can say we have been busy. Very busy.

From Paris we flew to Amsterdam to pick up the Grey Wanderer, which had been in storage there nearly 11 months. Thanks to Gerard and Caravanstalling van der Zwaan, our camper was in perfect working order. We took a day to unpack and move back in, camping in Aalsmeer, and to make a few repairs and improvements. Then we spent a day in Amsterdam, mostly at the Rijksmuseum, revisiting a variety of other spots in town and enjoying more servings of the great Amsterdam pommes frites; and Heineken.

Next day we were off to Berlin for two days' sightseeing—mostly the Pergamon and the Gemaldegalerie—prior to the arrival of Rebecca, Jeremy, and Penelope. For the next two weeks, while Rebecca and Jeremy enjoyed a vacation, our principal task was to care for 14 month-old grand-daughter Penelope. P stayed with us in the camper at Wohnmobil Berlin while Rebecca and Jeremy toured, and then we all drove to Dresden, where we continued that arrangement, P with us at our favorite stellplatz, Pension Werner Knopf, and Rebecca and Jeremy touring from a hotel downtown. We got together for various meals and museum tours, etc. P took to all this, including jet-lag and a minor cold, with her usual equanimity and good humor. She is a happy baby, now a happy and inquisitive toddler, and a joy.

Next we drove to Prague where Rebecca and Jeremy had rented a three bedroom apartment in New Town (1358), in which we all stayed for several days, relaxing, seeing the great city and its sights, enjoying meals and more together. We stored the camper at our previous stay-place, Camping Drusus, outside of Prague. Prague has become one of our favorite places, all the art and architecture, and we were happy to share it with R and J.

Next we drove to Vienna, the terminus of Rebecca and Jeremy's vacation. They again had rented an apartment, somewhat smaller, and P stayed with us at old friend Camping Vienna West, but again we got together on a number of occasions, biergartens, heurigens, the Naschmarkt, and more. The weather was very warm that week in Vienna, but we all had a good time and got R, J,and P off, at length, Monday a week ago. They are safely back in Menlo Park now, joined for a few days' visit by daughter Rachel.

Vicki and I stayed another few days in Vienna, seeing old favorites like the Kunsthistorischemuseum, acquiring some new favorites, like the Hundertwassers architecture, and having a great time despite the heat. Thursday, we pulled up stakes finally and turned back west, following the Danube past Melk and then wending our way back into the Czech Republic to see Cesky Krumlov. We spent a crazy night and day there—it is a crazy place this time of year—and then drove on west. We spent three nights in Erding, outside Munich, at Therme Erding, reputedly Europe's largest “thermal world”, a massive water/sauna/water slide/spa complex that permits free wohnmobil stays for its clients. We took the cure Saturday—it requires its own post. Sunday we trained into Munich to revisit the Alte Pinakothek, one of our favorite art museums. Durer's 1500 Self Portrait remains my favorite painting. Well, apart from several Botticellis, Breugels, Cranachs, Boschs and Turners...and don't forget the Courbets and Renoirs and of course Dali...and some others, maybe even a Watteau or two. And then we we did a day in Augsburg and are now doing a couple in Ulm, where this morning I climbed the Munster's 700 foot steeple.

So, yes, we have been busy, internet has not always been available, especially in wifi-challenged Germany, but now, after perhaps a dozen world-class museums and some 3300 pix taken, I am back into posting. More tomorrow.

Penelope does jet-lag; with Grandma at Wohnmobil Berlin 

Church of St. Sulpice

Next stop that day was the Church of St. Sulpice, on the Wrong Side. I think this was another station on the Vinci Municipal Code pilgrimage. Understandably, my wife and friends do not speak to me of such things.

The artistic masterpiece, Delacroix's Jacob's  Struggle with the 
Angel (Angel won by (divine) decision)

The great organ at St. Sulpice

But St. Sulpice's claim to fame is here, and the brass line
that marks the (then) prime meridian, before France lost
yet another war with the Brits; hence, it's Greenwich Time,
not Left Bank Time

On winter solstice, or possibly summer, or maybe the vernal
equinox, the sun comes through a high window and
illuminates this area (the church was built about 1.5 meters
off to the right, by my calculation; or possibly the window was
off, as Wes suggested)

This explains it all; as if...

St. Sulpice, another great Baroque church; if it ain't Baroque,
don't fix it

Happily, there was a statue of Danton nearby

Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise

So one day, perhaps June 9, we all went out to the Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise, one of Paris' large and famous cemeteries. I think this may have had something to do with the Vinci Municipal Code or somesuch; or maybe Rickie Stevie. Whatever.

Helpful map of the place, with players' names and locations

Of course, most normal personnes are entombed in little
vaults like so

Somehow, this poor discarded cemetery rose spoke to me...

Tomb of the unknown boy and his dog

But then we found the tomb of Oscar Wilde (with a small
crowd of on-lookers); and, in short, it was the best time I
have ever had in a cemetery, so far

Gertrude Stein

The ever-popular Jim Morrison

Frederic Chopin

Abelard and Heloise; well, a re-creation of
sorts

Rossini...and many, many, many more

Return to Paris

The Grey Wanderer is in Amsterdam, so we jetted there, initially. But our long-time friends, Tawana and Wes, had rented an apartment in Paris and asked if we'd care to join them for a week. We debated this, all the pros and cons and plusses and minuses and costs and benefits and in and outs, from every perspective, at length, for, oh, maybe .05 seconds, and said sure we'll see you June 6th.

Number one for take-off at SFO

Bye for now, City

View from our Razorback friends' apartment,
7me Arr., Rue de Montessuy "Pig" (nyuk,
nyuk, nyuk); first day, severely jet-lagged,
we just promenaded around the Tour area

Next day we walked up-River

Toward the Tuileries and

The Orangerie and a wonderful
exhibit on Debussy, music and arts

Next day we walked up the river again to the d'Orsay and
spent most of the day there; just before leaving the US we
had finally finished all 48 episodes of William Kloss' history
of European art...Courbet, realism, impressionism, neo-
impressionism; so we were totally ready for the Orsay...

Alas, the Orsay too has now gone to the "no fotos!"
policy, although few people seemed to be enforcing
or complying; I think I now have all the pix I want
from the Orsay, so amused myself getting Monet's
Dindons and

This, which I have tentatively re-titled "Our
Lady of the Guillotine"; or possibly the Mona 'Tina

Walking back to Rue de Montessuy...Paris

June 8th was our 44th wedding anniversary--Vicki and me as
well as Tawana and Wes--

And so we celebrated with dinner at the Auberge Nicolas
Flamel, in Paris' oldest house (thanks Rebecca and Rachel)

My seafood appetizer

Vicki's duck

Happy 44th, my love; sorry none of the four of us thought to take a photo!

Bye For Now, California

Our California stay came to a temporary end June 5th, when we flew back to Europe for the summer. Our months in Menlo Park, with Rebecca and Jeremy, caring for grand-daughter Penelope, have been wonderful. We'll be back late in August for more grand-parenting. And, happily, we'll be back in the same location, same apartment, making the removal and return very easy. As a last California treat, for this segment, we spent Sunday in The City, visiting its Legion of Honor museum, not least to get back into the spirit of touring in Europe.

From the Legion of Honor's rather nice location...

We guess the Legion of Honor must be the Louvre's "mini me"

But it has a nice, well-rounded collection,
including this della Robbia

And a couple Theotokopoulos

And a Claude Lorrain

A Peter, Paul, and Rubens

Jordaen's Chubby Baby J

Caravaggio-view of Rodin's Three Shades

And Monet

And Cezanne; and much more; alas, no Bruegel and no
Turner; but there was a Dominichino...

Of course the best thing about California is
13-month-old Penelope, whom we already
miss very much, but whom we'll see again
very shortly in Berlin