Thursday, June 8, 2023

Two Churches: Saint-Sulpice And Saint-Severin

We had wanted to visit three of the churches in the 6th or nearby: Sulpice, Severin, and Saint-Etienne du Mont. As it happened, there were funerals at the former two, delaying us, and we decided to leave Saint-Etienne for next time. While waiting for Saint-Severin we had an opportunity to explore nearby Rue Ringard, however. Next post.

Facade of Saint-Sulpice; many other pix of its exterior in previous
posts as we walked by it; our first visit there was in 2012 with Tawana
and Wes; and we've been back a few times

Nave view

Fancy Baroque pulpit

Famous organ; the great composer Widor was organist
at Saint-Sulpice for more than 60 years  

The Gnomon...for determining solar-based religious
holidays...nothing about the prime meridian nor 
other fancifulness 

As it says here; nonetheless famous, or infamous,
from the Da Vinci Code

Other end

Trap doors in chancel; for deus ex machina acts?


The greater glory of St. Sulpice is the trio of large paintings by
Delacroix, done between 1855 and 1861, descriptions of which
are above [click to enlarge]

Jacob's Fight with the Angel; guess who won

St. Michael Slaying the Dragon; wait a second, isn't that supposed
to be St. George? Or maybe there were lots of dragons around in 
those days, like Game of Thrones?

Heliodorus Driven from the Temple; something 
about money and riches but not the money-lenders;
that came later

Moving right along...but not really, because we had to scoot out
of St. Sulpice for an impending funeral, and then wait for maybe
an hour for St. Severin's funeral to get over...now we are in St. Severin

Capital in the nave; there's a name for these corner/
double capitals, but I can't find it; covers up seams

In the chancel, contemporary windows celebrating
the sacraments, by Jean Rene Bazaine

Famous twisted column

In the good old days, a spring fed the baptistry at Saint-
Severin

Present baptistry, in the chancel

Work on-going in the various chapels...this is a before scene

And the after scene

Historic old church, flamboyant, built in the 13th to be the parish
church for students at the university; rebuilt/remodeled many
times over the centuries

In what might appear to be a cloister, these actually are charnel 
houses adjoining the church; getting spruced-up also; not upen 
to the public


Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Interim Update #1,278

June 5th was the last day of our Paris apartment, and on June 6th we moved out, got an Uber to Rueil-Malmaison, and picked up the camper we'll travel and live in for the next month. Our plan is to explore some of the Alsace we have not seen in a while, some not at all, and then move on south to Chamonix, and, from there, do the Route des Grandes Alpes and work our way back to Paris and our return to the US, July 4th.

As always, the blog is several days behind, and catching up will be a bit slower now that we're in a place that has less than normal electricity and wifi. Plus we'll probably be behaving more like tourists this next month, on the go, with limited time. But we'll try to keep the blog as nearly current as we can.

Oh, presently we are in Nancy, a couple hundred miles or so east of Paris, looking forward to seeing the storied art nouveau art and architecture that is here. Stay tuned.

Our new home for a month...A Citroen Pilote Class B camper, 
6 meters, nicely appointed; pretty close to what we'd like to have
in the States; already named by Avis..."Sweetie"


Galeries Lafayette Cupola

We had an errand to run at the Galeries Lafayette gourmet hall and took the opportunity to look once more at the cupola of the main Haussmann store. It's one of those things that's breath-taking every time you see it, and we've seen it many times. Still a knock-out.




Monday, June 5, 2023

Jardin Des Plantes

Although our apartment is just steps (255) from Luxembourg Garden, which we've frequented, we thought we'd pay a visit to the next great park over, the Jardin des Plantes. Whereas Luxembourg is more for fun and relaxation, the Jardin des Plantes is a naturalist's center, with botanical gardens, museums of science and natural history, paleontology, and more. We've visited it several times over the years. This time we were enticed by the prospect of blooming roses, but we visited several sections of the park we'd not seen before.






Looking toward one of the museums

It appears the landscaping crew is constructing one very long rose 
arbor

Much commemorative sculpture all around; Buffon was director
of the garden in the 18th century

Emmanuel Fremier, Nest of the Grizzly, 1886
Never miss an insect hotel
Huge cedar on the trail leading to the Labyrinth, and
the Gloriette de Buffon

La Gloriette, said to be the oldest iron work in Paris
Views from the Gloriette, atop the Layrinth, are
pretty obscured by all the trees except for this
interesting new building

In the Gloriette

Upper bit of the large cedar
One of the monumental green houses

Ugly plant

In the botanical garden, everything organized by type, use, very
completely labeled




Scenes Along The Canal St. Martin

We have enjoyed walking the Canal St. Martin on several occasions in the past and thought we'd do it again. While in the past we have gotten as far as La Villette, and beyond, this time we got just more than halfway. We had a lunch planned on the return, and decided there were other things we wanted to do this day. Clearly we are on the rinse/spin cycle of the campaign.

Look carefully

The owner here has big plans for his vining roses

Ah! My 2nd favorite beer (Westfleteren is still tops)

His 'n her urinals

Swimming pools along the Canal...need work

As far as we got this visit...looking toward La Villette

Looking back to the former royal tax collection station; now a restaurant
(of course)

In a public park

Interesting architecture along the way...reminiscent of
Otto Wagner...Vienna

Unusual grillwork on a new apartment building

Matching parking garage doors

A last look


Above-ground Metro to the Stalingrad station

Very decent Naples-style pizza at Bricktops (not the long-gone
Bricktop's (where Gil Pender saw Josephine Baker with F. Scott
and Zelda and the Porters))


Typical mural

If you live or work nearby, the Canal is great for a lunch-time picnic


Unusual dorsal view of Lady Liberty at the Place de la 
Republic

The day's Venus de Milo caryatids

Having done just a shorter version of the Canal, we hopped a bus
across town to the Champs Elysees; because how can you visit Paris
and not go there?

Actually, I was looking for the installation of Yayoi
Kusama atop the Vuitton building there; note the Dior
building is still under wraps...for years now

Unfortunately, the installation was over and gone; but above is what
we would have seen