Louvre Italians; Plus Some Loonies

Wanting to make our Louvre visits more disciplined and meaningful we'd been watching some of the Great Courses lectures (thank you, Prof. Brettell), and, for our next visit, wanted to focus on just the Italian paintings. The Italian works are of surpassing importance for the Louvre, since, when King Francois Premier wanted to upgrade French art, he looked south, to Italy, for great artists and great art works to import. For us it was a very successful day of art appreciation and amusement. We were nearly the first in line at the Amis du Louvre special entrance.

Ever wondered what it would be like to be the first in the door and,
for at least a few brief shining moments, have the place to yourself?

Something we'd been looking for, Tintoretto's Coronation
of the Virgin, 1580; a swirler, as became the fashion for domed
ceiling treatments; hung so high you could barely see, much
less study it

Personal favorite (paired with Manet's version); poorly displayed
and much in need of cleaning and restoration; Giorgione/Titian
Pastoral Concert

Holy Spirit going for another Immaculate Conception; Rene Sance, 1527

Interesting presentation, showing Manet's copy (above)
of Titian's Madonna of the Rabbit (important Easter
foreshadowing)

"Joseph is so gullible..."

Anonymous, early 14th, Fall of the Rebel Angels

Guido of Siena, late 13th, Nativity; really old as these things go

Rene Sance, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, 1527

In the Louvre, always look up too

Andrea Mantagna, The Virgin of Victory, 1496;
the Louvre has an impressive number of Mantagnas;
no wonder there were so few in Mantua!

"So take the effing picture already!"

Another Anonymous work, The Virgin of the Scales,
one of Leonardo's followers...the scales are pretty
ominous...gonna find out who's naughty or nice...

Both the Louvre and Google identify this as a Bacchus;
I think it is a Hermaphrodite checking his/her messages

The Louvre has three Caravaggios, this, The Death of the 
Virgin, 1606

Starting to get crowded...

One of many super-sized Guido Reni paintings, The Union of
Drawing and Color, 1625 or so; Reni was party to the big dispute
of the day, whether painting or sculpture was the foremost art

Reni again, Jesus Giving the Keys to Peter, 1626;
"Now don't lose these..."

Another Mantagna, Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden
of Virtue, 1502; tempura on canvas (how'd that work?)

Rene Sance, Mohawk Bambino, 1527

"Why is your halo bigger than mine?"

Scenes From Diverse Walks, 3

Our third walk was to the Gare de Lyon to scout out its famed Le Train Bleu restaurant. Having achieved that, and gotten dinner reservations for a few nights hence, we Metro'd back to the Marche Bastille, walked through it mostly for old time's sake (our first long-term apartment was in the 11th, in 2014), and then Metro'd out to Le Roi d'la Frite, our favorite frites joint in Paris, discovered when we lived in the 2nd in 2021. 

Oddly (we thought), just across the river from the Gare de Lyon is
the 1860's Gare d'Austerlitz, somewhat eclipsed in recent years by
the Lyon and Montparnasse stations, but now being enlarged to
handle the big TVGs (trains of great velocity); just above the trees
on the right you can see where the above-ground Metro #5 intersects
the Gare d'Austerlitze

The Louisiana Belle (click to enlarge); isn't it supposed to be on
the Mississippi?!

Approaching the Gare de Lyon and its great clock tower

Entrance to Le Train Bleu; we'll be back for a memorable meal

Appropriately low-tech booking system

A blue train

Strolling through the market at the Place de la Bastille; as great
as ever

Le Roi d'la Frite is an appropriately sized hole-in-the-wall frites
joint on rue Montmartre where you can get authentic Belgian
frites...infinitely superior to Parisian or any other frites

We had forgotten how generous the servings are: this is a medium-sized order

New to us: Belgian poke bowls, frites with your favorite topping

Scenes From Diverse Walks, 2

Another day, another walk (well, a ride on the Metro too) took us to the 16th to reconnoiter an apartment prospect on rue Poncelet. The apartment itself was attractive in photos, and the immediate neighborhood was pretty stunning. But the location was further away from the city center than we'd like. In any case, another explore, and more discoveries.

Thus; click to enlarge; out beyond the Arc de Triomphe

The architecture was pretty stunning

What was really enticing were the shops just around
the corner; best seafood market I've seen in Paris; #3
oysters €13/dozen 

So nice to be in a place that doesn't have state-controlled liquor sales

Best of all, a Cyril Lignac patisserie

Scene of the street market

A block away was a beautiful art nouveau FNAC (media chain, among
the largest of Paris' many bookstores)

Alas, the beautiful windows could be viewed only
from the 3rd floor inside

Very interesting and attractive neighborhood, but...

Scenes From Diverse Walks, 1

After Tawana's and Cara's departures we spent a couple days not sightseeing but merely running some errands and reconnoitering things of interest. And getting our steps. Ths first walk was to take us to the Decathlon on St. Germaine for some shopping, then a stop for kouign amann at Georges Larnicol, then further back down St. Germaine until we got tired and headed back home.

Today's video shoot, on Vaugirard, across from the park

Not a big production perhaps

Fish drying at the Marche St. Germaine

So we're crossing the Boulevard St. Germaine, and I
notice this bag of archaeological grade lumber, removed
from a renovation site nearby

Just down from the statue of Danton

And, for want of a nail,  Vicki boldly extracts an archeological grade
(=not from Home Depot) nail for our collection of found/extracted/
otherwise-obtained items that inevitably get tossed eventually for lack
of a label describing their provenance

Looking around for the reno site, we discover this

beautiful alley, which we've no doubt walked past

dozens of times

Including the back side outdoor seating for Procope

Always something new to discover

In the courtyard park of the church of St. Germaine
de Pres, this monument to the 11,000 Jewish children
in Paris taken by the Vichy government and handed
over to the Germans, and Auschwitz

Finally, another item we've walked past dozens of times without

looking up...the Sevres portal from the Paris 1900 Exposition 

(world fair), one of the few architectural items that have survived 

that famous event; Sevres is of course France's famed manufacturer 

of fine porcelain