The Road Goes Ever On

Tours de la Cathédrale Notre Dame

After the Louvre we Metro'd up to the Strasbourg-St. Denis station for a look at the Brasserie Julien, another Art Nouveau site. Alas, it was closed, already on its August fermeture. (Note to self: as we noticed even in our own unfashionable neighborhood, the August closings can extend well into July, and, presumably, September as well.) At this point, despite tired and sore feet, Vicki decided she wanted to climb the towers of the Cathedral. Hey, we're in Paris! And so we walked to the Cite and stood in line for half an hour, and then did the ascent. While in line, BTW, we had the great satisfaction of seeing some people sent to the end of the line for trying to edge in in front of an Asian family behind us. Anyhow, the tower tour was a great experience, a chance to review so much of what we've seen the past three months.

Classic gargoyle view

Opera Garnier and district

Monsters, Inc.

Roof-top view

Eiffel Tower, Invalides, etc.

Cite view

Ditto

From the top of the south tower

"Lock" bridge

Looking toward the 3rd and the 11th, our "home," Place de la Bastille and Opera
Bastille

The Francois Mitterand Bibliotheque Nationale

Plages again

Saint-Chapelle

Petit Palais, Grand Palais, La Defense

La Defense closer up; Grand Arch

Pompidou

North Tower: and at just about this moment, 5:30 PM, Quasimodo started
peeling the bells, which transformed a great experience into a glorious one:
http://youtu.be/r9gplh5xXno

Paris Plages

Every summer for some years now, the city of Paris closes off a thoroughfare along right bank of the Seine, hauls in tons of sand, umbrellas, lounge chairs, and all the rest, to create the Paris Plages. They do the same for the Canal St. Martin, which I think is more for the locals--the ones stuck in Paris in August--than the tourists. After the Louvre, and en route to other sights, we took a look.

Le Musée du Louvre: Une dernière fois

As our departure clock was ticking down, we visited the Louvre one more time: Vicki's fifth on this stay in Paris, my third. Hopefully it wasn't really the last. Anyhow, we concentrated on decorative arts this time, and the new Muslim section, which Vicki had not seen before. Then, even we were Louvre'd-out.

Old-time time-pieces for the pocket; for those who didn't trust on the new-fangled
devices

She's domineering, he's sneaking around behind her; they don't see eye-to-eye;
but they both like Margaritas...

Picasso inspiration

Muy famoso...a stained glass window depicting the
achievements of Francois Premier

Not least of which was bringing Leonardo to France (with all the art works he
and Team Leonardo could carry), and starting the tradition that would become
the Louvre Museum; here, Francois is bed-side at Leonardo's death;
manufactured in Sevres

And another, much larger Sevres window, this one depicting the
achievements of the Renaissance, the inventions, discoveries,
and great works, 1450-1550

Jan van Eyck representing the arts; of course it's gratifying to us van Eyck fans
to see him so honored; but he was long dead by 1450, and although his major
innovation, painting in oil, came of age in the Renaisssance, it is hard to think of
him as "Renaissance" or even "northern" Renaissance; in my humble opinion

Moving right along, through vast halls of decorative arts; not very crowded for
a late July Wednesday; everybody else is taking pictures of other people taking
pictures of the Mona Lisa

Nice tapestry of an elephant hunt; elephant hunt?!

Nice serpent serving dish, one of many from the studio of Bernard Palissy,
16th-17th centuries; "garcon!--what's that at the bottom of this dish?!"

Nice center-piece, we thought, but actually it's merely a dish-warming piece;
17th century

Another busy day at the Louvre; note the line to buy tickets

Sunny, in one of his great halls

I think this was in a classic Greek ceramics room; recent ceiling
treatment by the estimable Cy Trombly; I trust the Louvre
director who authorized this abomination was executed by
firing squad; or, preferably, guillotine

And right next door, another abomination, thankfully not by an American

Now in the new and extensive Muslim collection

Roman mosaic from a now-Muslim country

Muslim medieval glass, always interesting

Ceramic tiles, also always of interest, for a few minutes, which is my toleration for
kaleidoscopes

Extremely rare Iranian tile depiction of a poetry contest, 17th century, from the
royal residence in Isfahan; most such depictions, of anything non-kaleidoscopic,
were destroyed in the 19th century

The Winged Victory was being worked on when we were at the Louvre in June,
so we had to stop for a look this time now that she's out again; always impressive,
inspiring, like the great cathedrals and a very few other things