Monday, June 3, 2019

Ne Baise Pas Avec La Souris

Never miss a Disney, Vicki says. Rebecca, Jeremy, and Penelope had done Disney Paris and the associated Walt Disney Studios in the weeks before our arrival. But we had to do it again. And, of course, it wasn't our first visit to Disney Paris: http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-un.htmlhttp://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-deux.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-les-out-takes.html. I promise my coverage this time will be more restrained. All this on May 27th.
It so happens I am reading Neal Gabler's Walt Disney biography; the Disney/French
connection is substantial...the Disneys traced their origins to Isgny in Normandy
(D'Isgny); and Walt drove a Red Cross ambulance near Paris toward the end of WWI)


Action shot of Vicki and P on a ride; Rebecca in the tail-gunner position

La Familia Sabbatica had dinner here during their visit


Live action in the Walt Disney Studios: Spiderman zaps the Saracen pigs...

Interior of the big studio hall

Exterior

Looking toward Disney Paris and its hotel

Mary Poppins: P has, as of last March, figured out that standing in line for a photo
and autograph with some non-entity re-enactor  takes time away from the rides

Penelope

Ditto

Small World

Ritual Tea Cups

Magic moment

About to tour the interior of the castle

Which tells the story of Cinderella in stained glass,
tapisserie, and book pages...OK, EXCUSE ME!...Sleeping
Beauty! There is a reason I continue to confuse these (and
other) characters, namely, that in terms of mythic
archetypes, they are all the same figure; Disney and crew
even in the early 1930s knew very well of Jung and such
things and how to exploit them...


Kathe Wohlfarht-like shoppe; belongs on Main Street if you ask me

Giant animatronic dragon in basement of castle
































































































































































































































































Now moving on to Tomorrowland (they call it something else)

Rocketeers 

Highlight for me: touring Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus (another French
connection)
Captain Nemo's (musical) organ
Helpful diagram; sadly, there is no Jungle Cruise here...I probably wouldn't get
the puns anyway
Luminaire

















Concluding explosion of Disneyana


Saturday, June 1, 2019

Vincennes, Parc Floral, And More

Sunday, May 26th, after the Bastille market, I accompanied Rebecca and Penelope to Vincennes and the Parc Floral. Vicki and I had done the historical and architectural bits of Vincennes in 2014, as well as the floral bits: http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/vincennes-le-chateau.htmlhttp://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/saint-chapelle-de-vincennes.html, and
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/08/parc-floral-de-paris.html (obviously, I was impressed), but I wanted to see the floral part again, especially this time of year. Alas, it was not the best time, since the early bloomers, the azaleas, the camellias, the rhododendrons, were done, and the high summer flowers were not yet out. But I found other things to do. Vincennes is Paris' largest public park, as I recall, and it has five major playgrounds, the principal reason for our going.
Just the floral part of Paris' largest public park

Fauna as well as flora

Unusual dorsal view


That's all, folks

Waning early bloomers


But in Paris, there's always an art exhibition within a few feet, so I took this one
in (contemporary artists (not Turner))

Snapping a few to my taste



Further wandering took me to one of the several exhibition
halls, where a large gathering of independent wine-producers
was underway

Thus; the emphasis among the independents is upon "natural" or "bio" ("organic");
a return to what the wine tastes like, not chemicals, not wooden barrels; I'd had
some natural wines before but was not convinced

There must be an elegant French name (not poubelle) for
the little bins you can pour the untasted wine into; no spitting

I'm convinced now: best muscadet ever

The major players were faithful to their heritage; best of all
for me was the Gevrey-Chambertin (not pictured)

Meanwhile, back at the playground

P was having a great time

And drove us home safely aboard Metro #1 (see her mother's blog, SherouseHouse.com
for explanation)

Galeries Lafayette

Among Paris' many landmarks are two of its majestic old department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. For the last several weeks, Galeries Lafayette/Haussman had a promotion going on...Funarama, turning the place into a bit of a playground...the major features of which were a giant net stretched out below the famous cupola, and a walkway, both high above the bottom floor. Rebecca and Penelope did the net before we got to Paris, but I wanted to see it all, especially the famous cupola, a favorite.
Cupola, net, and walkway



The walkway




































Rebecca and I on the walkway

Looking up into the cupola; the whole edifice an art nouveau wonderland



















And down onto the net (no jumping up and down)

A bit of perspective


Quite a different view of it all