klwilliams: (Default)
After seeing All the Art, and seeing All the Churches, and perhaps last night drinking All the Wine and staying up late finishing a mystery, today I had All the Muscle Pain (in addition to doing so much walking after many months of inactivity, the bed here is not good for my back). So right now I'm alone in the flat with a book and the internets and more wine, and Chaz is off exploring Paris. But we will go find a good restaurant this evening, and perhaps there will be more wine. And no whining.
klwilliams: (Default)
Eglise St. Etienne-du-Mont, on the corner of Rue Clovis and Rue Clotilde (Clovis is the first Merovingian king, and Clothilde was his queen.), across the street from the Partheon. This church is absolutely beautiful, both inside and out. My camera battery died right when we got there, so I don't have many pictures, but I'll see what I can find on the internets. Or just go back. It's a working church, with many chapels, a gorgeous ceiling, and lots of wonderful touches here and there. There's even part of the cloister still there, which is now a big open room. Blaise Pascal is buried there. I love this church.

The Partheon was beautiful, but cold and sterile after St. Etienne-du-Mont. We also went to Eglise St. Sulprice, which was beautiful, too, and Eglise Germain des Pres, which was under construction, thus disappointing. Still, we wandered through the sixth arrondissement on a beautiful warm fall day, ate a lovely lunch (Chaz had gizzards and goose fat, I had an apple tart), and I am happy.
klwilliams: (Default)
I have had Quiche Lorraine, and lasagna, and le cassoulet. I have had an eclair, many croissants, several tarts, and much French chocolate. But the best meal so far in Paris? Chaz roasted a poulet noir for dinner, with roasted vegetables in the juices, including roasted garlic. Fabulous. You should all be here. And we have more for tomorrow.
klwilliams: (Default)
We tackled the Louvre today. I say tackled, but I think the Louvre won the point. The place is huge. We started out with the idea of seeing the Medieval art, but instead got sucked into the section that contains the actual Medieval foundations of the Louvre itself. Interesting, but not what we wanted.

We found what we thought was the right floor, but got sucked into gallery after gallery of Dutch Masters. Van Dyke (now I see where the beard got its name), Rembrandt, Rubens...all beautiful, all painting children with creepy faces. Not Medieval.

We staggered into the Louvre Cafeteria, where I had to have Quiche Lorraine (marvelous), French hot chocolate (rich and decadent), and a chocolate eclair. Mmmmm.....

The Medieval galleries were right next to the cafe, and were worth the wait. There were some very nice early ivory carvings, mostly from reliquaries, plus many decorated chalices, patens, pyxes, croziers, and crosses. There were some nice rings and a couple of decorated book covers, plus quite a few enamel ("email" in French) decorations. I enjoyed seeing the aesthetic of All the Colors in the enamels and when using jewels.

After that, we were tired, so we went to just a couple of specific pieces. I had to see the Mona Lisa, which looked a lot like the refrigerator magnet version, only bigger. We also went to see the Victory of Samothrace, just so I could say, "Look! The Winged Victory of Samothrace!" (And take pictures, of course. I have taken Many Pictures.)

Now we are at home, with wine. Chaz is cooking. All is right with the world.
klwilliams: (Default)
We walked out to find it was raining, so we abandoned our plan to walk along the river in favor of visiting the Musee Cluny, since it is only about four blocks away. On the way we found a somewhat touristy place for breakfast, though it served good French omelets and delicious hot chocolate. Next to it, though, is a boulangerie that sells marvelous croissants (our waiter ran over there to get fresh ones for our breakfast), plus a fromagery (cheese shop) and a wine shop. We're thinking of getting our breakfast from those shops tomorrow.

The Cluny Museum was filled with marvels from the Middle Ages, arranged by century. I loved so much of it. They had a special exhibit on swords, including Joyeuse (the real one. Chaz has a link on his LJ), and a sword belonging to Childeric, the father of Clovis. I have a special place in my heart for Clovis, the first of the Merovingian kings. I studied him in school, and I loved the idea of the long-haired kings, who dressed their hair with rancid butter, pushing their way into the Roman society of bath houses and shaved chins. I felt like that at Mount Holyoke, coming from Idaho as I did.

We had wine and raspberries while we avoided more rain, then came home for a bit. We just went out for a walk next to Notre Dame, because the sun is out and it's beautiful again. I took more pictures. And soon we'll meet a friend for dinner. I like Paris.
klwilliams: (Default)
I should probably add that I'm very glad that Chaz speaks French. I do not. Even the few words I do know become Spanish when I try to say them.
klwilliams: (Default)
We decided that a flight from Newcastle to Paris that involved changing planes in (ugh) Heathrow just wouldn't set the right mood, so we booked train tickets on the Eurostar. We had reserved tickets, which meant that even though the trains were running late we still had to catch specific ones, but Chaz emitted the right amount of worrions so we got here just fine. With free food and wine the whole way.

We found the flat, which is in a nice Medieval building with Tudor-style beams and plaster tucked down a Medieval street about a block from the Seine. After we'd settled our things and explored the kitchen and other rooms (the bathroom has a bidet. I've only seen one before in Japan.), we walked toward the river...and as we stepped out from behind a building at the end of the street, Notre Dame filled the sky, lit by the setting sun.

We held hands crossing the river and walked along in front of the cathedral, then had dinner outdoors at a brasserie with Notre Dame a stone's throw away. As we ate le cassoulet and drank vin rouge, I watched the sun set over Notre Dame.

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klwilliams

May 2021

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