France – A Traveling Fool

July 27, 2025

April in Paris: A Walking Tour of the Marais

This was my final day in Paris. When I was there as part of the Grand France River Cruise with Avalon Waterways in 2021, I had scheduled a walking tour of the Marais. But I had miscalculated how strong my back would be just three months after having a little surgery for some melanoma next to my spine, so ended up canceling that time.

I don’t know what it is about the Marais, but trip after trip to Paris, it has either rained when I wanted to check that area out or my back wasn’t up to it. This time, it was chilly and raining on and off. The walking tour was entirely outdoors. The idea was that we would get an orientation tour and could then explore further on our own.

Our meeting point was at the southern end of the Pompidou Centre across from the Dali mural. The Pompidou Centre had opened in 1977 as a multicultural complex to house several different forms of art in one location. It was named after Georges Pompidou, who had been the President of France from 1969 to 1974. The centre is closing in September of 2025 until 2030 to complete a major renovation.

From the Pompidou Centre, we walked to the Hôtel Soubise. It was originally built as a mansion (hôtel particulier) for the Prince and Princess Soubise in the 1700s. The site upon which it was built had once been a semi-fortified 14^th century property of the Templar Knights. It has a baroque exterior and a rococo interior. It currently houses the Musée des Archives Nationales.

Next door was the Hôtel Rohan. This was also built in the 1700s as a home for the son of the Princess Soubise. It is now part of the National Archives.

A short, wet walk from there was the Musée Picasso. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of modern art in general, but I do like Picasso’s blue period very much.

The main thing about Picasso that intrigues me, however, is that a husband of one of my mother’s first cousins, Raoul Aglion, used to know him. During World War II, Raoul was an attaché to General Charles de Gaulle and after the war, he went into the French diplomatic service. Eventually, he was located in Los Angeles at the French consulate there. This was when he met our cousin.

I knew Raoul in the final years of his life. He had an accent much like Charles Boyer and was a very kind, charming and fascinating man. Since I have always been fond of history, I was completely enthralled by the stories he told of his life. A treasured book in my collection is one that he wrote called Roosevelt & de Gaulle: Allies in Conflict, A Personal Memoir. He doesn’t talk about Picasso or the Disney brothers in there. But he kept me quite entertained with stories about them in my younger years. He also owned several Rodin sketches that always intrigued me when I would visit their home in Beverly Hills.

The Musée Cognac Jay is an 18^th century mansion which contains art and furnishings from the 18^th century. It is definitely like stepping back in time and walking around in someone’s home. I plan to go back there for a thorough visit in the future.

Another place in which I definitely want to spend some quality time during a later visit to Paris is the Musée Carnavalet, which is the museum of the history of Paris. It too is in a former mansion. This one dates to the 16^th century. The items contained in the museum date from prehistory to the present day. They include archaeological finds as well as art and historic pieces.

In the Place de Vosges, which is the oldest planned square in Paris, dating to the 17^th century, is the Maison de Victor Hugo. He lived there from 1832 to 1848. His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables.

After taking a look at the exterior of the Hôtel de Sully, which is the headquarters of the National Monuments, we ended the tour shortly before we would have reached the Hôtel de Ville. This is the City Hall of Paris. It had just started raining again, so I grabbed a taxi and headed back to my hotel. At that point, I wasn’t sure I would be venturing out again and wanted to just have a nice, quiet lunch in the hotel.

I had made friends with the bartender in the hotel’s restaurant. It was quiet at lunchtime, so she was able to chat with me, while keeping an eye out for other customers. She was from Moldova, which was where a cousin of mine’s wife was also from. She impressively speaks, Romanian, Russian, French, and English fluently.

I had a Tartelette Chevre Tomate. This was a small, puff pastry tart with goat cheese and tomato. With that I also had an order of escargots and final glass of the lovely Champagne, Chambord, and citron concoction that she made with a dash of mint.

After my lovely, leisurely lunch, I noticed it was getting nicer outside and I perked up enough to venture to one final destination. This was to the church of Saint-Germain l‘Auxerrois. The current building is a medieval church directly across from the Louvre Palace. It was originally built in the 13^th century and modified in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. From 1608 to 1806, it was the parish church for inhabitants of the Louvre. During the reconstruction of Notre Dame, the cathedral’s regular services were held at Saint-Germain l‘Auxerrois.

The original church on the site was built in the 5^th century. This was replaced in about 560 with a larger church. That church was destroyed by the Normans in 886 and then rebuilt. By the 13^th century, it was considered to be too small and was rebuilt into the current church. During the Wars of Religion, its bell was rung on the night of 23 August 1572 to signal the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. This was when thousands of Huguenots, visiting Paris for a wedding, were murdered by a mob.

I found it to be a very pleasant church to visit, with vestiges of its entire history. Some of my Parisian ancestors just might have spent some time there. It was the right age and location. I also found a statue of Saint Denis, the fellow who was beheaded on Montmartre and then walked around carrying his head until he finally dropped dead at the location where the Cathedral of Saint Denis now exists (and where most of the French royalty has been buried).

I sauntered back to the hotel and got myself ready for a very early departure the next morning. Whenever I leave Paris, I always have a tinge of sadness. But I always know that I will be back again.

July 18, 2025

April in Paris: Glorious Sainte Chapelle

I had a very leisurely tour of the Conciergerie during which I sat and contemplated my surroundings in the chapel and revisited much of it while retracing my way back to the entrance. The exit was right next to it. I then had time for an equally leisurely lunch.

I walked just one block to a café called L’Annexe situated just across the street from the Palais de Justice. Their food was quite good and the staff very friendly. The fellow who waited on me told me that people tended to line up at the entrance of Sainte Chapelle about an hour before their scheduled time. So I did just that. They ended up being about a half hour off on their timings and so, although my ticket was for 2:30pm, I didn’t get in until 3pm.

I have visited a lot of basilicas, cathedrals, churches, and chapels in my travels. Many of them have been quite beautiful. Sainte Chapelle is truly one of the most stunningly gorgeous I have ever seen. It is very much like being inside of a jewel box. It is one of the last remaining parts of the royal palace (along with the Conciergerie) and was built in the middle of the 13^th century by King Louis IX (the future Saint Louis) to house the most precious relics of the purported Crown of Thorns and a fragment of what he believed was the True Cross.

Back in medieval times, great value was being attributed to such relics. The owner of these items held considerable prestige. After spending two years in negotiations with the Emperor of Byzantium, Louis managed to get his hands on the Crown of Thorns. A couple years later, he acquired roughly 22 additional relics, including the piece of the cross. He then decided to build a building special enough to house these treasures.

The building consists of two chapels. The upper chapel connected directly to the king’s apartments and was reserved for the king, his family and guests. The lower chapel served the palace staff. The lower chapel is quite lovely itself. But the upper chapel is breathtaking.

Fortunately, after standing in line for an hour and a half, walking around the lower chapel, and climbing the steep turnpike stairs to get to the upper chapel, there were a few chairs along the edges of the room. When I managed to get one, I leaned back and took the photo included here looking straight up at the ceiling.

The first time I had seen Sainte Chapelle, I was completely overwhelmed. This time, I knew what I was about to encounter. However, it had been completely and carefully cleaned a few years ago, so the effect of those incredible windows was even more amazing than I remembered.

The gallery of relics was restored during the 19^th century after having been destroyed during the French Revolution. The reliquaries and the shrine were melted down and most of the relics disappeared. The Crown of Thorns, however, managed to survive and became housed in the treasury of Notre Dame in 1806.

After taking my time in the upper chapel and venturing out onto the balcony, I returned to the lower chapel and roamed around in there before heading out. They had several stalls selling keepsakes, which I also perused. I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without, so I left with just the photos I had taken.

I returned to the Café L’Annexe to have some hot chocolate and some chocolate mousse before starting the walk back to the hotel. On my way, I stopped in at a Merci Jerome! boulangerie/patisserie/café on just the other side of the Seine after crossing the Pont au Change and purchased some takeaway items for dinner. That way I could just go straight to my room and stay there. I still had about a glass and a half worth of a nice, light Reisling in my little fridge. It went quite well with my dinner.

Next time – A Walking Tour of the Marais

July 11, 2025

April in Paris: The French Equivalent to the Tower of London — the Conciergerie

I had a combined ticket to Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie. I had to have a prearranged appointment time to get into Sainte Chapelle. This was for 2:30pm, so I had plenty of time to tour the Conciergerie and have some lunch before getting into line for Sainte Chapelle. I would have thought that, since it was Easter Sunday, the number of people visiting both places wouldn’t have been large. But I was wrong. The lines for both were quite long.

The Conciergerie is one of the oldest remaining parts of the Palais de la Cité, which was from where the French kings of the Middle Ages lived and ruled. It was transformed from a palace into a prison in the late 14^th century and remained so until after the French Revolution.

The Salle des Gens d’Armes is the first room that is entered. It is a very sizeable hall and is part of the original palace (1302). The next room I visited was the kitchens (1350-1364). This had four gigantic fireplaces allowing the cooks to make meals for hundreds of people at a time.

The Salle des Gardes was built around the same time as the Salle des Gens d’Armes. This room originally was an antechamber for the Grand Chamber, where the King would decide on how to dispense his justice. It then became the location of the Parliament of Paris. During the Revolution, it was the location of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

A portion of the Salle des Gens d’Armes was raised and separated from the rest of that hall and given the name of Monsieur de Paris, which was the executioner’s nickname. This connects the Salle des Gardes to what they call the Revolutionary Rooms. A gift shop is now contained in this space.

In the prisoners’ corridor are three tiny rooms. The first contains the desk of the clerk, who was responsible for recording prisoner details. The second was the office of the concierge, who was the prison director. The third was the Grooming Room, where the prisoners would have their hair cut before execution.

Other than during the Great Terror (April to July 1794) about a third of the defendants held in the Conciergerie managed to escape the death penalty between 1793 and 1795. Upstairs in the Salle des Noms the names of over 4,000 people tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal at the Conciergerie are listed. A handful of tiny cells line the short corridor to a rather small room where some of the most significant political trials were held.

Coming back down the stairs I entered the chapel. This was used as both a prisoner’s chapel and as a shared cell. During the Great Terror, sometimes as many as 600 people were crowded together in this room waiting for their names to be called to be transported to their place of execution.

The most important prisoner was Marie Antoinette. She was transferred to the Conciergerie on the night of 2 August 1793 after being incarcerated for ten months in the Temple prison. Her actual cell was located behind the altar of the chapel and was converted in 1815 into an expiatory chapel by order of Louis XVIII, younger brother of Louis XVI. The definition of expiatory is as an atonement for a wrongdoing or sin.

When I visited the Conciergerie back in April of 2000, the cell of Marie Antoinette was presented as they thought it might have looked when she was a prisoner there. They even had a mannequin dressed as her seated in a chair with her back to the viewer. The area was roped off. This time, the cell was presented as a memorial and we could walk around in it and view the memorials and paintings on the walls.

The former queen was kept under constant surveillance, day and night. She wasn’t allowed to write most of the time. Her trial began on the morning of 14 October 1793. On 16 October, at 4am, the death verdict was announced, followed by her being transported in a heavily guarded cart to what is now the Place de la Concorde and executed at 12:15pm. The possessions she was said to have left behind at the Conciergerie are contained in display cases at the back of the chapel.

The final place for me to visit in the Conciergerie was the women’s courtyard. This was where the female prisoners were allowed to take their daily walks, surrounded by two floors of dungeons.

The Conciergerie remained a prison after the revolution and was eventually made a part of the Palais de Justice. By 1862, it was classified as a historic monument. Portions could be visited by 1914 and all prison activity ended in 1934.

Next time – Glorious Sainte-Chapelle

July 4, 2025

April in Paris: The Marvelous Musée des Arts Décoratifs

On my way to the Louvre that morning, while passing the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, I had noticed that there was a McDonalds directly across the street. Although I normally eat the cuisine of the country I am in, I wanted to get a short, quick lunch in between museums. I headed there once I left the Louvre from the same entrance I had entered it.

This McDonalds was different from those I have experienced back in the US and in Canada. But it was very similar to a couple I have visited in other countries. On four sides of a forest of floor-to-ceiling poles were touch screens where orders could be entered. Once the order was complete, the user would just touch their debit card to the screen and then get a receipt. Without a debit card from a French bank, however, I received a ticket to take over to a window to then pay with a credit card.

The entire time I was in Paris, all of the cafes and restaurants showed the customer an electronic device which the customer then touched with their debit card to pay the bill. Again, because none of my friends or I had debit cards from French banks, they ended up printing out the bill from the device and presenting it to the paying party. They then either took the credit card (or cash) with them to the cashier, or we would be directed to go and pay the cashier. At the hotel, of course, we could just charge the meal to the room.

Many restaurants here at home will have you touch a credit or debit card to a handheld device to pay, so I was fascinated by the fact that it only seemed to work specifically for debit cards in Paris. Americans often tend to expect that things will operate the same way in other countries as they do in the US. That is rarely the case. We need to be able to adapt.

For everything where I had booked advance tickets, I had the ticket on my phone. But I also printed out all my tickets before I left home (and had the printouts with me) just in case my phone didn’t want to cooperate. There is never a problem at home, but I just didn’t want to take the chance of not being able to get in because my phone balked.

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs was created in the 19^th century to be a source of inspiration for artists and craftspeople. They own millions of items such as furniture, tableware, objets d’art, clothing design, jewelry, glass, ceramics, toys, and more. Not all items are on display at all times, especially not the more fragile, such as clothing, photographs, and drawings. They also have entire rooms from different periods that have been moved to the museum and set up there.

The museum occupies portions of three floors in the Rohan Wing, six floors in the Lefuel Wing, and seven floors in the Marsan Pavilion of the Louvre Palace. The permanent collections cover eight centuries of the history of French style, innovation and creativity.

I decided to start in the Middle Ages (13^th century) and see how far I could get before needing to go lie down somewhere. Fortunately I was quite close to my hotel, so wouldn’t need to walk far once I was done. I managed to cover the entire third floor of both the Lefuel Wing and the Marsan Pavilion. This contained items from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, 17^th and early 18^th centuries.

While much of the Louvre had been overcrowded, I was pretty much alone in most of the rooms I was exploring in this museum. I hadn’t been alone when I came in, so I surmised that we were just interested in different parts of the collection. I was able to take my time and even had empty benches on which I could park myself for a while here and there to contemplate what I was seeing and also to decide what I wanted to photograph. There was even a room with great views of the opposite side of the palace from which I took some photos. After the faster pace at the Louvre, this was pretty relaxing.

Beginning with altar pieces and items from the Gothic period, there was also a great 15^th century bedroom. Next came some friezes from the castle of Vélez Blanco. There was the Early Renaissance and Late Renaissance in the next few rooms.

The 17^th century and early 18^th century had some beautiful pieces of furniture, paintings, and ceramics. There was also a ceiling from the Hôtel de Verrue and the entire study from the Hôtel de Rochegude. In France, a hotel can be either a lodging or a mansion or a city hall. These hotels were mansions.

I was standing on the third floor of the Main Gallery, looking up at the fourth floor (which was even larger and covered the rest of the 18^th century plus the 19^th and Art Nouveau) when I realized that I wasn’t certain I could even get up the stairs, much less tour the entire floor. Save that for a future visit.

So I departed through the gift shop and headed west along the Rue de Rivoli to a café that was just a block before the street to my hotel. The hotel had given the staff the night off for the Easter Weekend, so I couldn’t eat there. That was okay. I think that if I had gone to my room at all, I might not have left it again until the next morning. As it was, I was too pooped to remember to take a photo of my dinner and can’t, for the life of me, remember what I had.

Once I did get to my room, I finished off the remaining glassful of one of the small bottles of wine, leaving the final glass of the final bottle for the following night. Then I slept like a baby and didn’t need to get up until 8am the next morning.

Next time –The French Equivalent to the Tower of London — the Conciergerie

June 27, 2025

April in Paris: Adventures at the Louvre

After we had breakfast together and my friends headed out to catch their trains home, I walked south to the Rue de Rivoli and then east to the Place du Carrousel entrance to the Louvre. Back when I first learned about that entrance, it was a hidden, secret entrance. We had entered through an unmarked door, ventured down a dingy corridor, to some very industrial-looking stairs that weren’t all that well lit. Now it is all well-marked, well-lit, and welcoming. It looks much more like the entrance to a shopping mall than an entrance to a museum.

In the past, whoever I was with and I would be the only people navigating those stairs. This time, there were escalators as well as a wide set of stairs. There were several others going in the way I was and I just fell in with them.

Back in the day, anyone coming in from the Carrousel entrance would just merge at the ticket desk with those coming in from the Pyramid entrance. Now tickets must be purchased in advance. There are also multiple (three or four at various times) entrances which all merge downstairs to get into the museum.

I just continued to follow the others who had come in at the same time as I did as we wound around a few times to get to where everyone merged. Then, after what seemed like a longer walk than what it had taken to get to the museum, we finally got into the entrance line itself. I was quietly waiting for the line to inch along and was taking in all of the changes when a guy came up from behind me and accused me of butting into the line ahead of him.

I explained that I had just come in with all of these other people who were ahead of me and this was where we ended up. He then said that he had come in from the subway, “like everybody else”, but had never seen me until now. When I tried to tell him that there were multiple entrances which all merge there, he said that I was a lying bitch. So, since I choose which fights are worth fighting and which aren’t, I said, “If it means that much to you to go in two seconds ahead of me, go head.” Then I stepped back to let him and the woman who was with him move ahead of me. Unfortunately that didn’t satisfy him.

He just kept after me letting me know what a horrible, entitled person he thought I was. So I motioned for a security person to come over to us. Then I asked him to explain to her what his complaint was. Her response was to explain to him about the multiple entrances all converging where we were and asked me which entrance I had used. I told her and she said to him, “She came in from a different entrance and that was why you didn’t see her until you got here where everyone merges.”

He still wasn’t going to let it go. She pointed out that he was in front of me, so she didn’t understand the problem. He wanted me to be kicked out of the museum. She said to me, “Come with me”. He was a happy man now. He thought she was going to do what he told her to do. She didn’t. Instead she took me in through the security entrance. I thought that was very kind of her and thanked her. She wanted to get me away from him. She also told me that, if he found me and harassed me at any point while I was in the museum, let a security person know immediately and he would be the one tossed out.

As packed as the place was, I had already decided to start with some areas other than where the big crowds would likely be going first and then say “Hi” to Mona later. I headed for the excavations under the Cour Carrée, which is surrounded by the Sully Wing. This is where the base of the towers and the drawbridge supports of the fortress of King Philippe-Auguste can be seen.

This is the oldest part of the Louvre, which began construction in roughly 1190. The oldest portion of the palace still above ground, which dates from the late 1540s, is known as the Lescot Wing. It is the part of the Sully Wing that is on the western side of the Cour Carrée. It was built by King Francis I.

When I went up to the Ground Floor I was inside that part of the palace. The official Louvre website has an interactive map of the museum. One can click on a room and see what it contains. Also, if you want to visit a particular piece of art, you can enter its name and it will tell you the wing, floor and room number. Very handy for advance planning. I had my basic route figured out in advance, subject to any changes due to crowds or fatigue.

I crossed into the Denon Wing to visit the Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave sculptures by Michelangelo and Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss in Room 403. Then I returned to the Sully Wing to check on Venus de Milo before moving on to the Egyptian Antiquities in the eastern part of that wing. When I had last been there, I had not yet been to Egypt. So I was even more interested in them now, especially both Horus (I had visited a couple of his temples) and the Seated Scribe. The Seated Scribe was up one floor from where I was, but there was plenty to explore on the Ground Floor before moving up to the 1^st Floor. There were several more rooms full of Egyptian artifacts on that floor too.

Returning to the Denon Wing, I viewed the Winged Victory of Samothrace before moving on to the paintings. This was where the museum really became crowded.

I had some favorite paintings in both rooms 702 and 700 which I visited before venturing into Room 711, which was where Leonardo da Vinci’s ultra-famous Mona Lisa was located. Patience is definitely needed to be able to catch a quick glimpse of her. She is by far the most popular attraction in the entire Louvre.

In Room 702, the Death of Marat has always interested me because I was once in a production of the play “Marat Sade”, which was based upon the death of Jean-Paul Marat. The character I played had originally been a priest in a straight jacket representing the real life priest Jacques Roux. We changed the character to a nun. The habit I wore was real as was the straight jacket. I needed to trust that they would actually let me out of it.

The painting of the Coronation of Napoleon in the same room depicts Napoleon crowning Josephine by the altar of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. In the upper right can be seen the Pieta just behind the altar. She same Pieta my friends and I sat in front of during our visit to Notre Dame earlier in the week.

I had debated skipping seeing the Mona Lisa this time as enormously large crowds are not at all something that I enjoy. But it would have been like not saying “hi” to an old friend (we first made our acquaintance in 1984). So I took a deep breath and waded into the fray. Yes, she is worth seeing – whether for the first time or the seventh.

Emerging unscathed from that room I ventured over to the Richelieu Wing to visit the apartments of Napoleon III. These aren’t merely decorated rooms that have been set up in the Louvre. These are the actual rooms created during the time of Napoleon III in the Second Empire (1852-1870) as state rooms for the use of the Minister of State (whose family occupied private rooms nearby) to hold receptions, dinners, masked balls, etcetera. They have survived miraculously mostly intact for over 150 years and have been open to the public since 1993. I had only seen them once before in 2000, so wanted to take a better look at these rooms this visit. They are quite sumptuous.

The photo that I have of the Salon Theatre is quite interesting for a couple of reasons. The room can be converted from a salon to a theatre relatively easily. The piece of furniture that can be seen in the center front of the photo is a chair made for three people to sit together closely for a private conversation.

From there, I took the stairs down to the Cour Marly, which was created in 1993 when this portion of the Louvre Palace was integrated into the museum. It had been an open courtyard which was then covered with a glass ceiling and the entire space temperature-controlled. Then it was filled with monumental sculptures from the gardens, fountains and groves of a leisure residence of King Louis XIV at Marly, near Versailles. These had been scattered all over Paris after the destruction of the royal residence. Since 1993 they have been housed together in this glorious space. The beautiful Marly Horses are displayed at the top level of the courtyard.

Next time –The Marvelous Musée des Arts Décoratifs

June 20, 2025

April in Paris: A Great Lunch and Exploring the Musée Rodin

We retraced our steps to where we had passed the Musée Rodin on our way to explore the Hôtel des Invalides and had lunch in Le Café du Musée right across the street from the museum. I had checked this particular café out on the Internet before leaving on this trip as I wanted good French food at a reasonable price close to both of the places we were going that day. I had escargot and crème brûlée with a glass of Orangina. All were delicious. My friend was quite happy with what they were having too. It was one of our best meals away from the hotel.

I was familiar with The Thinker, The Kiss, and the Monument to the Burghers of Calais, but that was it prior to visiting this museum. In addition to the friend I was with, who had visited this museum before, the Concierge, the Head Waiter, and the Bartender at the hotel where we were staying had all said that this was a “must see”. They were right. I have gained a real appreciation for the works of Auguste Rodin.

Once we entered the grounds of the Musée Rodin, we began in the Rose Garden with Rodin’s most famous work, The Thinker. I loved being able to see (and photograph) it from every angle. I had a vague memory of getting a glimpse of The Thinker as our tour coach passed by the museum on my first time to Paris in 1984. But, unless the layout of the sculpture gardens was entirely different back then, I don’t see how I could have seen it. The whole place is bordered by tall walls other than the entrance gate.

We walked a little further into the garden to view the monumental bronze version of The Kiss before we backtracked to enter the mansion called the Hotel Biron. This mansion was built in the early 18^th century. In 1908, Auguste Rodin rented four rooms on the ground floor. Other tenants included the writer Jean Cocteau, the painter Henri Matisse, and the dancer Isadora Duncan. By 1911, Rodin had taken over the entire building. He left the building and his works to the French state in 1916.

In the 1880s, the young female sculptor, Camille Claudel, joined Rodin’s studio. She became his assistant, rival, muse, and lover. They had a tumultuous relationship for 10 years, with her leaving him in 1893. She ended up declining mentally and was shut away in an asylum for 30 years. Many of her works are also on display in the museum, as Rodin desired them to be. In Room 16 of the 18 rooms displaying artistic works, are some of Camille’s finest pieces. I have included a photo of The Waltz here.

The first eight rooms are on the ground floor. The first two rooms are dedicated to Rodin’s early works, such as the Man With A Broken Nose and some of his Belgian landscapes before he settled into being mainly a sculptor.

One of the things I really liked about the museum was that it is still clearly a house and a house in which Rodin actually lived and worked. We could see his works displayed where he created them. That brought an extra dimension to it that isn’t found when someone’s art is displayed somewhere not connected to the artist.

In the third room is the sculpture titled the Age of Bronze (photo included). This is considered to be Rodin’s breakthrough piece, which earned him the commission for The Gates of Hell. In Room 5 are more lifesize versions of both The Kiss and The Thinker, which were originally created to be parts of The Gates of Hell until Rodin decided to keep them as stand-alone pieces.

Room 6 has a study for the Monument to the Burghers of Calais. The story behind it is quite interesting. After Calais was besieged by the English, King Edward III of England ordered the citizens of Calais to deliver six of their top citizens along with the keys to the city. These six men would be expected to be executed. The sculpture depicts the six men chosen as they are leaving the city to face their deaths, unaware that the English king plans to spare their lives.

The remaining two rooms on this floor deal with Rodin’s fame and his time at the Hotel Biron. I have included a photo of a work titled The Danaid.

Upstairs on the 1^st floor, in addition to Camille Claudel’s The Waltz, I also took photos of The Cathedral in Room 10 and The Walking Man in Room 17. The Cathedral is a sculpture of two right hands entwining around each other while The Walking Man consists of legs and a torso, with no arms or head. It is thought to have possibly been cast from an earlier study for Saint John the Baptist Preaching. That sculpture is located in the same room as Age of Bronze. I have photos of the two works side by side here and I do think they are very similar.

Then we went back outside to the gardens to see the finished version of Monument to the Burghers of Calais, as well as The Three Shades, The Gates of Hell, and Adam and Eve. The Gates of Hell were said to have been inspired by the Gates of Paradise on the bronze doors of the Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence (which I have seen and photographed on visits to Florence). Rodin based his work on the first section of The Divine Comedy, called Inferno.

We inspected the gift shop before heading back to where we had been dropped off. About two weeks later, I received my own version of The Kiss. This one was 6” (15.24cm) in height.

When we timed our walk to get to the places we wanted to visit, we tried to allow a little extra time just in case. Good thing. We got slightly turned around a couple of times and needed to backtrack just a bit. Fortunately we both realized we were heading the wrong way each time, so no arguments. Just a discussion about where we thought we were compared to where we actually were according to the map and an adjustment was made. It was the fact that we needed to cut through the park plus the construction going on in the park (necessitating some detours) that was throwing us off. Finally we got to where we could see the Eiffel Tower looming ahead. Then we knew to just walk towards that landmark.

We still had some wine back at the hotel, but I did pick up another bottle of Orangina at the grocers enroute. My friends were heading home to their respective countries on the train the next day (Saturday), but I would be remaining in Paris until the following Monday.

Next time –The Louvre

June 13, 2025

April in Paris: Dôme des Invalides and Musée de l’Armée

You would think that with all of the times I have been to Paris, I would have visited Napoleon’s tomb and the army museum well before now. For some reason, there were always other priorities and I never got around to it. So glad that I did it this time and plan to go again the next time I am in Paris. There is so much to see there that it takes more than just one visit.

This was day two of the Hop On Hop Off Big Bus. Our group split up for the day as different people wanted to see different things. We arranged to meet up for dinner at 7:30pm. We all got on the bus at the same time and same place. We would just be getting off at different stops. Two of us stayed on the bus until the stop to visit the Hôtel des Invalides.

The stop was in the Parc du Champs de Mars behind the Eiffel Tower (on the other side from the Seine). We needed to walk through the park to the Military School and then angle over to the Avenue de Tourville to get to our destination. There was some major construction going on in the park, so we had to skirt around to our left instead of heading straight to the Military School. Once we reached the Dôme Church where the tomb was located, we found that the entrance to the entire complex was all the way around on the other side at the Place des Invalides. The entrance at the end we were was only open from 2pm to 6pm. We were definitely getting our exercise just to get into the place. We timed our walk to the spot where we passed by the Rodin Museum so we knew how long we would need to get back to where we had been dropped off.

At every site visited (including the boat ride the day before) everyone had to pass through a security check where any bags, backpacks and sometimes even purses, were opened and checked. Some locations also had metal detectors to pass through. Large bags and backpacks were not allowed and suitcases? Forget it. The churches that we visited (other than Notre Dame) were the only places where we could just walk right in.

After we passed through the security check at the entrance gate, we walked up to the entrance itself and purchased tickets to cover Napoleon’s tomb, the army museum, and the Rodin museum. Our plan was to do the military stuff in the morning and then see the Rodin sculptures after lunch.

We got the booklet showing what was where for the tomb and army museum and stepped aside to confer on our “plan of attack”. We quickly realized there was so much there that we needed to agree on what we wanted to see the most. Fortunately for us both, it was the tomb and the arms and armor 13^th to 17^th centuries. We figured that, if we had some extra time, we would also visit the Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, which is the national cathedral of the French military.

King Louis XIV had the complex built (1670–1676) to create a hospital and home for disabled and aged soldiers. The church and chapel were added in 1676. The Dôme is the tallest domed church in Paris.

On the 14^th of July 1789, the Hôtel des Invalides was stormed by Parisian rioters who took the cannons and muskets stored in the cellar to use against the Bastille. It was after Napoleon Bonaparte was interred within the Royal Chapel of the Dôme des Invalides that the Dôme and the church had separate altars created as well as a glass wall placed between them.

The rest of the building continued to be a retirement home and hospital until the early 20^th century when the military veterans were dispersed to other smaller facilities outside of Paris. Two existing museums were combined and moved into the space. There weren’t as many people with the twenty years or more service required for residence at the military hospital, so there was a lot of empty space.

We checked out a couple of the exhibits on the side of the museum we were on. Then we headed to the Dôme to spend some time visiting the tomb before heading to the other side of the museum. On our way, we saw an artillery gun much like those that Napoleon and his forces would have used at Saint Roch. I have a photo of that included with this post.

We needed to go all the way around to the main entrance of the Dôme church and then up the stairs. Once inside, we found it to be quite beautiful. The Tomb of Napoleon was created here in 1840 after his remains were returned to France from Saint Helena. I took several photos of it. Then we ventured down into the crypt to explore that area too. When we were done, we headed over to the arms and armor, which was in another wing of the museum.

This collection of ancient armor and weapons is quite amazing and makes this particular museum one of the three largest arms museums in the world. The #1 museum in this category is the Imperial War Museum in London. I have been there too. If you like the really old stuff, both the Tower of London and the New York City Metropolitan Museum have loads of wonderful armor on display. But this museum really takes the prize in the medieval armor category. They also have arms and armor from other countries and from the Renaissance and early modern periods.

Some of the really special pieces of armor included the Hounskull bascinet helmet (1350-1380). This had a lighter weight than earlier helmets and an open-faced design, which made it easier to see and breathe during combat. Important factors I would think.

There was a suit of armor that had lions carved upon it. It is believed to have belonged to François I (1494-1547). I can’t say that I have ever seen another suit of armor quite like it. There was also a suit of armor called the “armour of the Dauphin”, which supposedly belonged to the future Henri II (1519-1559). I have photos of all three of these included with this post.

We started off in the Salle Royale (the Royal Room) and walked around with our mouths open through pretty much the whole area. Then we realized that we had better get ourselves out of there, have some lunch and get to the Musée Rodin while we still had time before heading back to meet the last bus leaving the Parc du Champ de Mars.

The last photo I have included is of Napoleon’s camp tent setup. I would have also liked to have checked out the portion of the museum dedicated to Charles de Gaulle and World War II. I have a family member who was de Gaulle’s attaché at that time and wrote a book about it. Another good excuse to return to this wonderful museum.

Next time –A Great Lunch and Exploring the Musée Rodin

June 6, 2025June 6, 2025

April in Paris: Cruising Along the Seine

I know I have said this before, but I love water. Looking at it, gliding along on it, swimming (or just bobbing around) in it. So whenever I get the chance to take a river cruise or get out on a lake in a location where I am traveling, I do it. Every time I go to London, I take a ride on a boat there. The same with Paris.

After our morning visit to the Musée d’Orsay, we originally planned to visit L’Orangerie, with many more impressionist paintings, especially Monet’s Waterlilies. But we revised our plans and chose to take the boat cruise on the Seine instead of doing that the following day. This was a one hour trip from the Eiffel Tower down and around both the Ile de la Cité and Ile Saint Louis and back to the Eiffel Tower.

We jumped back onto the Big Bus at the stop across the street from the Musée d’Orsay and rode it around until we got to the Eiffel Tower. En route we passed the Place de la Concorde, rode along the Champs-Elysées, circled the Arc de Triomphe, and went back down the Champs-Elysées to the Grand and Petit Palais. Then we crossed the beautiful Pont Alexandre III to the other side of the Seine for a while before crossing back over the river again to go by the Shangri-La and the Palais de Chaillot. We crossed the river one more time to stop in front of the Eiffel Tower.

We had a bit of a walk to where the Bateux Parisien boats were docked. Then we stood for a while in the snaking line to get on board. It was a bit chilly so we opted to stay inside on the lower part of the boat instead of going upstairs, with the majority of people, out in the open air. Once the tour began, several people changed their minds and came downstairs. We had settled into a booth for four right next to a window.

Here and there I took some photos. But I mostly just watched the scenery roll by. Those who remained on the upper deck were encouraged to whoop and holler and wave at anyone we passed along the way. Many people responded in a friendly manner, but some not so much. My accompanying photos include both some from the Big Bus before and after the river cruise and some from the cruise itself. The photo taken under the Pont Neuf was the only one not taken by me.

I enjoyed seeing the bridges from underneath. A couple of the really old ones were lined with bricks. The Pont Neuf, despite its name, is the oldest of the bridges (it was begun in 1578 and was the first to be built without houses on it). It has several carved heads on its sides. They are all different from one another.

I also really liked the Statue de Sainte Geneviève. This was on the Pont de la Tournelle which crosses from the Left Bank (the Latin Quarter) onto the Ile Saint Louis. Instead of facing Notre Dame de Paris, she is facing the opposite direction. Why?

Geneviève was born in Nanterre in 423 and moved to Paris when she was 20. She was then ordered by the Bishop of Paris as a “Consecrated Virgin”. When, in 451, Attila and the Huns crossed the Rhine to invade Gaul, they plundered Metz and Reims along the way and were heading to Paris, most Parisians chose to flee. Geneviève urged Paris to fight and began to pray for the city. Attila decided to head to Troyes instead on his way to besiege Orleans.

Paris was miraculously saved and Geneviève became one of the patron saints of Paris. The other is Saint Denis. He’s the fella who was beheaded for his faith on Montmartre sometime between 250 and 270 and walked several miles afterwards carrying his head and preaching. The spot where he finally fell dead is the present day location of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where many of the kings and queens of France are buried (as well as Denis himself).

Sainte Geneviève’s statue faces in the direction from which the Huns would have come – away from Paris rather than towards it. The statue’s sculptor, Paul Landowski, was not at all happy about that. Her position does make it rather difficult to see the details. Landowski would go on a few years later to create one of the most famous statues in the world, Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Once we disembarked from the boat and got back on the Big Bus, we stayed on until we would be deposited at the Big Bus office along the Avenue de l’Opera. That was the closest stop to our hotel. Unfortunately, about the time we reached La Madelaine, the traffic began to crawl and then stop, and crawl and stop and sit. It took us a very long time to actually reach the Opera Garnier, which was the last stop of the Big Bus before we could get to the office.

Turned out that the stop lights at the Place de l’Opera were not working. This created a huge traffic jam. Although most people were relatively patient, there were some whose tempers were on their last nerve. Some of these folks just yelled a lot, while others began to do some things that could have made things much worse by causing an accident. At one point it seemed that our bus was surrounded by other vehicles all facing us and demanding we get out of their way. Fortunately the calmer folks, which included our driver, prevailed and we eventually got to move around in a circle behind the opera house, where the stop there was located. By that time, there was a motorcycle next to us with a doggie riding with its daddy. I took a photo. The very calm and quiet dog was wearing a jacket and some goggles.

When we finally got to where we could get off the bus and walk back to our hotel, it had been over an hour and a half since we had finished the river cruise. About an hour of that time was spent in the traffic jam.

Along the Rue Saint Honoré we came across a small grocers. We stopped in to see what they had. I bought a large bottle of Orangina plus a couple of small bottles of wine. Back at the hotel, we went for dinner at the their restaurant again. We had really liked the food the night before, plus the restaurant was cozy and intimate. This time we didn’t dress up as much. Really didn’t need to do so.

Next time –Napoleon’s Tomb and the Musée de l’Armée

May 30, 2025

April in Paris: The Musée d’Orsay

Prior to the trip to Paris, I checked out which venues needed a reservation and which I could just purchase a ticket for when I got there. Although reservations weren’t needed for the Musée d’Orsay, I remembered that the last couple times I had been there was a very long and slow line to purchase tickets. Those who already had tickets went right in. So tickets were purchased for me and my friends.

I also booked the Paris Big Bus Hop On Hop Off 48 Hour pass with optional River Cruise on the Seine. Although we could have simply walked through the Tuileries gardens and crossed the river to get to the museum (which was how I had gotten there in the past), I had originally planned to visit the Conciergerie and Sainte Chapelle on Day 1 of using the Hop On Hop Off pass. But Sainte Chapelle required a timed reservation and didn’t have four open slots for the day I planned to go there. So I switched a couple things around and we ended up going to the Musée d’Orsay instead.

We exchanged our vouchers for tickets at the Big Bus office on the Avenue de l’Opera, hopped on the double-decker bus and sat through the next two stops. The first stop was at the Louvre. The second stop was just across the Seine from Notre Dame.

It was nearly 10am when we passed Notre Dame and the crowd was gargantuan. The line to get in was all the way out to the sidewalk behind the Parvis and around the block from there. Those folks were not going to get inside for hours. This was the Thursday before Easter.

The next stop was right across the street from the Musée d’Orsay. The photo I have included here doesn’t look like there was a large crowd, but appearances can be deceiving. The lines near me when I took the photo were all for people like us who had purchased tickets in advance. As you can see, they were nearly empty. The crowd you can see at the back of the photo was of those without advance tickets.

We zipped on through the line to which we were assigned and got right in. Still didn’t seem too crowded inside until we got to the fifth floor. It was packed. So packed that moving around was awkward and being able to actually see the art a challenge. Looking back, I think going Holy Week was the issue. It appeared that a lot of families had school holiday that week and decided that Paris was the place to be.

I still managed to get some decent photos of some of the art. Although my size (lack thereof) makes it difficult to see over people, it does allow me to fairly easily slip in and out from around them. I could slip in, grab a quick photo, and slip out again. Not very conducive to standing and contemplating however. As an Impressionistic-style artist myself, I like to study the brush strokes of the originals. Didn’t quite get to do that this time.

And sitting? All available benches for seated contemplation were covered with swarms of children. They were camped out for the day, playing with their phones, and not moving for anything.

I made sure that I had the Van Gogh paintings covered (we circled that room twice). But I am certain that I missed some of my other favorites entirely – especially a couple of the Degas ballerina paintings, plus some of the Monets, Sisleys, Pissaros and Renoirs.

We were trying not to lose each other while endeavoring to find our favorite painters. Except for a couple of times when I went in for a stealthy photo attack, my one friend kept a hand on me so I wouldn’t disappear entirely.

When we got to the area where one of the clocks from the original railway station that had been converted into the museum was located, the crowds were considerably thinner. The floors other than the fifth (which contained most of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists), were decidedly less packed full of people. In fact, the last two photos I took ended up being pretty much void of people.

The Degas sculpture shown here is one that I have a much smaller version of at home. Several of the paintings were among those of which I had painted my own versions, such as Monet’s Woman With a Parasol on the right of the two shown, Manet’s Peonies, and the first Degas painting shown. I have started the Van Gogh Starry Night On the Rhone, but it is not completely finished.

Once we viewed what we wanted to see on the other floors, we chose to have some lunch there in the museum. There were two cafés and a restaurant from which to choose. We picked one and settled in for a leisurely lunch before heading out to our next location. Since we had had a very full day the previous day and a full morning, we decided to change up a bit for the afternoon and do the river cruise then instead of saving it for the following day.

When we hopped back on the bus, we rode around until we reached the Eiffel Tower. Then we hopped off and got in line for the opportunity to glide along the Seine watching the city of Paris go by.

Next time –Boat Ride on the Seine

May 23, 2025

April in Paris: The Musée National du Moyen Age (Musée de Cluny)

Just a few short blocks from the Church of Saint-Séverin, is a museum I have long wanted to visit. This is the Musée du Moyen Age or the Musée de Cluny. The land upon which the museum now stands was central to the Roman city of Lutetia. A complex of cold, partially-heated and fully-heated rooms for bathing as well as outdoor areas for exercising was built in the 1^st century at this location and was in use for about two centuries.

The Cluny mansion was built in the 15^th century next to the largest remaining structure of the Roman Bath, the Frigidarium. The Cluny is the only surviving private mansion in Paris featuring a courtyard in the front and a garden in the back. It was built in what is known as the flamboyant Gothic style.

In 1843, the museum was founded using the collection of the mansion’s then owner, Alexandre Du Sommerard (1779-1842). In the 19^th century a building was constructed to link the antique thermal baths with the medieval mansion and, in the 21^st century, a new building was built to be a Visitor’s Center.

Once you buy your ticket, you are given a map of the building. The self-guided tour begins in the Frigidarium. My oh my, but this is an impressive building. I have seen many a Roman bath all over Europe and the Middle East. But they are usually archaeological excavations. This room is completely intact. It has walls and a roof. It no longer has its painted frescoes. But here and there remain traces of what once was. I did not anticipate the size of it. The ceiling soars to over 14 metres in height (over 46 feet) and the dimensions of the room are enormous.

One of the two important pieces displayed in the Frigidarium is the Pillar of the Boatmen, which was discovered beneath the Parvis in front of Notre Dame de Paris and moved here. The pieces of that pillar were created in the 1^st century. The other is the Saint Landry Pillar, which dates from the 2^nd century. They are right next to each other. I have included a photo here with the Saint Landry Pillar on the right and some fragments of the Pillar of the Boatmen on the left.

From here the tour continues in chronological order, starting in the early Middle Ages. Room 2 includes the votive Visigoth crowns from the Treasure of Guarrazar. Room 3 holds the Capitals from Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which were damaged during the French Revolution. Room 4 consists of the portal of the Virgin also from Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

During the French Revolution, the heads of the statues on the western front of the exterior of Notre Dame de Paris were lopped off. This was because the people who did the beheading mistakenly thought that the statues were of the Kings of France. They were actually of the Kings of Judah. After the Revolution, the statues on the cathedral were given new heads. The damaged originals were not discovered until 1977 and were given to the Cluny. They are displayed in Room 5 along with the statue of Adam, who used to stand just inside of the south entrance of Notre Dame with Eve (who is missing).

Room 6 contains several examples of medieval Limoges Enamel. It also has what has been referred to as the Treasure of the Three Kings. These items date from the 12^th century and therefore have no connection to the Magi (which would have been 1^st century). Whoever did own these objects would have been quite wealthy.

We sort of zipped through Room 7 (with items from other parts of France around 1200) and headed straight for Room 8. This room held several items from Sainte Chapelle, which had been removed and/or damaged during the Revolution. There were three very well preserved apostles plus some other more fragmentary statuary and some panels of stained glass windows. All date from the 13^th century.

Unfortunately, ignorance and violence often go hand in hand, destroying people, buildings, tombs, books and art. During the French Revolution, not only were statues and windows destroyed in the churches, chapels and cathedrals but, in some cases the entire building. This happened with the church of Saint-Louis-de-Poissy.

This was the priory church of the monastery of Poissy which King Philip IV (also known as Philip the Fair) founded in honor of his grandfather, King Louis IX, who was canonized in 1297. The monastery was located directly opposite the church in which Saint Louis was baptized. The angels on display here in Room 9 are 13^th century and pretty much all that remain from that church.

The following Room 10, contains art in France during the reign of Philip the Fair and his sons. This includes an intricately carved ivory case (or casket) titled “Attack on the Castle of Love”, created in the 14^th century.

The stairs to go up to the 1^st floor were blocked off. Rooms 11 through 16 were closed. These were all in the 15^th century portion of the building. It wasn’t possible to view, much less go into, the courtyard either. I was very disappointed as the building itself had as much interest for me as the art it contained. Room 16 was the chapel and was still decorated as such. Instead we needed to retrace our steps back all the way through Room 2 to get an elevator to rooms 17 through 21. We would end up seeing these rooms backwards. For continuity I am talking about them in the correct chronological order.

Room 17 included the Cross of Pietro Vannini. He was an Italian goldsmith who created the unusual bi-face cross in the 15^th century. Although my photo doesn’t quite convey it, the cross is quite stunning on both sides. From Room 17, we could also look down into Room 3 with the Capitals from Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

Room 17 encircled Room 18, which held what they referred to as “arts of combat”. I have a small collection of a few swords, daggers, plus a pistol or two (flint lock) and have a fascination with antique arms and armor. Whenever I am in a place that has historic weaponry, I always check it out. Such items tend to bring history to life. Rooms 19a, 19b and 19c were dedicated to daily life.

Then came Room 20. This room held the six The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Five are dedicated to the senses touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. The sixth tapestry is titled “To my only desire”.

I have a large needlepoint version of the tapestry dedicated to the sense of smell. It is unfinished as of yet. The originals date from roughly 1500 and are quite intricate. They had nice cushioned benches in the center of the room so we could sit down and gaze upon them all. I have included a photo of the room which shows how they are displayed and gives a decent indication of their size.

The last room contained religious furnishings from north of the Alps in the late Middle Ages. It was a very large room filled with a lot of interesting stuff. One item of interest was a group of stalls from Saint-Lucien-de-Beauvais Abbey. They were commissioned in 1492. The monks and canons, who had to stand for most of the services, were able to lean back on the small ledges on the underside of the folding seats to ease their legs. The ledges are called misericords, or mercy seats, because rest was considered to be a great mercy granted by God.

Some of the tapestries of the story of Saint Etienne (Saint Stephen) hang on the wall above the stalls. From his election to the deacons to his burial in Rome, the story of St Etienne’s life is recounted in great detail and annotated with captions for each scene.

Once we had seen everything we could see, we looked at each other and said, “taxi”. We had walked from the hotel to Notre Dame. Then visited the Archaeological Crypt, had lunch, visited the Square René Viviani and Saint Julien le Pauvre, then the Church of Saint-Séverin, and finally the Musée Cluny. None of us relished the idea of walking all the way back to the hotel. So we walked over to the Boulevard Saint Michel (Saint Michael) and up to the corner of that street and Boulevard Saint Germain and hailed a cab.

Back at the hotel, we rested up a bit and dressed up for dinner. We ate at the very nice French restaurant in the hotel. For my main course, I had a Seafood Salad, which consisted of Scottish smoked salmon, shrimp, avocado, and citrus fruits on a bed of greens. For starters, I had Chestnut Soup. We all had wine with dinner.

Next time –Musée d’Orsay