Paris: City of Delight

Friday, June 26, 2015

Six days exploring Paris and I am
already looking forward to the next visit.

Rodin Musée
Sainte-Chapelle
Musée d'Orsay
Madeleine Church
St. Sulpice Church
Américain Cathedral
Notre Dame
Napoleon's Tomb
The Cluny Musée
Centre Pompidou
Picasso Musée
Victor Hugo Musée
Place des Voges
Orangerie

First stop: the Louvre.

Housed in a U-shaped, 16th-century palace, the Louvre is home to Mona Lisa,
and hall after hall of great sculptures and paintings. The size of the palace makes me want to pitch a tent inside so I might have a chance to see everything.

It is reassuring to see the pyramid there waiting for me and about fifteen or twenty thousand other art lovers today.

Coming out of the Rivoli metro stop this is the sign telling me which way to go.

Designed for a museum that attracted 4.5 million visitors a year, the pyramid proved inadequate by the time the Louvre's attendance had doubled in 2014.

This is the exit stairway under the pyramid. Hmm, it looks empty. All the people are entering, not leaving!

Anne of Cleves-- 1540 before the royal marriage.
By Hans Holbein

Remember her? King Henry VIII's 2nd wife of a thousand days, and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

Albrecht Durer, 1493, Nuremburg,
self-portrait. Perhaps meant for his girlfriend, he wrote on it, "I will do great things."

And the Raphael hanging in the Louvre, pretty, pretty.

Oath of the Horati by Louis David in Paris, 1785.

Canaletto's paintings of Venice were so liked that he is probably responsible for bring lots of tourists there.

Everyone trying to get a photo of Mona!
She has her own two guards.

One view out the window.

The Napoleon apartments: a weird dressing table.

Napoleon's bed: he has a little gate like Marie Antoinette's over at Versailles!

Author of "The Courtier" from Urbino, Italy and friend of the painter, Raphael, Baldesarre Castiglione looks smart, sweet and erudite in this portrait.

Oh oh, I remember now, don't show your teeth.

Chartre

Wow! What a grand memorable cathedral with about 26,000 square feet of stained glass.

All the Bible stories told in the glass and sculpture is interrelated, like a big storybook.

The place had burnt down 800 years ago, but the Madonna's cape, a relic, was miraculously found after the fire. This was a message to them to rebuild, which they did, in thirty years.

What sets this place apart is its unity in concept and construction, unlike most other cathedrals which take centuries to complete.

In the sidewalk are these little tile pieces showing the way to this pilgrimage church.

Love those lovely long-bodied saints and rulers on the outside portals.

The American Architect Association paid to replace a broken window in the mid-20th century. It is one of the prettiest ones.

Château Chambord

June 24, 2015

The first five photos are in the lovely town Auxerre where we stopped before going to the Chateau.

24 juin 2015

Young King Francis I was 25 years old in 1519 when he initiated the building of a hunting lodge.
On his return to Paris from conquering Milan, and influenced by Italy's Renaissance architecture, he decided to build the Château of Chambord using loggias, a terrace, pilasters and horizontal mouldings , all very nouveau.

Francis I reigned for 32 years during which he spent only 72 days at Chambord. Today there are many tourists enjoying the château and the huge surrounding park.

In 1939 the whole estate became the property of the Republic of France.

The Château has 77 staircases and
282 fireplaces.

In the center of the keep is the double spiral staircase that links three floors. It comprises two concentric spiral flights of stairs that wind independently around a hollow central column, so if two people each take one flight they can see each other through the openings in the central column but will never meet.
We tried it and it works.

The ingenuousness of this central staircase suggests that Leonardo da Vinci, who had come to France in 1516 at the request of Francis I, may have helped to
design the staircase.

Francis I, now there's a king who knows how to have a good time wearing the latest fashion.

Saint Léger-sur-D'heune

Saint Léger-sur-D'heune is thé town where we began a bike ride today along a canal traveling a total of 28 kilometers. It had beautiful scenery and was mostly flat!
What a great biking area - so peaceful.

That last picture is a water fountain.

Our total round trip was about 14 km.