France: Paris

Our days in Paris, July 7 to July 11, 2013

(Rachel writing)

Ahhh oui, Paris!  This is one stop on our great adventure that the girls have really been looking forward to.  Not just for the fine Patisserie shops and for a chance to wear a beret but particularly to visit the Louvre museum.  So full day in Paris #1 and the girls and mom got to explore the wonderful world of art while the boys went grocery shopping, did laundry, played, and even made dinner (Did I say how much I love Paris?)!

The Louvre from the inside and out is an "eyesore" museum to most Parisians.  It was designed by an American architect, I.M. Pei in 1989.  The Parisians really don't like the structure - but mind you 125 years ago they didn't like the design of the Eiffel Tower either.

One of our first "bigs" to see in the museum was the Venus de Milo.  We made sure to circle around her to appreciate the details that went into designing the flowing of her dress, the smooth skin and her counterpoise "S" posture in this two piece marble sculpture.

V remarked, however, that this lesser known sculpture below was more to her taste.  She would prefer to model her favorite thing to do - sleep!  Hence the new nickname we have come up with for her on our trip, Koala!" (Koala's sleep up to 20 hours a day - V's dream!)

The next sculptures fascinated us as we got a closer look at the emperors and their wives who were in authority up to and during the time of Christ.  The first two photographs are of Livia, the wife of Augustus the first emperor and Augustus himself.

Augustus and Livia were the parents of Tiberius who was the Roman emperor in power when Christ said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" (Tiberius pictured below)

The Louvre housed some mosaic floors that had been removed from various sites we have seen in our travels.  We can only imagine how ornate these homes were and the incredible amount of work it took to lay each stone.

The famous Winged Victory of Samothrace, 190 BC drew quite a crowd.  She was poised on the bow of a ship in the museum but once stood on a hilltop with her right arm raised above her windswept body to commemorate a naval victory.  We were surprised to learn that one of her hands had been discovered in Turkey in the 1950's by the French.  It is on display in a glass case near the statue.

We loved the ornately designed and painted ceilings on display.  The girls "think" they have elaborate plans for redecorating our home.

This next painting/fresco was one we spotted in a corner at the end of a hallway.  There were no people spending time near this painting but something about it just struck all of us.  It is a serene painting by Bernardine Luini titled, The Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds.  As it's title suggests, the painting is of the birth of Christ.  Luini painted with such peaceful detail that it is really quite striking when you spend time analyzing it.  We loved it....so we returned hours later to try our hand at drawing small parts of the painting.

The girls about to begin working.....

Artists at work....  Each of us chose to focus on a different section of the painting.  H worked on duplicating the cow, S baby Jesus, V Mary, and I chose Joseph.

It was hysterical to watch the other people in the Louvre, even parts of tour groups who stopped to analyze the painting and our work.  V had an admirer that applauded her, gave her a thumbs up, walked through the doorway to the next exhibit, and then quite unexpectedly tucked his head and camera in and took a photo of her hard at work.  We laughed because V saw him and turned her artwork around to face him and gave him a thumbs up for the picture!  The girls chose not to have their artwork photographed to share but insisted that I share my knock-off Luini.....Here it is....

It was no Michelangelo but I was pleased and really had fun being creative and relaxing with my girls.  Speaking of Michelangelo, the Louvre housed some more of his work - including two in-completed statues called "Slaves."  Both statues seem to be trapped in their marble - taking their encasement differently.  The statue below seems to be peacefully resigned to entering eternal rest whereas the other statue (not pictured) is struggling to be released.  They were both originally designed for a funeral monument for Pope Julius II

Even though Michelangelo's statues are world renown, this next statue by Antonio Canova was just awe-striking.  Two angelic figures entwined together - simply beautiful.  This was one of my favorite statues in the whole museum.

See that very small square through the crowd?  That painting is the Mona Lisa with her mysterious smile and eyes.  This was the most challenging part of the day.  The crowds were pushing and shoving and a recorded announcement warned us of pick-pockets.  When you finally reached the railing to see the painting you, were allotted only a few moments to snap a picture - which you hope ended up not being blurry as you are being elbowed in the back while taking the photo.

The Louvre did many things well but this exhibit was not among them as far as crowd control and allowing people to have ample time to really look at one of Leonardo Da Vinci's prized paintings.  Da Vinci loved this work so much that he actually carried it with him from place to place including France where it eventually ended up in Versaille and finally here.

The largest painting in the Louvre, The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques Louise-David was painted in one of our favorite styles -- Neoclassical.  Napoleon had just crowned his wife, Josephine Empress and took the crown from the Pope (who by the way had traveled from Rome to specifically crown him Emperor) to crown himself.  Seated above Josephine is Napoleon's mother who happened to not actually be at the coronation of her son but David painted her in the picture as well as himself (see the second photo - a man with gray hair is peaking out behind the curtain).  These are two small sections of this massive painting that we also saw duplicated at Versailles.

The girls also thought it was incredible that the artist predicted the birth and rise to fame of Hugh Jackman - see the gentleman on the right....Incredible, huh!

So many incredible paintings and statues to share, but we will stop with just one more painting of the famous French historical figure, Napolean by Paul Delaroche.

This moment in the Louvre was perhaps the most enjoyable of the day.  The girls decided to try their hand at copying this piece of art as well.  Here are my lovely French artists and their rendition....Please do take the time to enlarge the photo if you are unable to see their artwork.

Needless to say, from French berets to paintbrushes in hair and thoughtful analysis of their work - this may be one of my all time favorite trip photos.  It also made other museum goers giggle and take photos to capture the moment as well....We do love to make people smile.  All in all a day of terrific memories at an incredible museum.

Notre Dame

(Andrew writing)  Just in front of Notre Dame is a point called "Point Zero" from which all distances in France are measured.  It was also the center of Paris 2,300 years ago, when the Parisii tribe fished off this island in the Seine River.  The Romans conquered the Parisii and in 52 B.C. built their Temple of Jupiter where Notre-Dame stands today. Centuries later, when Rome fell, the Germanic Franks sealed the victory by replacing that pagan temple with a Christian church in the sixth century. 

Before renovation 150 years ago, this square in front of Notre Dame was much smaller. It was surrounded by a characteristic medieval shambles facing a rundown church, with winding streets and small, ugly buildings.  The church’s huge bell towers rose above this tangle of smaller buildings, inspiring Victor Hugo’s story of that deformed bell-ringer who could look down on all of Paris.

The church is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus... “Our Lady” (Notre-Dame)...... and there she is, cradling Jesus, right in the heart of the façade, surrounded by the halo of the rose window. Though the church is massive and imposing, it has always stood for the grace and compassion of Mary, the “Holy Mother.”

The faith of the people who built this cathedral was quite impressive. They broke ground in 1163 with the hope that someday their great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren might attend the dedication Mass, and that Mass was conducted nearly two centuries later, in 1345. 

When you look up the 200-foot-tall bell towers, it is hard to imagine a tiny medieval community mustering the money and energy for this mammoth construction project. Master masons supervised, but the people did much of the grunt work themselves for free... hauling the huge stones from distant quarries, digging a 30-foot-deep trench to lay the foundation, and treading like rats on a wheel designed to lift the stones up, one by one. This kind of backbreaking, arduous manual labor created the real hunchbacks of Notre-Dame!

Notre Dame Facade

When Christianity began making converts in Roman Paris, the bishop of Paris, St. Denis was beheaded as a warning for those forsaking the Roman gods. But those early Christians were hard to keep down. As depicted in the scene on the facade of Notre Dame (see picture), Bishop Dennis got up, tucked his head under his arm, headed north, paused at a fountain to wash it off, and continued until he found just the right place to meet his maker. The Parisians were impressed by this miracle, Christianity gained ground, and a church soon replaced the pagan temple.

Above the central doorway are scenes from the Last Judgment. It’s the end of the world, and Christ sits on the throne of judgment. Below him, an angel and a demon weigh souls in the balance; the demon, hoping to steal a soul, cheats by pressing down. The good people stand to the left, gazing up at heaven. The naughty ones are on the right, chained up and led off to a six-hour tour of the Louvre on a hot day :) 

Above the 3 arches is a row of 28 statues, known as The Kings of Judah (see all the statues above the girls' heads?).  In the days of the French Revolution (from 1789 to 1799), these Biblical kings were mistaken for the hated French kings, and Notre-Dame represented the oppressive Catholic hierarchy. The citizens stormed the church, crying, “Off with their heads!” Plop, they lopped off the crowned heads of these kings with glee, creating a row of St. Denises that wasn’t repaired for decades.

But the story doesn’t end there. A schoolteacher who lived nearby collected the heads and buried them in his backyard for safekeeping. There they slept until 1977, when they were accidentally unearthed. Today, you can stare into the eyes of the original kings in the Cluny Museum, on the Left Bank, just a few blocks away (we did not do that due to time restrictions but I thought it was an interesting story!) 

Notre Dame Interior

Breathtaking is the best way to describe the interior.  I remember when I visited Notre Dame 20 years ago there was one priest conducting a service and his singing voice filled the entire cathedral.  Acoustically, it was really amazing.

Notre Dame is Gothic through and through. Taller and filled with light, this was a major improvement over the earlier Romanesque style.  Gothic architects needed only a few structural columns, topped by crisscrossing pointed arches to support the weight of the stone roof. This let them build higher than ever, freeing up the walls for lots of windows.

Notre-Dame is designed in the shape of a cross, with the altar placed where the crossbeam intersects. The church can hold up to 10,000 faithful.  The quiet, deserted churches we have see so often around Europe are a stark contrast to the busy, center-of-life places they were in the Middle Ages.

The altar marks the place where Mass is said and the bread and wine of Communion are blessed and distributed. In olden days, there were no chairs. This was the holy spot for Romans, Christians...and even atheists because during the French Revolution, the church was stormed, gutted and turned into a “Temple of Reason.” A woman dressed like the Statue of Liberty held court at the altar as a symbol of the divinity of Man. 

To the right of the altar, we found a statue of a young woman dressed in armor and praying...Joan of Arc.   The statue honors the 15th-century French teenager who rallied French soldiers to try to drive English invaders from Paris. Unfortunately, Joan was arrested, tried for heresy and burned at the stake for claiming to hear heavenly voices. But almost immediately, Parisians rallied to condemn Joan’s politically motivated execution. Finally, in 1909, here in Notre-Dame, the former “witch” was beatified. Joan’s first step towards sainthood

Just across from the statue of Joan is a large painting showing Thomas Aquinas teaching, while his students drink from the fountain of knowledge. This 13th-century Italian monk did undergrad and master’s work at the multicultural University of Paris, then taught there for several years while writing his theological works. His so-called “scholasticism” used Aristotle’s logic to examine the Christian universe. His goal: to fuse faith and reason.

Finally, looking across the way, we saw the rose-shaped window in the opposite transept. In the middle of this massive stain glassed window is a tiny green Mary and baby Jesus in the center. This is the only one of the church’s three rose windows still with its original medieval glass.

As we headed back outside AJ was absolutely thrilled to see military aircraft flying directly over Notre Dame.  We saw fighter jets and cargo planes as well as helicopters (see picture below) and many other military aircraft.  July 14 was Bastille Day and we happened to do our walking tour of historic Paris on the day they were practicing for the Bastille Day parade.  We were still in France on Bastille Day and actually watched part of the parade with the jets flying over as we were getting ready to head out of France through Belgium to Amsterdam.  Thus, we have now been in 3 countries on the day they celebrate their country / independence....Australia Day, Israel Independence Day, and French Bastille Day.  Fun!  

Back to Notre Dame....notice the flying buttresses. These 50-foot stone “beams” that stick out of the church were the key to the complex Gothic architecture. The pointed arches we saw inside caused the weight of the roof to push outward rather than downward. The “flying” buttresses support the roof by pushing back inward. Gothic architects were masters at playing architectural forces against each other to build loftier and loftier churches, with buttresses doing the supporting, the walls could be opened up for stained-glass windows.

Pretty soon we will have to get some flying buttresses to support Rachel standing up!  Look at that baby bump :)  This picture was taken July 9 when she was just about 27 weeks pregnant.

The Deportation Memorial

This memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps of World War II is designed to draw you into their experience. As you descend the steps, the city around you disappears. Surrounded by walls, you’ve become a prisoner. Your only freedom is your view of the sky and the tiny glimpse of the river below. During the War, France was quickly overrun by Nazi Germany, and Paris spent the war years under Nazi occupation. Jews and dissidents were rounded up and deported — most never returned.

The dark, single-file chamber inside has a circular plaque in the floor that reads, “They went to the end of the earth and did not return.”

The hallway stretching is lined with 200,000 lighted crystals, one for each French citizen deported. Flickering at the far end is the eternal flame of hope. The “Tomb of the Unknown Deportee” lies with flowers on it at the beginning of this lighted hallway.  Above, the inscription reads, “Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps.” 

The side rooms are filled with triangles, reminiscent of the identification patches inmates were forced to wear, each bearing the name of a concentration camp. Above the exit as you leave is the message you’ll find at all Nazi sites: “Forgive, but never forget.”

We crossed a little bridge from the island Notre Dame sits on to another little island called "Isle St. Louis" which is a very exclusive residential area in Paris.  We got ice cream in the neighborhood and though it is tough to see in this picture, the ice cream looks like a flower the way they put it into the cone...

Next, we headed to the Left Bank, passed by all the used book sellers lined up next to the river and ended up in this little park near Notre Dame where the girls good fun little pictures in their French berets...

On the other side of the garden AJ played next to the oldest tree in Paris.  Planted in 1602, this tree has seen quite a bit of history (but also has quite a bit of support now to keep it alive).  

AJ in his Les Miserables pose...

We continued through parts of the old city stopping at a bookstore (Shakespeare and Company) that houses aspiring writers for free...it was an old stomping ground in the 1920s for such greats as Earnest Hemingway, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound.

What is referred to as 'the Latin quarter' these days still has the same close 'feel' of Medieval Paris where houses were stacked one on top of another.  This kind of street is what the entirety of Paris looked like 200 years ago.  It wasn't until the 1800s that wide, straight streets like the Champs Elysees were made.  Our audio guide talked about how people used to throw their human waste out into the street and how the street sloped toward the middle so that waste would flow toward the Seine.  Sounds like a wonderful place to live....like an upscale slum!  

All in all, a great day touring around the historical center of Paris....

The Eiffel Tower

July 10 was our final full day in Paris and we visited Mr. Eiffel's Tower on this day.

Before heading up the tower, we had a picnic lunch and found a playground for AJ near the tower (see it in the back?)

AJ the conductor in a big train...

H = wind, V = visual of wind, S = 'the model'

The Berets were a big hit in Paris....

While standing in line we learned that Eiffel was a very successful architect who spent much of his fortune to get the tower built.  Since he spent much of his own money he owned the rights to ticket sales to go up the tower for many years, and made a very handsome profit as a result.  The one danger he had was keeping the tower UP after the World's Fair.  The plan was to actually take the tower down after the fair was completed!  So, he installed all kinds of weather sensors at the top to make it valuable to the government and later radio antennae.  In World War I there was a message intercepted from the Germans in how they couldn't attack due to a shortage of something (don't remember what it was)....but this information helped the Allies formulate a plan they otherwise would not have pursued.

Built in 1889, the Tower was the tallest structure in the world for 40 years.  The views today are as magnificent as ever....

At one point the right to sell tickets to go up the tower was auctioned off each year to the highest bidder, but now it is run by the government....which partially explains the long waiting lines and fairly expensive price for a family of 6!  By the way, the Eiffel Tower was one of the sites where Rachel being pregnant really helped move things along.  A security guard skipped us in line and then another employee skipped us to the elevator saving at least an hour of waiting.

We were willing to do the wait because of all the things we are seeing in Europe, the Eiffel Tower was S's 'big thing' she wanted to do.  So, she has now checked this off the bucket list (V, who is afraid of heights was over hugging the interior portion of the tower while these pictures were taken)

Baby in Photobomber training....

Eiffel actually had a small apartment at the top of the tower.  Today is shows a scene of Eiffel and Thomas Edison (on the left) meeting during the World's Fair in 1889.  It was quite an eclectic meeting as the other people Edison met at the top of the tower that day was Buffalo Bill and the famous Indian Chief, Sitting Bull (who defeated Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn).  Who would have thought all those people would be in the same place at the same time???  Fascinating.

But I think that is what makes the Eiffel Tower so great....all kinds of people from all walks of life and all kinds of backgrounds come to this place and rise above this historic city and share a view together.

AJ really isn't 280m tall....but if you ask him, he WILL tell you he is 3 years old.  You'll get the 3 fingers held up as well just so he is sure you know.

Remember that wind blown picture from the park?  Here is the real deal 280m up....

All around the top of the Tower they have these comparison charts of other buildings and structures.  The dotted line shows the height of the Tower and then a landmark like the Empire State Building is listed with its height, placed on the wall in the direction you would head to get there as well as how many kilometers you would have to travel.

As we headed toward the Champs Elysee, Rachel and S drove a hard, hard bargain on a painting of the Eiffel Tower....and got their price.  This is the victory dance with painting rolled up (soon to be on her bedroom wall).

And then we passed by this $1,333,000 car that AJ just loved (nice taste kid!).  There were some middle aged women off to the right who were oooh'ing and ahhhh'ing on how cute he was and boy did he ever turn on the charm!

The bellman at the door of this fancy hotel told him he could go ahead and touch the car....so, he did....

On the Champs Elysee we passed a Louis Vitton store with the cleverest of marketing campaigns using gold dinosaur skeletons to market their wares....Fear, Horror...Run Away!

The hand over the mouth pose here is what the mannequin is doing in this display (hard to see though with the reflection).  Anyway, we were goofing off and having fun as a family.

Was just one of those 'cool car days' for AJ...

Arch de Triumph

Inspired by the Arch of Titus (which we saw in the Roman Forum), the Arch de Triumph was designed in 1806 and completed in 1836.  The monument is a tribute to the French Revolution as well as the Napoleonic Wars.   Victory parades through the arch include Napolean III in 1840, Bismark and the Germans in 1871, the French after World War I in 1919, the Germans again in 1940 with Hitler present (to my knowledge the last time he left Germany), and of course the Allies of World War II in 1945.

The planes AJ watched flying over Notre Dame actually fly over this arch and down the Champs Elysee on Bastille Day.  And if you are a bike racing fan, this is where the last laps of the Tour de France end each year.

July 11 we headed out of Paris for Normandy and the D-Day beach named Omaha Beach.

One final photo and comment....due to the incredibly high costs in Paris we ended up staying in this room which included a little stove + a private bathroom + tiny shower.  Rachel and I felt really good after all this travel and after living in super close quarters those 4 nights that the girls were all giggles our last night in Paris versus being at each other's throats.  Sure do love these kids....

Til next time  God Bless!

Other Favorite Photos....

AJ noticed that our license plate has his age AND his name right there!  It was hilarious when he figured this out.

Banging the posts 'making music' as we headed down to the subway station near our apartment...

V REALLY wanted to go to a French pastry shop (called a Patisserie), so we did that the morning of the 11th.  This was basically our breakfast ;)