More of Susanne's Pics...People, Places and Things

Bleu

Rouge

This is a crop of a lady having drinks with friends.  Kinda like the lady at the Trocadero in 2014.

Along the Canal St. Martin on a Sunday afternoon.

Outside the Thai restaurant.

Taken in the Louvre courtyard.  In France, N = Napoleon.

Rosé and good conversation.  What could be better?

From the Rodin Museum.  I love this one, too.  It's as if the figures are very slowly emerging from soft white plaster and there's more to come if we just wait and watch.

But Rodin says it's done as it is.

We're leaving in three days.  Don't know how much more is to come.

Mid Trip

More like "Towards-the-End Trip".  Keeping up with the blog is getting tough.

A little mischief...Susanne with a statue at the Louvre Metro stop.

We had our dinner at Biche & asked our Paris friends to join us.  We prefer a photo with the food on the table, but at that time, the place was jammed & the servers overextended.  So this is an apres-dinner shot; we were one of the last few tables left.

It's a four-course meal...appetizer, main, cheese, dessert with hearty portions all the way around.  Walter had a steak he said was wonderful, Susanne had salmon a la carte, Sherry & I had coq au vin, delicious all.  For dessert we had their chocolat liegeois which is the best double chocolate sundae you'll ever have, even if you order it elsewhere.

A Paris gift.  Susanne & I took a stroll across Republique toward Canal St. Martin and came upon a pick-up brass band.  Note the fellow center left putting up his drum and the homeless guy back right who stood his ground (laid his ground, actually) despite the invading noise.

If you received this by email, click on "Steve's Travel Blog" at the top to take you to the web.

We went to the top of Tour Montparnasse, Paris' only skyscraper, 59 floors.  Here's a pic I'd title "Eiffel Tower, with a side of sun".

The touring around Paris & into museums is coming fast & furious...it's going to be hard to keep up.

Did the Rodin Museum...Susanne's absolute favorite place.  She gets very emotional there.

Monsieur Le Penseur greeted her as the first of Rodin's work.

Deep in thought....the musculature is amazing.

Kiss, kiss...

It's little known that Rodin was an accomplished painter, he just didn't care to do it.

Here's how he signed his work:

The overall impression I got from seeing his work:

1. Favored working in three dimensions.
2. He loved doing the human body.
3. He loved couples entwined...kissing, cuddling, holding & more.
4. He loved doing nudes, male & female, alone & together.
5. He did historical persons, Balzac & Victor Hugo among his favorites.
6. His work output was very large; not as enormous as Picasso who worked mostly in two dimensions.

The Gates of Hell, from which Le Penseur was taken, middle, near the top.

Straight from the artist's writings.  G-rating temporarily suspended.

Must move on.  Had lunch at our favorite pho place.  Remodeled, new owners, but same great & very plentiful pho. 

We shared this bowl & had trouble finishing it.

Whenever we come to Paris there is always a moderately naughty poster, some naughtier than others.  This is part of a poster at a Metro stop, more edgy than naughty.

Paris has some strange street names.  On previous trips we've discovered God Street and Bad Boys Street.  Here's Two Avenues Street:

One of the great pleasures of coming to Paris is re-connecting with old friends.  And it's even more so when it's someone we knew back in Scottsdale.  We met up with Laurie who has an almost life-long association with France & Paris.  We volunteered on the same shift in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Program, then she moved to Paris & lives here full time.

Susanne took this shot as we walked to lunch with Walter & Sherry.  I'm carrying a bag from the Marmottan-Monet Museum gift shop.

As you work your way around Paris, the Eiffel Tower pops up unexpectedly.  We've left the Monet museum, heading back to the Metro...

And of course, the once-every-trip night photo.

Walter & Sherry are off to Giverney...Monet country.  Susanne & I are hanging for the day.

Moving Right Along

Paris weather has decided on minimal cooperation for our trip.  Lots of clouds, little sun but also not too much rain, so far.

We did the Picasso museum & while it claims to have the largest collection of his works, Susanne & I liked the Barcelona version better.  However, Barcelona would not allow photographs.  Paris...photos, OK; no flash.

This museum is in an old mansion (but only since 1985, yesterday in European terms) & was recently remodeled.  It has way too many little rooms and follows him historically instead of Barcelona following him as his style shifted & changed (his "blue period" for example).

Instead Paris starts with first his wife Olga & only child, Paul.  See any religious art overtones?

I love an artist's self portraits...this how they see themselves at the time.  Here's Picasso at age 25.

 Picasso was not known for his landscapes, but here's one. 

Classical bathers, sort of.  Neck proportions exaggerated.

I grabbed this from the web.

The artist takes in the world through the eyes.  The image goes to the brain where it's poured into a soup of ideas, experiences, skills, feelings & alot of other "stuff".  Then out through the hands and the eyes, a piece of work emerges.

I would love to have a 2nd bottle of wine conversation with Picasso to ask him about what he was thinking/feeling when he did his portraits that put both eyes on the same side of the nose.  Maybe he wanted to show something that wasn't ordinarily seen.  Je ne sais pas!

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It seems I am not much in a picture taking mode.  We had dinner at Tony's Pizza (they're open on Monday, lots of restos aren't) and miracle of miracles...Jimmy was there.  Old home week extraordinaire...but forgot about pics.  We met Jimmy the first time we stayed in the Bastille area...1999.  On one visit he was on vacation and another, Tony's had a fire & was closed.  But other than that, we've seen him every time, probably 10 visits.

We'll probably go back next Monday & if so, will definitely take pics.

Here are some random shots.

Statue of Liberty model from the entrance to the Engineering Museum.

A very early steam tractor from 1852.  Looks like it simply pulled a farm implement; don't know where the driver walked to steer it.

The Louvre from the Left Bank, literally.

After lunch at Le Petite St. Benoit.  Walter really enjoyed his Boeuf Bourgogne.

You probably read about the "locks of love" on Pont des Arts, the Paris pedestrian bridge over the Seine and how they were over-stressing the bridge and needed to be removed.

Here are some photos:

Pont des Arts 2014:

 
Pont des Arts now:

If you're selling pest control products, how do you do a window display?  How do you make the products more interesting?  Maybe by the rats having a party.

Back to the Republique lady.  Note the white base has no graffiti.  And believe me, there's plenty of tagging elsewhere in Paris.  My opinion: there's an unwritten, unspoken social contract...no tagging on the monuments.

Anyone who's been to Buenos Aires knows the monuments there are fair game, monuments all defaced as high as can be reached.

Why the difference?  Again, my opinion.  The French are always unhappy with their leaders but opposition is limited to loud protests & heated personal discussions; kinda like the U.S. now.  The French government has been able to instill in its citizens what it means to be French.

In Argentina, they've been victimized by really lousy leaders, from the military in the '70's to recently, the Kircheners.  They have no respect for the government & take it out on the monuments.

That's it for now.

Susanne's Pics

Her photos, very little comment.

Mademoiselle Noir 2017

 

I converted the next one to greyscale.

Susanne loves mirror shots, takes them from the car as we zip through Montana.

I could've cropped out the rusty pipe and the lower part of the door, but this is what she saw.

Susanne's camera has some photo processing ability built in.  These "locks of love" were reddened.

Last photo, that's it for now.