Month: October 2024

Post by Ella Ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and witches…it’s Halloween in Nice! I am ecstatic to be out of Paris. Just walking off our EasyJet flight into the fresh sea air was rejuvenating. We couldn’t figure out how to get a one way tram ticket from the airport into Nice so we hailed an Uber. Checked…

When we travel we rarely have the time, or the inclination, to read, or watch, the news.  We map our daily destination, choose our mode of transport, luck on a good café for coffee, and then explore museums, historical sites, markets, parks, neighborhoods, interesting monuments, fascinating architecture, and then, after sampling the local fare, if we…

Georges Méliès’ grave is one I should have visited when we were at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.  I’ve always thought that the imaginative silent films he made at the turn-of-the-century were extraordinary.  When most of the other filmmakers at that time were shooting rudimentary slices-of-life, Méliès was already experimenting with special effects.  Based on a Jules Verne story,…

On Tuesday we started the day off by taking the metro to the Gare Lazare neighborhood.  I’ve always liked the lyrical sound of those words coupled—Gare Lazare—reminding me of a similar train station where the Lumiere Brothers shot some of the world’s first film footage in 1895. We had tickets for a 12:15 visit to the…

Post by Ella We. ebbed and flowed today. I am a Monet fan so that’s where we started the day. The Monet museum lacked a few of the huge canvases I had remembered from 2018. But still, some inspiring works. The temporary exhibition of trompe l’oeil (“deceives the eye”) was unique. It was crowded but…

Ella’s already detailed our walk to Montmartre.  Let me add that it was another fine day weather-wise.  So far in our stay we haven’t had to use umbrellas.  If there are clouds, they vanish by mid-day.  The temperature has been in the low sixties which, for me, is great for strolling around.   The forecourt below the steps of the…

Post by Ella The artist “Invader”, aka Frank Slama, started creating street art back in 1998. Mostly ceramic tile. Little mosaic pieces resembling items from the 1978 video game “Space Invaders”.  I hadn’t noticed one until our stroll through Montmartre. And speaking of invaders, fungi are a strange looking species. We happened to walk by a…

Post by Ella Montmartre is known as the artist’s neighborhood and worth a few hours of exploring. The Sacre Couer is located up at the top of a hill and if you brave the 197 steep steps, the reward is a spectacular view. (Spoiler…there is also a funicular if your knees are too rickety). Many…

We began our day by transferring from one metro line to another to get across the Seine to the Invalides stop  a few blocks from the Rodin museum. The Beaux Arts building, formally the Hôtel Biron, was purchased by Rodin at the turn of the century.  He turned the ground floor into studios and later donated it…

Post by Ella Rodin’s realistic and giant depictions of the human body never cease to confound. The sense of tension in nearly every piece rarely fail to evoke emotion. Horror in the case of the Burghers of Calais when you know these six sacrificed themselves to King Edward III for the “greater good”.  Passion when gazing…

Today, we visited the ever popular cimetière du Père-Lachaise. Grubb was aiming to find the final resting places of several notable historical figures such as Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. The cemetery is huge, divided into…well…divisions. Numbered. One to somewhere in the 90’s. No, it’s not a grid. It’s like a kids drawing…

The only ticketed item we had in store for us this Saturday (9:30 AM) was the Cluny Medieval Museum on the Left Bank.  (The Left Bank named for the side of the Seine you’re on in the direction the river is flowing.)  And, mirabile dictu,  we were on time!  It was too early for the crowds to start showing…

Ahhhhh. That’s a big sigh of relief. No Louvre, no Versaille. We started the day at the Musėe de Cluny, specializing in medieval art. Not big on the “must sees” for most folk.  Except Grubb. Plenty of room and quiet to enjoy the art. No one wanted a selfie in front of a carved wooden altar…

Dinner tonight somewhere off Saint Germain, not far from Notre Dame which is where we were when we got hungry. Shared starter: Escargot (snails) in a buttery pesto sauce. A first for Ella.  Quite pleasant.  On the right side of the plate you can see a clamp-like device that lets you hold the shell while you dig…

Friday we took the train to Versailles.  We joined the passengers getting out at the final stop to take the short walk up a tree-lined street that led to the parking lot outside the palace.   Gold-tipped gates were the first clue that we were approaching the Sun King’s domain.  Inside the gates, the palatial spread of…