Carol's Birthday

Walk in Forrest Looking for Mushrooms

The Czech Fly



A good fly! 

 In case you are not acquainted with the animal kingdom's Messerschmitt, here it is; it is Hitler reincarnated.  These flies sound like a Messerschmitt  when flying around you and when they bite they draw blood and you swear you've been stung by a bee.  Fortunately  horseflies are as stupid as they are slow on take off.  Somehow, they've evolved to believe that a shot of their prey's blood is a cool meal following their stinging bite. That was pretty much this guy's mistake in that following this, his last bite, he was dispatched from this mortal coil again, perhaps to be an ameoba in someone's septic tank (I hope).  In my ever developing sense of tolerance, noise and flies are never going to make the inclusion list, in fact,  the only good fly is a dead fly.
 

Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe - Jun 4



Arc de Triomphe

  The real Arc de Triomphe and Ave. Champs-Elysees were only a few blocks from the hotel so on day 4 weak as we were, we decided to chance a walk in that direction.
Finished in 1836, 15 years after Napoleon I death,  it is a little more majestic than I had expected.




The Arc looking west 

 The Arc forms a round about for the Ave Champs-Elysees and visitors gain access to the
Arc by a tunnel beneath the street.  You can buy tickets to climb to the top if you are willing to wait an hour or so in line; in our delicate condition we took a pass.  Moreover, having been in the military, I don't do long lines. 

Tourists here, tourists there
tourists everywhere

Planned by Napoleon I as a monument to his military prowess, it has now become a French landmark and the beginning or ending place for many national celebrations that include parades, grand processions, parties, the Tour de France, etc. on Ave. Champs-Elysees.  The two narrower sides are not as impressive, lacking the significant bas-reliefs.  The Arc is 180 ' high at the upper terrace, and the Arc has 12 avenues that radiate out from its round-about.

Looking into the Arc
from street level

I suspect that with a better camera you could have visualized the intricate details of the ceilings and interior walls.  Oh well.





















 

Placed these two together so you can see the two bas-reliefs with their intricate and very impressive details

Relief #1

   Again, the reliefs.

Relief #2







Relief #3

Of course there are reliefs on both sides; you didn't think I was going to leave out the other side did you? 

Relief #4

Suppose anyone has ever made a bas-relief of a  group of happy guys just sitting 'round a table in a pub puttin' away a pint?

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Arc's final distinction is that it is the resting place for
France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier -- an enduring reminder that no where in the world is freedom free.


 



Third day in Paris - June 3

A really nice place
to spend the day,
sometimes

For day three the planned re-visitation of the Louvre,  I have good news and bad news.  The good news is you can see how inviting and comfortable our bed was; the bad news is that we were in it all during the third day.  Well, almost all day minus the trips to the WC to return all of Carol's vegetable lasagna that could be thought reasonable; a twelve hour performance we like to refer to as the dance of the last supper.  Remember the third law of physics that states: "what goes down must come back up, 'specially ifn- it ain't no good."  May God bless  the efficacy of E. coli -- and that's all that can be said about our third day in Paris.

The Musee du Louvre - June 2



Inside the pyramid entrance
looking out

 On arrival we entered through the glass pyramid in the center of the courtyard.  This view is looking back up through the ground level pyramidal entrance.  In the background, you can see one of the Louvre's three wings -- it's either the Sully, Richelieu, or the Denon.  Each wing has four levels with seven departments, so tomorrow, day 3, we plan to see each and every one of the 35,000 pieces of art.


Did the first pyramid just collapse?



Architect Ieoh Ming Pei  designed the large, glass, ground level, pyramid entrance that caused so much hullabaloo when it was built in '89.   When you go underground, you see it has a counterpart amongst dozens of shops and a food court.






Under the Louvre
(sounds like a boardwalk song)

  By the time we arose on the second day, had breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, walked to and around the Eiffel Tower and then walked the Seine to the Louvre, we were somewhat spent, so we entered its cool, marble, underground to sit and have a cool drink, when we noticed these two scrolls of upcoming exhibitions. 

Handsome, young celebrity???
on the left

Underground, we visited the shops, ate, and drank then drank some more (it was a hot day).  By the time we were ready to visit the wings, it was late, we were tired, and it was miles to go.
We decided to leisurely stroll the distance home, so we exited the way we came in.  We saw this celebrity in front of the calves' livers sculpture and snapped his picture.




 

A wing entrance

Outside the entrance you get a taste of the Renaissance architecture that began as a 12th century hunting lodge.







The Louvre's courtyard

 Walking farther away you get more comprehensive view of the horseshoe that is the three winged Louvre




Louvre courtyard from
 a city block away

 From an even greater distance, you can see that each wing is over a city block long and three stories tall; it is breathtakingly beautiful, not to mention that the Louvre's collection began with twelve stolen Italian works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa -- who says crime doesn't pay.







Monument to Napoleon

 Turning away from the Louvre we walked back toward our hotel on another esplanade that continued for a couple miles.  The first stop on the walk is a miniature Arc de Triomphe dedicated to Napoleon.  My guess is that he planned this one before his ego took over  and he planned the famous monument to his military prowess, the Arc de Triomphe at the head of Avenue des Champs-Elysees.  



A tree hedge

 A unique and interesting landscape technique caught my eye.  The French plant trees close enough that they will grow together, then prune secondaries to start at 10' off the ground, followed by pruning like a hedge.  The result can be seen at the right




Hercules, what a guy!

 Statuary is everywhere; however, had Hercules shown up in this park dressed like this, well...







A city pool just for relaxation

 Just prior to walking out the gates to this esplanade, we came to a small pool that attracts many locals.  The pool was no more than a city block across.











  All the esplanades are tree filled with benches everywhere and restaurants in and among the trees, not quite as charming as the huge emphasis on public landscaping in  Santa Maria, but magical and pleasing none the less.

Still on the way back to the hotel we noticed that the statuary was never small or...

  
simple... 






 I don't know the details; however, this statue states that is was donated by American elementary school children.






Hollywood still loves Paris

 

Getting closer to our hotel, we came across a working movie set.

It was almost 2100 when we finally arrived back at our hotel.  Our shoes were smoking from all the walking so we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant rather than venture out for another dinner on the town.  And, what a dinner it was especially Carol's vegetarian lasagna; Carol couldn't eat the last portion of her meal so Ralph pitched in and cleaned up her plate, which leads us into day 3.  The itinerary for day three was to return to the Louvre and see all the famous art work we could take in in one day.











On the way to the Musee du Louvre - June 2





  

As you walk the banks of the Seine on your way to the Louvre you see the darnedest things:

like boats,







and bridges with outrageous stone bas reliefs;

and bridges with gold bas reliefs;

and golden winged horses being ushered around by some golden goddess brandishing a sword

Then there are these beautiful cherubs posing (in the nude no less) on a very ornate lamp post.
























In the middle of this ornate bridge are more cherubs who appear to be jumping into the river. 

From the bridge we saw a very large, very old, government building and it looked as though some successful French lobbyist or marketing firm had gained sole rights to an ad campaign -- on the building proper.

Then we came across this odd tradition of placing a commercial lock on the guard rails. 

The locks were replete with initials and other love signs painted on them.  Paris, the "City of Love", go figure.

We also saw some less expensive tour boats that we think may have taken on water from time to time.

When it was too late we found there was a far better way to tour than walking.

Sure 'nough here is that government building now directly across the river from us, let's see what our tiny camera's telephoto will show us:

Yep, it is a huge huge marketing poster and another beautiful and huge success for capitalism.

Then we saw this beautiful, old, end-cap of a building and it was, sure enough

one end of the horse shoe style construction the
French call the Musee du Louvre

 -- we knew we had arrived and it only took one week of walking to get here but remember on the map every cute little thing is right next to every other cute little thing.

So, dehydrated and with no soles left on his shoes, Ralph walked around this end-cap of a building and discovered that this wing of the Louvre was only five miles long -- surprise, surprise -- he is headed for cartography to kill a map maker just as a gesture of love.

The Louvre with its modern glass pyramid is truly spectacular

and it is huge...

four wings with four floors each and this isn't counting the huge underground mall where you can buy Louvre souvenirs or a Big Mac.

And, again with the statues.  I think a lot of painters and sculptors were auditioning when this place was built.

and what's with the women's aero-squadron?

And, then we went into an underground entrance -- that was a mistake...

Eiffel Tower - June 2



Bldgs. flanking both sides
 of the  northern entry
 to the Eiffel Tower and its esplanade 



I think the French copied a lot of Santa Maria's architecture.  Don't you see the resemblance to the Santa Maria Mall?

Our first view of the
world's
tallest antenna

From this huge tiled entryway, you get your first breathtaking glimpse of the Tower.
Honestly, don't you think that as a child Gustave Eiffel had issues with lightning?  Or, perhaps his parents wouldn't buy him a real Erector Set, so he built this 7,000 ton, 1,050 ft. compensation model.







Ralph vs The Tower

There are no short people in the
Tilton family.  Here is living proof that Ralph is as tall as the first floor of the Eiffel Tower even when he is hunched over.  (Notice the cool shades?)

Looking back at the
humble north entry designed in the
unpretentious French tradition




The Tour Eiffel and
Parc du Champs de Mars
(what I call the esplanade,  I
think its so much more French)

This is the beginning of the esplanade where you can walk, bike, and sometimes get run over on your way to get under this 7,000 ton steel structure that was inaugurated in 1889 and built to last 20 years.

If you come here, be sure you bring water and comfortable shoes as you cannot even see the famous building at the other end of the esplanade in this picture because it is so far away.



Looking back at the north entry
and that tiled deck



If Santa Maria had picked Paris as her "sister city" we'd have had some real fountains.



A real, honest to God,
Merry-go-'round

Again, in the unpretentious French tradition: a gold emblazoned, musical, double deck merry-go-'round with enough ponies so every child in Paris could ride at once.  This thing just pops up outta nowhere, on your walk to the tower, so of course we bought an ice cream cone and rode on it.  Wouldn't you? Why a merry-go-'round you ask?  Well, I think this property belonged to royalty or Michael Jackson.



Is it the Thames, the Voltava, 
the Rhine, or the Seine?

Here's the "iron lady" from across the river Siene .  We all know that the Tower has been a target of some religious fundamentalist radicals; however, it is never so clear as when you walk merrily across this wide bridge and come face-to-face with camouflaged, armed-to-the-teeth, flak-jacketed, carbine carrying, French soldiers patrolling the area three abreast, and not one of them  smiling -- go figure.

Crossing the bridge
you can wave at the
rich people taking
boat tours on the river

 If you have time (we didn't) a boat tour on the Seine would reveal some interesting places and facts about this beautiful and awe inspiring city.

Standing beneath is 
truly overwhelming

It  was disappointing to find out that I wasn't even as tall as the Tower's first floor -- oh well.
I know it is written; however, I cannot believe that many Parisians including author Guy de Maupassant launched petitions to prevent the "iron lady's" construction calling it a "hollow candlestick", a "bald umbrella", and a "monstrous construction."  Especially, when on the other hand, she is called the "queen of Paris.

How's the view 
straight up
dead center 
from ground level

Even though I shuddered with the fear of exposing my weirdness, I had to take this picture to show some of the 18,000 metal sections put together with 2.5 million rivets.  I nearly fainted when I discovered that the second floor blocked my view to the top.



On the esplanade looking back



Carol is our family photographer (Ralph is the writer with the weird sense of humor)  and looking at this shot you can understand why she's the photographer:  I think it is truly a beautiful composition.

Gustave Eiffel's famous
Tower and beloved
symbol of France

This is it, the whole ball of steel, in all its glory; it is a spectacular feat of  creative iron engineering -- the mother of all metal sculptures.

























Any angle, still beautiful

Sure it is hard, cold steel, but from every angle it is also a thing of beauty and you remember what John Keats said about that: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.

.



If you look closely
you will see people
on the Tower waving
to us as we leave.

With this French symbol forever etched in our memories, we waved goodbye and moved on to the Musee du Louvre.*

*Warning to all travelers:
Travel maps show the neat places that you want to see all close together.  You must see through this deception or carry a bottle of Advil and a canteen of water with you at all times.