Lovely ladies and lions

Today's saunter took us through Paris to the Louvre and back, taking in the Seine, some sights (and smells) on the way. - And of course, a stop for coffee and pain au chocolat...

This picture was taken from under an umbrella. Can you tell?


We were walking along the river after wearing out our feet at the Louvre.

I had never noticed before - or not remembered from last time - that the Nike of Samothrace is on a ship's prow. We reckon it must have been a trireme.


As for famous ladies in the Louvre, here's another one, surveying the scene.

(Which button do I push to make her eyes move back and forth?)

And here's a picture of the scene itself - including the talking ladies and the yawning man. James took these photos - I think they're great!


We had a good look at many of the quieter, in fact virtually deserted, galleries of the Macedonian and early arts before hitting the main sights and heading out the door. I'm happy to report that only two rooms of the vast, enormous, weary palace were as crowded as this. Spot the art historian in red....


As for the quieter end of the Louvre, the Macedonian galleries included some fantastic lions and reliefs from Assyrian palaces. This is one of my favourite areas of ancient art, and I always visit the reliefs in the British Museum when I am in London. It's exciting to see some more of the artefacts from Ur and the ancient near east.
This was probably my favourite discovery of the day, because it was so unexpected. It's a lion (not a frog), from a temple, missing its haunches but with the face and ears intact. It's about waist high in this photo, so it's quite large. I found it odd and unreal, and fascinating.


And back out on the street, back in the 5th.


How about some specs? Hello Possums!


Tonight's entertainment included dinner at a local cafe with Greg and Eileen. We had much chat to catch up on. There was also the amusement of my sudden incapacity to speak French resulting in Italian mash coming out, and the waiter, who offered to take a photo for us, took two of himself and tried to take one of a colleague, before waving the camera our way....

Greg and Eileen have the pictures so we'll post those later...

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the delightful sight a weary tourist sees on his way home to rest.....

And home, to our view with mansard roofs.


Bev

Ah, Paris

Yesterday, our friend Andy stated that he was 'living the dream' while he played with his 'bike. Today felt rather like 'living the Parisien cliché', but as Terry Pratchett said, clichés are the hammers and spanners in life's toolbox. These were surprising only because Paris is supposed to be like that - but usually isn't. We certainly enjoyed them.


After a good trip into Paris, we got to our apartment which is both very, very small and very, very nice. This is the view from the window. Can't seem to see the sign to Gusteau's restaurant...


However, we gout our Remi noses into gear, and we were off... Today was the day to do this. This cafe was about six doors down from our block...

We may have left Italy, but the water's followed us...

But the lunch was properly French...

There was also dinner to shop for - we were in luck, there too...

Heidi was serving baguettes...
There was a fruit & veg stall...


We'd missed the fish stall, but...
there was a cheese shop - a couple of goat's cheeses later...
...what else? Ah, yes...

...not forgetting chocolate.


We gave the chocs a miss today, and 'just' had an ice cream each. Mine was Cassis; Bev wanted a Triple Chocolate. Can't think why...

We'd been told that at the end of the market, there was dancing. Our host wasn't kidding, either. The singer, in hat and jacket, looked like one of the guys from the Buena Vista Social Club...


Then onto the park, to meet up with Greg and Eileen, our friends from Toronto in Paris at the moment as well. The Park was the Luxembourg Gardens, and the Salvos were playing on the bandstand.

Here the game is to mess about with boats...


On the way back, we found that a modern version of the Hot Club de France was busking our street. They were very good. Clearly the current French President isn't as popular as our musicians though!
It was a tough day.
James

A French field - of flight

It's been another long day, but despite hiccoughs, a better one than the interminable wait for a short flight from Venice Marco-Polo to Paris Orly yesterday. Still, we are here now, and today was unforgettable.


One of the cornerstones of the trip we planned was a visit to l'Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis where, every year, they have Le Temps des Hélices airshow.

Airshows are both all the same and yet different, and each nation imprints something of their national identity, both deliberately and accidentally on the event. Here follows a short picture essay of this amazing, unique Gallic event. (You may need to click on and enlarge some of the photos, go on, it won't hurt. If there's enough interest, we can add a few more too. I only took 1,200 or so.)

Bon soir!

Part of the recreators' camp in the early morning. An Armee de l'Air Pilote de Chasse and a Free French Garcon.


Two of the hard working groundcrew take a moment's break, and mirror a set of Armorial bearings as they lean against a Bleriot. Fancy the Channel, anyone?


The Bleriot with a Moraine Saulnier - both from the 1900s.

These aircraft have rotary engines. That's because the engine does rotate (See here for a great animation of this elegant design.) Ah, the smell of burnt caster oil.


And a lovely pair of red devils...


I think we are in France, somehow. I'm sure there was no cork tip on the Gauloise either. By the way, the bike's a Bleriot too.

We met up with Paul and Mark at the end of their impressive 10 day around Europe trip (we'll see you and raise you...) and another group of UK visitors, Andrew, Kev and (another) James who were communally blown away by this magnificent event. They were the guests of Andy Jones of the French Memorial Flight, and thanks to Andy, we were also able to join the Flight's evening BBQ in their 20th anniversary year. The 'Tea' was remarkable, and the evening very alcoholic, powered along by a bizarre conversation with young Frenchmen about the 'why' of Vegemite, my fellow Aeroplane scribe Melv's appalling jokes and - I'm not making this up - a good humoured recreation of some of the odder moments from Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines by a French and German duo. If there had been a pair of balloons, blunderbusses and a sewage farm (and La Ferte Alais is one of the few places in the world where that ingredient list is quite likely to be found...) I'm sure a re-run would have taken place for national honour. To hear a well lubricated German engineer stating that 'there is nothing a German Officer cannot do' is something else.

Magnifique!
James

On the road again….

Today we are leaving Italy, and I suppose that means I should find another song to hum instead of ‘On days like these’ – any suggestions?

We’re sad to leave the lovely, huge, calm and old-fashioned apartment that we’ve been renting for the week. It’s perfectly placed to pop down to the train station and from there to do day trips to Venice, Padua, Vicenza, and so on. Ross and Chris are off to Padua today, while we sort ourselves out and trek out to Venice airport for this afternoon’s flight to Paris.

Here’s a list!

A random selection of things I like about Italy:

- Going into dark little bars to order coffee and pastries, then sitting out in the sunshine watching the world go by.


- Crumbly old buildings in many colours with wooden shutters:



- Cool marble staircases and halls.

- The people: good-humoured talk and gossip; “And THEN, do you know what happened….” Every day sounds like an extraordinary day.




- Dogs. Dogs on boats and dogs taking themselves for a stroll – when there are no cars, why not?

- Good food, good company, and beautiful places to eat it. (Stay tuned for a Food blog post, coming soon…)


Here’s a photo of James and Ross tucking into a fine lunch….


Now spot the action in the background. (Click it to see a bigger version). Wow, that’s a technique all right.


My, my!

- Gondoliers on their telefonino. (telefonini?)

- Boats of every size and shape. With and without bling (see below).


- Bling. Has anyone else noticed the bling? Sequins on bags, gold shoes, lame’ t-shirts, gold lame shoe laces for your runners, plastic gilded crowns on gondolas, and even – the piece de resistance, a gold lame picnic cool bag.

- Colours and patterns are everywhere: on balconies, on clothes for men and women, on frescoed stucco walls of houses and churches. It’s better than bling, but bling has a morbid fascination for me…

- Birdsong.

- People hanging out of upper shuttered windows, watching other people:

- Gossip, gossip, talk talk talk - doncha' know it makes the world go round?


- People standing in shop doorways watching life on the street.

Ciao for now and we will post in from Paris.

Bev

PS: Yes, we made it to Urbino, thank you for asking, those who did. And it was SPIFFING!