The Cathedral From the North

by Karl, pictures by Kate (mostly)

On the bus coming home from university, or with the boys in the afternoon after school, we get a glimpse of St. Vitus Cathedral in the distance.

When you’re in the tourist heart of Prague, on Charles Bridge heading from Staré město over to Malá strana, the Castle is right there over you to the north of the historic center of the city. There’s the picturesque jumble of baroque facades, rooftops, and church spires spilling up the hill. There’s the line of pastel-colored palaces sloping away to the east along the ridge that the castle occupies. And soaring above it all, the gothic-baroque-neo-Gothic splendor of the cathedral.

Montmartre, et plus

Part three in a series of posts on our trip to Paris. Took even more pics than usual as we were visiting friends. And, we were in Paris. Previous posts: part one, part two.

After our late night at the Eiffel Tower, we had a leisurely start to our Saturday morning before heading downtown again to explore the Montmartre neighborhood.

Weekend breakfast ~ croissants and pain au chocolat

On the subway we were serenaded by some strolling accordionists. 

I thought it was charming. But not everyone was a fan.

City of Lines, er ... Lights

Part two in a series of posts on our trip to Paris. Took even more pics than usual as we were visiting friends. Part one here.

We left the Louvre on the metro. By the time we came back to street level, rain was softly falling and we began to question whether now was the time to go up the Parisian icon. Then we got to the Eiffel Tower to learn that the third (and highest) level was closed due to "congestion." Honestly, this was the lowest moment of our trip: we'd already put off the Louvre by a day because of the long, snake-y queue in the courtyard. We'd abandoned our effort to go up the Notre Dame belltower because of the wait and some drizzle. And the patience of our instant-gratification six- and eight-year-olds was thin and cracking.

Here's where our different experiences of Prague and Paris really hit home. Prague has roughly 4.5 million visitors per year, while Paris (a bigger city, to be sure) draws more than 30 million visitors annually. We realized that we just don't have to wait for much in Prague. With kids in tow, that's a bonus. Obviously we've had the luxury of seeing sights during the off-season, but still. We had to face the facts: we now were in the City of Lines.

Eiffel Tower queue

After a little pep talk resulting in a new if-you-can't-beat-the-line-join-it attitude, we queue'd up, loaded the boys with snacks, chatted with other tourists around us, and outlasted the rain. Forty-five minutes later we boarded our elevator to the second level of the tower, with sun rays streaming down around broken clouds.

Southeast-ish view: Parc du Champs-de-Mars, which extends all the way to the 18th-century École Militaire (Military Academy), Napoleon's alma mater.

Ben exhibited signs that he might actually have inherited some of my genetic material (in comparison to the overwhelming evidence that he's Karl's son) when he kept getting a queasy, vertiginous feeling looking straight up the tower.

He said it looked as if the tower were swaying and bending toward him.

Aaaaaaa!

Karl was very sympathetic.

Mom and boys keeping on the Seine-y side.

Smile boys. Ice cream is riding on it.

Heading down on the elevator

Garrett kicking back

Cones for €3.5 (US$4.95) -- ouch!

 I hope they were good.

Back to the apartment for dinner and fun ...

Garrett, Solange and Ben having fun on the back deck.

... before heading back downtown to experience the lights, not the lines, of Paris.

Ayanna hitches a ride on Mom's back.

Waiting for the RER.

La Tour Eiffel, illuminated at dusk.

So classy. So romantic. So sublime. So ...

Right. Never mind.

Hamming it up in high gear.

It was a shame the kids didn't hit it off.

Karl and Chad pondered life cycle analyses of competing energy sources.

Over chocolate crêpes.

What photogenic kids, huh? Three out of four ain't bad.

Garrett and Solange in crêpe rapture.

After dark, the tower sparkles for five minutes at the top of every hour.

Enjoying the show! Next up, Montmartre ...

Paris ... le sigh ...

Paris was one European city we knew we wanted to visit during our year abroad, but not solely for the sights and sensual delights detailed in guidebooks. Our lovely friends Chad and Chantal and their delightful girls, Solange and Ayanna, have temporarily fled their native Canada to spend three years in the City of Lights. We know them from our time in Seattle when Karl and Chad were in grad school together at the University of Washington.

Chad, a Canadian government employee, is on assignment working at OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). He's part of team addressing issues regarding the supply of medical radioisotopes. And Chantal, a computer programmer, sweet-talked her employer into letting her telecommute from a home office where she has a view of the Eiffel Tower and goats.

View from Chantal and Chad's front deck

Well, almost. She has to get up from her desk and look from the other side of the room. Probably just as well. That would be a little too distracting, don't you think?

Goats and sheep "mow" the steep hillside right across the street from the flat. It's cheaper to use farm animals to tend the vegetation than to pay someone to maintain such steep terrain. Cuter, too.

We got in Wednesday afternoon, which gave us evenings with our friends and a couple of days to sight-see on our own (while their family worked and studied). Over the weekend we all got to play, like a bunch of regular- and over-sized kids.

Despite a fabulous forecast earlier in the week, the weather wasn't great our first couple of days. But the grey tones added to the formal, elegant statues in gardens and the 19th century buildings lining the boulevards. How's that for spin? Actually, I'm only half spinning this -- super bright sunshine and the accompanying severe shadows wouldn't have been as easy on the eyes or the pictures. That's not to say we weren't relieved when the sun came out on Friday afternoon.

Thursday ~

We started at Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were last seen intact, and then headed into the Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden).

Obelisk at Place de la Concorde. The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile is just visible looking west down the Champs-Élysées.

Tuileries Garden is rich with statues of many styles. I seemed to have photographed only those more classic in style.

Caesar

Theseus and the Minotaur

Heading east toward the Louvre, the boys spotted this playground off on the edge of the gardens.

It's like they have a homing device for these things.

After 40 minutes or so, we moved on.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (not to be confused with the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, which is about twice as big).

An arc angel

The front side of the Arc de Triomphe Carrousel, which faces the Louvre.

See how massive this place is? I couldn't even get it to stay within the blog's margins.

The Louvre. I.M. Pei's glass pyramids were completed in 1989.

East end of the Louvre

The line to get into the Louvre, though not unusually long, was longer than we wanted to face that day. With a plan to buy tickets online for Friday, we grabbed some tea and hot cocoa at a cafe before strolling down the Seine.

Kiosque des noctambules

Some of the entrance ways to Parisian metro stations are charming. This one, at the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre at Place Colette, is entitled Kiosque des noctambules (Kiosk of the night-walkers). It was completed in October 2000 for the centenary of the Metro. The two cupolas made of colored glass beads represent day and night.

Vélib' bicycles

Here's how Chad commutes to his job on nice days. For 29 Euros per year, he can grab a bike from Vélib', the Parisian bike share program. Unlimited rides for 30 minutes or less are covered in the annual membership.

A Vélib' meter.

He just has to make sure there's a meter (i.e. parking space) available at his destination, which he can determine online before heading out.

Vélib'  gets its name from velo (bicycle) and liberté (freedom).

Pont Neuf

Pont Neuf (New Bridge) is, funnily enough, the oldest bridge on the Seine.

Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris)

We visited Notre Dame Cathedral, touring the interior and hoping for a climb to the belltower.

Detail on the middle doorway.

We bailed on climbing the bell tower, however, when we started feeling a few drops of rain. We'd already invested 45 minutes on line but had progressed only about half-way to the entrance. (And, anyway, the camera battery needed recharging -- what's the point of going up a tower if you don't have pictures to show for it?)

Here's one place we North Americans didn't have to wait on line -- Creperie Follies around the corner from Chad and Chantal's flat. We just had to wait until it opened for evening service at 7pm. Parisians tend to eat dinner later than is our custom, so we pretty much had the place to our noisy selves for much of the meal.

On the left bank: Chad, Chantal, Ayanna, and Ben. And the right: Solange, Garrett, Karl, and Kate.

We enjoyed Breton galettes (which are like savory crêpes, made with buckwheat flour) with various fillings. Mine had salmon and crème fraiche. The adults sipped hard cider, typical of the Breton region, with the meal. And everyone inhaled savored crêpes with sweet fillings for desert: chocolate, coconut, fruit, or just straight-up sugar.

Friday ~

With help from our hosts we secured tickets to the Louvre. We still had to queue up about 20 minutes to go through security before entering. At least we were sheltered in the Pavillion Richelieu, not out in the rain with the poor ticket-less folks waiting to enter via the big pyramid.

Pavillion Richelieu

I.M. Pei's Pyramid

I played around with the camera software's light and tone settings to create the above effect. (And I may have unleashed something of a beast in this department. More to come.)

Gallerie des Caryatides

On our way to the Mona Lisa, Ben and I had to pass through the Caryatids Gallery which gave us a chance to check out these statue-columns. They were at least 4.5 meters (15 feet) high.

Diana of Versailles

The Caryatids Gallery was built to showcase this representation of Diana the huntress. I am fascinated by the statuary we've seen this year. How can marble look so supple and airy and drape-y? How can stone look like fabric?

Fresco of the fall of Icarus (I think. I can't confirm it, though.)

At times the palace itself is the work of art -- colorful frescoes, marble columns, and intricate molding.

I asked Ben why he was interested in the Mona Lisa as we made our way to the Salle des Etats (Hall of the States). After learning about Leonardo da Vinci during his class's section on inventors, Ben just wanted to see something that da Vinci had actually made. Fair enough. (And can I just say that I think it's kind of cool that my eight-year-old son wanted to see the Mona Lisa? Too bad it's somewhat anticlimactic.)

Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, or the Mona Lisa
by Leonardo da Vinci

Here she is. All 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in) of her. From 6 m (20 ft). Behind glass.

And here are her fans and admirers. It's interesting how few people are actually looking at the painting rather than the LCDs on their cameras.

The Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese

This huge painting is opposite the Mona Lisa. Ben and I took in several other Louvre highlights on the way to meet Karl and Garrett.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

And a close up ...

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine
by Jacques-Louis David

At roughly 10m x 6m (32ft x 20ft) this canvas is enormous. In fact it covers a bigger area than the footprint of our house back home. Our house is not huge ... but, still.

Aphrodite or Venus de Milo

Venus and Ben

Again with the liquid fabric.

Ancient Egypt ~

Great Sphinx of Tanis

Statues of the goddess Sekhmet

Egyptian mummy and admirers

Colossal Statue of Ramesses II

Whoa!

And now, a little shout out to my friends and former co-workers at LLL and WIC ~

When child-led weaning doesn't go as planned ...

As a La Leche League leader and lactation specialist, I've worked with lots of women who've had questions about extended nursing. And the expression on this woman's face is timeless. Many a mother who's nursed her child into toddlerhood harbors a fear that sits like a cold, hard stone in her belly: "He's never going to wean ..."

(For the record, I'm quite sure this bas-relief is not about extended nursing or even depicting a mother and son. But hey, you bring your lenses and filters to a given experience, and I'll bring mine.)

Moving on ...

We left the Louvre and walked out among the Aristide Maillol statues in the east end of the Tuileries Garden.

Three Nymphs

The Mountain

I like the fleshiness of these pieces. No twiggy waifs here.

The River, with passenger

Next up, the Eiffel Tower by day and night.