Stogie Returns from France

We got in from our trip to Europe last night. Nineteen hours of traveling from our Paris hotel to our front door - it was rough. I did love Paris and most of the French people I met were quite nice, but it's great to be home.

Paris is mostly a museum of past epochs. Many, if not most, of its buildings are 18th or 19th century, with many chimneys on the roofs, one for each office or apartment. They aren't used anymore but their presence confirms the age of the building. See this impressionist painting from 1877 of this type of building - they look the same today and they are all over Paris.

Then there are the historic churches and buildings dating back to the 12th century or even before. The Tuileries is a castle-like building of bricks and turrets, where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned for the two years before she was guillotined in La Place de la Revolution, now called Place de la Concord. I also visited the spot where she and others lost their heads. Talk about class envy, the Democrats could learn something from those French revolutionaries. No wonder the Dems love them so much.

I was impressed with Notre Dame Cathedral, finished in the 12th century after 200 years of building. The acoustics were remarkable and we heard the ancient organ at full throttle, during the ordination of some new priests. This is the place in Victor Hugo's famous story about the Hunchback of Notre Dame, who hopped around the gargoyles on the sides of the building shouting "Sanctuary, Sanctuary!" We received copies of the ordination service in written form, and I found I could read and understand about 80% of it - my high school French still serves me well after 40 years. I could only understand about 10% of the spoken French, however - it is too fast for me.

I really enjoyed the Louvre and D'Orsay museums. I saw the Mona Lisa, took several pictures of it (they allow photographs without the flash), and saw many other famous paintings and sculptures. I decided that Monet is my favorite French artist. Seeing much of his work up close and in real life convinced me of this. His work blows away the others - Renoir, Gaugan, etc. I thought Vincent Van Gogh's works were mostly junk. My five year old grandson could do as well.

In the Musee D'Orsay I found Van Gogh's "Starry Night" (Nuit Etoilee) painting, the one that inspired Don Mcclean's famous song, "Vincent (Starry Night)." Watch and listen at the link provided. Okay, I will give Van Gogh credit for his use of color. Even his amateurish "Sunflowers" (which we saw in Amsterdam) is pretty for its colors. His primitive creations do have some charm, but I wonder how famous he might be today if he hadn't had the marketing inspiration of shooting himself. Just my opinion.

On one day we visited the Palace of Versailles. It was one plush place, the pad of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before some cockaded Parisian rabblerouser with ruined teeth announced "Serf's Up." The working masses took his cue and showed up at Versaille one day to inform Louie and Marie that they were sacked. I can see why they might have been so pissed off. If you are having trouble making ends meet, a couple of 18th century yuppies living in incredible splendor simply as an accidental result of their birth would tend to be annoying. Still, I think the head-chopping thing was a bit too much. Pink slips would have been quite sufficient. And all that nonsense about "let them eat cake" was never actually uttered by Marie Antoinette. No doubt the rumor was started by Karl Rove's great, great grandfather.

Leonardo DaVinci's work was interesting - I found the painting "Virgin of the Rocks" that is discussed in "The DaVinci Code," a weird painting to be sure. Took a couple of photos of it.  I have more adventures to relate, but I will do that later.