Hang on to your hats. This could be a bumpy ride. Well at least a full one. This was my first visit to Paris and we've only been here for two and half days -- not very long in such a subject rich environment. As a newbie, it was difficult not to behave like a typical tourist and try to check off as many of the traditional sites as possible. In the time we had, I think we did pretty damn well. I've taken more photos in the short time we've been here than I've taken other places where we've spent more time. This is a city teeming with photo ops. But don't panic. I've narrowed the selections down to just some basic markers to highlight the highlights. It's still going to be lengthy though as I'm combining the two days into one post. Grab a cup of whatever and come along for our lightning tour of Paris.
The weather here has not been all that great -- a lot of grey. But our first evening there was some nice late light near the Seine and there were some occasional moments of sun.
The last shot is across the Seine from the Left Bank looking at the Louvre which was going to be our first destination early the next morning.
Crossing the river the next morning, we encountered this. The mesh retaining walls of the bridge literally covered with locks. Padlocks. Like this...
Apparently it's a thing in Paris to write names and/or messages on locks and lock them to the mesh of the bridge. There are a LOT of locks.
We arrived early to get in the ticket line and got to enjoy the sight of the sun rising over the Louvre. None too shabby.
Outside and inside the museum. The lower shot is looking down the Grande Gallery -- it is grand, long too.
We, of course, saw lots of great art.
We even saw some new art being made -- maybe not so great. He was copying the painting meticulously, right down to the frame.
From there we wandered to the nearby Comedie Francaise.
The occasional home of one of my personal heroes . . .
. . . Moliere. We tried to get tickets to see a Cocteau show there, but they were sold out. So much for not planning ahead. Leaving the theatre, we stumbled on this delightful little confection shop.
Everything was so attractively displayed that we just HAD to get something. I'm not sure Clarisse, the sales girl, was all that thrilled with our selections.
And she probably wouldn't be thrilled with me including this particular picture of her, but the chocolate and the caramels we got were very good.
The Arch de Triumph was our final check mark of day one before we returned to our hotel to collapse prior to venturing out once again for a delicious dinner at a restaurant recommended by our Australian friends. Yum.
Next morning it was museum time again and this time we headed to the Musee d'Orsay. We discovered after we got there that the first Sunday of each month is "get in free" day. We were thrilled with that but not with the "No Photo" policy. Interesting that the Louvre allows it and not the d'Orsay. In any event it spared you a few more pictures of art. I did manage to sneak a couple of shots of the interior of the museum itself, a former train station.
We had two more sites to check off during the afternoon and it required a couple of Metro trips. One was the Eiffel Tower, of course.
Which interestingly, to us at least, has a lovely little carousel sitting right at the base of it.
From there we zipped across town to Notre Dame, where we were also able to check out one of the best old bookstores. . .
Needless-to-say, it's been a fantastic journey, but it's nearing the end. Tomorrow we make our final two flights toward home and after spending the night in another of the world's great cities, we will get in our own car and drive ourselves back to our own little home town and our own cozy house. It's been great knowing there are interested folks out there to share this adventure with. I don't know how many photos I've included in these posts, but I do know I have accumulated 3156 photo files -- that I've kept. So you see, I really did spare you the bulk of them. And thanks for the comments you've made along the way. It was nice to know someone was following along.
The highlight of our auto tour of Bali was a visit to an area of terraced rice fields ascending up the side of one of Bali's still active volcanos. The rice fields are at some of the lower elevations, obviously because the highest point on Bali is almost 10,000 feet (how about that you 46'rs?) Think about it. Bali is an island you can drive around the perimeter of in less than a day and yet it sports a mountain peak topping out just under 10,000 feet -- almost twice the height of Mt. Marcy. The clouds were hanging low that day so the mountain peak was never visible, but the terracing was very reminiscent of agricultural practices in Peru.
There's a lot of similarity in these shots, they're all of terracing and rice fields after all, but in combination they offer a better sense of just how the area looked. I found it to be incredibly picturesque and apparently other concur. It was a feature of the majority of island tour packages and you have to pay a "Park Fee" just to drive into the area.
There is a well established and comfortable walkway allowing easy access to overviews of the fields. But I choose to venture off the prescribed path and into the fields themselves. In addition to gaining a more interesting vantage point, I chanced upon a group of farmers working in one of the many paddies. They very happily agreed to let me photograph them and I was able to get some shots that are more than just interesting landscapes.
It's one of the contradictions of that fascinating little island. A very poor place filled with happy, hard working people. They have so little and work in ways little changed from what their ancestors did centuries ago, yet they seem content with what they have. I'm certainly not in a position to draw any revelatory conclusions from any of that, but the sentiment of "Less is more" seems to have some relevance. A lesson we seem unable to absorb in our western world, but one that is especially relevant as we rush headlong into another commercially overcharged holiday season.
In this one photo, there are paddies full of rice ready for harvest, banana trees loaded with fruit and palm trees dripping with ripe coconuts. Such abundance and so well tended for by people who have learned to honor the land they depend on.
In reviewing this post before publishing it, as I recall the grey of an overcast day in Paris, I note the seeming unreality of the colors of these fields. They are not "photoshopped". The colors were really that vibrant and that intense. Think of the richness of autumn colors in the Adirondacks when everything is wet from a recent rain. The greens of these fields fairly popped. Perhaps it's why painters on the island have such a preference for strong, primary colors. It's the world they live in. That's it. I've finished Bali. Perhaps Paris tomorrow.
I think Bali may have one of the most artistic cultures I've ever encountered. Art, design, decoration and care in arrangement are evident everywhere. There is more public art on display than I've ever seen anywhere. Part of it is because there are so many temples and the temples are all minor to major works of art themselves. In this post, instead of focusing on the big pictures, I'm looking at some of the smaller pieces that work together to make up the whole.
The shot above is a detail of one the many large statues located at major intersections in the area. They are all different and all very elaborately designed and crafted. Here are front and back views of the same statue.
Maybe a bit over the top for some people's taste, but it is art and in Bali it's writ large.
We saw it and felt it everywhere we went. We were greeted by it when we walked into our room and were greeted by these pieces that shared our room with us.
A couple of stone carvings on the steps of temples near us.
Different neighborhoods in Ubud had their own artistic specialties. Some were doing painting, some wood carving, some ceramics, some jewelry, etc. Whole neighborhoods devoted primarily to making art. It's part of their tradition. But it's a tradition that sadly is being lost. Many talented Balinese artists are finding that they make better money doing other things than they can get from their art products and have stopped making art. We had several different people independently make this claim and they are saddened by it but don't know what to do about it.
Not all temple figures are stone. Here's one that's carved from wood.
We saw shops filled with wonderful carvings. A lot of schlock, of course, but a lot of nice work too.
The above piece is life sized and has a wonderful "feel" to it. It felt like it could easily just begin moving and stand right up. We were at the Louvre earlier today, and this had as nice a feeling about it as some of the pieces in the galleries there.
More examples of temple carvings and a shot of some of the "tourist" art offered at one of the street markets.
I conclude today's post on Balinese statuary with a shot of one of the figures that was perhaps the most prominent of all -- a carving of the Hindu god Ganesh.
One more post to come from the material collected in Bali and then it will be on to Paris. We did the Louvre and some walking today and I must say this is one very easy city to take pictures in. I'll try to be discriminating when I get around to choosing examples. The way things are going, I may be home before then anyway.
