The Arts

Recently, I've been listening to The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It uses architecture as a vehicle for the story - the old style of the great buildings of the world vs. the new, modern and unusual. The story is long and complex and I won't go into it here. My verdict is still out on how I feel about the story. But my recent trip to Paris was a great opportunity to look at architecture and the see how it shapes the city and the activities that go around the various style of buildings. It was a time to ponder on what is beautiful and desirable and what is art. Earlier this month, Dennis and I went to the Rodin Museum and the Orsay Museum which have many great works of art and are contained in amazing and beautiful buildings and grounds. This trip, I wanted to see some of the different type of art, although there were still some beautiful buildings that I either hadn't seen before or hadn't seen for many years.

St. Sulpice - although there was restoration work being done on the highest domes the history and beauty of the building are still remarkable.
Luxenbourg Museum and gardens - a little bit of heaven in the hustle and bustle of a big city.
I was busy taking pictures of this area and the monument in the gardens when I suddenly noticed what was on the skyline behind it.


Huge statues surrounded by large grassy areas surrounded by trees, shrubs and chairs. Parisians come to paint, read, eat, sunbathe, play and exercise. It is the kind of park I wish we had in our back yard.


Sailing boats in the pond of Luxenbough garden. One of the many pleasures had here. There are also tennis courts, basketball courts, a boule court and huge playground.


The incongruity of this statue caught my attention. This fairly stern looking woman, which is beautifully made has wires sticking out of her head. They are usually used on the tops of buidlings and doorways to keep birds from perching there but this is the only statue that I noticed that had spikes.Notre Dame - so simple in comparison to the Koln Cathedral and yet still one of the crowning jewels of Paris.

A quartet of singers outside Notre Dame. They sang traditional French folk songs and the crowd around them sang and danced with them. They were very fun to watch - especially as it gave me an excuse to sit and relax for a while.


The walkway along the top of the Centre du Pompidou -the museum that houses the modern art of Paris. The building itself is ultra modern. All the pipes, heating ducts and escalator are on the outside.




A juggler/acrobat performing outside the Pompidou. In the hour that I spent in the squares outside the buiding, I saw 6 different entertainers - mostly singers but also a little odd puppet show. There were so many interesting people to watch and see.

The modern art pool to the side of the Pompidou with a old church - such a huge contrast of the silly and odd against the great, solid and aged.

A building in the Montparnasse area. It is 1/3 glass with nothing inside. In front of the building is a long wall of very impressive graffitti. The main floor windows are also covered with paint that makes one wonder if it is a purposeful grafetti or just an overflow from the wall.
It was a fun and interesting trip. We had dinner Thursday night at a popular French restaurant, La Couple, and on Friday night we went to a Moroccan restaurant. We also went on a nighttime river cruise. We made a quick stop on the way down to pick up my new residency card and on the way back at a mall in St. Niklaas. It was good to get home but we were already talking of were else we wanted to travel to and what we should see. Regardless of how far or near our travels take us, there will always be interesting buildings to see and things to love and things to ridicule.