Linda's Journal
July 2001

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July 4th, 2001

Here I am in Paris for July 4th. Needless to say, there won't be any fireworks or hot-dogs on a grill as far as I know. There was a ceremony, however. This has been taking place for a number of years at the Picpus Cemetery where Lafayette is buried. He contributed a lot to America in helping with our Revolution War. In fact, when he was buried dirt from America was put in his grave, I assume at his request. His wife is buried at his side. There is always an American flag flying near his grave.

I had visited here before with Maurice. After beheadings had been moved from Bastille to Nation, the bodies were brought here. I think I read that over 1000 victims were buried here before it was all over. There is a plaque here put up by family members commemorating the victims buried there that were from their own families.

The ceremony is usually attended by the American Ambassador but I don't believe that the one Bush has appointed has been approved by congress yet. I overheard that the Ambassador from 20 years ago was there in his place, plus some diplomatic types and military big wigs. There were 4 marines with our flag:

After both national anthems had been played, we all went to the grave of Lafayette where two short speeches were given in French, flowers laid on the grave, a type of taps played and it was over. It's nice that France and America still make an effort to keep this memory up.

A few views of the grave

July15, 2001

Today is an absolutely beautiful day here in Paris. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the temperature is in the low 70's-just perfect. I had to go get a card that makes me legal and I was finished early enough that I decided to go see if the line was very long to go up the tower of the Notre Dame. It was before 10am and I guess the tourists all slept in so I decided to go up. It was a hard climb, over 200 steps, but the view was worth it.

The part looking like a boat is the end of the island

A gargoyle enjoying the view forever

Since it was such a sunny day I walked up the block to go into St. Chapelle. It has 2 levels. The bottom part was for the non-Royals and the top for the King. It's known for it's stained glass and the way the supports are built make the walls look to be made of glass.

The windows are floor to ceiling

A statue of a disciple

I liked this angel on a background of blue glass

July 19, 2001

Today the kitchen is finally being put together, slowly, and by one man, so I haven't ventured out as I want to keep an eye on things.

I've been interested in a lot of the subway stops that I've been seeing. A lot of them, such as the one I often see Nation, are very plain done in white tile outlined in blue. Not exciting at all. But there are some that are works of art. At the Concorde stop there are tiles with a letter on each one where I spend my wait trying to make words out of the letters

.

I was going to Maurice's daughter's shop near Les Halles when I exited into this great stop all done in copper. At first I felt like I was in a submarine, but I think it has to do with engines and motors.

The copper walls

The ceiling

Here is a picture of a stop that I can't remember the name of, but is painted by a well-known artist in France.

Monmarte has a neat stop. It is a very hilly area and you can take an elevator, like I should have, or the stairs, which have the walls brightly painted.

Outside is one of the few remaining entrances done by Guimard, the king of art deco. Paris was tearing down all of the ones he had done and selling them. Luckily, this one was left.

Rather like a plant

July 21, 2001

I never did mention Bastille Day. Paris does a great fireworks under the Eiffel Tower in celebration. There are so many people and the subways are so crowded that we decided not to go in the area,but up to Monmarte, on a hill, to get a view. It turned out the 70% of the fireworks could not be seen from there as the base of the Eiffel Tower couldn't be seen. We saw a few that were high in the sky.

At 1030 PM we went to Versailles for a light show called Les Fetes du Nuit. It was in front of one of the huge fountains on the grounds and here we got to see all of the fireworks that we missed on Bastille Day. There was special lighting, fountains, fog, horses, hundreds of people and spectacular fireworks all to classical music. There was this light against some fog/water spray where pictures or shadow figures were projected.

Horse figure/shadow behind stage

It was a huge area and difficult to take a picture that adequately shows all we saw, but here is a little of the fireworks.

It lasted until 1230 AM and we didn't get home and into bed until 2 AM. Such new hours for me.

July 24, 2001

I decided to go visit Invalides, a new place for me. This is a 14th century cathedral that was made into a burying place for Napoleon and other generals, and a museum of weapons from far in the past to the more recent. I often see the dome of the cathedral from many places in Paris, gleaming gold in the sun.

That's the dome on top, in the back

I liked these windows looking like armored knights

Napoleon's tomb

July 28th

I'm going mad around the apartment with the renovation, or rather, the lack of it. I spent 8 hours waiting for workers to show up. At 3pm the electrician came for 30 minutes. Anyway, I decided to go visit the Louvre again. This time I went to the wing for French painters. On the way I passed the Dutch painters wing again. I really like their painting. The color is so rich and the paintings seem to glow in golden light. There are also some great Rembrandts hanging. What I had in mind to see was one I keep seeing reproductions of called The Cheater. It's a painting of a card game and I love the face of the woman in it.

I can't tell what she is thinking but she looks suspicious.

There was a card in the room telling about La Tour. I wasn't at all familiar with him, but apparently he is becoming more and more appreciated, especially for his pictures in which there is a single source of light, usually a candle. He was, in his personal life, not a nice person, known for his violence and money problems. But the man could paint.

I love the light and shadows.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around the underground mall of shops where I bought a small copy of the various stages of the Eiffel Tower going up and J'Adore perfume. Then I went to a movie so I could be relatively cool. It is really hot here this week with the temperature in the high 80's. Home about 5pm where very little work had been done so I was glad I hadn't stuck around.

July 29

We rode our bikes today to watch the end of the Tour de France as is came up the Champs Elysees. We had a long ride there and back, but nothing compared to those who were in the tour. There was a great atmosphere there with people holding their country's flags and cheering as the bikers roared past. I mean they went really fast. The first time I hardly saw a thing. I also didn't realize that they would do a loop around Paris about 10 times so I got to see them pass a lot. There was also a huge TV screen so everyone could see the action close up. Towards the end I think I actually spotted Lance Armstrong in his yellow shirt as the other Americans on the team had red on the shorts which helped me. It was all exciting, but so hot. Glad we went, though.

One of the many sponsors of the Tour

The big screen and the big crowd

I actually got a picture of the riders, not easy to do

I believe that's Lance in the yellow