This time in Paris we decided to visit a cemetery in Montparnasse, which was planned by Napoleon. The still photos show the sculpture, 'The Separation of a Couple' by de Max. It is very moving. See how the lady is blowing a kiss to her grieving husband and trying to lift the ground to reach him? There is also a tomb with the name 'Herve' in case any of us decide that's where we want to be buried! In the slideshow there is one for the Charles Pigeon Family Tomb. The book says, 'This wonderfully pompous Belle Epoque tomb depicts the French industrialist and inventor in bed with his wife.' All the tombs set against the thriving buildings full of people was such a contrast. Truly, I kept thinking, here we are to fret and strut and then we are gone.
We also spent an entire afternoon in the Lourve and I wanted to post the wall antiquity that dates to King Darius....(so dating back to Daniel and the Lion's Den!) It is easy to underestimate the size of the vast collection in the Lourve. The range of antiquities in the Louvre is impressive. There are objects from the Neolithic period (6000 BC) to the fall of the Roman Empire! My favorite discovery this time was Napoleon III apartments. In the video clip there is one of the dining room. No wonder the french people rebelled against the lavish living of their Kings!
Tom's favorite part of the Lourve this time was the excavated area below the buildings... of the base of the towers and the drawbridge support of Philippe-Auguste's fortress. (The Lourve was originally a fortress with towers, then turned into a royal residence in about 1360 and enlarged for four centuries of French kings, and today is one heck of a magnificent place to house an incredible collection of art!)
The first still photo is the view from our room. We could see the dome of the Pantheon as well as the Montparnasse Tower. We stayed in the Montparnasse area in the Marriott. It was a new area to explore. More residential and a bit out of the way, but we enjoyed discovering a new area.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
3 comments:
Wow aren't you guys glad we're all out of the house so you can spend all day looking at statues and walking around museums without anyone whining? hahaha.
I like how you do the japanese pose for pictures (peace sign).
I remember Noel wanted to go inside the Louvre, and I was like "That will take ALL day!" He was a little disappointed, but I guess we'll just have to go back some day.
OH I forgot to say that is So cool about the Herve tombstone.
Wow incredible. Not many people get to enjoy all that Paris has to offer. I'm sure there's still a lot you haven't done, but how neat to see these marvelous things.
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