jello, jello, jello
So we were in a little village called Uze in southern France, Provence about 45 minutes south of Orange. We went there because there was a real castle. Now in the south of France, there were not many castles. In the north of France, there were castles everywhere, we had our pick of what we wanted to see and of course we didn’t. Now we wanted to see a castle so off we went on a little jaunt on our way back from Nimes. We arrived just in time for an espresso before walking into the castle – it was closed, open again in 1 hour. The one hour extended to two hours so we walked and walked some more along narrow streets, back alleys. There really wasn’t that much to see in Uze. Finally it was time, we eagerly lined up outside the gate – all 10 of us. Oops the only thing open right now is the turret as the tour of ‘the castle’ would not take place for another 45 minutes. So off and up we went. The stairs, all 212 of them were circular, narrow on one end and even narrower on the other. Going up was okay and the view was pretty good being a nice day and all. But coming down, oh my oh my. By the time we hit the bottom, our legs were jello, not a bone left in them and no place to sit down. The photo was taken during the inside tour but that story will have to wait until tomorrow.
and then he moved
It was a long, long day in Florence. Wet and wet again, down the neck, up the arms and into the eyes. The shoes were Gortex thank heavens, my feet were only wet from sweat! We had seen ‘David’, the churches and the amazingly resplendant churches. So what to do next – the Uffizi Gallery of course, one of the greatest museums in Europe, housing masterpieces by Giotto, da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael. The list was endless – just like the line up!! Out the door, around the courtyard, down the street, over the bridge, crossing the river. As we stood there, trying to decide what to do next, we noticed around the courtyard lifesize statues of some of the Medicis. Then he moved?? Then he moved again. Its colouring, robes, hat blended in with every other statue in the courtyard. Certainly worth a few Euros in the hat.
hmm, not as old as I thought
This is a self portrait of Rembrandt. I had envisaged an older man, with a wispy beard, greying hair, and more than a few wrinkles. This painting is of a somewhat dapper, perhaps middle aged man, not quite full of the wisdom of the years. But a very talented man maybe a little full of himself. I am sure those would not be his painting clothes so they were probably on a body double and he just dropped his portrait on the body. Actually, I don’t know if that is true, but it really could be.
so really, what is the fuss about
Yeah, yeah! I know it is famous, I know it was done by a famous painter. inventor, renaisance man – oh wait, he was a renaisaince man! But really, as far as size goes, my monitor is bigger than the Mona Lisa. And the people. All those people, crowding up against a barrier some 20 feet away for the painting which seem to be behind 3 inches of glass or plastic. Not the best viewing circumstances. But there is something about saying “I saw the Mona Lisa!” up close and personal.
3 kilometres away
This is a shot of the Louvre taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was probably 3 kilometres away which says something about the telephoto lens I was using. Each of the three sides was at least a soccer field and a half in length. And rooms. Halls and rooms and courtyards with a tremendous array of paintings, murals, statues, sculptures, frescoes, busts and more. Would take days to see it all and we only spent about three hours. We saw most of the top ten things to see before we ran out of steam. We stopped for a small snack and coffee at the Louvre coffee bar. Let me tell you about the price – maybe not. The espresso was wonderful again and the service was abysmal.
And not only were people legless and armless. This lion was legless as well. From the same era as the legless man from a few posts ago. You can tell by the similiar styles. This lion was pretty big, about as big as a smallish real lion. This one was also in one of the many many halls of the Louvre. Tomorrow I will post a photo of the Louvre. It really is massive (seems to be one of my favorite words in this blog). Anyway back to the lion. Although somewhat stylized, it would not be hard to imagine this lion prowling a coliseum, looking for its next meal. The lions were starved prior to their entrance into the arena, all the more ready to pounce on the poor helpless men and women. The sport was in the running and the chase and also for the blood. Somethings never change
dappled houses
After a long hard day, walking among the ruins, the museums, the churches, the wide boulevards and narrow streets, we would come back home. To our one room abode. And this would be our view from our hotel in Orange in southern France. The sunlight was soft, the houses dappled with shade, the mountains clear and the air crisp (still in March you know). We would collapse on our beds, not ready for bed but not ready to move our legs for dinner downstairs. Speaking of dinner, in this hotel dining room we would keep our table from day to day. The staff would remember us and almost unbidden would bring Lorna her wine of choice from the night before. The meals were not particularly memorable, but the experience certainly was!
legless wonders
This legless wonder is also a one armless wonder as well. It seems that every museum and some churches had statues and sculptures that were armless, legless and often bodyless. Can’t even tell you much about this gentleman except that I believe he was from the Roman era, late Roman era that is. Truth be told, my eyes began to glaze over after looking at the 50th armless, legless wonder. Truth be told, my eyes glaze over again even looking at the photos take some four and a half months ago. This photo was taken in the Louvre on one of the last days of our trip.
it appears, just around the corner
Coming into Pisa, all we could see were street after stree of these close quarter houses, joined together and never ending. Trying to weave our way through traffic, following the clear directions of the gps when suddenly and I mean very suddenly, we see the Leaning Tower. There really isn’t anything else to see in Pisa. It is kind of an Italian back water little town. Nothing worth noting except this big tower that is going to fall down any second now. I would’t be able to stand if I leaning as much. Anyway after seeing our goal, we had to find parking. Good ole TomTom got us to the square but it could not tell us where to find parking – and there wasn’t any for cars – only for big tour buses. We did find a small vacant space that we shoe horned our way into. I think the sign is ‘Parking Allowed’ but it might have said “No Parking”. Didn’t ask anybody and our car was still there when we got back. It was later this same day that we had our tunnel experience.
seeing the ceiling
One of the amazing sights in the Louvre were the ceilings. Ornate with gold leaf (although my guess is it was fake gold leaf), frescoes, pictures, carvings and plaster figures. Often the walls were subdued so as not to overshadow the paintings and other artwork in the viewing halls. The ceilings on the other hand never stopped and to my eyes never repeated themselves. Normally your eye would gravitate to the artwork on the walls. Only when you stopped for a break, sitting on one of the few benches that you could cast your eye above. The ceilings were worth the price of admission by themselves. Too 2 days to get the crick out of my neck.
