Paris Day 11

Parisian playground

Typical Parisian park

Art piece at La Gaite Lyrique Museum
(My first thought: "She's definitely a pear shape." My second thought: "What Not to Wear" has me well-trained.")

Provocative art piece in the "Arrrgh" monster exhibit at the Gaite Lyrique Museum

Narrow street on which I stayed for ten nights

Unexpected sight

Children's books
(Note the Madame le Lapin Blanc book in the upper right-hand corner depicting the irritated mate of the perpetually anxious White Rabbit.)

More window shopping

Street art (no context)

Wait, this isn't a concert?

Highlights

• New thoughts about "monsters" after viewing art exhibit at La Gaite Lyrique, a fascinating art museum and resource space
• Laughing at remarkable similarity between French and American post offices
• Pastries. Enough said.
• Finding a suitable hotel for my last two nights
• Striding through the city center
• Unintentionally attending a comedy show instead of a concert (what, no music?) 

Brussels Day 10

Fair trade chocolate in the main train station in Brussels

Le Botanique (gardens and orangery refurbished as concert venue)

Gorgeous greens on a gloomy, freezing day

Team crocodile!

 

Example of scale of European palaces--one wing of a four-winged palace
(Note the men putting up the sign for a museum event.)

Perplexing sequence of instructions

Wells Fargo made it into the world cultures collection at the Cinquantenaire Museum!

Art piece in the "heart room" at the Cinquantenaire

Carriage (yes, pulled by a dragon)  on display at the Cinquantenaire 

Bit of modern Brussels

Selection from the circle of banners surrounding the entrance to the  European Union headquarters

View of the "Grand Place" from "the Square"

Organic quiche and fair trade cocoa from Exxi

Typical European juxtaposition of old and new

Winner: Most Organized Chocolate

Typical small houses

Waiting for my train back to Paris

Highlights

• Easily finding fair trade chocolate--I had read online that it is rare in this chocolate capital of the world, but it turns out that it is easy to obtain from suppliers of organic goods
• Amusingly absurd statues in the Le Botanique
• Easily navigating my third metro system in as many days
• Incredibly intricate carvings depicting martyred saints in the Cinquantenaire Museum (lighting prohibited decent pictures)
• Beautiful shades of green in the moss on the trees and stone
• Courtesy of drivers towards pedestrians
• Quick and comfortable trip back to Paris via train

London Day 9

British humor appealing to American tourists?

Street art

British food

Swiss cheeses at Borough Market

Dorothea Lange made it into the timeline at Tate Modern!

Queen Anne in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

London street view
European capitals (London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, and Brussels) seem to have a similar feel of tall, crowded, pale-faced buildings with tourist kitsch in front and unexpected peeks of spectacular landmark cathedrals and palaces.

Barely remembered a good-bye picture!

Highlights

• Cheese samples at Borough Market
• Free museums! Tate Modern and Museum of London
• Being back in London
• All of the helpful British advice (i.e. "Mind the Gap" on the Tube, "Look left" on pedestrian crossings, maps at tourist spots, etc.)
• Attending "Billy Elliot" with C

London and Bedford Day 8

Thank you to those who emailed well wishes and prayers. I spent the past three days without internet access in London, Bedford, and Brussels but have arrived back in Paris without incident.

Counter at Harrods, perhaps the most decadent luxury store in Europe

Victoria and Albert Museum, landmark of my old neighborhood

Natural History Museum and South Kensington Underground station
(literally across the street from the V&A, more of my old neighborhood)

 My old neighborhood
(Noted addition of bikes for rent, also to be found in Brussels and Paris)

My old flat! (Skinny middle building, fourth floor)

Children playing in Kensington Gardens, literally across the street from my old flat

C's abode in Bedford (nearest one on the top)

Highlights

• Gorgeous 50's tailored suits at the Victoria and Albert (I was born in the wrong era for fashion.)
• Strolling my old neighborhood from five years ago. I left London in December (before the cold of February), but aside from some construction in Kensington Gardens, the area appears as I recall. Happy memories!
• Polite jostling on the Tube--only the British can pull this off.
• Imbibing a half pint of cider with friend C at her local pub

Paris Day 7

Close-up of some of the 1134 scenes depicting "the Christian story" in the Sainte Chapelle church 

Rose window in Sainte-Chapelle depicting the Apocalypse

Me in front of the Palais de Justice
(Note motto "Libertie, Egalitie, Fraternitie" under the flags)

"Chateau de Cendrillon--Disney Polly Pocket BlueBird Toys, 1997"
Surprising inclusion in the castle exhibit at the Conciergerie (former palace and prison)

Children's clothing store

Early aircraft
(Scale is deceiving in this picture. It's about twice as large at it appears.)

Musee des Arts et Metiers
Former church turned into a museum on the history of technological development

Farewell, B!

Highlights:

• Exploring three museums within a fifteen minute radius of the apartment
• Expecting gruesome descriptions of beheadings at the Conciergerie and instead discovering a gallery of romantic depictions of castles from the Middle Ages to modern times, complete with a movie clip from the "Two Towers" (yours truly recognized the music from across the hall) and an extensive Lego miniature of Hogwarts
• Consuming a leisurely Parisian Sunday brunch at a local cafe
• Watching French children indulge in afternoon hot chocolate, enthusiastically dumping in extra sugar packets and stuffing spoonfuls of whipped cream into eager mouths

Heading to London tomorrow and Brussels on Wednesday! Expect more posts later this week.