Bella Lori Gagnon

I started this journal as a sample while faciliating a visual journal workshop for Life’s Journey.  I am really enjoying it.  I do believe that visual journals made from altered composition notebooks are my favourites.  

Today we went to Versailles. It was an interesting and not totally pleasant experience. The bus times were messed up and then it did not leave on the new time, so there was over an hour of standing around waiting, something that is not easy for us, especially Jeff with his cane. We did have tea for part of the time at a small new cafe, called Rotin’s Home. Nicest toliet I have seen in Paris except for Le Deux Magots. Modern and marble and clean, it even had mauve quilted toilet paper!

The drive to Vesailles was pleasant as the bus was very comfortable. There were 3 guides on board and I think 2 of them got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. When we got there we were broken into different groups, some folks were staying all day. Our guide was quite lovely, luckily we did not get one of the two grouchy ones. We still had to wait in a que to get in the groups entrance as there were 1000’s of people everywhere.

We finally got in the building and then the crush began. And I mean crush! I have never been with so many people. It was hard to hear our guide, even with the audio sets we were provided with. It really was a totally unenjoyable experience, so hot, crushed, people pushing and shoving and it was hard to take photos.

Then there is the totally over the top decadent opulence of the place. All the gold and over indulgence while children and families starved and died from poverty conditions in Paris. It is hard to imagine the inhumanity of it all.

We saw some public rooms, filled with a lot of busts and paintings of the Sun King, Louis XIV. He must of been the king of the selfie as well!

Next we saw the King’s public apartments. He was required to be undressed and go to bed and wake up and be dressed in public. The guide said he had a smaller private bed chamber where he actually slept.

After the King’s apartments we went to the hall of mirrors. It is quite something to see. It is very beautiful, if again, decently opulent.

A few more public rooms and then it was the Queen’s public apartments. It was the same deal as with the King. Even the children were born in public in the Queen’s bedchamber.

That concluded the tour inside. When we got outside we had 40 minutes till the bus left. We would have to go and stand in a really long line to buy a ticket to get into the garden and the fountain. There just was not time to do that and walk in the gardens. Very disappointing. I should of been much more diligent in asking what the trip included. I did not know there would be different options. We were able to see the garden from a fenced off area and take pictures. Better that nothing.

Then it was back to the bus to wait to come back to Paris. I got some beautiful pictures and I did enjoy all the history the guide shard with us. However, I really wish I would of taken a day trip to Giverny to see Monet’s home and water gardens instead. I know it would of been much more appealing to both of us.

After our lost day yesterday, today was for me very full and very rewarding.  Jeff stayed in bed late, but I left by 8:30 am to walk to the Musee Cluny to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.  I stopped at a deserted, little hole in the wall cafe, called Le Bistro Perigord for a light breakfast of croissant and tea.  A delightful gentleman served me there. I love Paris and I think the number one reason is the wonderful friendly people I have encountered here.  As long as you try to say hello and thank you in French, Parisians make their best effort to treat you well. I took a few photos on the way, the most interesting of the university.

University Building

I got to Cluny just as it was opening.  There were only about 10 other people going in.  The least amount of people I have seen going into any attraction here.

Cluny Museum, home of the Lady and Unicorn Tapistries

There are many historical items to view here. Pieces of facade that were once on Notre Dame as it was changing over the centuries, many religious icons and artifacts, beautiful stained glass, old decorative dishes and of course tapestries. The museum houses many tapestries besides The Lady and the Unicorn set. I was keenly reminded while here, how I had once considered taking a university degree in mediviel literature or art history. You were allowed to take non flash photos, but I opted to just enjoy it and not worry about camera angles and lighting and such. I left going to the room with The Lady and The Unicorn tapestries for last. I spent a good hour enjoying this room with it’s six recently restored treasures. They are very beautiful. I am thinking I will go back just to take some photos. I did purchase some cards, a calendar and book with the tapestries images.

I went to a little park behind the Museum to organize my purchases and have a drink before heading on to St. Germaine. Blvd. The park had some very beautiful apartments across from it.

Beautiful Apartments around the park across from the Cluny Museum

My plan had been to take a bus to the Documents and Manuscripts museum which was a long ways up St. Germaine Blvd. The joke was on me, as it is a one way street going the wrong way! So I started to walk. What a lucky circumstance. I came to the part of St. Germaine where Les Deux Magots, Cafe de Flora and Brassiere Lipp are. I stopped to take photos and after looking at les Deus Magots menu, (restaurant and cafe menus are all posted outside in Paris) I realized I could afford to have lunch here.

Lunching at Les Deux Magots

Lunch was amazing, especially the beautiful berry and violet macaroon I had for dessert. I took out my purse journal and wrote while I was here. How could I not write sitting in a place where Hemmingway, Picasso and other acquaintances hung out?

St. Germaine Blvd., Cafe de Flora and Brasserie Lipp

I took my time and enjoyed the beautiful buildings and shops along St. Germaine Blvd during my long walk to the Documents and Manuscripts Museum. Once there, I enjoyed perusing the handwritten letters, lists, manuscripts and music of hundreds of historically important and famous persons, including artists, musicians, scientists, writers, politicians, generals, Kings, Queens and even Zars. I found some interesting writing utensils in the gift shop and a gift for my hamster sitting BFF back at home.

I took the bus back and managed to transfer off the St. Germaine line onto a bus that got me within a block of the hotel. A very friendly Parisian lady took the time to befriend and talk to me on the bus.

Back at the hotel I rested for a couple of hours and then got ready for Moulin Rouge. We braved the metro yet again to get there. We went early so we could go have dinner first. We went to an Irish Pub that we ended up leaving. It really smelled bad and we were being ignored. We found a lovely Italian restaurant we we had a simple cheese pizza and cokes. Then it was to the most famous cabaret in the world.

Documents and Manuscripts Museum and Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge was entertaining beyond our expectations. Not only did it showcase its famous can can dancers in huge musical production numbers, but many other vaudeville type high quality acts; a comedic skit by acrobatics, a daring roller skating dance couple that had our hearts in our mouths, a naked lady in a water tank full of snakes, and an amazingly talented and comedic ventriloquist. To see inside this beautiful nightclub was itself an experience. It is huge, opulent and was very crowded. We found the seating uncomfortable, but the staff attentive. After the show we took the last metro back to the latin quarter and went to our favourite cafe, Le Descartes, where I enjoyed the best French onion soup ever and a baguette and we chatted at length with the staff whom we know quite well after our many visits there.

It was a very long and wonderful day. I spent the morning in the hotel garden, having my breakfast there and working on a watercolour sketch of the lovely fuchsia and violet bleeding hearts found there. In the afternoon we braved the metro to travel to Musee d’Orsay. The metro is very fast. It is also very hot, smelly and noisy, not to mention I get claustrophobia in dark enclosed spaces. There are also numerous stairs to hike, down 2 sets, up on e set, down one set, on the train, off the train, down one set, up two sets, etc. etc. I managed not to throw up on anybody, but I was a happy girl to get the hell of the dungeons and back to sunshine and air that did not reek of railway tie preservative.

d’Orsay, what can one say about the beautiful opulence of this restored train station? It is truly magnificent, both outside with it’s two clocks and lovely facade and inside with it’s huge gold clock and curved ceiling. So sad no one is allowed to take photos inside, but I got an awesome one of the outside of it. The restored building is itself a work of art. And then to see so many of Van Gogh’s, Monet’s, Degas’s, Gauguin’s Manet’s, Delacroix’s and Toulouse-Lauters works, was overwhelming. Jeff and I were both emotional seeing the Van Gogh’s. Seeing pictures of his art when I was young, was what inspired me to first pick up a paint brush.

We ate lunch on the 5th level Cafe Campana and I had the most delicious Torte Poulet ( chicken pie). From the cafe you can then go out on the roof. We got our first good look at the Louve which is just across the river and we could see La Basilique du Sacre-Coeur and the Grande Palais in the distance. On the top of the d’Orsay building there are giant sculptures of chess pieces.

After d’Orsay we walked across the closest bridge to the Louvre side of the Seine river and through the Jardin des Tulleries outside the Louvre. There is no way to describe how absolutely huge the Louvre is, you just have to see it with your own eyes. The Tulleries gardens are very pretty with many chestnut trees, a lovely pond and flowers and statues when you get closer to the museum. Across the street from the Louvre we checked in for our cruise tour and found we had a couple of hours to kill.

We found a small hole in the wall Spanish bar and had a couple of drinks and were highly entertained by the lively bar tender. We still had a little time to kill so we did some banking and then to my great delight stopped for tea at La Rotonde Des Toileries. I was finally sitting outdoors at a cafe that was frequented by Hemmingway and other authors of the lost generation. I admired the view of apartments with lovely scrolling wrought iron work and iron lamp posts and took some reference photos so I can draw them at a later time.

Finally it was time to head out for our cruise. We had a lovely driver and guide named Claude from Paris CityVision who told us about the buildings as we drove back to the other side of the Seine and to a docking area right in front of the d’Orsay. (See the photo of the d’Orsay above, it is where all those steps lead down to the river). It was now dark out and there are very little lights at the docking area and the steps had many groups of people picnicking on them, so it was rather tricky getting safely down to the boat. Thank you Claude for helping us. Soon we were on board and off down the river. The cruise and food were out of this world. We dined on a selection of appetizers, scallop on a bed of fresh tomato and basil crumble, shrimp with quinoa and confrit vegetables, duck foie gras with red fruit chutney and little chou pastries with fresh goat’s cheese and a balsamic vinegar coulis. I had chicken leg with thyme juice, sweet potato and baby vegetables and Jeff had a slab of beef with a rosette of of potatoes with a truflle sauce. We had a bottle of Rose and then dessert and cafe Americana. Dessert, mummmm… Light toffee cream with a fizzy chocolate marble, a glass of strawberry tartare and fromage blanc, lemon meringue shortbread with apricot coulis ( my favourite) and chocolate mousse with a crispy crepe and pistachio chips. While we were feasting on all of this amazing food we were cruising by the Institut de France, Notre Dame, the Biliotheque Nationale de France, La Conciergerie, Le Louvre, Docks on Seine, Place de la Concorde, Grande Palais, the Trocadero and Statue of Liberty to finally the Eiffel Tower (our first view of it) all beautifully light. I got very emotional again when we passed Notre Dame, it’s towering spires awash in golden light and bells ringing, it took my breath away.

As the boat turned and we went past the Eiffel tower again, we were treated to the hourly light show and the boat played rousing French music and had flashing lights to match. Then the party was on, as the dance floor opened until we got back to the dock. Claude was waiting for us and so began another little adventure. His van had broken down, so we waited for a Paris CityVision tour bus to come and get us. They had to take another couple to their hotel on the other side of the river, so we got another little tour, driving over the Pont Alexandre, which is the most opulent bridge I have ever seen, by the Grande Pallis and Obelisk and past the Opera Garnier, Claude all the while explaining the sights to us. After the other couple got dropped. We came back across the river through the grounds by the Louvre. It became quite the mission to get that big tour bus througt the narrow warren of streets in the Latin Quarter to somewhere near our hotel. Amazingly the driver got us to Rue Clovis, just half a block away.

Paris is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We were very tired, but this was one of the best days of my life.

A very busy day. I went for breakfast at Le Descartes and then took a walk around to find a supermarket, we needed bags for our laundry. I found another lovely wrought iron staircase bedecked with flowers and a store that sells and makes miniatures for table top gaming. Later, Jeff and I both went back to Le Descartes for morning tea and then we were off to the Pantheon.

The square that the Pantheon is in, has two other majestic buildings and we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. It is hard to convey in words or pictures just how mammoth these buildings are. The Pantheon’s dome is covered because of repairs. The square in front of the Pantheon was filled with students from surrounding schools enjoying the sun with their lunch.

The columns at the front of the Pantheon are magnificent.

The inside of the Pantheon is as magnificent as the outside. It is filled with amazing sculptures and paintings that highlight it’s history as first a church dedicated to Paris’s patron saint, St. Genevieve and then as a national monument.

Probably the most interesting part of the building to so many visitors are the crypts below the building where many famous people are entombed; including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, Marechal Lannes, Jean Moulin, Andre Malraux, Jean Monnet, Rene Cassin and Pierre and Marie Currie. The crypts are a warren of curving tunnels and chambers holding the tombs and there are still many empty chambers with room to entomb many more persons.

Back at the hotel Jeff had a rest and I sat in the hotel gardens and attempted to make a watercolour sketch of the Pantheon. I so love these gardens, so peaceful and full of life. Many birds live in them, including a rook who thinks he is the boss of the place and a pair of very loud mourning doves.

Later in the afternoon, I headed back to the river to check out Shakespeare’s Book Store. I ended up buying a history of the store, a tote bag, a Gertrude Stein book, a collectors copy of Othello and an art book on how to doodle in Paris. I could take picture after picture of the buildings in Paris. It is a very pretty city.

Later for diner we headed to Place de la Contrescarpe, a square only a block from our hotel that has many cafes, a bakery and a gelato shop. We did not find a cafe we liked the menu for, so we went to Le Descartes again where we dined on steak and duck and had chocolate mousse and custard and apricot pie. The perfect end to a perfect day.

We had a relaxed breakfast in the hotel garden this morning. Hot chocolate for me, tea for Jeff, fresh orange juice and a basket of croissant, baguette, cinnamon swirls and a chocolate chip buttery bun with jams.

Jeff wanted to relax this morning, so I went “walk about” with plans to meet him for lunch. I stumbled upon the most beautiful park fountain and wrought iron staircase covered in flowers alongside the Ecole Polytechnique.

Pictures and words cannot describe or properly capture how lovely it was.

I took pictures of some of the buildings and doors as I headed towards the Seine River.

Once down at the river I crossed the bridge to Notre Dame.  A young couple stopped and took my picture with Notre Dame in the back ground.  I walked all the way around Notre Dame to take pictures, including a steam punk, bicycle powered ride. Then back across the bridge and down some stairs to the barge area at river level where I took some more pics of Notre dame.  The church is so huge and there is so much going on, wrought iron, stained glass, gargoyles, spires, it is a little overwhelming.

I spent a lot time looking for Shakespeare and company and did not find it. I did find a lovely little park in a lane between some apartments where I stopped to rest and write for half an hour.

Eventually I made my way to the Cafe Royal Jussieu to meet Jeff, where we lunched on cheese and ham omelettes with mixed greens and french fries.

We relaxed all afternoon and then went out for dinner at Le Decartes and had the best French Onion soup I have ever tasted. The girl serving us was delightfully funny. So far we have found Parisian people to be really lovely and totally helpful in dealing with language issues. We walked around Place de la Contrascarpe, which is a small square surrounded by bars, restaurants and stores. We went and got a couple of things from the store and came back to the hotel. Time for bed now.