Old Stone

I posted a stone carving from a building in Chicago yesterday and observed that it was done in an "era when there was time, talent and money to hand carve decorations for skyscrapers." The building you are looking at is another sort of sky scraper: it is the Notre Dame de Paris. It is the most famous Gothic Cathedral and it took over a 100 years to construct. It, too, was done in an era when there was at least time and talent to construct such buildings.The carvings in this photo are over 1000 years old.

Caressed

When I was thinking of the name for this post, I considered something literal like "Apples" or "Apples In Florence" (or wherever I found them). But I picked caressed because of the way the light sculpts and wraps around the apples.

Sailing the Alps

Of course you can't "sail the Alps" but you can certainly sail with the Alps in full view, as here on beautiful Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.The last student group I took to Europe spent two nights in this beautiful place. After London and Paris, it was a perfect place to recharge our batteries. It was also a good place to window shop for expensive Swiss watches. Oh, and I bought a Swiss Army Knife while I was there. It looks pretty much like one you could buy at Scheels.Canon 5D 1/80s f/4.0 ISO400 95mm
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Our Place In Corsica

This was only our "place" for three nights. But it came with a nice beach and great food (as pictured yesterday). One of the things I try to do when I plan our foreign travel is to get to places that aren't overwhelmed by American tourists. Being an American, I don't mind other Americans. But if I want to go to some place exotic just to be swarmed by other Americans, the Mall of America is closer and cheaper.Corsica is certainly off the beaten path - especially in early June, when Deb and I were there. The hotel's name is the Hotel Abbartello, and it is on the West coast of Corsica. I think we paid about $80 per night for a nice room, a nice beach and food that was locally renowned.

03-09-10 The Gurgling Downspout

Well, it's not gurgling here and this isn't an ordinary downspout. It's a gargoyle and it is located on the famous Sainte-Chapelle chapel, just around the corner from the Notre Dame de Paris. It is a marvelous combination of stained glass, stone and air. It's not on the "normal" tourists stops so you'll have to make special efforts to get there. Interestingly, its inside the main judicial complex in central Paris so you'll also have to go through metal detectors.

One of the architectural features of many Gothic churches are the carved downspouts, known as gargoyles. And the sound of water rushing through the monster's mouth was described as a "gurgle," a word derived directly from the name of these conduits.

03-02-10 The Impossible Dome

This is the inside view of one of the most famous domes in the world. It was designed by Brunelleschi and the exterior dominates the skyline of Florence. The exterior is what every visitor to Florence sees but many don't take the time to step inside the famous Duomo. The interior is difficult to photograph because it is fairly dark. But it is certainly worth the visit.

I call this "The Impossible Dome" because the church was built on such a scale that no one had the engineering skills and technique to cap the transept. Finally, Brunelleschi invented the process and the dome was built.

02-26-10 Main Street - Corfu Village

This is a shot that I took through our rental car window as Deb and I drove through a small village on the island of Corfu. Europeans drive much smaller cars than many Americans, in part because fuel is more expensive but also in part because less space is devoted to autos - such as this road which, to me, looks more like a alley.

02-23-10 "Upon This Rock. . . "

I would have to say that in my opinion St. Peter's in Rome takes the prize as "Most Photogenic Interior." I have been looking at my photo collection, and I have a disproportionate number of the inside of this awe inspiring structure. There is so much to look at, I wonder if paying attention to the Mass would be secondary? I do know that one of the Calvinist reactions against Catholicism concerned adornment. Compare this sparse interior in a Calvinist church in England.

I like this view of the interior of the dome because you can clearly see the Latin Bible verse which came to be known as "The Petrine Doctrine." Peter became the first Pope in a 2000 year succession of Popes.

"Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam mean et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum" ("You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Mt 16:18)

Jesus may have been making a little joke when he said this to Peter because "Peter" was derived from the Greek word for "rock." Was Jesus smiling when he said this? I ask this because in the Middle Ages there was actually a theological debate about whether Jesus ever laughed, since there is no specific documentation of this in the New Testatament.

02-22-10 Urban Maze - Athens, Greece

For the traveler who has been to western European capitals such as London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid, Athens can be more than a little jarring. It is a little less polished, and a lot more congested than those other capitals. There are 11 million Greeks and 4 million of them live in Athens. Many of them seem to have cars!

But I love Athens, partly because it is so different from other European capitals and partly because if you grow weary of the modern city, all you have to do is step to a location where you can see the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Then you are reminded of the fact that in so many ways - our politics, our aesthetics, our view of human possibilities - Percy Shelly was right: "We are all Greeks."

This photo is a bit misleading in that there are green spaces in Athens. But the uniform color of the city visible here is accurate, though the brightly colored awnings of the many apartments is hard to miss. Another view of Athens and the suburbs A view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon from our hotel

02-21-10 Tuscan Lane

This is a small, country lane a couple miles outside of Sienna, Italy.

02-12-10 A Week In Paris: A View From Above

There is a long history of risky French architecture. For example, the Eiffel Tower was widely criticized when it was built. So, too, was the new entrance to the Louvre, which is what you are looking at in this photo. It was designed by the Chinese American architect I.M. Pei.

Both the Eiffel Tower and "the Pyramid" were considered incongruous monstrosities when they were constructed. But today they are iconic. I wonder if anyone thought the Notre Dame de Paris was a monstrosity when it was built? Was Watertown's clock tower considered "an incongruous monstrosity" when it was erected?

02-10-10 A Week In Paris: Bonaparte!

Napoleon, who conquered much of Europe, died at age 51 on the tiny island of St. Helena, where he had been exiled. Even today St. Helena is one of the most isolated places on earth. (See it on a map.) He was buried by the British in a grave with no name, primarily because of a dispute over which name should go on the tomb. Some wanted his full name - Napoleon Bonaparte. Others wanted the single name "Napoleon." In France, kings went by a single name.

Almost 20 years later, Napoleon's remains were returned to Paris, where he was given a state funeral and buried under the dome of Les Invalides, a church near a hospital complex for French soldiers. Napolean, who stood 5'4" tall, is buried in a massive sarcophagus, the outer layer of which is made of porphyry marble. Inlaid marble lettering around his tomb commemorates his most famous victories. One battle not marked is Waterloo, which was his final defeat.

That's enough history!