Saint Eustache

She is open and baroque

Saint Sulpice is a beautiful old dame of a church, kind of haggard and chipped on the outside, but in the midst of having some work done. She will be gorgeous again as soon as it is completed. There is a real character here, and a more lived in and used feel. People actually pray in this church which a refreshing thing to see.

 Old ornamented within and inch of its life fixture and new bulb.

 This is a secret little marble door next to the obelisk inside the church.

 Look at this writing. These fonts are gorgeous, and the line weight is amazing!

 If you look at the white column in the picture above you can see that there is a line (made of brass called the "Rose line of Gnomon") running through it. What you don't see is that it continues to run through the floor, and was placed there in the 18th century by astronomers tracing the meridian which it corresponds to so they could track movements of the earth, and determine the date of Easter every year. There was also a sign indicating that it had nothing to do with an ancient site or temple which was dedicated to pagan worship, as put forth by a recent film and book.

 This is a painting in a chapel which at one time had to be brilliant but as it is over 300 years old and hasn't been clean in nearly as long it is nearly black.

 This is the sign, which was written before google.translate allowed the world to pretend it spoke different languages.

 This is a magnificent Rococco chapel to the Virgin with a sculpture by Pigalle.

 Door in the floor, what doth beneath thine planks?

Look at this nave. The ceilings are intricately carved with sunbursts and the organ at the end dates from 1781 and is one of the largest organs in Europe with over 6500 pipes.

 This is the tomb of a church benefactor and friend of France. The sculpture is incredible and the detail and carving is second to none.

 Ceiling work. So subtle, but its Baroque, so everything deserves a bit of ornament.

 What is this and who is this by? Oh, you know, its their one of two Eugene Delacroix they have, and that woodwork you see below is actually tromp l'oeil

More tromp l'oeil except this time the highlights are actually gold.

 The left side of the facade was restored last summer. I am sure this project will continue soon.

 St. Sulpice is often lovingly called the cathedral of the left bank. It is situated with a beautiful square in front of it, which has an amazing fountain.

 The towers seen from the southern exposure of the cathedral.

 Side door

 This cat was sitting in the window of a restaurant, holding court and probably paying for her dinner.

Look at the mini daisies. So tiny, and soon to be witness to an attack of birds.

Bird shit and her lady

I was sitting on the park bench at the end of Île de la Cité, minding my p's and q's trying to take in some sun, and a lady with several bags made of nylon and mesh asks if it would bother me if she sat on the bench with me. I pulled off my earphones, said yes, and being a small guy, didn't mind at all. There's plenty of space for me. I pulled my stuff over and she sat and put her bags down I notice all of them are a bit stained and maybe her cats or dogs or whatever inside them are dirty so it dawns on me, hey, she must go to the park with these animals a lot. That is nice. She then starts talking to me about random things, saying how nice it was to be allowed to sit, and that the tourists here don't share, and are awful. OK. That is cool, let me put my headphones back on and I won't bother you a bit, I thought.

As she continued to speak about visitors, and how Americans at least come to France for the culture, and at least I am not Turkish or an Arab as they only come to steal, she lifted one of the gym size bags onto the bench between us. She opened the zipper and this horrible black feathered head popped out.

OH MY $%^&*. As anyone close to me knows, I don't like birds really. They can be bright and pretty to hear and see, but I don't want one near me as they might as well be sponges carrying feces and black death. (at least that is what I think about them) This woman then proceeds to open the bag all of the way, and as she does this the crow pops out spreads it wings, which are spindly and only carry pieces of feathers, as it must be molting, and it has no tail as it looks like it has been eaten or plucked, and it poops onto the bag. It was and is absolutely disgusting, horribly so. It looks like a demon from hell, just crawling with evilness and has to be a harbinger of death of some kind.


Now, I am not a chicken and can take most things. I catch all sorts of mice and creepy crawlies and have seen and picked up lots of stuff that would gross out most folks. This thing was wretched, but I didn't want to just get up and leave her. I don't know why, put I thought it would be rude... Side note why do I care about being rude? This thing is the devil - get out!!!! but I stayed. We continued to talk about finding apartments, and how the protestant church didn't help her find one, (?quoi?) but the Catholics control everything anyway; then we moved onto Asia, and how living there is like living in a ball on top a pile of balls and how there is no space and Les Invalides has the most space, then to Starbucks and coffee, and how it is like being in the US, as they are friendly and make good salads. But Americans are not genuine, but kind, while french are cruel and difficult.


She was completely polite and nice, and clean looking, but completely crazy. Alrighty then. I looked at my phone and thanked her for the conversation, wished her a beautiful day, and good health, and got out of dodge.


I am proud that all of this happened using my limited vocabulary of french, which she didn't seem to mind at all, and maybe I was being filmed or someone was pulling my leg, but hey, at least she got to talk to someone.

A short history of the past week or so....

 This blimp was so low. If it had been like this in NY, it would've crashed into a building. Its a good thing Paris has one skyscraper.

 This is the little garden behind Notre Dame which surrounds a statue of Notre Dame. They planted these pansies in November, and they bloomed all winter.

 This is a bed that took over a month to repair. They completely removed it and the fence behind it (which is new) and then replaced all of it. (They added some drainage etc...) plus some rock piles.

 This is a knife from a restaurant that made so so steak au poivre, but I thought that it was made in France and was such a Johnny Appleseed logo.

 Rollerblade Parade II

 Rollerblade parade II. They had one about 6 months ago too.

 These trees only have branches on one side and are absolutely amazing.

 Beehive a la française on the promenade towards Jardin des plantes.

 Look at this root structure. These plants actually change their root systems when they are close to water to absorb it directly like drinking straws.

 The canopy inside the Jardin des plantes.

 Paris je t'aimes, anyone? This is actually a teahouse (not a mosque), behind a Mosque. and it is beautiful.

 This is just weird. Huey, Dewy and Louie. I wonder if Rhianna knows?

 Did he eat my baby?

 Canard a la fontaine.

 Notre Dame digitally lit in preparation for what is going to happen tonight! I can't wait. 23h.

Another digital lighting scheme with all of the figures painted. Is is gorgeous.

So this was a basic recap of things that stuck out to me, for their funniness or perhaps beauty. Spring has sprung in Paris, lunches have been had in the park, and the weather is overall much better. Thanks for the fun too this week Squire.

My own little Cezanne

Maybe it was because the light was at that perfect time where it reflects off of the dome of the sky and it is that perfect blue white, but at the same time still warm; maybe it was because I was buzzing like a hummingbird on crack as I had my fifth coffee; or maybe just because these are actually really beautiful. It's weird here, I find things on the street all of the time that I love, while in NY I would be appalled that someone discarded things in the gutter, but here they were, just waiting to be discovered, in all their deteriorating glory. I like them, but I wouldn't want them in my home.

Delicious, I mean the colors and placement, not actually the fruit.

Best gallery Paris style

Hey there.... this was an opening I went to a little while ago. It was a great bit of fun.

The funniest thing is that I didn't take any photos of the actual works, which while beautiful, were out-shown by the space. That, and the fact that video doesn't really show up in a photo, but the party was downstairs, in this amazing "cave" (pronounced kah-vuh) which is similar to a basement, but in the states, basements don't have stonework with arches. It was fun, beautifully lit, and with interesting fashion & art type folks, who were really nice and a whole lot of fun.