Just Returned: A Wonderful Week in Paris!
arthisto June 19th, 2009
OK, off the top of my head; I love Paris, I love Paris, I love Paris!!!! In such a pretty city, packed with art, history, and dripping with that magical sidewalk cafe culture, we girls had a fantastic time. These girls have traveled with me to 
Italy in the past, longed to experience Paris, and plan to visit Rome and Tuscany with AHA in 2010. Great ladies, great travelers, and fun friends.
Together we visited the Louvre, where we sat rather spellbound staring at Winged Victory. Uncovered on a Greek Island in 1863, carved in 210 B.C., she is magnificent for all of her movement. She stands as though she is the figurehead on a ship, wind whipped and spray swept. With her damp clothes clinging and her enormous wings out stretched, she stood on a cliff side patio, high above the crashing waves in Greece, commemorating a great navel battle. Amazingly, just off to the left of where she stands, in a glass box, is her hand and finger, discovered a century later, 1950, in TURKEY!
After visiting some of the most important works in a museum together, we would split up to pursue our individual interests. Art is oh, so personal. In this manner we visited the Musee d’Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Sainte-Chapelle. We lunched on crepes on the Ile Sainte Louie, as well as in the Michelin two star restaurant, Helen Darozze. Unbelievable! While in Paris we tasted fish, chicken, beef, pidgeon, the most delicate vegetables and mild goat cheese, the best french fries on the globe, and always, always 
ordered dessert.
Our visit to Versailles was staggering. About twelve miles outside of Paris, the improvements to the exterior of this massive palace are blinding, literally. The chateau has been cleaned, painted and the brightest gold has been reapplied liberally. Now, especially on a sunny day, you see just what staggered visitors approaching the chateau to have an audience with the king. Louie XIV was ever so clever. He was convinced that if he could build a palace that would shock and awe, the word would spread and he would be revered above all others. It worked perfectly, and he made Paris the cultural heartbeat of Europe. He ruled for 72 years, from 1643 to 1715, and his court determined, for the rest of the world, what was good taste in food, fashion, hair, table manners, dance, theater, art and kissing. Because of the recent filming of Sofia Coppola’s, “Marie Antoinette”, on site at the chateau, Versailles’s interior looked beautiful as well. Again, much the way it must have looked when Louie XIV, the infamous Sun King, called Versailles home. We were having such a wonderful time wandering around this amazing site, that the time started to slip away too quickly. We had arrived at the chateau in a car with 
a driver and had set a time for the return trip to Paris, but I could see that we were pressed. Because it is important to me that we never be rushed, I let our lovely driver, Max, go back into Paris without us. We grabbed a train when we were filled to the brim with Versailles, and not a moment sooner. Can’t wait to go back. The photo to the left is but one small corner of the chateau, and yet the opulence and colors are evident.
Giverny, what can you say about Giverny? Claude Monet’s home for some 43 years, surrounded by his dramatic and beloved gardens, is where we spent our last afternoon. It was a drizzly, gray day, which bummed us out at the start, but evolved into a great opportunity. Perfect lighting for picture taking, and, where as typically there are hundreds of like minded folks, from around the world quietly wandering the gardens, because of the drizzle, we had them to ourselves! Of all my many visits to Giverny, this 
one was the most intimate. The photo I brought home of Monet’s famous Japanese Bridge with no one on it, is proof. Usually that is an impossible photo to get. Gorgeous. I absolutely LOVE wandering through his home! It is as he left it, sitting room, bedrooms, and dining room, all decorated with his 300 original Japanese block prints. But my favorite room is his kitchen. Monet enjoyed cooking and loved to entertain. His interior color choices are blindingly bold, very striking, and there was no off white for him. The house is warm, very lively, with each room looking out into the garden, of course.
All in all, Paris is a fabulous city. In fact, on my way to Italy this fall, to escort the AHA Tuscany and Amalfi Coast trip, I will stop in Paris for three more days. Just can’t get enough.
I will make this same Paris in Springtime trip available again in 2010, and I would love to have you along.