Lady bikers

Last weekend, an association of women bikers organized a ride through the streets of Paris in honor of International Women's Day. It was a great subject for Sunday's photo expedition. Here are a few of the participants.




Plenty of men showed up to ride in solidarity with the women.



Speaking of motorcycles, Patrice has hung up the keys to his motorscooter. Amazing what one will do for love. . .

Musée de la Grande Guerre

Patrice is feeling much better and we've resumed our excusions in and around Paris. Yesterday we took a trip backwards in time to WWI. We visited the recently opened Musée de la Grande Guerre (Museum of the Great War) in Meaux, about an hour east of Paris. Here's the entrance to the museum.

The museum presents a multi-sensory experience making ample use of film and sound files. I could imagine life in the trenches with the sounds of boots slogging through the mud against the backdrop of bullets and bombs.
The exhibit featured the usual guns, tanks, and early airplanes but one of the most curious vehicles (for me) was this pigeon-mobile which was used to transport the carrier pigeons vital to communications. Over 100,000 pigeons were deployed during the war with a 95% success rate of getting through to their destination with their message.

Patrice has a personal interest in the war as both of his grandfathers served and survived the war. Here is a photograph of his maternal grandfather, Fernand Laborde:
And his paternal grandfather, René Neger:
Here's the link to the museum for your personal virtual visit.

No cathedral today

We don't spend all of our time in cathedrals, in spite of what you may think from recent posts. Today we were on our way to the movies and the grocery store when Patrice took a hard fall on the stairs outside. He was in great pain and had difficulty walking. An x-ray would be the prudent thing to do. But how to get to the hospital? We called and asked for assistance. A few minutes later, the firemen came in an ambulance and took us to the nearest hospital for x-rays.
Good news: nothing broken, and we were able to walk home in the rain a few hours later. He'll probably be sore for a few days, but all's well that ends well.

Paris aerial view revisited

Here's a view of the Paris that I love. I first posted this clip in August, 2010, but I thought it was time to show it again. Be sure and turn on the sound!

Paris vu du Ciel de Yann Arthus-Bertrand par mairiedeparis

Sens Cathedral

We took a short trip last week to visit the graves of Patrice's parents. On the way back we stopped in the town of Sens. We were hoping for good photographs of the cathedral which is one of the first examples of the flamboyant gothic style. However, the main facade was undergoing restoration and was covered with scaffolding - all except the tower. I thought it curious to see a French flag flying on top of a cathedral, but Patrice reminded me that all churches in France belong to the government due to a law passed in 1905 that (ironically) confirms the separation of church and state.
Gothic churches of this era have lots of gargoyles, but I didn't expect this when I zoomed in with the telephoto lens
Once inside the church, the images were much more pleasing and the stained glass windows were exceptionally beautiful.

Viollet-le-Duc

In the previous post on Pierrefonds I mentioned the reconstruction work led by the architect Viollet-le-Duc in the mid 1800s. However, one of Viollet-le-Duc's best known projects was his restoration of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris following the ravages of the French Revolution.

Here is the cathedral as it appeared in 1840.
Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for adding the spire in the center as well as restoring the statues of saints above the doors in the main facade. He also added the chimera gallery that I wrote about here.

Here's that central spire I mentioned:
And the kings of the Old Testament above the front doors.
By the way, Viollet-le-Duc was fond of putting his own image on some of the statues, and it is said that the center figure (above) is a likeness of Viollet-le-Duc as is the statue of St. Thomas on the outside of the central spire (below).
We were passing by the cathedral on Wednesday of this week and happened to notice workers 'way high up.
Gee, I sure like my new camera with its telephoto lens!

Foggy day