Art + Word: travel photo essays

Showing posts with label travel photo essays. Show all posts

Travel Photo Essay: Paris 2013 - Protest Outside of Notre Dame

We had just left the Shakespeare and Company bookstore and were circling back to Notre Dame when we saw close to twenty police vans racing up the street. And then we saw the crowds and heard the chanting. The French are known for staging protests, and while we were in Paris our bus had to be rerouted because of a protest staged at St. Michele, and we had heard of two other protests. This demonstration was in reaction to the passage of gay marriage. As we walked from the protest we saw a police boat heading up the Seine, apparently to arrest the two protesters suspended from the bridge. The day we left for home, a man took his life inside the cathedral in protest of the passage.

Shakespeare will have the final word on this: My bounty is as boundless as the sea,/ My love as deep; the more I give to thee/ The more I have, for both are infinite.

Travel Photo Essays: Paris 2013 - Crying in the Louvre

I am always moved when I visit museums or sacred spaces of any kind. No matter how I try to steel myself I tear up and cry when I stand before art or altars. The Louvre is overwhelming. The collections are vast. It would take months, perhaps years, to truly take in the art collections.

I hid out in a window well in one of the sculpture galleries as I composed myself, and took these photos of the glass pyramid and St. Germain.

We stayed until closing the first day, and then spent a few more hours the following day. If you have time for a quick lunch, the Louvre's Cafe serves the most delectable chevrè (goat cheese) quiche, AND an assortment of desserts. Here are a few photos from the multitude I took:

In front of Vigee Le Brun's Self-Portrait with her daughter Julie.

In front of the madhouse crowds amassed in front the Mona Lisa.

I love religious icons, especially images of Mary. I so would have been a Marian devotee in the middle ages.

The Islamic Art Gallery is housed in a courtyard under an undulating gold geodome you can see from the main galleries.

Travel Photo Essay: Paris 2013 14-21 May - First Impressions

To say Paris is a gorgeous city, is an understatement. At every turn, my daughter and I were greeted with stunning views and experiences.

And the people! The people are gracious, friendly, and above all, patient, even when visitors stumble about trying to understand the subtleties of the culture or massacre the beautiful language. Don't listen to the well-intentioned advice about wearing money bags, or horror stories about gangsof pickpockets, or tales of common rudeness.

We felt safe everywhere: on the streets, bus, metro, and train, cafes, restaurants, markets, museums, galleries, stores, neighborhoods, etc... We also felt welcome, despite shortcomings with language and local culture.

My daughter and I are spending the year learning the language via Rosetta Stone Francais, and plan on going back to visit for at least a month.

First Day: We landed at CDG around 9:33 after close to 24 hours of flying, connecting flights and a couple delays, we were in a taxi and at our hotel by 10:30. We dropped our luggage and headed up rue du Chemin Vert.

We seated ourselves at a small table at a cafe across from Pere Lachaise Cemetery. We ordered coffee and hot chocolate. Then we ordered brunch. My first meal in Paris was Salade Nicoise. My daughter had crepes.We learned that drinks are served in the area in front of the cafe, and meals are served inside.

Street scene on Rue du Mènlimontant.

We stumbled on to the entrance for Notre Dame du Perpetuel Secours. The entry to the church is a portal through apartments. Walking down the street I would have never known it was a basilica/church. This photo is taken from the opposite side of the street.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery is a literal city of the dead with its own street names and map of its permanent residents. We came back to spend more time here the last day of our stay.

Grand and delapidated doorways are a ubiquitous sight in the city. We had no idea what their purpose was until we saw people enter and caught a glimpse of the courtyard and apartments through the open doors.

We jumped on a bus and rode through the city. We passed the Place de la Bastille July column on our way through neighborhoods. History and beauty are on every corner. Paris is a gorgeous city and I will admit, it was love at first sight. We were gobsmacked the entire bus ride.

This is a view of Seine and Notre Dame cathedral in the distance.

Champ de Mars Bus 69 dropped us at its last stop in front of the Eiffel Tower. We could not believe our luck. Bus 69 was our go to bus the duration of our trip.

The weather was mercurial, overcast and then sunny as you can see in the photo below.

A carriage horse resting in the park opposite of the Eiffel Tower. A local resident was taking photos also, and suggested I capture the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Paris 2013

Paris in Color Notes, Nichole Robertson, Author of Paris in Color

I've never been to Paris...until now.

I am flying out for the City of Lights, the city of art, fashion, food. The City of Everything. And not to be overlooked: beautiful sounding curses. I am a purveyor of expletives.

I have a general idea of what we will do and explore, but I don't feel the need to race to every museum or point of interest. I am excited to wander, with purpose, and aimlessly. I am looking forward to sitting and watching. My plan is to split time between the usual tourist sites and local cafes and restaurants, shops and galleries.

One of our first few stops will be to a local Morrocan restaurant that serves vegetarian fare, a cafe and boloungarie.

I am obssessing over which shoes to pack (my favorite shoes are impractical for walking on cobblestones-sany uggestions?) and clothes I should pack. I'm limiting myself to a small suitcase so that I am forced to edit my choices.

I have packing anxiety. I have at least one packing dream a month that usually involves packing at the last minute, packing too much, usually of the wrong thing, or of luggage seams bursting at inopportune times.

This has to be a disorder with its own name. Google time!... (and this is what I found: Packing Anxiety Disorder).

Whatever I pack won't matter one bit, (well, maybe the shoes matter).

Paris will be gorgeous. The food will be delicious. I will fall in love with another city.

I will post images once I'm back.

Travel Photo Essay - Las Vegas 2012

We took a quick trip last week to Las Vegas to celebrate my daughter's 21st birthday. I haven't been to Las Vegas since the crash back in 2008. This visit was a mom and daughters excursion. Vegas has something for everyone. My daughter has never been to Sin City before, so I made certain she experienced a little bit of (almost) everything the city has to offer. Since she was the birthday girl, she chose where we went, what we did, where we ate. We made a quick trip down The Strip, all the way to Fremont, ate our first meal at Dick's so we could be subjected to an hour of sacrcasm, and then spent the majority of our time in the pool, which was open 24 hours. We saw the Bellagio's Fine Art Claude Monet exhibit, Chihuly glass sculptures, and Conservatory & Botanical Gardens display. We saw Cirque de Soliel's KA at the MGM - it was brilliant. We gambled a little: longstoryshort - win some, lose a lot. We shopped, as in walked through Prada, Dolce & Gabbana's, Miu Miu's showroom. My daughter actually did shop Top Shop - apparently, it is the thing for young fashionistas. I loved the store's loud Indie music, ombre-dyed skirts and leggings, and the 10 inch chopin-like shoes on display. I could never, ever wear those shoes, but you look great in them while seated. We walked a lot. The first night, we walked The Strip for the tourist experience. There were the usual escort pushers, but this time, there were street performers of every ilk from a tiny woman in a Hello Kitty costume and men as Avengers characters, to drag queens in heels, sequins and big hair. There were also rappers and beat box dancers for Jesus, and one preacher up on a crate calling the sinners to repent. We stopped by a karaoke outside restaurant and watched a woman sing as loud and as off key as she possibly could while shaking it, and I mean shaking it hard, for a full three minutes. She was feeling herself, as in she was in full Diva. She drew a large crowd, many of whom were filming her performance. I loved it. The heat was nearly unbearable. Our last Vegas meal was at Senor Frog's and we had front row view of Treasure Island's pirate vs. sirens show, complete with sinking ship, flame throwers, writhing dancers, and a muscle-bound man inexplicably dressed as a parakeet. Vegas is a trip, to say the least. Some think it's akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. Those some need to just cozy up to the pool's margarita bar and have a few laughs, sit in the hot tub when the sun goes down, and relax. My next trip to Vegas is going to be a spa vacation.