Doc's on 12th Street at night - Astoria, Oregon

Walking home along the river, I took this from in front of the Wet Dog. The colors came out much more intense than in real life.

I spent another day uploading pictures to my Picasa Web Albums. I have so many more I want to put online and finally, I've found a solution I like. Wherever I put them, it needs to enhance the rankings of the TPF gift shop, and this seems to do the trick, so it's two birds, etc. Fun. I worked mostly on tapir photos today. There are fifteen tapir albums, not counting the blogs, so there should be a good place to put just about everything. Now comes the fun of searching the hard drive and the paper files. I chose Picasa Web Albums because the photos I have on the blogs each have an album set up for them already. I had no idea until the other day that this is where Google stored the photos. Also, it's related to Panoramio through Google, and I've been using Panoramio for our Paris trip photos and pix of Astoria (so far). Also, if you run out of space for the albums, you can buy more at a very cheap rate. And then I found a bunch of fun tools, so while I haven't played with any of the other web albums, I'm very happy with this one. I could only suggest one or two changes, but Google will probably think of them anyway.

Oct 15, Part 19 - The Church of St. Sulpice

From the row of bikes, we walked down the street three short blocks that seemed like one and jogged left into the unexpected. I'd read the name of St. Sulpice for years, and probably thought I was going to see a smaller church in a Gothic format. This thing was huge. It was imposing in a way that literally quickened my breathing and got my adrenaline going, although it's hard to see from the photo why it would be so. But it was. The church was also under the wraps of reconstruction. I don't know if that made it feel more or less intrusive, but I'm sure it added to a sense of mystery. I only found out later that St. Sulpice has gained fame as a landmark in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I didn't remember that at the time; you can read about it here. To me, the edifice was simply huge, Baroque, and breathtaking.

We arrived at that special time of evening when the sky and the artificial light balance each other and created interesting mood-altering colors. Apparently this is the fountain of the four bishops. Makes sense, it's a church.

As I snapped this one on the run. It's way, way, way out of focus, but Lee and I both liked the perched birds. I was thinking "philosopher" rather than a man of holy orders. Anyway, I loved the birds and the memory of being here enough to include this out-of-focus photo.

One of the prominent features of the Baroque is theatricality, and our timing was right for the lighting to help promote that.

Look at the gorgeous marble in the columns. Click the photo to enlarge it if you need to.

Inside the gargantuan church, the little light that was available took over the scenario. It felt more like a darkened theatre than a church.

This is one of the paintings on the ceiling. The shape and the moulding have all the Baroque flash and flare you could want.

One of St. Sulpice's claims to fame is this huge panel by Delacroix in one of the chapels near the front doors.

Here are the four bishops again. I don't think we spent a lot of time inside; the light faded quickly.

I really loved the surrealness of the quiet square, the lighting, the huge church half shrouded in canvas, and the patterns created by the monster-sized scaffolding and switchback stairs. It was like a bizarre unadvertised art exhibit. The lights were on, the doors were open, but nobody was in attendance. Except for us.

I think you get some idea of the imposing size from here. I love the lighting.

It takes two photos from this close to get the top and the bottom of the massive structure. So that was St. Sulpice. Nice side trip. We headed back to the Rue de Rennes.

Go to Part 20

Oct 15, Part 20 - St. Germain des Pres and home

It was getting dark when we left St. Sulpice (last post), and I didn't take any more pictures for a few blocks until we came to the end of Rue de Rennes and intersected the Blvd Saint-Germain. Here was the famous Cafe de Flore, and on an opposite corner Les Deux Magots, both very famous, especially as being the hangout of the Existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Bouvoir. So I had to take a couple of photos. Those two weren't the only ones who made the location and the cafes famous. There was quite a list. Hemmingway and many others gathered here, or sat and wrote in the cafes and such. At that time, they chose the area because it was cheap, but of course that all changed. Similarly, the artists and writers had earlier chosen Montmartre for the same reason, and look what happened. Wherever the artists and writers are hanging out now, it's sure to be less than posh until it's thoroughly "discovered." Then they move along.

Opposite the cafes is the towering Church of St. Germain des Pres, below.

There is one huge tower at the west end. It's not as beautiful as many of the other churches of Paris, but it's imposing. I remember it being rather plain inside when I'd been there before, but we didn't go in this time. We were tired and hungry.

Here we begin walking down the Blvd. St. German, which will take us right past our hotel, although it will be a good walk, even from here. The atmosphere had changed again. It was still exciting. There were more trees, more people looking for evening entertainment.

This is the south side of the church.

The Rue de Bucy was lined with restaurants and looked promising. And it looked promising to a whole lot of other tourists as well. We passed the first few restaurants and went into a fish place. It was like a steam bath inside even though it was almost cold on the street. When we hesitated and left, the Maitre d' said he had another place a little further along, so we followed him. It was much quieter and not baking hot. We had what amounted to their fixed price menu. It was nice to rest and enjoy the relative quiet. The company was good, but the food was average and made us both feel bloated. Actually, some of it tasted alright, but it had a lot of salt or something. Recommendation: forget the fixed price food and just order. It's a little more expensive, but it may be worth it. Or maybe it was the quality of the restaurant. Anyway, neither of us had felt so bloated since we began the trip.

Relaxing, tired dinner dinner.

End of the meal.

End of the day. Wow, was it nice to undo the buttons and lie down! Our room at the Hotel de Notre Dame was small but comfortable. The wood beams on the ceiling are probably part of the original Medieval structure. They had certainly not made allowances for the space that we modern people like to stretch out in. Everything was small, but it worked and was clean. But what did we expect? It's part of the charm. It's Paris. If we'd wanted to stay at the Holiday Inn, we would have booked it. Or stayed home.

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