Locks of Love, part deux

These guys look right on trend for Pride Week. I don't think it is Pride Week here in Paris, but I am still pretty proud of good 'ol New York for taking another leap forward for civil rights. This is in the Musee CarnavaletAlso the Carnavalet, a museum dedicated to the history of ParisBill touring me around, looking for birds to put on thingsThere are millions more locks of love than I remember from when I last visited Paris, and they mostly seemed from this year, which means the city must come and remove them so new lovers can make their mark. Is there a giant bin full of cut love-filled locks somewhere in Paris? Are there tough guy fish who wear necklaces made of keys in the Seine? I swam in the Seine over the weekend, but a long way from Paris, don't worry. It was wonderful.I especially like this heart lock.

Villenauxe has great champagne

Villenauxe is an extremely sleepy hamlet in the Champagne district of France and we went there to visit a cave and sample some delicious champagne. Of course you know "champagne" can only be called thusly if it is actually produced in this area, by law. Otherwise it is called sparkling wine, even if produced with the same grapes and in exactly the same methods. We visited the tiny operation of Oudard which is run by two brothers after their father started it in the late 80s. I asked him if he grew all the grapes for his champagne and he said regretfully, no I must buy some. But he buys them from his uncle. You can only buy their product from them or at their parents' restaurant in town, or perhaps locally, I'm not sure. I am definitely not a wine expert but I think the Oudard Brut is delicious! I bought several bottles and hopefully I can make it back to the states with at least one. My mother says you should have a bottle of good champagne in the refrigerator at all times, in case something really good happens.

The church was heavily battered during World War Two and in the early 90s they chose to redo the stained glass windows in the beautiful old church with a modernist flair. Here the Virgin is asking why, why?A baby duck ignoring meI will buy this place and make my own champagne.One of the brothers gving us a tour of his caves. If you walked by this building on the street, you would never know - it just looks like a big house.In France, you can rent a building from Shakespeare's time to live in. In America this would be a national monument.A carved figure above the door to the church

Rosetta Stone

Sometimes the pictures are so ridiculous in Rosetta Stone it makes it hard to concentrate.

The church in Marnay sur Seine

No one uses this church anymore. No Sunday mass, just the occasional wedding or christening. To go in you must ask for the skeleton key from the barkeeper next door, which he is happy to give. It was originally built in the 1150s and was kept by monks who lived in what is now Camac, where I am staying. Does that make me a nun?

Not really because my bedroom is in a building built 800 years later in the 1950s to house guests of Frank Tenot and Daniel Filipacchi who used the place to record their famous radio show Salut les copains. Then they started this little publishing side project, you may have heard of it. So I like to think Count Basie or Petula Clark slept in my room. Anyway, there is this beautiful church across the street from me that is much much older than the good 'ol USA.
There are several different sets of numberings on the pews.This amazing fresco work only remains inside one arch. It looks ancient, I would imagine middle ages.I am obsessed with renderings of fierce beasts drawn only from imagination.

There is no bad wine in France

....non pas que j'ai trouvé

Beastly

The beast awakensTrying to catch me in the showerThis is what the beasts see at night, contemplating their next move

une journée à Paris

Spring in Paris. The Arc de TriompheA sudden downpour on the Champs-Élyséesbut the sun always comes out againdown into the belly of the whaleand back up to the surface in the Grand PalaisMy focus remains clear at all timesand then back to the country side with the lovely Emilie

Nature morte/Still life

Sometimes it is just as exciting when it is not moving. It being life. A few scenes from Marnay-sur-Seine, France, June 11-17, 2011

Nice work Claude

I don't know exactly why the water reflects the sky in quite this unbelievable way in the Seine near Marnay. Maybe it is just the right time of year so the position of the sun as it falls is right behind the water? I couldn't say for sure, but I think Monet must have seen it too at some point...the water is like a huge round mirror, really breathtaking.