La Conciergerie

La Conciergerie was a medieval palace during the 6th century. Clovis, the first French king, established as his royal residence. In the 14th century, Phillipe IV established it as the seat of the Parlement in Paris. During the French Revolution, it was used as a prison and had a reputation for being the toughest of all prisons. During the Reign of Terror, its cells accommodated several hundred prisoners kept in terribly, unhealthy conditions. One of its most famous prisoners was Marie Antoinette. She spent the last moments of her life in her cell here before being carted off to the guillotine. She tried to escape once, so she had two guards on round the clock watch in her room.

Arc de Triomphe

I'll just put it in my pocket and take it home!

The famous street for shopping...Champs Elysees.

Today, Sunday, we visited the Arc de Triomphe. Napoleon had the arch commissioned to commemorate his victory at the battle of Austerlitz. Four years after the arch was finished being built, Napoleon's funeral procession passed beneath it, on its way to his burial in Les Invalides. There are 12 streets that converge at the Arc and it's pretty entertaining to watch all the cars trying to navigate around it. Under the Arc lies the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. Sheila and I climbed 284 steps to get to the top of a spiral staircase to see all of Paris in a 360 degree view. It was breathtaking!

Giverny and Monet's House and Gardens

I know why Claude Monet loved Giverny and lived there. It is a lovely, quaint little village about an hour train ride outside of Paris into the country. I thought St. Peter's Basilica was the most beautiful place I had ever seen, but I must make a clarification now...it is the most beautiful building and architecture I have ever seen. Monet's house and gardens is the most gorgeous garden and nature sight I have ever seen. You couldn't take a bad photograph there. Everywhere you turned was something snapshot worthy and definitely looked like a painting. I understand why his paintings are so beautiful and why he painted on sight. The house and gardens was donated to an art society by his son. The house still looks and is arranged just as he left it.

Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, and the Louvre

Mona and Me

To do list for Paris...see the Mona Lisa....check !




Hanging with La Gioconda......it was thrilling to say the least, but she is small!

The Eiffel Tower Tonight

Just got back from the Eiffel 5 min. ago. It's 11:42 pm here...4:42 pm USA time! Check this out!

Paris Apartment and the Eiffel Tower

We have been super busy in Paris and my computer is tired too I guess, so the posting has been slow going. I waited over an hour for a video to upload and then it never would post. UGH!!! Paris is wonderful and VERY different from Rome. Exactly was I was hoping for...two completely different experiences! YEA!!!! Will start posting more. We go to Giverny tomorrow to Monet's gardens...really excited about this one. We have to take a Eurorail train out of Paris to see it so that should be interesting in itself! Here is some video of where we stayed in both cities and take a look at the Eiffel at 10pm sharp! I caught it a little late. It glitters about 10 min. Can you here my disappointment?

We went from this hotel room in Rome.....

to this apartment in Paris.........

The Eiffel Tower at 10 pm! That's good stuff!

Parting Shots....Arrivederci, Rome and Bonjour, Paris

We made it to Paris! With only two hours sleep last night (blame it on the Italian cappuccinos!)...seriously, we could not go to sleep after 2 of them, so we packed our bags and worked on the computer all night in the hotel room. Trust me...we are paying for it today! Here's a little fyi...our awesome technology teacher is having MAJOR problems with her computer. I am totally impressed and in awe that she has not whizzed it across the room or beat on it...that is my approach. She has the patience of a Saint! So as a result, postings to our other media outlets are progressing slowly! To wrap up our trip of Rome, I put together a little video to give you a taste of Rome and what it was like for us! Enjoy!

Raphael's School of Athens and his Tomb

Raphael was one of the three most influential artists of the High Renaissance. (I mean come on, along with Leonardo, they had Ninja Turtles named after them for Pete's sake!) Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael and Michelangelo to paint frescoes him. Both artists were painting their iconic masterpieces at about the same time. Michelangelo's in the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's in the Papal Suite in what would be a library for Pope Julius II.

Cappella Sistina...Sistine Chapel

Where do I start? Well...I saw it! This little ol' art teacher from Texas traveled a long way to see it! I was soooooo excited in the moments leading up to actually going into the chapel. I did not know how we would enter it and imagined it as a building separate from the Vatican Museum. To see the Sistine Chapel, you must first go through the Vatican Museum. This museum is grand and wonderful, as you can tell from the pictures I already posted, but is a long walk and maze through many different rooms and buildings....all connected. Every room leads to another room with spectacular pieces of art and artifacts. The signs kept teasing us..."this way to Cappella Sistina." Well, room after room, Raphael's "School of Athens", pope's apartments, mummies, tapestries, statues, etc., etc. and I began to think it would never happen until I stepped into what I thought was just another room of the same and BAM! we were in the Sistine Chapel! No glorious entrance, no warning. I just stepped in, looked around and immediately knew where I was. My heart raced, though I was disappointed I had not prepared myself for this moment since there was no singing angels or trumpets (hee hee)....very anti-climatic, but seeing Michelangelo's works with my own eyes made up for it. You cannot take photos in the Chapel, so the first picture above is when I exited the chapel and the second is the long staircase leading away from it. The third picture shows the wall outside the chapel and in the fourth you can see a sliver of it through a grand archway from St. Peter's Basilica. The fountain was just outside the chapel. There are many fountains (not as fancy...it is the Vatican you know) for the public to drink out of all over Rome. The water is ice cold. Just so you are not disappointed....I did however video the ceiling a bit. The guards inside saw many people still taking pictures, but did not take away the camera. They just said "no photos." I did not get caught using my flip camera. This is what I saw and now you can too......

Julius Caesar and the Roman Forum

The Roman Forum, or main square, was an area about the size of a football field. Surrounding it were temples, law courts, government buildings, and arches. This area of Rome was the birthplace and heart of Rome. Imagine people of all sorts racing down the main road wearing togas and riding in their chariots. It seems unreal! Everywhere you look there is a piece of broken marble or column that is just beautiful. The park benches in Rome are these relics. It's amazing. You can be walking down the street looking for gelato or a pizzeria and turn the corner to see the most awe-inspiring building, monument, or church. And the bells.....holy moly! What a beautiful sound ringing out all over Rome.

The Vatican Museum

The Colosseum

The Colosseum was built in 80 A.D. Its real name is The Flavian Amphitheater and was an arena for public viewing of gladiator contests and the execution of criminals. Only one third of the original Colosseum remains. Earthquakes destroyed some of it, but most of it was carted off to build other buildings during the Renaissance. The gladiators would enter from the west end and parade around to the sound of trumpets and stop by the emperor's box to salute and raise their weapon in respect. 50,000 people would watch them battle animals brought from below the stadium floor to surprise the gladiators. If a gladiator fell helpless to the ground, his opponent would approach the emperor's box and ask, "should he live or die?" Sometimes the emperor left the decision to the crowd...thumbs up, you live....thumbs down, you die!