Personal Photos: Paris

The second half of our Europe trip was spend in Paris. There is definitely an allure about the city and it’s always been on my list of places I’d like to visit. After a little bit of adjustment, we really enjoyed our time exploring.

The Père Lachaise Cemetery, so beautiful to wander around and interesting to come across graves of well-known individuals.  
Had to stop and see all the locks on the bridges, but it did make me sad that this – tradition (if you can call it that) continues to cause structural damage to the bridges. It’s a very sweet thought about love to throw away the key, but it’s also causing some real harm.  The flat we stayed in was in a quiet neighborhood, but allowed us to walk to almost everything we wanted to see. The key was so different from any I’d ever used (above). The owner is a graphic designer and artist, which made me feel right at home. I appreciated all the displays of art around the living space. 
The Catacombs – definitely a place I wanted to see, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for how extensive they were. It feels like you could definitely get lost down there. The Louvre, how can I capture it in words? It’s huge. It’s amazing. It’s my Art History classes staring me right in the face. No joke, so many sculptures, paintings, drawings that I learned about were just sitting there, staring me in the face. Pieces of art that shaped the practice. It gave me chills. 
My favorite of all -Winged Victory of Samothrace. I tried describing to my husband why I’ve always been so moved by this piece and I couldn’t explain it well. Ever since I saw a picture of this in a history book, I never could get it out of my head. It is such a vision of strength and triumph, even it it’s current incomplete form. There is such power, grace and beauty captured.
Palace of Versailles – another monumental place to visit. I didn’t know very much of the detail surrounding this part of French history, but knew this place is known for its opulence. It is beautiful inside and out for sure. As I read about the history, I also began to understand the controversy surrounding this site, as well as the two monarchs most tied to the place. 

Personal Photos: London

I finally went to Europe! I’ve wanted to go for a long time but never actually planned the trip and boarded the plane. For this trip, we decided to spend a week in London, then a week in Paris. Although we wanted to visit a long list of countries, we decided to spend enough time to really enjoy the individual cities and get into the groove of local life. It was great. Here is London from my viewpoint.

The Churchill War Rooms. I wasn’t really looking forward to this, (there are just parts of history that make me sad). But the information and displays were really interesting and made me quite curious about that time in England’s history. Fascinating too that the whole series of rooms was kept a secret.  It just so happened that one of our favorite artists, Ryan Adams, was playing a show in London while we were there. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen him play live, so we were thrilled. Free museum entry? Yes, please!

Of course I had to go fabric shopping, that has become my souvenirs of travel. We spend part of a day visiting the Walthamstow Market, which I only knew about from some of the sewing bloggers I follow.  Subway system… can I actually sing your praises? So great (both in London and Paris) and easy to navigate. Too bad the cities near me don’t have quite such a robust system.  Everything was so narrow! This was the staircase to the flat we stayed in. My main thought was – how do they move furniture in and out? The streets are all very narrow as well and walking on cobblestones was a step back in time.  A few spots left a real impression on me – one was St. Dunstan-in-the-East. It’s a bombed out church that was never rebuilt and allowed to be overrun by plant life. It’s breathtaking, peaceful and a holy spot somehow. Go there and sit awhile if you are able.
Ah, the White Tower aka The Tower of London – so much (disturbing) history took place here. I’m fascinated by the Tudor History in England, so this was a treat to visit. But, also very strange, because a lot of pain and suffering was enacted within these walls. While we were there, the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red‘ was being installed. So breathtaking and a beautiful way to honor lives lost at war. 
We spent a day visiting the Cutty Sark, guided by a very knowledgable friend of my husband’s. Also a very interesting point in England’s history, during the tea trade. A collection of retired ship mastheads. Lucky us, we found a great local pub that was our hangout/chill time/drink all the local brews/eat some food spot, The Lyric Soho. Both my husband and I are beer drinkers, but I am also a huge fan of hard cider. England did not disappoint.