As you might imagine, Kelley and I are not big city people. We would much rather frolic through flowery meadows and gallivant in the mountains than look at another church or see another gallery of art. However, I think Paris is different. Paris has been one of the world’s greatest metropolises for over a thousand years! It is a place where you can see incredible art, sculptures, and architecture and eat scrumptious food… more importantly it is a fantastic place to stroll around, get lost in its mazes of streets and boulevards, flop by along the Seine and eat the most luscious baguette in the world, or just get a bottle of wine and have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. Sounds terrible right? Well you would have thought so if you spoke to Kelley before the trip… it was with much resistance that I convinced Kelley to accompany me on a work trip to Paris. I had a meeting all day Monday, so we flew over late Friday night and had a fabulous weekend in the City of Lights. Enjoy!
Palais Garnier – An opera house from the 19th century with quite the facade.
Contemplating The Raft of the Medusa in the LouvreI think she is looking at me…The Nike of SamothraceThe beautiful passageways of the LouvrePerfect shot of the Venus de Milo
Some really old stuff downstairs in the Louvre!Kelley said she could duplicate this in our future home!Now imagine that this is just ONE capital from 36 HUGE columns that supported the roof of the royal palace in ancient Persia! They stood over 21 meters in height!
Kelley thought that this depicted how I hold Franklin. He is often that terrified when I hold him.And the Mona Lisa, which is always much smaller in person – much smaller! My senior portrait is larger.
How I typically bring home dinner for Kelley. (Kelley: Oh Matt Davis)In the beautiful Musee d’Orsay!A glimpse into my future with long beautiful walks with Kelley! (Kelley: wow, just wow…..I’m starting to think you want something…..)
Contemplating how quickly yet slowly time passes by… (Kelley: wow Matt, thats deep)
The incredible sculpture work on the facade of the Cathedral de Notre Dame, which began construction in 1163 and was completed in 1345. It is also responsible for the flying buttress now synonymous with gothic architecture, which was invented to fix the cracks that formed on these huge walls and they did not even know about gravity yet.Check out those nice curvy flying buttress!… and the monumental interior!The beautiful stained glass in the Sainte-ChapellePer Martin and Theo ‘srecommendation we headed to the Jewish quarter for the best falafel outside Israel – seriously! (Send all hate main to chasingdavis@gmail.com)
TheFoucault pendulum housed in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which provided the first simple proof that the earth rotated – #physics #science #nerdSacré-Cœur Basilica – #churchedoutLe famous pyramids in front of the LouvreSilly Kelley taking a picture of me as I take the above pictureWhat a place for some some delicious white wine (sunshine in a bottle) and strawberries! (Kelley: This is a rare image of Matt Davis RELAXING!)The iconic Eiffel Tower! It was built for the 1889 World’s Fair as a temporary structure and, well, it’s still there.
Sunset over the River Seine with the Cathedral of Norte Dame
On Monday, while I was working Kelley ventured off to visit Versailles…The palaces are closed Monday but it made for a peaceful and wonderful day to explore the gardens.
Well that is it for today, stay tuned for the another post about our Tour du Mont Blanc – coming soon!
Looks like you had much better weather than we did when we were there. Beautiful pictures We had to go up to Sacre Coeur to have a remembrance of one of our friends that had recently passed away and loved Paris and especially the basilica. The best thing we had to eat were cheese crepes off street vendors. You can sure tell that the guy that designed the pyramid at The Lourve, is the same guy who designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Love living vicariously through your adventures
chasingdavis 
Looks like you had much better weather than we did when we were there. Beautiful pictures We had to go up to Sacre Coeur to have a remembrance of one of our friends that had recently passed away and loved Paris and especially the basilica. The best thing we had to eat were cheese crepes off street vendors. You can sure tell that the guy that designed the pyramid at The Lourve, is the same guy who designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Love living vicariously through your adventures
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