Ready, Set,

Race!  Go, go, go!  Bicycle karts, exciting stuff.

 

 

Enjoy,

jon

The Chairs

It is now my understanding that these chairs are a famous part of Paris.  Writing this reminds me, once again, the sadly little amount of research I did prior to flying to France.

 

The preferred way to sit.

 

Some people don’t get chairs.  That’s how it works with limited resources.  Maybe they could have taken the sleeping old man’s.  I mean, he’s old, he’s sleeping, and he has two chairs.  Just sleep in in the grass old man!

enjoy,

jon

Sailboats

Tiny sailboats, I don’t know if I could race in one.  Half of them were partially under the water without the added weight.

 

They have sails, but they weren’t very sail powered.  Kids would rent them from a cart, then push them from the side of the fountain with sticks.  It was pretty clear the boys would attempt to ram eachother’s boats. 

I thought they were pretty cool.  I wish I knew I’d known I could have rented one when I was there.
Enjoy,

jon

Palais de Luxembourg

I think I forgot a few letters up there.  Pretty unsure of the ‘de’ as well.  But, these things happen.

 

The home of the French Senate.  Sort of a house of lords French style, more so than our senate, which is more like a parliament.  But less like a parliament than our house.  Which shares no relation to the house of lords.

 

It was three twenty five when we visited.

Enjoy,

Jon

Tour Montparnasse

Really the only skyscraper you can see from Paris.  It is rather obvious it snuck in despite some height restrictions.  But, it does make it really easy to find the TGV station.

jon

Sculpture Bonanza

There’s that woman hanging off man motif again.

 

 

Sort of a thinker.  But more ready for action.

 

Suppose the shepherd plans on eating that calf.  I would guess so.

Happy lion can’t believe you just did that.  OMG!

Permenant chairman of mining statistics Pierr le Play.  I almost read the title as “Inspector General of Des Moines”.  Which, would have been odd and surprising.  Not to say “Inspector General of Des Mines” made much more sense.

 

Is that buck mounting that fawn?

 

Inspiration for the lion from the Wizard of Oz.

 

No bust is complete without a comely lass.

The original model for our Statue of Liberty.  Thanks France!  Which should serve a reminder that the ‘cheese eating surrender monkey’s” have always been great friends to our great democracy (republic).  It is a shame we have such an odd animosity for our long time friends.

 

You’ll never get that fat man up the hill.  Seriously, WTF.  Naked women, a donkey, children, and bare assed men hauling a barely robed fatass.  What could have inspired such nonsense.

 

A normal one.  Though, she (he?) does have a crown to keep the pigeons off.

 

Nipple!

 

A combo fountain-statue. 

 

What is he trying to catch?

 

Well, at least the trend of a naked women lower than the man continues.  Just keep painting y’all, and one day you too could have your own ridiculous statue.

 

The marble almost looked real.

There is a whole section dedicated to great women / queens.  None of which have naked men looking up subserviently.

 

He also had a tail.

jon

Jardin du Luxembourg

 

Welcome!  To the grand Jardin de Luxembourg.  With fountains, monuments and statues numbering above a hundred, it is a grand place indeed.  It is amazing what an autocrat can build.  I guess the monarch only built the garden’s and palace, and not the statues.  Go republic!

jon

Ingenious

Why waste money on fancy trash cans?  Wait.  After looking at these for three days, and reviewing this picture the sad truth of why the Paris garbages aren’t cans has suddenly dawned on me.  It’s to stop terrorists, aren’t they?  So they cannot hide bombs in them.  Maybe.  Or, Parisians are anti trash cans.  One of the two anyway.

jon

Almost Missed

The Mini-Pantheon! Muahahaha! Which now that I look at it, is much larger than mini. Hm.

jon

Street Scenes

Because, frankly, in Paris beauty is everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy,

jon

Maybe Just

Maybe some giant iron doors.  Nah, I’ll stick with we need some good old red doors.

jon

The View Out

That’s the Eiffel Tower in the background, bye the bye. Sort of strange it is named after the designer. Usually monuments or buildings are named after who commissioned them.

Enjoy,

jon

Or,

Perhaps purple will suffice.

jon

Red

I think we need more giant bright doors in Milwaukee.

enjoy,

jon

That’s Quite a Look

What exactly does she expect Jesus to do with that ruler?  What could he possibly have said to garner such a suspicious surprised gaze of the instrument in his hand?
Enjoy,

jon

Bob

Correctly, a bob.  Not the original, mind you.  That one’s 28kg (62 pound) ball broke of the line and cracked the marble. 

enjoy,

Jon

Cut to Interior

No shots from the catacombs.  I would like to claim it is because I am all reverent to the great and powerful French, but it really has to do with my camera not being that great in low light.

 

It also couldn’t pick the white balance.  Tan or gray, take your pick.  Might have been gray.  I can’t remember now.  I wonder if this is how color blind people feel.  Just a vague idea of what the right color is, but well aware of the tone and feel of a space.

 

Built in the mid to late 1700’s it is a fair bit older than the Rome Pantheon built in 126.

Sort of a trendsetter, the term Pantheon was specific to the Romans until the Parisians turned it into a word for any grand mausoleum of the sort.

 

It is also a good place to bring your flat earth anti-science friends.  For it has a grand experiment.  The Foucault Pendulum.  Now, I’m no scientist, well I guess economics is a social science.  Anyway, I’m no physical scientist, so I will leave it up to the good people of wikipedia to explain further.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum

 

As seemingly everything else in Paris, the detail work was a sight to behold.

 

We would have liked to have gone up to the “panorama” and look over the city, but that would have required an hour tour in French. 

 

Maybe it was grey.

enjoy,

jon