Category Archives: People Watching

Fellbacher Herbst Parade, Stuttgart Library and Old Town Stuttgart

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Day 42     Saturday October 11, 2025

We were headed to the bus to go the Stuttgart Library when we saw people gathering for the local Fellbach Parade. We decided to wait and watch the parade. It was such fun.  Like any good parade there were marching bands…

…beautiful horses…

…cute kids…

and more horses… followed by a ‘fire truck’!This is the first parade we have seen where the participants carry glasses of wine and many of the people watching the parade also have glasses and bottles of wine.

There  were more marching bands……including a kazoo playing band! 

There were more cute kids…

and a group of scouts, both boys and girls…

…followed by royalty and their subjects…

…and often we weren’t sure who was in the parade!  It seemed like anyone who wanted to be in the parade just joined in!

Of course there were floats, and they were mostly to do with agriculture and the harvest.

I was given an apple with a laser printed label!  We had not seen this before but Bob had heard about this method of identifying fruit instead of using sticky labels.

There were a whole lot of girls marching who looked a lot alike with their blonde wigs!

We have absolutely no idea who these characters were supposed to be! The parade wasn’t over but we decided that we should continue with our itinerary for the day.  Next stop was the Stuttgart Library.  It didn’t look like much from the outside.

There is a robot exhibit on the main floor, so Bob asks this ‘talking head’ if there is a place that we can go and have tea and pastries in the library. The head answers in English that  “The library has a cafe on the roof. Perfect to enjoy your tea with a view. It is a great spot to recharge. Enjoy your break with a dash of literature in the air.” He seemed to speak a least French, German and English…who knows what else?  It is a little bit creepy though, as this head sitting on a table is quite lifelike!

We enter the library and make our way to the café and this is what we see!  It I huge and defintiely the whitest library we have ever seen.After tea and pastries we climb up to the viewing platform on the roof.  I had to stand on one of these benches to get a view over the top of the double row of railings on the edge of the roof.

We can see one of the Cannstatter Volkfest ferris wheels (from our visit yesterday) and some of the other rides from up here!

Many of the surrounding buildings have living roofs.

Back in the library.  Instead of Find Waldo, can you Find Trudy?

There are corridors and more rooms of books behind the book shelves you can see in the photo above. They have some books in all these languages!

Back on the main floor we check out the other robot displays.  I made a new friend.

There was an art installation where you stand in front of this horse and think of a number. between 3 and 10.  The horse is supposed to read your mind and then stamp his foot to say what number you were thinking. Bob picked 10 and the horse only stamped 6 times.  When I tried it the horse shook his head and stamped his feet impatiently.  The artist said that I was too intense for him to read my mind.  I should try just thinking of a number.  I concentrated hard on my number but the horse still reacted as if I was too intense!  Too funny!  

There is a lovely public square with fountains and benches right outside the library door.
A short walk leads us to the Old Town and Schloss Platz. We find a bench and have tea and cookies and watch the world go by.

The buildings behind are the Neues Schloss, or the Grand Palace, which is now used as government offices.

We walk around for a bit before heading back to catch the tram home.

I loved the handle on this door, polished by use.

On the way home from the tram we pass the local fairgrounds just a couple blocks from our apartment.  The Fellbacher Herbst Fair is very busy.  It is much smaller than the one in Stuttgart but there are still lots of rides.There are people everywhere. Too bad neither of us drink beer! We are both ready to head home and relax with a nice hot cup of tea.  It was a full day.

Stuttgart’s Cannstatter Volksfest

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Day 41     Friday, October 10, 2025

On the drive into Stuttgart we pass a huge fairground. It is the Volksfest Canstatter, which is the second largest beer festival in the world!

The Canstatter Volksfest started in 1818. In those early days agriculture was the primary focus.  Vendors around the edge of the fairgrounds sold sausages, sauerkraut, and beer. Carnival attractions featured “strong men” and other typical nineteenth-century curiosities but as the years passes beer and food took center stage.

Today the festival takes place for 17 days between September 25 to October 11. Last year this event had 4.6 million visitors.

Right beside the entrance, which is free, we see these young men in matching lederhosen drinking beer.

This ferris wheel is at one end of the fairground and we decide to go for a ride.

There are 5 kilometres of rides and attractions, children’s rides, stalls, market stands, many food and drink stands, including eight beer tents, countless beer gardens, snack bars, and candy stands. We have a great view of some of this from the top of the ferris wheel.

The white roofs are all the beer gardens!  The eight tents on site hold a total almost 34,000 people! There is also a second ferris wheel at the other end of the fairgrounds.

We have a great view of these swing ride.  At 80 meters it is way too high for me!

After our ride we notice the changing colours on the ferris wheel, done with 1000 LED lights! The centre circle changes too, and we both thought this eye was quite striking.

The fun houses here are huge and very ornate. This photo captures about one half of the length of this one.We liked the flying witch, the dragon, and the ghost in the window.

I thought it was lovely to see live flowering plants on the tables at the beer gardens.

There was lots of screaming coming from this ride!  The rides here also last a long time, much longer than the exhibition rides back home.  If you decide that a ride wasn’t a good idea, you are trapped on it for many revolutions!

Time for some Bratwurst mit Brötchen…but we decide against the half meter long option.

Back to walking around the grounds and the sun has set.  Our ferris wheel ride looks much prettier at night.

Some of the sweet treats available.

The beer tents have facades that look like alpine chalets and they are huge. Each tent seats anywhere between 2,500 and 5,600 thirsty festival-goers!  It takes several weeks to erect the tents and then almost as long to take them down and store them. I really thought these were permanent structures until we walked behind one and saw the SeaCans and canvas walls.  Seems like it is mostly young folks attending the beer gardens, and many are dressed in traditional German dirndl dresses and lederhosen. There was a very long line up all night long to get into this particular beer tent.

This beer tent balcony is packed…

,,,and a screen outside gives us a view of the action indoors. I am quite happy not to be inside with that mob of drinkers!!

We are quite content walking outside and looking at the rides and all the people having fun. At home this ride is called the Drop of Doom…it is pretty colourful! Those are people’s feet hanging below their seats as they ride up to the very top of this tower, and then plummet to the bottom!

There is a rollercoaster ride. It is much bigger than it looks in this photo.This was a crazy ride with seats spinning in one direction and the whole platform spinning up and down in another direction!  There was a lot of smoke and screaming riders!

A lot of the rides have smoke effects.

I always like carousels. This one had a lot of lights… 

…but not as many as this ride!

Another crazy ride.  The seats are just visible through the smoke.  They twist and turn upside down as they twirl around, with lots of smoke…

…and some real shooting flames!

The last time we saw fish on a stick was on our trip when our oldest daughter was four years old. I didn’t see anyone actually eating one of these. Maybe they taste better than they look?

The rides here all have lots of lights and special effects.  You can just make out the seats flying by at the bottom of the ride.

There is a definite Polizei presence. We saw several groups on patrol,  but we only saw one drunk person.  His buddy was half carrying him..his feet and legs just weren’t working at all!

Some of the lederhosen wearing men have these funny half socks that they wear on their calves along with regular socks.

There is even a store on site selling lederhosen and dirndl dresses,  We were both rather shocked at how expensive the lederhosen is.  They started at €250 and went up from there!

The grounds are busy and I’m not sure we saw everything but we were tired and head home.

There is also a little fair just a few minutes from our apartment, so we walk through part of it too. I loved these balloons and stop for a photo. The guy selling them came over to sell me one, but when he saw I was just taking a photo he burst out laughing!  It was a fun night but we are happy to be home.

Luxembourg

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Day 29     Sunday, September 28, 2025

Bob found a free zoo in the countryside not far from us.  Cities and museums are interesting but after a while we both need a change of pace. It is a sunny today and we are both ready for a more relaxing day.  Every time we pass this crosswalk Bob mistakes these signs for real children.  Perhaps they are a bit too lifelike?

On our drive we see these cement pillboxes, remnants of the First World War.  There are reminders of both the World Wars all over Europe, in cities, towns and the countryside. These reminders are a part of everyday life and make the wars seem not so distant. At home in Canada, it seems like we think about the world wars in November on Remembrance Day.  Here I am thinking about them much more often.

On the way to the zoo we stop at a place just off the highway where people go rock climbing.There is no hint that these cliffs are a couple minutes walk from the road.

We hear voices, and walk around a corner to see a group of people rock climbing.

We sit on a big rock and watch for a while.  I am amazed a the strength these climbers have in their fingers and toes.  Of course they are strong overall, but so much relies on their fingers and toes finding the right nooks and crannies and supporting the climber’s weight as they slowly make their way up the rock face. It is amazing to watch them. We never had a chance to try anything like this when we were younger and I think it is a bit too late to begin now.  

One young couple went over to another rock face to climb. We heard a crash and I saw this climber fall from a height of about 3 meters, maybe more. He looked like he was free climbing as we didn’t see any rope. He lay on the ground not moving for a long time, then finally was able to sit up with help. He was carried over to a chair and I chatted with him as we left.  He said several times that he was very lucky. He hurt his ankle but he didn’t think that it was broken. We wished him luck. I’m sure he will be black and blue and very sore as he fell sideways and landed on the full length of his body. It was scary to watch it happen.

We walked a bit further and saw this woman climbing…she was impressive!  She was climbing much higher than the first people we watched. In no time she managed to climb onto and over the outcropping of rocks just above her in this photo.  Her husband was her belayer and their two children were watching.  They had rock climbing harnesses as well. the boy ran up to us to welcome us to their spot, laughing and giggling the whole time with his sister.

She is so strong!  It was pretty incredible to watch her maneuver her way up a sheer rock face. I could have stayed even longer but we want to get to the zoo, so we head back to our car.

The Escher Déierepark-Tierpark is free and is more of a petting farm than a zoo.  The animals are mostly farm animals, along with a few different types of deer, and they are quite tame. We are able to buy bags of pellets to feed them. I think we had as much fun as the kids!

This beautiful Highland cow (I think it was a she) was my favourite.

She really loves to be fed! I think we became friends!

Bob made friends with this younger Highland cow.

There is a sign asking not to feed the geese, and they object very loudly to being left out.

A few of the deer resting in the shade. We have our picnic lunch here and walk around the park twice. It was such a nice relaxing afternoon and we so enjoyed the sunshine and watching the children feed the animals.

On the walk back to the car we see an area that has been uprooted by wild boars. Wild boars are found in Luxembourg and are considered Europe’s only “dangerous game” animal. Hunters in Luxembourg shoot about 5,000 animals annually. They are increasing in number and are becoming a problem as they move closer to inhabited areas.

We see a garden folly and I take a closer look. 

Sorry for the blurry photo. We have seen several of these large black cutouts of a person with a white cross on their chest.  I google to find out what they are, only to discover these are used to mark the spot where a person has died in a motor vehicle accident.

Bruges, Belgium

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Day 21     Saturday, September 20, 2025

We drive an hour and a half to visit Bruges.  First stop is the market which was supposed to be open for another hour but most vendors are packing up because of the cold and rain.

We see this huge contraption which I am sure is a spider, but it is not moving. I just looked up Bruges Giant spider and found this little video on Instagram…I was right, it is a spider! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO3Y573jK1r/ 

It is miserable out, lots of umbrellas, lots of rain and it is cold.

We take refuge in this cathedral along with a lot of other people.  It isn’t very warm but it is at least dry. I sit and write in my journal and Bob checks out the cathedral.  I am content to just sit and rest for a bit.

There are large beautiful tapestries on both sides of the altar.

There is an announcement in several languages that the church is closing and will reopen in a couple hours after lunch.  So we walk to the huge central square, lined with beautiful old buildings.  It had stopped raining. The entire old city of Bruges is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The city was not damaged in either of the two World Wars so much of its Medieval heritage remained intact.

The streets are packed with tourists and it starts to rain again so we find a MacDonalds and hide out there for an hour and have our lunch.  It is dry and warm and no one cares how long we sit here.

The rain stops and we decide to get tickets for a canal boat ride.  There is a line but it moves fairly quickly and we watch the boats coming and going while we wait in line.

While we are waiting  I notice that there is a tight rope walker high in the sky!  If you look carefully at the previous photo you can see her in the top right corner just above the rooftops.  Yes, it is a woman, when she hangs upside down we see a ponytail. A rope almost 400m long was stretched at a height of 70m between the Belfry and the Church of Our Lady.

Soon we are travelling on the canals which give us a great view of many of the buildings in Bruges.

You can see the high wire attached to the cathedral tower.

We pass under many bridges, some of them so low we need to duck our heads.

The geese on the canals are owned by the city of Bruges and the penalty for killing one is five years in jail!

The city of Bruges is famous for its well-preserved medieval architecture, including many buildings featuring stepped gables.  Houses with lots of steps on the gables showed that the owner was rich.         
I wonder if the houses on the canal are damp, with the water lapping at their foundations.

This is the oldest bridge in Bruges and our driver/guide tells us that if you kiss under this bridge you will have everlasting love.  We kiss.

There are a variety of interesting buildings along the canals…

..and some great views.

There are also signs that Autumn is here.

This medieval building was built using wood, which was a fire hazard.  Most buildings in Bruges were built in a style known as Brick Gothic. 

After our boat ride we wander the streets and see this.  Lots of people are entering the building so Bob says we should follow them.  

It is an open house for the  new Brusk Art Gallery which will open in 2026.  We enter a room with shipping plastic wrap.  We aren’t sure what it is supposed to be…

…until we enter the next room and there is a  large tape art installation in the form of a web structure, and there are people climbing inside of them!  All of a sudden the giant spider we saw earlier makes sense.

I want to climb inside…my turn next!

It was interesting trying to walk around, but not really all that difficult.

This was so much fun!  Here I am inside this giant web-like structure.

There is the hole I climbed through to get inside.All too soon it is time to climb down. This was such fun.

There were several of these ‘webs’ in this huge room. What a clever idea.

Belgium is famous for its chocolate, which comes in all shapes and sizes!

There is a Carillon performance at 4:00.  We find a spot to sit just as it starts and listen to a variety of music for the next hour. The carillon is a piano like instrument that plays 47 bells.

One of the musicians was very young.

I do a bit of pen sketching while I listened to the music.  The last song played was Beethoven’s Ode To Joy and most of the audience stood up. The lady beside me told me that it is the anthem for the European Union, which has its headquarters in Brussels.  

This is an interesting building, skinny at the front and then widening out as along the streets on either side. 

We wanted to visit the Church of Our Lady which houses The Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. This world-famous white marble statue is the only work by Michelangelo that left Italy during his lifetime. But the church closed at 5:00 so we are out of luck.

We have to settle for viewing this poster.

We order a waffle with dark chocolate to share before the long drive back to our bnb. It  had a bit too much chocolate for us, but was still delicious.

Arras, France

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Day 10     Tuesday. September 9, 2025

Bob went for a walk this morning and I had a much needed sleep in. After lunch we go for a little walk to checkout the two big squares near our bnb.  As we walk along the side of the Grand’Place we read that during WWI the buildings on the right side were destroyed by bombs.  After the war this area was identically reconstructed.  We see some of the original columns with shrapnel marks and the smooth newer columns .

The Grand’Place was laid out to accommodate huge markets and was the site of one of the largest grain markets in France.  The wheat sheaves sculpted on the buildings facades are an indication of this.

The UNESCO listed Belfry soars high above the town hall at one end of the Place des Heros.  The square is bordered on three sides with Flemish-Baroque buildings.  Unfortunately the elevator to visit the Belfry is broken so we aren’t able to climb to the top for what must be a fantastic view.

Many of the streets and sidewalks are cobblestones…they are picturesque but can make walking a bit difficult.

This beautiful door must be at least four meters tall!  French doors are amazing.

We walk along the streets and get a bit lost but all roads seem to lead back to the Town Hall with its majestic Belfry.  It isn’t often that we see an old building actually being torn down.  Seems to us that they are usually eventually renovated instead. This one is definitely coming down.   I love the ivy growing up the side of the neighbouring building.  It is already starting to turn red….I suppose autumn is not far away.

The back of the town hall is pretty impressive as well.

We saw this gentleman walking around with his cat on his shoulders earlier.  We sit beside him on the bench and I ask if I can take his photo.  He tells us that he loves cats and he loves Canadians…in that order!

There are lots of interesting people, and I love people watching.  We see this young man and his dog, both dressed in Hawaiian shirts.

People here seem to like Teddy bears. We have seen several of them either sitting on chairs or hanging out of windows.

We go back to our bnb for a bit of a rest and then head back to the Place de Heros to try some of Arras’s signature fries for dinner at 9:00.  Many of the restaurants and bars don’t open in the evening until 8:00.  Does Bob look happy?

The Belfry looks spectacular all lit up…

and there are lots of people enjoying the evening.

The Trois Lappars  is the oldest house on the Grand Place, it was reconstructed in 1467 and its facade has what is known as a stepped gable.  Our bnb is only a couple of blocks from these two squares and all the shops and restaurants.

Metier Museum, Picasso Museum, and Life Drawing

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Day 8.    Sunday, September 7, 2025

We picked up our car this morning, a Ford Hybrid with a nice big trunk.  Driving back from Gare de Lyon to our bnb went well, and our host let us park in his yard for the night which we really appreciated.  There are next to no parking spots on the streets in this neighbourhood.

I left for drawing in Montmartre, which was an hour away.  I arrived just in time for the session, and the organizer, Deni, remembered me from the last time I was here, two years ago!

Aurora, five 2 minute poses, 1 5min pose

Two 5 minute poses, three 10 minute poses

One very challenging foreshortened 25 minute pose.

Before catching the metro home I stop to watch four very muscular handsome young men performing for donations, while I eat a yummy crepe sucré avec banane for my dinner.

There were a lot of steps on this metro trip so I decided to count them on the way home. Including these 104 spiral steps I went up and down 456 steps!!  So, going and coming from drawing I climbed up and down a total of 912 steps. No wonder French people are so healthy!  I was rather proud of myself climbing these spiral steps and passing a group of people much younger than I am huffing and puffing as they rested on one of the landings! 

Short skirts are in fashion…very very short skirts!

While I was at drawing Bob visited two museums.  The Musée des Arts et Métiers is a museum of technological innovation that exhibits over 2,400 inventions.  This is the first battery that was invented in 1799 by Volta.

This first sewing machine was invented in 1830. Dozens of these machines were destroyed by 200 tailors in 1831 who feared for their jobs.

The first steam driven vehicle was invented in 1770.

Leon Gaumont’s Sonophone combines image and sound for the first time in the history of cinema in 1900.

Bob spent a lot of time at the Picasso Museum…he texted me that he wasn’t sure what the exit door looks like!  The very large L’Aubade (1942) painting of two figures symbolized the violence of the war years.  Baiser, or the Kiss was painted in 1969. There was an interesting wall of portraits and a room with many of his sculptures. These are only a few of the 5,000 pieces of art at this museum.

This early Picasso portrait of Gustave Coquot is from 1901.  Picasso’s started painting when he was eight years old and didn’t start cubism until his thirties.

Bob took a photo of this Modigliani just for me, because he knows that I love Modigliani’s paintings. It was in the Picasso museum because both artists were influenced by African art and Picasso admired Modigliani’s work. We drive to Arras tomorrow so tonight we pack and tidy up.  It was great being able to attend three life drawing sessions in three days but it was a bit tiring too.  I don’t think I will find many more life drawing groups for a while.

Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Jardin de Luxembourg and Jardin des Plantes.

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Day 7 Saturday, September 6, 2025

Today I catch the metro about 12:30 to go drawing at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and Bob stays home a bit longer before going exploring on his own. He caught the metro to the Gare du Nord and then walked all the way south to the Jardin de Luxembourg to sit and read for a bit.

Sadly the studios of the Académie are no longer in the same historic building. These three photos are from previous trips and visits to draw in the 121 year old studios where so many artists have been before me.

On the way to the new location which is only a couple of blocks from the old studios I see these flowers that had been placed on a window ledge….I wonder what iis the story behind these roses?

Here is the new studio.  It seems rather sterile and bare, but at least the life drawing sessions are still in operation.  I believe that they are trying to find a better studio but the lady who talked about all this spoke very quickly and I only caught part of what she was saying.  My French has improved, but not enough to understand the whole conversation. You can see my spot in the foreground of the photo, with my sketchbook on the stool and my red bag on the floor.

The model was tall and my drawings weren’t great today, but it is all a learning experience. Four 5 minute poses.

a 10 and a 15 minute pose

A 30n and a 35 minute pose.

After drawing I walked to the Jardin de Luxembourg to meet Bob. Thank heavens for cell phones and texting or I would never have found him.  The gardens were very busy today.The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin de Luxembourg that was built in 1630.  I really like this fountain.

 In 2006 we saw a giant nose floating in the water as part of an art installation.

We walk toward the Jardin de Plantes, a botanical garden about 45 minutes away. We pass the Pantheon, which is a mausoleum containing the graves of many famous people including Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, Louis Braille, and Alexandre Dumas.  It is closed and I don’t think we will have time to visit this trip…guess we need to return to Paris at least one more time! I do not miss eating out in Paris.  Sitting check by jowl beside smokers is not my idea of fun.  I much prefer the meals we prepare at home in our bnb’s.

As we enter the Jardin des Plantes we see this huge Plantane tree which was planted in 1785 and is now classified as an ‘Arbre Historique et Remarquables’.  It amazes me that someone knows exactly when this tree was planted… 240 years ago!

These little orchids are growing at the base of the tree.  We have the same ones growing back home in Alberta. Sue loved this interesting flower and wanted a closer look.

Another huge old tree.  Can you tell I love trees.

We couldn’t find Sue but then Bob spotted her checking out this rather strange creature.

The Botanical garden was a bit of a disappointment, we had just started to explore some of the more interesting areas when we were told to leave as the park was closing, a half hour before it actually closed.

Everyday on our walk to the metro near our bnb we pass these beautiful Passion flowers.

 We got home about 8:30, another full day.

Eiffel Tower, Bourdelle Museum and Drink and Draw

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Day 6,      Friday, September 5, 2025

 It always takes me awhile to feel comfortable drawing when we are on holidays, and as I hadn’t done any drawing for almost a month before we left, I really had a hard time getting started.  While we were sitting in Notre Dame during Vespers yesterday I finally took the plunge.  

Then riding home the metro I did these quick sketches.Friday we managed to start our day at noon. Soon we were at the Eiffel Tower.  Somehow it doesn’t seem right to be in Paris and not visit this iconic landmark, even though we have visited it several times already including climbing to the second level. We will try and book a visit on our return to Paris at the end of our trip to go all the way to the very top level!  These tickets book up weeks ahead.Two years ago we picnicked on the grass near here, but there were not nearly as many people as there are today.

We found a bench in the shade away from the crowds to eat our lunch and watched as seven military personnel complete with machine guns approach on the path in front of us.  I held up my phone to take photo and the leader signalled towards me with his finger…then one of the men following him came over to tell us that we were not allowed to take photos.  I wonder if they do not want photos of their faces published anywhere…so after they passed and we were walking behind them I snapped this one.  France is on high alert right now, but these are the first fully armed military we have seen this trip.

One more view of the Eiffel Tower, looking towards the bridge across Seine behind it. There are people everywhere, enjoying the sunshine.  The first time we visited we could walk right under the four massive legs but now this area is all closed off behind glass panels and everyone who wants to get close has to go through a security checkpoint which includes bag checks and full body scan, just like at the airports.

It is a 45 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower to the Bourdelle Museum.  On the way we pass the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. You can still see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Just a bit further we pass this hotel that has trees and shrubs growing all over it.  I wonder what happens when they outgrow their planters?

There are all sorts of interesting building in Paris.  As we near the museum we pass this car park, completely panelled in brilliant colours.

The museum dedicated to Antoine Bourdelle is free. We first find the cafe and have some tea and cookies.  It felt good to just sit and relax for a while.  Bourdelle was a student of Rodin and after Rodin’s death Bourdelle dominated the field of monumental sculpture.  We see many examples of these monumental sculptures.  The museum is at the site of Bourdelles original  studio. As he became successful he added more rooms and gardens until it appeared much as it does today.  

One of the studios has this huge study for a hand.

Bourdelle was 50 years old when he finally became successful thanks to his Hercules the Archer statue. It represents the Greek hero wielding his bow to shoot down the Stymphalian birds. Copies of this sculpture were created in three versions and are in numerous museums in France and abroad.

There is a room full of magnificent sculptures…

and there are more sculptures in the gardens and courtyards.  Can you see Sue? (short for souris which means mouse in French). Since this little green mouse stowed away in our luggage she insists on coming along with us on our travels.

Sue is very curious and likes to check thing out for herself.

There are two of these huge horse sculptures at the museum.  

Bob sits in one of the gardens to read for a bit and I sketch one of the sculptures close by named Penelope, a larger than life size bronze of one of the wives of Odysseus, who waited faithfully for her husband to return. Bourdelle used the features of two women who loved him, he generous curves of his first wife, Stéphanie Van Parys, and the posture of his student, Cléopâtre Sevastos, the muse who would become his second wife.

After our visit to the museum. I went to a Drink and Draw session nearby and Bob headed for home.  Here are the drawings from my first life drawing session this trip.

2 minute poses and one 5 minute pose…

two more 5 minute poses…

two 5 minute and one 10 minute pose…and a 15, a 10 and a 25 minute pose.  

Ada is our model tonight, and I am sure that I recognize her from a previous life drawing session in Paris. She thinks that she recognizes me too! but we are unable to figure out where I might have drawn her before. I will have to check my other holiday sketchbooks when I get home. I take the metro and get home at 10:00. Bob meets me at our metro stop and carries my art stuff home for me…I am pooped…it was a ten hour 15,000 steps day!

Notre Dame

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Day 5, Thursday, September 4, 2025

The morning didn’t get off to a good start. We tried to purchase an online e-SIM from Orange. I think it took almost two hours! Seems we need to confirm the purchase on our credit cards by entering the code they send to our phone number. Only problem is the phone number they have on file is our home land line! It took forever but we finally got it done, so now we have two different cell phone providers…hopefully at least one of them will be working when we need them. It poured rain this morning so at least we were still home when that happened. After the rain we set off to visit Notre Dame.

The restored Notre Dame is now open for visitors. I last visited the inside of Notre Dame in 2014 when I spent a month in Paris. It looks amazing, it is pretty much impossible to tell what is original and what has been replaced because of the fire. Our first view of the interior is stunning.

The Rose window on the south side of the Church.

This sculpted wall from the 14th century depicts scenes from the life of Christ. It forms a separation between the choir and the ambulatory. This is just one small section of the long carved wall depicting the story of the life of Christ.

The side chapels have been cleaned, repaired and repainted.  They are absolutely stunning.

I love the sun shining through the stained glass windows.

Another view of one of the two rose windows with dancing lights from the stained glass.

Looking up towards the second floor galleries I see more coloured light.  The chandeliers provide a warm glow as well.

We are impressed with the restoration.  Notre Dame is back!  It took 700 million euros and one thousand artisans to complete the restoration.  We stay for Vespers and listen to the organ music and a young woman with the loveliest voice singing the Psalms. This is how cathedrals should be visited, when they are full of music and prayer.

Outside we take our first selfie of this trip. Unfortunately the rooftop is not yet open.  I loved the time I spent up there in 2014, visiting the gargoyles and enjoying the wonderful views of Paris.  There are 387 steps to climb in the south tower to visit the rooftop.  It is supposed to open September 20th.  We are planning make time to do this on our return to Paris on the way home.We walk towards the Louvre and find a place for tea and a snack.  We stroll along the Seine and find a place to sit, but it was very busy, lots of cyclists, joggers and people going by so we walk to the Tuileries Garden just west of the Louvre. The name comes from the tile kilns which occupied the site before the palace.  

  On the way we walk through the Flower market, just before they close.

This lady was making the most fantastic bubbles, they were huge and there were so many of them blowing in the wind. I would love to know the recipe for her bubble mixture.

This bride and groom were having their wedding photos taken but I thought they weren’t very comfortable following the photographers cues.  There were lots of retakes.

The sun is setting on the Olympic Cauldron…very impressive.

Time to head home and we walk a few blocks to our metro line, which Bob can’t find….I see it right away…it is kind of hard to miss!

Monte Carlo, France

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Day 57, Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The train ride to Monte Carlo is a relaxing 70 minutes. I like trains and would be happy to do more travel by train.  I do a bit of sketching, some are more successful than others, and even more people watching.  I sketch in ballpoint pen so  it is difficult to correct errors.  A tall, slim young woman dressed in black with very long black hair sits near us and a couple stops later another young woman who could be her twin gets on the train, also all dressed in black…and they sit together.  We can’t decide if they are related or friends.

The area near the train station isn’t very fancy but look at the size of the trees growing on these balconies!

We are soon in an area wth shops. This bridal shop had a sign in the window about a royal wedding but it wasn’t clear if they made the royal wedding dress.

We head up this very long set of very wide steps to get to the Palais Princier where the ruling Grimaldi’s still live.

There are some good views of buildings on the nearby hills.  The buildings are very close to one another, there is not much open space at all.

We missed the changing of the guards at noon, even though we thought we had planned to get there early.  Only our bus was late, and then our train was late….even best laid plans go astray.  But this guard walked right towards us and then kindly stopped so I could take his picture…or so it seemed.  Turns out it was where he always stopped to turn and go back the other way!

It starts to rain so we duck into the shops nearby.  I think this fridge magnet is the closest we will get to actually holding a 500€ casino chip!

And this is the closest Bob will get to being captain of a boat!

The old town streets next to the palace are narrow and packed with shops and restaurants and offers us a bit of shelter from the rain.

We hide out in this church for a while too.  it was nice to sit for a bit out of the rain, before we make our way towards the harbour.

There is a good view of the harbour from up here.

There is a lovely garden along the sea on our way down to the harbour.  I loved this sculpture called Invitation by K. Verkade.  One of the side benefits of writing this blog is that I take the time to do a bit of research on some of the things we have seen, and I end up discovering interesting new things…like this sculptor and his work.

Bob finds us a bench that is dry under several big coniferous trees that offer shelter from the rain, so we sit for a bit and have tea and cookies and take a selfie.

This is the view from our sheltered bench… but this sculpture nearby gives a more accurate portrayal of the weather! We saw this statue “The Cloak of Conscience” elsewhere on one of our trips, but I don’t remember where.  The artist, Anna Chromy studied at the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, my favourite life drawing studio!   She is another interesting artist I read about today.   I did not know that this sculpture was also carved in marble and stands over 15 feet tall!  This website has some amazing photos of its creation.. https://annachromy.com/cloak-of-conscience/from-escavation-to-completion/

A big frame overlooking Monaco offers the opportunity for a rather wet portrait.

But then the sun came out!

And we walk down a very long ramp to the harbour area…

where we walk along some of the roads used for the Monaco Grand Prix.  Bob poses with this statue of the winner of the1955 Grand Prix, Juan Fangio.  The F1 cars have changed a bit since then!

We visit the Prince of Monaco’s Car Collection.

This new 3,500 m2 building holds  around 70 vehicles including racing cars that have competed in the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Here are a few of Bob’s favourites.  

And of course there is a red convertible!

We stroll along the harbour where the rich and famous dock their yachts.  I think this is one of the biggest ones we have seen… even bigger than the one in Antibes near the sculpture made up of letters.  It has two curved staircases!

The people standing on the dock give an idea of the size of this thing.

The boats parked alongside it look very small in comparison.

Next stop is the Monte Carlo Casino.  I wish we could have taken photos inside.  It is over the top ornate, and yes, we walked through the gaming rooms where some of the James Bond movies were filmed.  Pictures are allowed in the lobby. so we prop our phone for a selfie.

We need to show our passports and pay 18€ each just to get into the gaming rooms…but we do each get a 10€ voucher to spend.  Interestingly, it is against the law for citizens of Monaco to work or gamble in the casino!

There weren’t many people gambling…I think it was a bit too early in the day.  We spend an hour or so trying our luck on the slot machines.  We spend our two 10€ vouchers and after putting another 50€  into the machines we aren’t doing all that well…

until we go back to the first machine we played and we start to win.  In the end our time in the casino only cost us 26€ and we had a lot of fun.  The casino is starting to get busier just as we are leaving.  It would have been interesting to be there later in the evening but we need to get home.

If you would like to see photos of the inside of the gaming rooms check this link. https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/search/monte-carlo-casino-interior

It is already getting dark when we leave the casino.  

We take selfies in the reflection of this giant metallic ball, with the casino in the background.

As we head back towards the train station we walk through a garden area with great views of the casino and the very expensive hotels nearby.

The casino is very pretty all lit up at night.

We pass a tree with these beautiful huge flowers that are at least as big as my outstretched hand…. and another big flowering Brugmansia.

Getting back to our train was really difficult.  There is construction and we can not find our way into the train station!  We walk around and around and although the sign says that we are at the train station there is no way we can find to get inside.  Finally we see a young lady who seems to know where to go, so we follow her through a door that says no public entrance, walk through part of a parkade and we finally find an elevator that takes us up to the train station.  We buy our tickets and then have to run like crazy to catch the train so we don’t have to wait for an hour for the next one….and it is packed, no seats, standing room only!  Luckily after about a half an hour most people get off at Nice and we finally get to sit down.  Guess who is sitting opposite us…those two long haired young women who rode the train with us this morning.  They were carrying shopping bags from Nice.  I was so thankful to have a seat but too tired to even try to draw.  it was a really full day.