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.