la panthéon

i wouldn't go so far as to say i 'stumbled upon' the pantheon (or if you want to be fancy, la panthéon), as i figured it was in the general rive gauche vicinity... but it was only after taking a few 'there-should-be-a-metro-somewhere-around-here' turns that all of a sudden there it was in front of me.

i was actually heading home from a coffee & crêpe date with a friend, but being only 6 o'clock i figured why not - and decided to check the late 18th century basilica-turned-temple.

i had the place almost to myself, which seemed to magnify the vastness of the building. i was so confused as to what its actual purpose was, so i had a chat to the little man at the entrance and he more or less told me that it was originally a basilica for christian worship until the late 19th century - when it was given a secular use and turned from a church to a 'resting place' for the ashes of 'the nation's great men'.

there's also a crypt underground, where lies victor hugo & voltaire....as well as léon gambetta's preserved heart. lovely.

such an impressive building & proof that a surprise, un-planned visit can be a great one.

S.

gambetta's preserved heart

les boussats, part II

thursday afternoon had me counting down the minutes (orrrr seconds..) until my train would pull in to the platform at gare montparnasse & speed me (literally, tgv's roll at 300 km/h) south to angoulême. you might remember me mentioning this place a few months back...i visited my 2nd home in february, and figured it was time for another visit. 5 months is too long!

i spotted fleur, iris & christel the moment i stepped off the train. eee! a delicious dinner of many courses ensued, followed by all six of us together on the couch watching le discours d'un roi (king's speech). was just as good in french as it was in english.

over the weekend, we cycled through the nearby forest, sat around the pool, swapped stories & relaxed. i was able to find some time to dig out my old sketchbook and fill up some pages. with vine-covered stone houses & climbing vines, i didn't have to look far for inspiration.

monday came around all too quickly. before i knew it i was back on the tgv to paris. to add a silver lining to an already fabulous weekend away, there was a mixup with the tickets and i got bumped up to first class. life is sweet.

with all these trips away from paris, you'd think i didn't like paris...but it's quite the opposite! i miss the city of lights when i'm away. definitely a sign that i (along with so many others) have fallen in love with the city's charm.
...although that reminds me - not everyone does. read this article to know what i mean...

on that note, i leave you with a few pictures from my weekend at my home away from home.


gros bisous,



S.

peggy guggenheim

still in venice, but i thought this part of our visit deserved its own post. the peggy guggenheim collection is a modern art gallery made up of the american art collector, peggy guggenheim's personal collection of works.
she acquired a heap of works that she viewed as the most important art from the first half of the 20th century. lots of surrealism & cubism - max ernst, henri magritte, joan miró, man ray and even a salvador dali painting.

the collection had a garden filled with modern sculptures including this impressive mirror & glass triangular prism that was a real life optical illusion. so trippy..

the garden is also home to venice's wish tree (the brainchild of yoko ono, titled 'to peggy with love x'), where visitors are invited to jot down a wish onto a slip of paper, then attach it to tiny branches of the tree. a novel concept with a magical effect - the hundred's of little pieces of paper all ripple in the breeze. we had a cheeky stalk of everyone's wishes. some were deep & meaningful: 'paix sur la terre', some were fun: 'to fly' and some were just.... odd: 'puppy'.

i'd definitely recomend a visit to peggy guggenheim if you're in venice. it's a refreshing break from all the  dramatic venetian paintings & it's in a really peaceful corner of venice - the sestière of dorsoduro. it's right near the santa maria della salute church.


arrivederci ...(can't say that without imagining brad pitt in inglorious basterds),




S.