Last Day in Paris

I can't believe it has been a month already.  I have loved Paris but I am ready to go home and see Jim, John and of course Lucy.  

Paris has really changed in the month.  This photos is of the summer flower beds at Luxembourg Gardens taken on my first day here. 

 I took this photo on Oct 15th the day Patsy arrived.  

This is one of our favorite places in Luxembourg we just refer to it as the stag. 

The winter flowers had just been planted. 

Today the stag looked like this. The mums are blooming.

Plus the leaves are falling.  Soon the trees will be bare. 

We met Susan and Bill for lunch at L'Amuse Bouche in the 14th Arrondissement. 

It has incredible food and very reasonable prices. 

 

 We had a fabulous lunch which included this pistachio & chocolate soufflé. 

This is the before photo  

This is the after photo.  You all know how I feel about food and this was amazing.

  Happy at the end of our lunch

 After lunch we strolled thru the Montparnasse Cemetery.  I love the cemeteries.

 Next we came across a design shop with Christmas ornaments.  

Hint - there may be some French ornaments at the exchanges this year.  

We ended the day with a walk along the Seine.  

Notre Dame

Pont Nuef

Paris has been fun, exciting, beautiful, everything I expected and more but I am ready to go home.  

Thanks for following my adventure.  

Vicki
PS - I plan on putting up some more post about Paris once I get home so stay tuned.

This is for you Karen

Today I managed to find the quilting fabric store I had ran across while I was here in '08. I had been looking for it all month.  It is a beautiful store with lots of French fabric some of which is manufactured in the states.  I took these photos for my sister Karen, the quilter.  

These are cupcake pincushions.

Sue giving us a close up

Karen - you will find out why I was in the store when I see you at the Thanksgiving.   I hope you are reading the blog.  This one is for you sista.  Love you.

The Grounds at Fontainebleau

The grounds at Fontainebleau are beautiful.  

A fireplace in every room; a chimney for every fireplace.

Chateau de Fontainebleau

Sunday we headed to Fontainebleau.  This was an adventure as we had to negotiate the Gare de Lyon and take a train.  The original castle on the grounds dates back to 1137.   Saint Louis founded a convent on the site in 1259 and the chapel still remains.  In 1528 Francois I had buildings rebuilt on the medieval foundations. Various Kings have added on to the structure through the years.  Per the guide,"Fontainebleau was the sovereign's retreat of choice for 8 centuries.  The architecture and the decor bear witness to this uninterrupted devotion."  Royals have been born there and Napoleon abdicated his thrown there.  There is also a small Napoleon Museum.
It is out of Paris and not a lot of tourist were around which made it really nice.

Napoleon Museum

Napoleon's field bed

Napoleon's hat and coat

His field kit

The chateau

This was a hall of painted plates.  Each plate commemorated an event in the kings life.

Hall built by Francois I

Hall built by Henry IV

The Diana Gallery (goddess Diana)  This now houses over 16,000 volumes of books belonging to Napoleon

Marie Antoinette's bedchamber

Marie's mother of pearl desk.  This photo does not do it justice.  It is beautiful.

The room where Napoleon signed his abdication papers. 

Thomas Becket consecrated this chapel for Louis VII

Telegrams from the Nose

Last Friday night we went with Susan and Bill to a free concert at the Louvre. The concert was multi media using live performers as well as video.  It was based on the novel, "The Nose".  The speaking was in french so we didn't get much of that but the verbiage projected on the screen was in English.  It was set in Russia based around the central character Fyodor Burkhain, a close ally of Stalin, who was tried and executed by firing squad on his orders in 1938.   The musicians had some really unusual instruments.

When we exited the Louvre there was a full moon.  

Patsy and I jumped on the metro up to Trocadero to watch the Eiffel Tower do it's hourly twinkle.