I was inspired by a recent spread in the July issue of the Jamie Oliver Magazine (see post here) to post my own pictures of a recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey. An unbelievably interesting, beautiful, curious city, it is a definite must-visit of this year. For more travel information, see next post by clicking here.
See more photographs by clicking here.
How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes,
I struggle to find any truth in your lies.
And now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know,
This weakness I feel I must finally show.
Lend me your hand and we’ll conquer them all,
But lend me your heart and I’ll just let you fall.
Lend me your eyes I can change what you see,
But your soul you must keep totally free.
Awake my soul, awake my soul. Awake my soul. You were made to meet your maker.
La-Roche-Guyon village is 10km east of Vernon in the Ile de France (Paris) region of France. The small village of La-Roche-Guyon grew around the foot of the Chateau de la Roche-Guyon, next to the Seine River.
The village itself now forms part of the Natural Park of Véxin, and is an attractive traditional village of the region and period. You can walk along the river front or take a boat upstream – a relaxing way to enjoy the afternoon after lunch in one of the villages cafes!
With a passion for gardening as well as an interest in colors, Claude Monet, founder of Impressionism, constructed both his water garden and flower garden (see post here) as true works of art. Walking through his gardens, over Japanese bridges and through rows of flowers, you can marvel at the floral compositions and at the infamous nymphéas, his greatest sources of inspiration. A cycle of Monet’s water-lily paintings, known as the Nympheas, was arranged on the ground floor of the Musee d’Orangerie in 1927 – these enormous paintings can be still seen today (see previous post here).
It took me some time to understand my nymphéas…..I grew them without thinking of painting them . You cannot become immersed in a landscape in a single day…And then, all of a sudden, I had the revelation of theenchantments of my pond….I took my palette. Since then, I have had almost no other model. - Claude Monet
Visit the Fondation Claude Monet in Giverny at 84, rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny, France. The foundation is open everyday from the April 1st to November 1st from 9.30 to 18.30. For more information, visit the website. For more information about the village of Giverny, visit the tourist website.
PS. I love Nichole Robertson’s post of Giverny, see it here on her blog, littlebrownpen!
On Sunday, before heading back home, we drove to Giverny. Giverny sits on the “right Bank” of the River Seine, 80 km from Paris, on the border between the province of Normandy and Ile-de-France. Why visit this small village? Claude Monet’s house and gardens, of course!
Claude Monet lived in Giverny for 43 years. His house and gardens, the village of Giverny and its surroundings, were his subject matter and they still attract half a million visitors each year from all over the world. There are two parts in Monet’s garden: a flower garden called Clos Normand in front of the house and a Japanese inspired water garden on the other side of the road. The two parts of Monet’s garden contrast and complement one another. I am dedicating separate posts to the two gardens, as the two are so incredibly different (see the post on the first garden here, and the second garden here).
After our visit, we had a picnic on a vast field right outside of Giverny. I couldn’t help but take a few photographs of our surroundings…
The third day started with a walk to the Quartier Latin – across the Seine and to the Gilbert bookstore + a Starbucks coffee for a necessary caffeine kick.
Then we went to the Monnaie de Paris, for the photography exhibit, Willy Ronis: A Poetics of Engagement (click here for a more detailed post on this exhibit), on display from now until 22nd August 2010. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00-19:00 and Thursdays open until 21:20, 7€/5€ reduced. The Monnaie de Paris can be found at 11 quai de Conti, Mº Pont Neuf. Visit the website for more information.
There is something so special about the Seine River (more boats!)…
I’m sure you have noticed my obsession with Parisian rooftops (see here). I found this very interesting – the outside of the chimneys on the side of the building.
Nous avons flâné…
My sister and I visited the Petit Palais for the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit. On display until August 29, 2010, Le Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts of the City of Paris and the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent have joined forces to present the first comprehensive retrospective of his work. The exhibition covers 40 years from creation, from 1962 to 2002 and discover the foundations and grand gestures of aesthetic revolution whose name symbolizes the revolution of style. The Petit Palais can be found on Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris. For more information, visit the museums’ website.
The Petit Palais was built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900 to Charles Girault’s designs and now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris). It is based on a trapezium shape and is made up of four wings around a semi-circular garden bordered by a richly decorated peristyle. I found a sculpture by Renoir in the garden…
Stormy, bellowing clouds on our walk back, past the Place de la Concorde. I love how serious the clouds make this picture look…
For dinner, we found this cute little place called Restaurant Alivi, on 27 rue du Roi de Sicile in the Marais (see the website). With its oak beams, stone walls, dim lighting and Corsican music wafting overhead you could be forgiven for thinking you have stumbled upon a tavern hidden away in the mountains. L’Alivi is an oasis of calm and quiet, something out of another time and place. Tucked in a pedestrian passage giving out onto rue Rivoli, it is hard to believe you are in the center of the busy 4th arrondissment.
One of my favorite places of all of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg. It is the largest park in Paris, in the 6e arrondissement, and is the park of the French Senate which is housed in the Luxembourg Palace. What I love the most about this park is the tranquility and the calmness under which older folks come to play a game a chess…
It is a place where people come to read a book in one of these green chairs…
And a place where fathers take their children to play with toy sailboats on a Sunday afternoon…
