Lesa's Book Critiques

 Lesa's Book Critiques will be gaining some new features since its mistress, my pal Lesa Holstine, retired from her long career as Super Librarian.  

One of the new features will be Sunday Spotlights.  

I'm lucky enough to be her first Spotlight guest. 

https://lesasbookcritiques.com/sunday-spotlight-kaye-wilkinson-barley/

Evening Concert, Sainte-Chapelle

Evening Concert, Sainte-Chapelle
John Updike, 1932 - 2009

The celebrated windows flamed with light
directly pouring north across the Seine;
we rustled into place. Then violins
vaunting Vivaldi’s strident strength, then Brahms,
seemed to suck with their passionate sweetness,
bit by bit, the vigor from the red,
the blazing blue, so that the listening eye
saw suddenly the thick black lines, in shapes
of shield and cross and strut and brace, that held
the holy glowing fantasy together.
The music surged; the glow became a milk,
a whisper to the eye, a glimmer ebbed
until our beating hearts, our violins
were cased in thin but solid sheets of lead.

Vic's Thoughts on Paris

And now, here's a few thoughts about Paris from my long-time, very dear friend and traveling companion, Vickie Fennell Smith.

Our Atlanta condo was built in 1969 and is, by local standards, “old.” What strikes me most about traveling through Europe is just how “OLD” everything is. The history, the architecture and the art, all so rich, beautiful, (in some cases creepy) and, yes, “OLD” that it takes my breath away.

Sainte-Chapelle, Lisa’s favorite of our adventures, commissioned by King Louis IX to house his collection of Passion relics, was dedicated into service in 1248. Now that’s OLD.

The Place des Vosges, built by Henri IV between 1605 and 1612, became the home of Cardinal Richelieu (and his mistress) from 1615 - 1627, as well as Victor Hugo in the early 1800’s. On this site in 1559, ill-fitting armor was blamed for the death of King Henri II who was mortally wounded in a jousting tournament.

Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate and extravagant bridge in Paris was finished in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle World’s Fair. Pont Neuf or the “New Bridge” connecting the city center to the Ile de la Cite’, is actually the oldest bridge in Paris and was built between 1578 and 1607.

In the 1770’s, the city’s underground Lutetian limestone mines were converted into an ossuary to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries, and the remains of more than 6 million people were moved here mostly under the cover of night.

Musee d’Orsay, my favorite of the Paris museums, is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay railway station built between 1898 and 1900, and holds the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world. Its many rooms and halls contain the works of Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh.

Ahhhh….Paris. Old. Breathtaking.

p.s. - Don't forget to check out Lesa's piece on Paris today at her place - https://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2017/10/tuesday-in-paris-sept-26.html