Another pic of Notre Dame from a different angle.
Just a neat building.
The Seine River runs separates the east and west sides of Paris. The last day, a small group of us went for a walk by the Seine. It was nice.
This is Saint Genvieve. When Attila the Hun and his hoards were rumoured to be planning and invasion, many prepared to flee Paris, but a young girl convinced them to hold their postion and pray. So they prayed. For some reason Attila did not attack the city. Now you know why they made her the patron saint of France. She's my fav. Clink her pic for a better view.
This is the view from our window on the 7th floor. All those stairs! Up and down and up and down. Ugh. Anyway, in the background right above the CocaCola sign you can see the tip of the Eiffel Tower. At night we could see it better. It was beautiful.
This is a pond at Giverny's gardens. This trip was a great joy to my friend Queen Bee after she had been so disappointed that the Tuleries Gardens didn't have any flowers.
This is by far the kewlest pic by the standards of actually taking it. It's the Arc de Triomphe. I took this one in the middle of the intersection. LOL Parisian drivers are really scary, too, so it was pretty brave of us to get out there. Click the pic for a better view.
L'amour et Psyche. My favorite sculpture in the Louvre. It's so romantic, and Psyche herself is a facinating and tragic character. Click the pic for a better view.
From what I remember, Psyche was the most beautiful woman in Greece and was causing an uproar among the men because the all wanted to marry her. L'amour, or Eros, was sent to fix the situation by making her fall in love with someone, forcing her to be married. Unfortunately, before he shot her, he caught sight of her face, and became so mesmerised by her beauty that he pricked himself with his arrow. He fell deeply in love with her. Tormented by his forbidden love of a mortal, he asked Apollo for help. Soon Psyche's suitors stopped calling. Her father didn't understand this, so he asked Apollo for help and was told that she might be destined to marry a god. So they put Psyche up on a mountain. She fell asleep and when she awoke, she was on a flowery plateau with a golden palace. Eros told her that they were to be married, but he could only see her at night. He was afraid that if she discoved he was the son of Aphrodite she would worship his as a god, rather than love him as an equal.
She loved their nightly rendez-vous, but was very lonely during the day. She asked him for a visit from her sister, but he warned her that they would be their doom. She insisted, and her sisters came to visit. At first they were overjoyed that she was alive, but soon they became envious and began asking questions about her husband. They told her that he was a monster. One night she took a lamp to his face to see. She didn't see a monster, but the a beautiful god. She pricked herself on one of his arrows as she tried to brush her fingers against his hair. She swooned with love for him and a drop of oil dropped on his shoulder and he woke up. He told her that there can be no love if there is no trust, and he left.
She beseeched all of the gods and goddesses, but none of them wanted to incur the wrath of Aphrodite. Finally Demiter advised her to go to Aphrodite and begged for forgiveness. Aphrodite gave her three nearly impossible tasks to complete. After the first two, Psyche was order to go to the underworld to retrieve a box from Persephone, but she was not to open it. She retrieved the box, and on her way back, curiousity got the best of her and she opened the box. She fell into a deadly sleep. Eros came to her and woke her with a kiss. Zeus performed their marriage rites himself.