Hanging Out in Paris

I came back to Paris for a few weeks. We have friends from Texas visiting with us. It is very hot and our old Parisian style apartment is not air conditioned. This Alaska girl is cooking!

The first thing I noticed upon my return to Paris is all the beautiful greenery...when I left buds were on the trees and shrubs. Here are a few photos from my walks around Paris last week.

Luxembourg Palace and Gardens...an astounding number of beautiful annuals. I am going to visit this garden often.

Fountains! Most were drained for winter when I left in May. This is the Fountain of the Observatory in the Garden of Marco Polo, adjacent to the Luxembourg gardens. Four sculptors worked together on this piece. The nude women are holding a representation of the world that had four continents. In the 16th century, before the discovery that Australia was a separate continent, it was believed there were only four continents, Africa, Asia, America and Europe.

This sculpture was at the back side of a fountain in the Luxembourg garden called the Medici Fountain...this is a grotto style fountain with the back wall creating a cave wall...along with large trees that completely shade the setting...might have to visit here again during these hot days! The large character in the sculpture is one of the cyclops from Greek mythology called, Polyphemus. He has just discovered the lovers, Acis and Galatea. 

This fountain has a couple of names...Fountain of Four Bishops and Fountain of St. Sulpice. It sits in front of St. Sulpice, the second largest cathedral after Notre Dame in Paris. The four bishops placed at the top were renowned for their oratory skills. The fountain faced some criticism when it was finished. Some thought it blocked the entrance to the cathedral. One critic thought the lions looked like they were irritated to have water splashing on their rear ends!

I'd have to say that the rest of Paris blocks the entrance to the cathedral...not the fountain! And the lions certainly do look cranky...but there could be so many symbolic reasons for their fierce dispositions.

We stumbled onto this dead-end street. Great way to deal with a big blank space. The fake facade is drawn onto the wall but there are  3-D details that make you think...

I don't often post pictures of food...I think that's mostly because I'm not an adventurous eater. But here is a photo of an appetizer I love, roasted camembert cheese with lots of garlic. It's wonderful with some fresh pieces of bread to dip in the gooey mess. It even came with a nice little salad on the side. Our waiter warned us we'd have questionable breathe after eating this.