New cell phone number

Hello family,  This is a quick post to let you know that I now have an EU phone number.  If you want to reach me by text or by phone you should use the following number:  +30 699 218 7858.  I have swapped out the SIM card on my cell phone so my USA phone number no longer works.  This is a pretty good deal as I was paying $10.00 a day whenever I used my U.S. phone number.  This got pretty pricey when we were needing the GPS to get around, and it is nearly impossible to get around Greece without it!  The new SIM card and data plan cost me $20.00 total and will likely cover the rest of the summer.  Yay!  So all of this is to say, please record my new number and use it if you need to text or call me.  Just be aware, if you are calling from the U.S., you will likely incurr international charges to your cell phone!  Thanks!

Impressions of Impressionism

The highlight of our last day (May 25) in Paris was a visit to the D’orsay Museum which houses the Impressionism and post impressionist paintings.  I think in some ways it is fitting the Impressionists have a museum to themselves because they had such a time getting any recognition from the established art world in France in the 19th century called the Salon.  The term Impressionist comes from a critic, Louis Leroy, who disdained a work by Claude Monet suggesting it was only an impression of a painting. I don’t pretend to be an expert on Impressionism at all, but do note the impressionists intentionally sought to paint “real” subjects and loved to paint outside in particular which was unusual at the time.  They employed a new brighter color palette and focused on changing light patterns during the day.  They also used a broader brush stroke that could be easily detected.

I love impressionist painting and the Orsay Museum has the finest collection I have ever seen. It was amazing.  Terry asked us to take lots of pictures, so here are some of my favorites.

Renoir

Cézanne 

Renoir

Monet

Signac

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Paris Fun

What a wonderful day we’ve had today!  It started with a move to a new hotel.  With the end of the cruise we needed to move to a new location as the cruise hotel did not have any availability for us.

Our “travel agent” - Adi, moved us to an historic hotel in the St. Germain area which puts us within walking distance of practically everything.  It is an 18th century hotel.  The ceiling of the room has timbers on it.  The walls are covered with cloth which matches the curtains and the bedspread.  Ιτ’s just lovely.



Next we went to lunch at a Michelin star restaurant called Benoit.  (Stephen’s suggestion to take in a Michelin Star restaurant.)

We have never had such food.  My soup starter was some sort cold pea soup that was amazing.  Mike had Foix Gras - a French delicacy. I followed with a black pudding, which was some sort of beef that had been shaped into a pudding with spices.  Just wonderful.  Mike had the best desert - profiteroles dipped in hot fudge.  I had a sponge cake soak in liquor with whippped cream.  We haven’t eaten anything since lunch and I doubt we will eat  ever again... or at least not until morning.




We completed the day with about six hours at the Louvre.  We rented Nintendo English tour pacs and took the masterpieces tour which was delightful.  Yes, we saw the Mona Lisa.  It was not nearly as impressive as was the Coronation of Napoleon.  After the tour we sought out the two Vermeers, thinking of Liz.  We also went hunting for Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.”  I’m afraid we are both cripples tonight, hobbling around the room.  I’m hoping a good night’s sleep will allow us to awaken refreshed and ready to enjoy another day in Paris!

The Coronation of Napoleon

We made it to Paris as you can see!  We had friends from the cruise who took this picture.  We took a bus tour with our cruise group this morning which ended at the tower. We made our way into the park intending on going up to the second level to look out but decided we didn’t want to wait so long for a ticket.  I think the best view is from the ground anyway!  It is an amazing structure and it was fun to get close up to the see the iron works.

The highlight of the trip for me today was Notre Dame.  After seeing many beautiful cathedrals on the trip so far, I didn’t have very high expectations.  Truly the exterior of Notre Dame is amazing.  The inside is dark, but I especially liked the wooden screen that hides the choir.  I’ll include a few pictures!

I’m sorry I havent’ written more in the last week.  We had very weak internet on the cruise boat.  Mike and I finally gave up trying to post things.  We are back to having access to high speed internet again.

It occurs to me that some of you might be interested in looking at the church blog as well.  Some of what I have posted there is simply a duplicate of this blog, but some of it is different.  You can find the “other blog” at https://renew-rejoice.blogspot.com/

Strasbourg, Worms and Heidelberg

We have enjoyed a couple of long and amazing days.  Tuesday, May 15, we went to Strasbourg, France.  I really had no idea what to expect and so was incredibly surprised at what a lovely city is Strasbourg!  First of all, it’s French and it was fun to be back on French speaking soil - secondly, it’s old.  There are half timbered houses that date back to the  Middle Ages (1400s and 1500s).

The Cathedral of Notre Dame and the St. Thomas churches are both Romanesque - construction started in the early ninth century (roughly 1015 and 1020 respectively.  They were 

stunning - both of them.  I preferred the style of St. Thomas which is Protestant, but the sheer size of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is overwhelming. The other joy of Strasbourg was the food!  We picked up the most amazing gingerbread, chocolate caramel eggs and macaroons in the afternoon.

Today, Wednesday, was the trip to Worms and Heidelberg.  Our guide figured out early on that several of us were interested in Reformation history and so walked us through the big event in Worms - Martin Luther’s refusal to recant his writings and teachings.  Luther had already been excommunicated by the Pope, but was called by the Emperor to give an accounting of himself at the Diet of Worms.  He was called to the Bishop’s quarters at the Cathedral in Worms and asked directly if he was willing to recount.  He actually asked for 24 hours to consider and then firmly refused.  At this point the Emperor removed all of Luther’s rights and Luther became fair game for anyone who wished to assassinate him.  Fortunately for Luther the Prince of Saxony, a supporter, had him kidnapped on the way home to hide him from enemies.  The Bishop's quarters were actually destroyed in the 17th century by the French but we got to see the place next to the Cathedral where they stood.  The picture below is of the Reformation Monument to Luther and other Reformers.  It’s built in the shape of a castle to call to mind Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

We also toured the city and our guide drove us up to the ruins of Heidelberg Castle which are quite stunning!

We have safely arrived in Zurich!  It was quite the flight.  It started with a lovely surprise from the La Porte Session.  They had arranged for some duty free champaign and chocolate to be delivered to us.  What a great way to begin.  Unfortunately, the sleeping that was supposed to follow mostly didn’t.  Neither one of us sleep sitting up very well.

We arrived in Zurich about 10:00 AM.  That’s 2:00 AM La Porte time.  We made the connections to Viking and they brought us to the hotel.  We spent a little time getting oriented and then hopped the tram to the old city.  It’s pretty amazing - very old with small alley sized streets zigzagging up the hill and lots of very old churches.  About 7:00 PM they all decided to ring their church bells. I thought it was just a clock striking the time at first, but one by one they all began to join and rang for about 15 minutes.  It was really remarkable.  I caught a bit of it in the video above.  Not really sure why they were ringing!

The Family Harpist

I know I promised blog posts about our upcoming Sabbatical trip, but I needed to practice posting videos.  So here are a couple of videos of Terry playing the Harp.  These are the pieces he played for his spring jury about a week before he was to perform them.  In case you don’t know...  Terry has only been playing the harp for seven months.