Welcome to this week's If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium episode.
Busy week in Brussels. They had some sort of Zinneke Parade this past weekend. This is sort of like the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, except without the floats or the flowers. Actually, I think the only thing is has in common with the Rose Parade is that it occurs once a year and the participants plan for the entire year for it. I don't have any photos, but the best way to describe it is Cirque du Soleil on the street...performers, people in costumes and masks, lots of fun.
I also had a BBQ at a colleague's house with my whole team, including the guy from the Washington DC office who was in Brussels all last week.
In any case, last week I told you about a business trip I made to Helsinki, Finland to attend a REACH conference. The Friday immediately before that I was in Paris. Paris is actually only 1 hour and 20 minutes away from Brussels via the Thalys bullet train. In fact, they don't even really have flights anymore from Brussels to Paris because the train can get there so fast.
This is actually in the Gare du Nord in Paris on our way back. You can see the trains through the window (ignore the man behind the curtain...er, in the reflection...he's just my colleague).
Once in Paris we went by subway (Metro) to our meeting site just across from the Tuileries, (specifically the Jardin des Tuileries). Which is right near the Louvre.
The hotel we had the meeting in was very old and in a row of old palace buildings that typified the area.
And another shot.
Down one street was this incredible monument...I'm still trying to determine which one is was. Here's a shot looking down the street (and yes, I was standing in the middle of the street with the cars coming at me from both sides looking like a typical tourist [well, except for the business suit] while my colleagues scampered down the road making believe they didn't know me).
And here's a zoomed shot of the monument.
And, of course, you can't talk about Paris without a photo of the Eiffel Tower, so here's one I took on a previous trip.
Well, that's it for this week. Next week look for "If It's Tuesday..." a day early, on Monday. Monday evening I start my real travels by attending a meeting in Rome, followed by vacation in Boston and Spain. So I'll post next week early and the following week...well, I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do the following week yet. But the week after will definitely have photos of Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.
Until next week, thanks for joining me on If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium.
Au Revoir.
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Comments: 84
Karen
Napoleon erected the present column, modelled after Trajan's Column, to celebrate the victory of Austerlitz; its spiralling veneers of bas-relief bronze plates (by the sculptor Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret) were made out of cannon taken from the combined armies of Europe, according to his propaganda. (The usual figure given is hugely exaggerated: 133 cannon were actually captured at Austerlitz.) After the Bourbon Restoration the statue of the Emperor was pulled from the top of the column and refounded to provide the bronze for the recast equestrian statue of Henri IV on the Pont Neuf. A replacement statue of Napoléon, however, was erected by Louis-Philippe, and a better, more augustly classicizing one by Louis-Napoléon (later Napoléon III).
During the Paris Commune in 1871, the painter Gustave Courbet proposed the column to be disassembled and re-erected in the Hôtel des Invalides. Courbet argued that:
"Inasmuch as the Vendôme column is a monument devoid of all artistic value, tending to perpetuate by its expression the ideas of war and conquest of the past imperial dynasty, which are reproved by a republican nation's sentiment, citizen Courbet expresses the wish that the National Defense government will authorise him to disassemble this column."[1]
This project was not adopted, but, on April 12, 1871, the dismantling of the imperial symbol was voted, and the column taken down on May 8, with no intentions of rebuilding it. The bronze plates were preserved. After the assault on the Paris Commune by Adolphe Thiers, the decision was taken to rebuild the column with its statue of Napoléon. On his own previous proposition, Gustave Courbet was condemned to pay part of the expenses, which would have ruined him had he not died the week before the first payment came due.
Ah ~ such a nice time you're having. I'm always looking forward to these Tuesdays.
Blessings ~
Your Friend,
René
Thank you for posting to Another Photo Group
Thanks for sharing your adventure and have a great time in Rome and your vacations in Boston and Spain!
PS. As others have said, you were a BRAVE brave man to be standing in Paris traffic!
When I hear of Paris I think of when my childhood best friend lived there for three years (her father was there on assignment). My mother made such a big deal of it and both mothers took advantage of Kerry's time in Paris to have us write letters in French. In the end I suppose it helped me (and perhaps her) to learn the language better. Even now I can get by listening, reading and speaking French.
Boston, eh?
You will enjoy Boston so long as you can deal with the annoying street work going on around there all the time.
Boston is pretty much just the airport before north of there and then to the Cape. Either way I'm only there for 3 days before heading back here to Spain.
Z'
And bring the camera :)
And beautiful pictures!
Tuileries is very beautiful, you got a very nice shot.
Merci beaucoup