French Friday Goodby

Hello All and Happy French Friday!
I have loved sharing my trip to France with all of you. It is time to have our last visit together as I am running out of things to share. I promise to go back to France and come back with more to tell some day not too far in the future. I happen to know for sure, that I will be in England this fall, and so I will have sharing to do then of English gardens, pubs, flea markets.....sounds fun!
Today I am reminiscing about the museums. There are hundreds of museums in Paris. EAch and everyone has fabulous things to see and learn about. My favorite museum was the Louvre. Definitely. My favorite place in the Louvre was Napoleon and Josephine's apartments. They were stunningly opulent. I visited it two times! I also loved the Cluny, small but it holds one of the finest treasures in the world, as far as my humble opinion is concerned.

This medieval Paris building and courtyard take you back in time.

It was raining the day we visited this small but interesting museum.

This is what I am talking about. The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries. Absolutely stunning in person. All six are displayed in a round dark room. I didn't want to leave, they were mesmerizing. The deep colors, the textures, the symbolism in the composition, is all enough to make one want to stay a long while. These incredible works of art are considered one of the most significant works during the middle ages in Europe.

And of course, the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Who wouldn't love to see it! The picture is actually quite small. You can not get close to it. There is a barricade about ten or more feet from it, and hordes of people press towards that barricade trying to get close and to get a photo on their camera or phone. It is pure crazy on a Sunday!

This is part of a magnificent ceiling at the Louvre, just gorgeous beyond words!

Royal crowns in displayed in the same room as the photo before.

This view is here to show you what I mean about their being no end to streets to walk down. And this is just one view to the north, just one section of Paris! The green space in it is a famous cemetery. Maine Montparnasse Tower is the tallest building in Paris, and we were up on the 56th floor when we took this photo. This floor has a 360 degree view! It was raining, but it cleared enough to get this photo.

I do miss walking by the florists stands in the morning and seeing their gorgeous display!

I have never seen anything like this for sale here in my home state.

And this is my favorite treasure from Paris. I found this post card album at a flea market. It has 132 vintage postcards in it. I was so excited to find it! I was unable to bargain the price down for this one, unfortunately. But I couldn't go home with out it : )


Below (and the closeup above) is one of the post cards from the album.

This lovely French couple are waiting for you to download. Just click on the photo and then right click to "save as" to your computer.

And now it is time for us to say Au revoir to French Friday for now...until I return again!
Thank you so very much for all your kind comments about French Friday.
I am so lucky to have had it to share with you all.
Hugs,
Terri

French Friday Freebies!

Oh my!It is Friday already, and time for me to share something I have not yet shared about my trip to Paris. Plus, I have two free downloads of French receipts for you. Today I am going to show you a few of the goodies I picked up at the fleas. I tried to only bring home small items. As it was, our bags were stuffed to bursting on our way home!

This little french lady asked me to bring her home with me. I said to my husband...."What can I do? She seems intent on coming with us!.........
She is only two inches high. I am planning on creating a lovely skirt for her.

Before I move on to the flea and my purchases, I do want to show you a few photos I have been saving because I love what they show. Here and there, as we walked through Paris, I would see the most amazing things. There are many old, I mean really old, structures in Paris. And many of these have colors and textures and creativity that you just have to capture on film. I did my best to do just that.

This fence really caught my attention. Beautiful design and perfectly aged.

This is the corner of a building. It looks more amazing than the photo shows : (

I am not even sure what these are....gargoyles? It was raining later, and water poured from their mouths!

And here are a few of the little treasures I brought home....vintage rosaries, with gorgeous beads on them and a beautiful little prayer book for mass. The pattern on the inside of the book is marvelous, and it has it's own bookmark cross.

A few more little goodies I picked up here and there. (I must be part magpie!) I did make an extra effort to find religious medals.

This is one little flea where you can poke around on the tables and find bits of this and that.

This woman is having a hard time deciding on something.....I wonder if she is French or if she is visiting and trying to decide if the item she is wanting is worth the euros!...or maybe, if she has room for one more item in her suitcase.....yes, I think that fits her facial expression.

And here are two wonderful old receipts from Paris businesses. Click on them to enlarge and then do a "save as" to your computer. I hope you have fun playing with them. A few posts back I have two canvases I did with vintage ladies, and I used these as backgrounds.

And of course, I am leaving the dessert for last! Can you imagine what it was like for me to be in Paris and not able to have anything with gluten in it????????????
Oh well, I could look all I want. I did have one dessert (paid for it more than once!). It was delicious!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Hugs,
Terri

French Friday in Montmartre!

Hello All
Welcome to French Friday, where I share something French. I began this special day because in May I traveled to Paris for the first time in my life and spent two fabulous weeks there. I have been sharing bits of it each Friday, as well as having some giveaways.

Today, we are going to Montmartre! We had a bit of a long metro ride to this special area of Paris. When we got off the metro we began to make our way up, up and up, many stair steps until eventually we reached this incredible plateau close to the top of the hill that is Montmartre.

I realize now that I did not take any photos on my way up, probably because I was focusing on not collapsing! LoL!

The first photo is the view once we reached the first plateau, looking back towards Paris. The second photo (above) is if you turn and look behind you, then you see this lovely fountain. It is much nicer than in my little photo. I was so hot and sticky, I wanted to jump right in : )

To the side of the fountain are more (ugh!) steps, and then a few more, and then........you see what crowns the hill, Sacre Coeur! It is a basilica of the Roman Catholic Church, which is dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus.

We had visited Notre-Dame earlier that day, and it was just incredible. But somehow, Sacre Coeur was even more beautiful. I really can't say why. It was just a feeling. We spoke to a nun there for a little bit. She was telling us about the present Pope, which we were embarrassed to admit we did not know. Some how, I always get flustered in front of a nun!

We were not allowed photos in this church, so unfortunately I can not show you the absolutely incredible wall paintings inside. Right outside the front doors though, I took these two photos. The stone medallions on the walkway and (below) the lion handles on the gorgeous old doors.

Here is a photo of one of the sides of the basilica.

Just around behind the church you come to the main square where there are a large number of artists outside painting. Many of them want to paint or draw you. It is very interesting to see all the different kinds of artwork being done there.

I took this photo of this artist.....he was not too happy about that. Sorry, I did not know.

Below is a creperie, one of many in Paris. It smells heavenly by one of these. Notice the jar of Nutella, it is bigger than that man's head! Huge! We learned that Nutella is a favorite on just about anything.

Now, this shop below really caught my attention. First off, it is on a quaint winding cobblestone street. It looks so.....I don't know....old world? To me.

It was just filled with gorgeous delights to eat!

I only looked in the window : (

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This is a corner coming down again from the hill.

Cafes are everywhere. So pretty!

We turned the corner and stumbled into the textile center! Whooo hoooooo! Don't you love surprises like that???

Piles and piles of fabric up and down the sidewalks. I went into one shop and bought some trims and some beautiful feathers.

This fabric and notions shop was just packed full of all kinds of supplies for the creative mind!
Oh how I would have loved a U Haul!

Montmartre is a place of creativity and beauty. The views from the top of the hill are inspiring. I wonder if it is much changed from when Vincent van Gogh was there, or Pablo Picasso, or Claude Monet?

I hope you enjoyed our trip today.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Hugs,
Terri

Winner of my French Friday Giveaway!

Congratulations toooooo.........

Createology!!!!!

We had many many entries in this giveaway. As always, I wish I had a gift for everyone of you, for you are all certainly gifts to me!
Thank you so much for your many visits and lovely comments : ) I do so love hearing from each and everyone of you. I am little by little trying to visit everyone who comments or follows, it takes time, but I do really enjoy seeing all your very creative blogs, your art, your homes, your family, your pets, your stories, your thoughts, your food, your faith, your hope and dreams. Thank you for sharing yourselves with me and with us all.

Upcoming is another giveaway, for Tea Time Tuesday and French Friday.
As I have mentioned before, I am working on new videos, thank you so much for your patience. I haven't been creating much this summer, but I am working on a few things now and hope to share soon.

Hugs to you all!
Terri

French Friday Yea!

I so look forward to French Friday, it gives me a great opportunity to relive my trip...and I enjoy sharing it with you!

Today (Friday) by midnight I will draw the winner of the Limoges cup and saucer. I can't wait to see who wins. So check back tomorrow! If you haven't commented and said you want a chance to win, you can still do so today!

Today I thought I would share some of the beautiful sights one might see while touring around town. And also, a few more flea market photos too! Seeing them again makes me wish I could go again this weekend!

The beautiful Seine! There are walkways down closer to the river that you can walk. It is very peaceful and if your lucky, you are in the shade!

I don't remember what this building was, a museum of some kind (there are hundreds!), but it was so different than what I might see here in my home state, I had to take a photo.

Here again, something else I wouldn't see here at home! It looks like a castle, but it is a building next to the Seine.

This is a 1860 fountain of St. Michael slaying a dragon near the Latin Quarter.

This is a major intersection in the Latin Quarter. Notice no lines on the road??? Even on roundabouts, there are no lines. I was on a tour bus holding on tight as we went around, watching as we missed hitting other vehicles by an inch! Absolute pandemonium!

I love this Art Nouveau looking Subway sign! I also enjoyed riding the subway, except on the hottest and busiest days, while I was having a hot flash! Ug! I actually pulled out my trusty personal fan and used it one day during a particularly long flash, a few of the French women could not stop themselves from looking at me and giving the tiniest hint of a smile. Normally there isn't any eye contact...the French are very cool ; ) at least in Paris.

I was totally loving the old buildings and their gated windows!

Another flea market. Twisty narrow lane ways with hundreds of stalls filled with all kinds of fascinating things.

See what I mean?

I thought these old slips were a little pricey.

I loved this one with wall to wall old books.

More buttons and fabulous purse closures!

Ah, the very trendy vintage rosaries....I didn't buy any of these, but I did get 3 at another flea. I wish I had turned the price tags around so I could remember how much they were.

Some wonderful textiles and lace.

An eclectic stall with all kinds of things.

Thank you so much for visiting Paris with me today. I hope you enjoyed where we went.
Come back and see who wins the teacup.

I appreciate you all and all your very kind comments!
Hugs,
Terri