June 10: I took this picture last week from the second level of the Eiffel Tower. Dorette, her granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, and I rode an elevator to this viewing deck but walked down all 704 steps. The tower is a 1,063-foot urban landmark that ranks with New York City’s Empire State Building (1,224 feet) but has the added advantage of being in Paris. I like to kid Dorette that she’s never seen a flight of stairs she hasn’t wanted to climb (lighthouses are her favorite). Me not so much. So later while she and Avery were trudging to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral, I opted for drinking espresso and strolling the Marais neighborhood on the right bank of the Seine. All three of us had great fun.
June 9: This park in Paris, established by Napoleon, is among my favorite places on the face of the Earth. I shot this photo on an especially fine weather day during our recent visit. Unlike in the U.S., most pubic lawns in Paris are for looking at, not walking upon, sunbathing, napping, pitching woo, playing games, etc. But as the sign in the foreground states, this one is an exception to the rule. Sun worshippers of all kinds are welcomed on the grass.
June 8: I shot this photo Monday of a professional dog walker in the Bois du Boulogne, the large park on the edge of Paris that figures in Marcel Proust’s novel, “A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu.”
June 7: Nearing sunset along the Seine, Paris.
June 6: Dorette shopping for macaroons in the Paris shop of Pierre Herme, a world-famous baker and seller of the delicacy. You’ll have to ask her for the exact price. Needless to say, worth every centime.
June 6: The Eiffel Tower always amazes me as the inspiring visual centerpiece of the great city of Paris. I took this iPhone picture from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Today is our last full day here. I ain’t getting any younger, but I plan to return next year for the International Hemingway Conference. But as the French proverb he often quoted says, “d’abord il faut durer.”
June 5: A Metro (subway) train in Paris today. This a “medium-sized” ridership. Occupancy during rush hour has to be experienced to be believed. But the system can get you practically everywhere you want to go.
June 4: This is one of two Ernest Hemingway homes in Paris I saw yesterday. I also walked past Gertrude Stein’s place near the Luxembourg Garden, also marked with a sign. Unlike the case with Hemingway, hardly anyone reads Stein these days. That would please Hemingway, who later had a huge falling out with her. At any rate, Paris loves them both.
June 3: Dorette and Avery (left) headed out on a bicycle tour of Paris. Moi? I gave up that transportation mode a while ago. Instead, I’ll be visiting on foot some of Hemingway’s former haunts.
June 2: My favorite art museum in the whole wide world: the Orsay in Paris. Being there today was once again a great pleasure. If you have time to visit just one of the great museums in Paris, THIS is it. Pic taken with my iPhone.
June 2: Dorette and Avery in front of me yesterday as we walked from the train station to the palace of French kings at Versailles, a few miles from Paris. A great time inside the palace and especially wandering about the landscaped grounds in perfect weather. Dorette and I had been there before and were impressed with the enhanced visitor services.
May 31: Dorette’s granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, photographed outside the Louvre. Weather wise our best so far of our trip. We also hit Sainte-Chapelle and the Musee de l’Orangerie to see Monet’s Water Lillies, and it turned out tons of other works by impressionist or post-impressionist painters (17 Renoirs, nine Picassos, nine Cezannes, etc.). Out of this world. Highly recommend.
May 31: It’s our Louvre day. So far, so good, but it may not be long before museum fatigue sets in. That’s Dorette Kerian and Avery Dusterhoft on left.
May 30: This is the view from a window of our apartment on Rue Maitre Albert on the Left Bank of the Seine in Paris. It’s one of the oldest streets in the city. I shot the iPhone pic at about 9 p.m. Smallish but meets our needs perfectly.
May 30: Highlight of our day was taking a train 30 miles north of Paris to revisit Monet’s Garden. Workers were sprucing up the lily pads as we arrived. And indeed, Monet was creating art here, not merely displaying nature. It’s one of Dorette and my favorite places. We’ll be looking his paintings of the scene tomorrow at the Paris museum devoted to his work.
May 29: View from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Our party of three wore off lots of shoe leather today. Great, even inspiring, time. Can’t wait for what tomorrow will bring.
May 29: Introducing Avery to a favorite snack — the French crepe — at a place Dorette and I have long patronized near the Luxembourg Garden in Paris. As good as ever!
May 28: First day in Paris. Temperatures in the 80s, but so far that hasn’t slowed us down much. Took this picture of Dorette and her granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, near Notre Dame.
Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland, along with Dorette Kerian and her granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, recently returned to the U.S. after a visit to Paris, “the City of Lights” (“la Ville des Lumières”). Dave has been to Paris several times, so he knows his way around quite well, as is evidenced by these beautiful shots. This is the first of two Paris galleries that will appear here.
