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Our Honeymoon In Paris Dana Frostick and Richard Cornwell Richard Cornwell and I were married on September 23 1998, the Autumnal equinox. The ceremony was performed in a small park in our neighborhood called "Young's Spring Historic Park." |
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| This location was a spring that the people of the area used until it dried up in the early part of the 20th century. Before the civil war, it was the meeting place of slaves who were planning Gabriel's failed rebellion. |
Family photo |
| We spent 10 days in Paris for our honeymoon staying at the Hotel Lindbergh. This charming but "petit" hotel is in the heart of the left bank on the edge of the Seventh Arrondisement and bordering the Sixth. It was only one block away from two entrances to the Sevres-Babylone metro line, which we used every day. From our central location, it was only a short trip to any place we wanted to see in the city. | |
| This view is from our balcony window, facing north towards the Seine. |
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998 |
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here are some of our favorite places in and around paris | |
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the musee du louvre
The Louvre is just north of the Seine in the First Arrondisement. It is one of the largest storehouses of artwork in the world. |
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998 |
| We spent three days in this museum and only saw a fraction of their works. We saw the Mona Lisa and a few other Da Vinci paintings, two of Michelangelo's slaves, a room full of Rubens, and ancient works including the Venus de Milo, the Etruscan sarcophagus for a married couple, the Code of Hammarabi, and Athena Nike, just to name a few.
We also saw an exhibit of Van Gogh's earlier works along side his master Millet at the D'Orsey and Monet's Water Lillies in the Orangerie. | |
| the basilique du sacre-coeur
Sacre-Coeur is on the largest hill in Paris, Montmatre (in the Eighteenth Arrondissement). We went by metro one night and it let us out at the bottom of the hill. It was quite a climb getting up to the top, but we had a great view of the city. |
Photos copyright by Dana Frostick 1998 |
| Getting up the hill was easier on our second trip because we used the funicular with our metro passes. This device is a large passenger tram that takes people up and down the hill to get to Sacre-Coeur and back again. On our day trip, we stumbled into an annual wine festival. We were entertained by Clowns on stilts and marching bands. | |
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the catacombs
My personal favorite was the ossuary in the Fourteenth Arrondissement. These catabombs are only open to the public for a few hours a day. I figure that there is only so much air down there for people to breath?! Going down is not difficult, but very claustraphobic and I kept hoping that the walls wouldn't collapse. |
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Richard Cornwell 1998
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998 |
| The catacombs were originally dug out to get rock for the buildings of Paris. They stopped digging when they became concerned about the stability of the city above the tunnels. Soon after, they decided that it would be a good idea to move some of the older bones from the cemeteries around Paris to this location. They really didn't have much choice as they could no longer properly bury people in the over-full cemeteries and it was starting to have an effect on the living. | |
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notre-dame
After our trip to the catacombs, we decided that we had been to one of the lowest points around (under the city) so we needed to get as high up as possible (the towers of Notre-Dame). Climbing out of the catacombs was about 90 steps. Climbing to the top of the towers at Notre-Dame was 400 steps. We had quite a workout that day! We got to the top just at the start of sunset that evening. I was able to get some dramatic shots of the city with the gargoyles on the towers. The Ile de la Cite, in the center of Paris, is the home to the lovely Notre-Dame. I'm sitting on a bridge over the Siene, with the cathedral behind me. |
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Richard Cornwell 1998 |
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more fun stuff The Hotel des Invalides in the Seventh Arrondisement houses Napoleon's tomb and some fascinating warfare museums. Also in the Seventh, is the world famous Eiffel Tower. You can see the Tower from almost anywhere in Paris, but we made several walking trips to and from during our stay. One day when the crowds were not too terrible, we got in the elevator and went to the top. What a view! | |
| the parc des buttes-chaumont
Before it became a park, this land in the Nineteenth Arrondisment, in the north-eastern part of the city, was used for many different and sometimes disgusting things. Now, it would be hard to find a place more charming. |
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998
Photo copyright by Dana Frostick 1998 |
| There are man-made cliffs, waterfalls, and caves scattered around in a hilly environment. This park is mainly used by the people who live in the area, so it's not full of tourists. We were given help finding it by a very friendly local who could tell we were not familiar with the area and came right up to us. So much for the French people being "rude." | |
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the gardens at versailles
To the south-west of the city, about a half-hour away by train, is the grandiose Palace of Versailles. This overdone monstrosity was just too much! They pack thousands of people into claustrophobically small areas, even though it must be one of the largest building complexes on Earth! Fortunately, the gardens were vast and open! You could spend days exploring them. It is hard to judge size by photos, but when I was there, the reflecting pond seemed much larger than the one in Washington D.C., if that helps you get an idea. |
Photo copyrights by Dana Frostick 1998 danafrostick.com | artwork | older work | statement | resume | more All artwork and text on this web site are Copyright of Dana Frostick except where noted | Contact: dfrostick@gmail.com |