Paris 2010

Paris 2010
Garden at Versailles

Sunday, October 31, 2010

My viewers

This blog keeps track of how many people view my blog and what countries they are from.  Most of the people come from the United States but people from the following countries have also taken a look -

France, Canada, United Kingdom, Lithuania, S. Korea, Iraq, Spain, Brazil, S. Africa, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Cyprus. 

Interesting, right?  I wonder how they happened to find me?  Welcome one and all!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Paris Museums

One of the best museums we visited in Paris was the Musee d'Orsay (Museum d'Orsay).  This museum is in a beautiful former train station in the heart of Paris along the Seine.  The museum itself is a work of art.  The museum houses the largest collection of Impressionist art in Europe, featuring artists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh and Cezanne.  I love Impressionist art.  You will also see works from such artists as Gauguin, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec.  The famous painting Portrait of the Artist's Mother (Whistler's Mother) is also at the d'Orsay but I don't remember seeing it.

Another favorite museum in Paris is the Musee de l'Orangerie which houses Monet's Water Lilies on eight hugh curved panels in four rooms.  The water lilies are in the pond at Monet's famous garden in Giverney.










Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Wonder Years

The classic TV show The Wonder Years is another great family show that ran from 1988 to 1993.  The show was told from the point of view of 12 year old Kevin Arnold played by Fred Savage.  The Wonder Years is known for the voice-over narration of the adult Kevin by actor Daniel Stern.  I was a regular viewer of this show and I remember it fondly.  Here is the opening theme by Joe Cocker -

Beautiful song

This is my favorite Celine Dion song.  I love the words...

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Random trip memories

Here are some memories of our European vacation that I don't think I've mentioned (excuse me if I have!)

Hotels generally don't look as good in person as they do on their websites.  Although our hotel in London came close.  It's called The Park City Hotel and is located in the royal Kensington and Chelsea district of London.  Here's their website:
http://www.theparkcity.com/

Our hotel in Paris was recommended in Rick Steves' guidebook but it failed to impress.  The room was so small it barely contained a bed and little table.  But the good thing about it was that we could see the top half of the Eiffel Tower from the bathroom!  The elevator was really tiny too.  It was only big enough for the two of us and after riding in it once, I opted to take the stairs.  They did have a laptop in the lobby that was free.

Our hotel in Bruges was good.  It's called The Walwyck Hotel Brugge.  They had a huge bell you could ring at the front desk (one of those bells a teacher has on her desk).  We forgot to take a picture of it but they gave us a postcard of the bell.  The innkeepers were very friendly and gave us good restaurant recommendations.  They had a flat screen TV in the room that we watched Enemy of the State on and enjoyed the commercials.  The floors were quite squeaky though. 

We stayed at a nice B&B in Amsterdam called Tulips.  The owners, Karen and Paul, were very nice.  I had told them it was our 30th anniversary so they had a small bottle of champagne in a silver bucket and a napkin with champagne glasses on it.  They included a note that said Many Congratulations! From Paul and Karen.  They also had a bottle of cherry liqueur on the table with 2 little glasses and they put chocolates on our pillows at night.  We had great bagels at a place called Bagels and Beans.

Here is a photo of me outside the B&B -



The museums were great in every city but the ones in London were excellent and free except for special shows like the Grace Kelly one I wrote about earlier.  The Louvre was beautiful but it was extremely overcrowded, hot and noisy.  It was hard to see the Mona Lisa with the huge crowd in the room and the painting is behind glass.

Lots of people ride motorcycles in Paris.  Nobody wore helmets while riding their bikes in Amsterdam.  The tram system is great in Amsterdam.  We saw some guys break dancing in Amsterdam which drew a big crowd.

Well, I have to stop for now.  I'll write more memories later.  Oh, while I'm thinking of it, actor Jeremy Irons does the narration on the headphones for the Westminster Abbey tour and he says, "God bless you," at the end in that deep wonderful voice of his!

Doors to the Westminster Abbey

All Through The Night

You may have noticed that The Sopranos is on my favorite TV shows list.  It is truly a brilliant show.  Here is a clip from the ending of Season 3 where Soprano daughter Meadow and her friend Hunter sing a solo with their school choir -



By the way, edited reruns can be seen on A & E.  I recommend seeing it uncut on DVD though.

Build Me Up Buttercup

Since I lost the video of the movie Something About Mary with this song, I found another one showing the group that recorded the it, The Foundations -

Monday, October 25, 2010

Family Ties

See if you remember this lovely theme song -



Family Ties was a great family show that ran from 1982 to 1989 and made a huge star of Michael J. Fox.  It's such a cute show with former-hippie parents Elyse and Steven Keaton, their young Republican son Alex and sisters Mallory and Jennifer.  They just don't make shows like this anymore!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Up Where We Belong

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of my favorite movies is An Officer and a Gentleman starring Richard Gere from 1982.  This great movie is about Zack Mayo (Gere) who tries to put his life on a better path by joining the Navy as an Officer's candidate.  He faces many challenges including dealing with a tough Drill Instructor played by Louis Gossett, Jr. in his Academy Awarding winning role for Best Supporting Actor.  One of their best and most moving scenes is when Sgt. Foley is trying to get Zack to quit but Zack won't give up and finally tells Foley that he has nowhere else to go and he has nothing else in his life.

Zack meets a factory worker named Paula played by Debra Winger at a dance hosted by the Navy.  She becomes very important to him and his life changes as a result of knowing her.  Their love scenes and onscreen chemistry is beautiful and they are a great couple in spite of the fact that Debra and Richard reportedly didn't get along very well. 

I still get choked up every time I see Zack come into the factory where Paula works and sweeps her off her feet in the end.  It is a shame that Richard Gere didn't at least get an Oscar nomination because I think it's his best work.  David Keith also gives a memorable performance as Zack's best friend Sid.  David Caruso has a small part as well.  There is much more to the story but I don't want to give anything away.  Do yourself a favor and watch this movie if you haven't seen it yet!  I own the DVD and it has an insightful director's commentary by Taylor Hackford plus other special features.

Here is a video with scenes from the movie and the beautiful theme song by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes called "Up Where We Belong".



The movie was filmed on location at Fort Worden and Port Townsend, WA.  We have been there twice and the second time we stayed at The Tides Inn where the characters stayed.  The room used for the film has a plaque outside stating that this was the room used for the love scenes.  We didn't stay there but we got the key so we could look inside.  It looked much smaller than in the movie.  We also went to Fort Worden.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Another oldie but goodie

This song by Edison Lighthouse called Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes, is in the soundtrack of the movie Shallow Hal starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black.  Another fun movie to check out if you missed it!

Build Me Up Buttercup

I'm in a musical mood tonight.  Here's a random song that came to mind.  It's by a group called The Foundations and it was featured in the hilarious movie called There's Something About Mary from 1998.  Here's the video and I hope you enjoy it!

Hero

I'm feeling a little blue today.  I remembered this song and it made me feel better...

Thursday, October 21, 2010

New window on the world

We are having some remodeling done this week.  We have to replace the siding in the back of the house so we thought it would be a good time to get new windows and French doors installed too.  The work started yesterday and three of the windows are in place.  They look great so far.  There are always little unforeseen problems that occur but I'm sure they will all be ironed out in the end.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

We lost another great TV parent

Tom Bosley, best known as Richie Cunningham's father on Happy Days, died yesterday at the age of 83.  Howard Cunningham (or Mr. C. as Richie's friends called him) was one of the all-time great TV dads but he was especially lovable. 

It's sad to lose great actors but at least they will live on forever on television and in the hearts of all the fans who love them. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

Goodbye Mrs. Cleaver

You have probably heard that the lovely actress Barbara Billingsley died at the age of 94.  She is of course most well known as June Cleaver, the mother of Beaver and Wally Cleaver on the classic family show from the 60's called Leave it to Beaver.  I remember her always wearing a dress and pearls and dealing with all the mishaps her boys went through.

I also think of her in the 1980 classic comedy movie Airplane where she helps the stewardess who doesn't speak jive!



That is priceless!  Rest in peace Barbara Billingsley.

Friday, October 15, 2010

I forgot one!

I cannot believe I forgot to put Monk in my Top Ten Favorite TV Show List!  I think it should be number 2.  What was I thinking?  I just adore Monk!

My Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

Here is the list of my all-time favorite shows:

1)  Seinfeld

2)  Mad Men

3)  The Sopranos

4)  Cheers

5)  Moonlighting

6)  Bewitched

7)  Sex and the City

8)  The Mary Tyler Moore Show

9)  The Andy Griffith Show

10) All in the Family

It's hard to stop at ten since there are many more shows I enjoy.  But I will never get tired of watching any of these!

Here is the wonderful theme song for Moonlighting sung by Al Jarreau -

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Dinner in Amsterdam

During our stay in Amsterdam the owners of the B&B we stayed in recommended several restaurants.  We actually had to go twice since the first time the wait was too long.  It's an Indonesian place called Restaurant Blauw.  This was the first time we had Indonesian food and it was quite an experience at this popular place. 

Jackson had the traditional full course meal.  I don't know what all the food was called but it was served on many plates.  We took pictures -

Indonesian Dishes

Mike and Gloria

One of my favorite TV couples is Mike and Gloria from the classic 70's sitcom All in the Family.  My family and I always watched this show.  Nowadays I watch it on TV Land.  For those who haven't seen the show, Gloria is Archie and Edith's daughter.  She and her husband Mike live with the Bunkers while Mike finishes college.  Mike is a frequent thorn in Archie's side. 

Mike and Gloria are a really cute couple.  The other day I saw the episode called Black is the color of My true love's Wig.  Blond Gloria buys a brunette wig and Mike loves her in it.  So much so that he wants her to keep it on in bed!  Gloria thinks it's a way to have sex with someone else without cheating on his wife.  You can see the whole episode on the TV Land website or on YouTube.  Here's is the beginning:

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Oldies

I remember Roger Miller's songs from when I was a kid.  We may have had one of his records. He passed away in 1992.  I thought it would be fun to share his best known songs.  See if you remember these two:



This one is really funny!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House was a must-see destination for us in Amsterdam.  This is the place where Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in occupied Holland.  She wrote her world-famous diary there (which is on my list to read) in 1942. 

The museum has been open since 1960 and you can see how Anne decorated the walls of her room with movie posters.  It was most moving to see the tiny bit of sky that was visible through the attic window. 

We went at a good time since the line was short.  It felt somewhat claustrophobic in there though but it didn't seem to bother Jackson.  They took great care to preserve the house and it's belongings. 

There was a movie made of Anne's life called The Diary of Anne Frank.  Shelley Winters won an Oscar for her role in the film.  I haven't seen it yet but we did see a really good Masterpiece Theater production of the story before we went there.  It helped to bring the story alive so the house was somewhat familiar when we saw it.

Evidently, Shelley Winters told Anne Frank's father that if she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, she would donate it to Mr. Frank.  It is there on exhibit so we saw 2 Oscars on this trip - hers and Grace Kelley's.

I highly recommend a visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.  I will post a review of the her book once I read it.  I have a huge list of books on my "to read" list!

Put your records on

I seem to be in a musical mood lately.  Today's case in point is the lovely song called Put Your Records On by the British singer Corinne Bailey Rae.  I first heard this song in the movie Venus starring Peter O'Toole in his Oscar nominated role.  Here is a link to a description of the movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(film)

Corinne Bailey Rae's song is so lovely and is one of my favorite songs.  Enjoy -

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Shall We Dance?

One of my favorite actors of all time is Richard Gere.  My favorite movie of his has to be An Officer and a Gentleman.  Right now though, I'd like to talk about another favorite called Shall We Dance? from 2004.  It's a remake of an equally good Japanese film of the same name from 1996.  Besides Richard Gere, the movie stars Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez.  It's about a married Chicago lawyer who takes secret dance lessons from a beautiful woman he saw through the window on his ride home on the subway.

We have the soundtrack which is loaded with great songs.  My favorite is called Sway by the Pussycat Dolls.  Here's a clip from the movie featuring this song:

Happy reading!

I belong to a wonderful online reading group called Goodreads. I've been a member since November of 2008. You can keep track of the books you have read, are reading now, and what you plan to read in the future. I love reading reviews that my friends have written and find out about authors and books I hadn't heard of before. There are also smaller groups within the group that anyone can join.

I have met some wonderful friends from all over the country and in foreign countries as well through Goodreads. I look forward to chatting with good friends every day. This group has really enriched my life and I strongly encourage everyone to join!

Get candy!

In the spirit of Halloween coming up this month, I offer the hilarious views on the holiday according to Jerry Seinfeld -

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Red Lights

When we were in Amsterdam we had to stop at the famous (or infamous) Red Light District.  It's considered a must see in Rick Steve's guidebook.  According to his book, the neighborhood has hosted the world's oldest profession since 1200.  Oscar nominated director Quentin Tarantino reportedly wrote the script for Pulp Fiction while staying in a hotel there. 

We came across the Condomerie  (a veritable condom museum) first where they sell all manner of condoms.  While in the S&M sex shop we heard a man ordering some kind of gear.  We also had a tour of the Sex Museum to view sex down through the ages!  They even had a huge ceramic part of the male anatomy that people posed under to have their pictures taken.  I declined! 

We walked down the alleys where the hookers pose in the doorways of their little rooms.  If the light above their rooms are lit up then they are available for business.  They are not nude but what they are wearing leaves little to the imagination.  They are not all thin and gorgeous.  One prostitute had her door open and was looking at me.  So I said to her, "Nice shoes!"  She replied, "You just like the shoes?  What about me?"  Jackson and I regretted that we didn't engage her in more conversation as it would make a better story!  They all wear those ridiculously high-heeled hooker shoes. 

We witnessed an underage guy receiving a talking to by the police.  One of the cops said he looked like he was 15!  I'm not sure if he got arrested or just received a stern warning.  Can't blame a guy for trying I guess!  Since prostitution is legal (since the 1980's) the women don't consider themselves to be exploited.  We walked by a sex nightclub called the Banana Bar but I had no interest in going in!  The Red Light District was sure something to see!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

La Vie En Rose

I was reminded of the beautiful song La Vie En Rose last night when we watched a sweet French movie from 2004 called Love Me if you Dare starring Marion Cotillard.  The song was played in the movie and Marion also won an Oscar for the movie called La Vie En Rose, which is the story of the French singer Edith Piaf.  Both are wonderful movies and here is the song sung by Edith Piaf -



Here are the lyrics in English -

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose


When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom


And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Every day words
Seem to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

I also love Piaf's song No Je ne regrette no rien (I regret nothing) -



We visited Edith Piaf's grave when we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.  Jim Morrison is also buried there (his grave is understated) as well as the famed Irish playwright Oscar Wilde.  Women famously put on heavy lipstick and kissed his tombstone.  I refrained from doing so!

Monday, October 4, 2010

No mistake about it - that's a pickle!

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of "The Andy Griffith Show."  The reruns are being shown on TV Land and there is even a Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club which boasts over 2,000 members.  TV Land has been showing the most popular episodes lately. 

My favorite has to be "The Pickle Story."  Aunt Bee had made a batch of her pickles assuming they were better than those purchased at the store.  Unfortunately, they were not at all tasty and Andy, Barney and Opie were not looking forward to eating them.  Barney even said, "I don't know how I can face the future when I know there are 8 quarts of these pickles in it!"  He calls the pickles kerosene cucumbers.

You can find the episode on YouTube and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Andy Griffith is now 84.  Don Knotts (Barney Fife) passed away in 2006 of lung cancer.  He was 81.  Ron Howard (Opie) won the Oscar for Best Director for the movie "A Beautiful Mind."  He is 56.  Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) died in 1989 from heart failure.  They will live on forever thanks to "The Andy Griffith Show."

By the way, this year is also the 50th anniversary of The Flintstones.  Here are some fun facts about the classic show -

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/30/the-flintstones-50th-anniversary/

I wonder if any of today's shows will be around that long.  I think Seinfeld has a good chance!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Racquetball anyone?

Jackson and I went to the gym yesterday as always.  He has been teaching me how to play racquetball for months.  It's the game Jackson has played for many years.  I thought I'd like to try it since he has so much fun playing the game and it's something we can do together.  He coaches me on most Saturdays but when he is busy playing I practice on my own. 

Yesterday one of the guys asked if I wanted to play.  I told him I was learning and hadn't really played a game yet.  So he had me serve and I got better as we went along and he had a lot of tips too.  I got quite a workout and I feel with more practice and actually playing some games I will turn out to be a decent player.  I plan to keep trying!

Lilacs in London

I have posted a small picture of these gorgeous lilacs but I thought I'd add them again here so you can enlarge them.  These lilacs were outside of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.  We did not take the tour there but we have several photos of the outside of the church.  The lilacs were very fragrant and I have never seen this particular type before.

Lovely lilacs

Friday, October 1, 2010

Downtown

Petula Clark sang a wonderful song called Downtown.  This song was recorded in 1965 and it's been used in movies and TV shows.  I remember hearing it in Girl, Interrupted which was the movie that Angelina Jolie won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  The song was also used in the Seinfeld episode called The Bottle Deposit.  That's the one where George has to go downtown and mentions the lyrics of the song when talking to Jerry.  Anyway, it's a great song.  Enjoy!

Mind the Gap!

We took the subway (or the Tube as they call it) all over London.  We bought Oyster cards so we could just swipe them and not have to hunt for change each time.  It was very convenient and fun.  Jackson was good at finding the right route to the places we wanted to go.  Our hotel was close to the underground station.  We never took any other type of transportation during our stay.  The announcer would always call out "mind the gap" when the subway doors closed. 

Jackson waiting for the subway

Garden

Garden
Versailles

The Louvre

The Louvre
Paris

Paris

Paris
The Seine

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe
Paris

Paris in May

Paris in May
Paris

The Louvre

The Louvre
Paris

Chihuly glass sculpture

Chihuly glass sculpture
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Monet's Water Lilies

Monet's Water Lilies
Orangerie Museum, Paris

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey
London

Bruges

Bruges
View from our hotel window

Amsterdam

Amsterdam
canal

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe
Paris

Lilacs in London

Lilacs in London
St. Paul's Cathedral

The Royal Guard

The Royal Guard
London

Music man

Music man
Bruges

Joy at the Palace

Joy at the Palace
London

Guard

Guard
Tower of London

Jackson in Bruges

Jackson in Bruges
Belgium

Canal bridge

Canal bridge
Amsterdam

Houseboat

Houseboat
Amsterdam

British police

British police
London

Oscar Wilde's Grave

Oscar Wilde's Grave
Paris

Rhododendrons in the park

Rhododendrons in the park
Amsterdam

Versailles

Versailles
Joy in the palace

Winter scene

Winter scene
wow!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year
dragon

Sweet peas

Sweet peas
love 'em

Pretty bouquet

Pretty bouquet

Princess Diana Fountain

Princess Diana Fountain
Hyde Park

Gardens

Gardens
Versailles

End of summer daisies

End of summer daisies
Our yard

Cool art

Cool art
Tate Modern, London

Penguin party

Penguin party
penguins

Pretty kitty

Pretty kitty
My sister's cat

Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm
Is he a great looking guy or what?

Mad about Don

Mad about Don
Mad Men

Love Monk!!

Love Monk!!
Love To Tony

January and Jon

January and Jon
Beautiful people

Jon and January

Jon and January
Mad Men actors

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa
The Louvre

Royal Crescent

Royal Crescent
Bath

British phone booth

British phone booth
London

Harrod's Department Store

Harrod's Department Store
London

Versailles

Versailles
bedroom

Trafalger Square

Trafalger Square
London

Tower of London

Tower of London
London

Seattle Public Library

Seattle Public Library
Seattle

Lavender

Lavender

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas
beautiful

Coffee love

Coffee love
yummy