Peace please!

The Peace monument between the Ecole militaire and the Eiffel tower was erected on March 30, 2000 and should have been removed after three years.

Yesterday it existed 12 years and the discussion of its beauty/ugliness is heated and not at all peaceful.

In the meantime, tourists take photos from all sides and if it rains take shelter under its roof. 'Peace' written in 32 different languages and using 12 alphabets should 'speak' to everybody.....

Spring is here and there

With the warm days in Newton the buds of the Magnolia Stellata in our garden were ready to open up. But I could not see the flowering tree because I had to leave for the airport......

Arriving today in Paris - here the star shaped flowers already had unfolded and were spreading their fragrant smell. What a welcome committee!

23 Celsius today

The crocuses in the grass of the Boston College campus open their flowers to the bees and the students open their ears to the professors lecture.

Enjoy the warmth which should last all week long and use Sunblock SPF 50!

Amazing Paul

We took a walk along the Charles river while the weather is so pleasant.

Before we knew it, we came to Waltham and High Tech Turning, the firm of Paul.

Great opportunity to visit which we seldom can do. Paul kindly guided us through

the sophisticated machines and we tried not to disturb the concentrated employees.

They have to focus all their attention on the precision products especially when it happens to be this minimal. To understand the size, Paul pointed his finger on the little rings.

The Gardener Museum

You think I am always in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston but that is not the case.

A five minutes walk from the MFA and there is the Gardner Museum. Since the opening of their new wing, designed by Renzo Piano, it is a different place.

Light and comfortable in a lady like manner. What is called the ' living room' is an information area with hostess, sofas and lots of books about the art in the museum. You can choose one and then sit comfortably on the sofa, reading and listening to the birds, before exploring the collection of Mrs. Isabella Stewart Gardner.

More info you can find in their excellent web site by clicking twice on the title of this post or:

http://www.gardnermuseum.org/.

Happy St. Patrick's day!

"A Leprechaun is small and green.

He hides where he cannot be seen.

But if you catch one on this day,

He must give his gold away."

- - - -In the BC Plex this morning, the Leprechaun was

large and green. He did not hide and was easy

seen. I caught him - and with a grin, he offered me

two deodorants 'Irish Spring'.

Victorian houses large and small

Before green leaves can hide the Victorian houses in our neighborhood, some pictures from my morning walk. Here soon the wisteria will cover up the lack of paint and repair.

Repaired and painted these are good examples of the large houses. Many rooms were needed during the Victorian era (ca 1850 - 1900) for the large families and their servants.

In this play house I can see Claire, Alice and Remi having fun!

Adults in the MFA

On Wednesdays between 6 to 9 PM "Drawing in the Galleries" is the program which offers open drawing sessions for all ages. Drop in! Paper, pencils and a stool are provided. En plus - a life model poses patiently to inspire your creativity.

If you can write, you can draw!

As a rule, only pencils are allowed to be used in the galleries. To better understand the paintings an instructor with containers filled with all kinds of colors will explain the process from grinding them and mixing them with a oil.

A sampler of a stretched canvas demonstrates how it has to be prepared before the actual painting can begin.

This gives a new perspective on the appreciation of art!

Children in the MFA

The Museum of Fine Arts has a school program which offers guided tours for small groups of children with a chaperone. Thousands of children come during the year and they are often surprised to find paintings and sculptures and many art objects they never saw before.

One hour passes with walking and looking and talking and discovering. Impossible to see it all and good that the MFA will always be there and is open every day.

In a special dining room they have a picnic lunch before returning to the bus which brings them back to their school.

FI 631 Keflavik-Boston

I prefer to fly with Icelandair from Paris to Boston even if it takes more hours because of the obligatory stop over in Keflavik on Iceland. As a "frequent flier" I am used to it and sleep most of the time. The screen shows where there is night- or day time all over the world.

But the best part of the flight comes when we fasten the seat belts for landing in Boston. Then when the wheels touch the ground I think: Thank you Saint Christopher!

Bavarian food

In Bavaria the breakfast buffet includes Weisswuerste. Selbstverstaendlich!

A few hours later one can choose between Bratwuerste mit Sauerkraut or a Halbe Ente mit Kartoffelknoedel und Rotkraut.

In the afternoon then a break with Kaffee und Kuchen. Marmorkuchen mit Schlagsahne bitte!

For the dinner? .......... I forgot to take my camera.

Three days in Munich

The Marienplatz in the center of Munich has on one side the Town hall with a Glockenspiel chiming and turning every day at 11 AM. We missed that.

But our goal was to visit the large bookstore just vis-a-vis which is open all week days until 8 PM. With the disappearance of so many bookstores we appreciated to have five floors filled with books to browse through and to make discoveries about new German writers. HUGENDUBEL is its name and was founded over 100 years ago. When we saw all the young readers we believe that - despite all IT - books will be around for the coming 100 years.