The Sepia Post…...

 PARIS….loved every minute of it…and the sepia/blurring tool made those minutes as timeless as Paris herself….

view from the top of Montparnasse Observatory

view of Notre Dame from Montparnasse

view of the Effiel Tower from the Tracadero

Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre…built to cure the country's spiritual ills in the face of  military defeat at the hands of Bismark's Prussians in 1870 (the Germans have always had a thing for Paris)…they had originally pledged to build a church there if they escaped unscathed from the war, and when they didn't, they still built a church there as their defeat felt like a moral condemnation of the sins of Paris.  Possibly.  There's no doubt about the sin, it's true of us all, but their defeat was more likely to have involved inferior military tactics, numbers and timing; regardless, it's always a good idea to acknowledge the Lord and call the people's attention back to their Maker.  After an architectural competition, the construction for the basilica began in 1876 and it took 40 years to build.  The hilltop Montmartre, north of downtown Paris, is best known for its many artists and writers who have enchanted the art & literary worlds and been omnipresent since the 1880s.  The architectural style, Roman-Byzantyne, apparently stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Paris which is Romanesque……which, as I'm not a well studied art historian,  I guess just means Paris itself doesn't have the Byzantine flare.   All I know is that it's a stunning site in person & because it's on the hill, it stands higher than the Eiffel tower as among the highest points in all of Paris…..and because it's a church, we know it's even higher still.  During WWII, 13 bombs are said to have landed on the church, but caused no casualties, so it has special significance in the memory of locals.  This is one of the many sites left unexplored by our students as time did not permit, so it's something they can add to their list when they return!  I was there last Memorial Day weekend in 2013 for my EF "training" weekend and soaked up every minute of it, wandering the same streets Van Gogh, Degas, Picasso, and countless others 20th century artists and writers too.  Much of it has been over-commercialized of course, but if you wander away from the crowds & over-priced craze, it's a significant gem in the crown of travel.