The Lone Elm

Paris - The Organ at St. Sulpice (Part 1)

At about 9am on Sunday morning, The Sapling and I headed out to l'Eglise (church) St. Sulpice.  We worked our way through the Marais to a bridge crossing the Seine to Isle St. Louis, then down to Isle de la Cite, past Notre Dame, and then across to the Left Bank and the Latin Quarter.  Then we wended our way to Boulevard Saint Germain, a throughway created by Baron Hausmann, and finally over to St. Sulpice.  It was another beautiful morning, and the city was just waking up.

The Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

We were intent on getting to St. Sulpice by 10:15am, because the organist begins the prelude for the first Sunday service then.  And St. Sulpice is home to one of the finest pipe organs in Paris. (For specific information regarding this organ and more pictures, see Les orgues de Paris.) Even more exciting is the fact that after the postlude for the first service, visitors can go up to the organ loft and see the console and organ up close.  And then, one can hang out and watch the organist play for the second service!  I had found the specifics on this in an article by Steve Fox on Rick Steve's travel website.

The Console of the Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

The organ is set in a loft in the back of the church.  The console faces towards the nave just behind the pipes below the clock (see the picture above).  We sat ourselves down, along with a number of others who were clearly there for the music, not for the service!  The organist, who we later found out was Daniel Roth, Organist Titulaire (the head organist), played a stunning improvisation for the prelude that showed off the capabilities of this massive five rank keyboard.  We then sat through the service, some of which was supported by a smaller second organ in the front of the church.  At the conclusion of the service, Roth played a spectacular postlude.  We wandered around the back of the church trying to figure out where the door to the stairs going to the loft was.  Slowly, a group of people gathered on the left side (facing back). And, sure enough, after the postlude was finished, we were invited up. 

We climbed up a stone spiral staircase.  Then we walked past the original hand bellows.  On the right, Roth's program for the day was posted.  We then came around and were able to meet Roth and admire the organ.  He was remarkably gregarious and happy to talk to everyone.  (More on Mr. Roth and the organ in a subsequent posting.)  We hung out through the second service and had a wonderful time watching him play.  The photo below was taken on the right side of the organ loft facing the nave as we were leaving.

l'Eglise St. Sulpice from the Organ Loft: Paris, France

Paris - Arrival and the Arc de Triomphe

The Sapling and I took a one week trip to Paris in March, 2007.  We were blessed with especially fine weather for all of the week up until the day we left.  We chose to stay in an apartment in the Marais, and then developed our own scheme of touring each day as our energy and interests dictated.   Coming from the U.S., we arrived at Charles de Gaulle (CDG) at 6:30am Saturday morning, that compressed the night time into about six hours.  East is my least favorite direction to travel!   CDG was a fascinating place, with  travelers coming from all around the globe, including cities in Africa that I did not recognize.  Our bags took forever to emerge. We then took the Air France bus into the city (about 12 Euros per person).  The bus dropped us at the Arc de Triomphe. It was a spectacularly clear and brisk morning.  We decided to walk to the Marais, hauling our bags.  As we headed down the Champs Elysee, I turned around and captured this shot.  The Arc is luminous and in sharp contrast to the deep blue sky.

Willow Lake, Prescott AZ

On our recent trip to Prescott AZ, The Sapling and I visited Willow Lake Park, one of several run by the City of Prescott.  The park is on the north side of town between Highway 89 and Willow Lake Road, not far from Watson Lake.   The day was pretty hot, in the upper 80's, so The Sapling and I returned to the car after only a brief walk.  The photo above is facing north about as far as we got up the trail. We drove north to Chino Valley, and took a left just before the main part of town off of 89, on the Outer Loop Road.  We then took a left on Williamson Valley Road and wound our way back to Prescott.  We saw several antelope in the fields. Overall a nice little drive with pleasant changes in topography and a good view of Granite Mountain.

Michael Totten's Turkish Road Trip

Michael Totten is at it again.  This time he and a friend decide to take a whirlwind trip of about 1,000 miles in Turkey in winter -- from Istanbul to Kurdish Iraq. Oh yes, they have to do it in three days! These are the links to Parts One , Two , and Three of the saga.  Totten observes at the end of Part One: 

"Sometimes it seems like everyone in the Middle East hates everyone else in the Middle East. Arabs hate Kurds and Israelis. Turks hate Arabs and Kurds. Kurds hate Turks and fear Arabs. (Interestingly, Kurds love Israelis.) Everyone, especially Lebanese, hates Palestinians. 

Not all people are haters. I've met plenty who aren't. But every culture has its baseline prejudices that individuals either opt into or out of. It’s exhausting. Sometimes I just want to shake people and say: Keep your old-world ethnic squabbling out of my face, willya please? Jesus, no wonder there’s so much war around here. Even so, Middle Easterners are the most friendly and charming people I've ever met."

The story has great photos of a part of the world most of us have never seen.  Read it, learn a little about that part of the world, and donate something to support Totten's work!

Prescott AZ Photo

This photo is from my recent trip to Prescott AZ.  This shot is of Watson Lake at sunset.  The sky was just clearing after a day of snow and hail showers, and it was quite chilly out.  The Sapling and I enjoyed a presentation by the Prescott Astronomy Club on Saturn's Moons once it turned dark.  Great stars!

Planes are going to be even more like a cattle car...

According to the Washington Post, American Airlines has decided to remove the rear galleys on its MD-80 aircraft, and add 4 seats.  The exalted and pampered first-class passengers will continue to have galley service.  I wonder if the airlines have considered the additional mess that passengers carrying on their own food and drink are going to cause??

Travel in Libya

Michael Totten has a riveting and vivid report on his travels in Libya in the LA Weekly.  Libya seems like a North African version of Cuba, with very heavy Qaddafi worship, few modern amenities, yet pretty lacksadaisical security.   It is a wonderful read, and should remind all of us how lucky we are to live in America. 

How About a Road Trip!

The Washington Post has a fun article by the wife of the German ambassador to the United States, Jutta Falke-Ischinger.  Her husband felt that the best way to see the United States was to rent an RV and tour. They drove through New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, up into Canada, and back through Maine, ending up in their normal vacation spot on Martha's Vineyard.  While they are obviously privileged and used to a more up-scale lifestyle, her story is an interesting observation of the RV traveler's world, and a nice, if not a bit abbreviated, travelogue.  (I would like to read a more detailed diary of her experience!)  See Guns and Butter for his commentary. He suggests they undertake a cross-country trek.

Trip to Vermont

We had a very nice day yesterday visiting The Sapling at The Putney School, Vermont.  As we set off with several of his friends, we had no idea that we would be driving through flood ravaged southwestern New Hampshire. (The images are incredible.)  A huge amount of rain fell over Saturday and Saturday night, overwhelming the capacity of bridges, undermining roads, and washing out houses.  Water was flooding the flatlands in Keene as we drove through, covering roads and apparently residential sections of town.
We had a lovely day at the schools Harvest Fair, enjoying the music, pageantry, food and celebrating The Sapling's birthday.