Chronicles of Gene and Sherry: Italy/France---April 12 through May 8, 2010

After putting in all the pictures down to the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, I got tired of "fighting" the blog, and decided to do captions on the pictures and/or explanations before the pictures. I don't like the way it looks as well, but it sure is faster, so please bear with me! There are a lot of pictures, but when you've been to Italy and France you want to share at least a few of the hundreds of pictures taken.

041410: Emily Rimmasch, Elizabeth and Michael Graff, Miles Nielsen--in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy; the next picture is the same place, same date, but with Sherry and Gene in front of the Colosseum--we truly were there!

041510: Miles, Elizabeth, Michael, Emily, Sherry--St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Italy. Gene likes to take the pictures.

041510: The Pieta at the Vatican

041710: The next three pictures are all of theTuscany region of Italy--we loved the cities on the hillsides

041910: Florence, Italy--mmm, good!

041910: Florence, Italy--magnificent Duomo

041910: Duomo detail

041910: Florence, Italy--stained glass window
in Duomo

042010: all of us at the Leaning Tower of Pisa

0421-2210: Our next stop was Venice where we saw many Venetian masks, many canals (the only way to get around except for walking through the many narrow alleys) and gondolas, beautiful bridges, a 24-hour clock tower with the signs of the Zodiac and bell ringers, beautiful paintings on the Piazza San Marco Cathedral,

and the Grand Canal.

042410: Palace of Versailles, France--entrance

042410: Palace of Versailles--ceiling painting and painting of King Louis XIV

042410: Palace of Versailles courtyard--note the partially completed gold leaf restoration

042410: Palace of Versailles--marble statue and Hall of Mirrors

042510: Paris at Metro entrance with missionary sisters (Elizabeth) Smart and Lund

042510: At the Paris Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Sisters Lund & (Elizabeth) Smart

042510; Paris; Louvre--Mona Lisa
　
　
042510; Paris; Louvre--Venus de Milo

042510: Paris--Louvre; what is this woman contemplating?

042510: Paris---Louvre courtyard; the Louvre is huge!

042510: Paris--Louvre; Christ giving the "keys" to Peter

042510: Paris--Louvre; Solomon "dividing" the baby

042610: Emily, Elizabeth, Michael & Miles in front of
Notre Dame with their new hoodies

042610: Paris--stained glass windows inside
Notre Dame Cathedral

042710: a view from the Eiffel Tower;
we rode the elevator almost to the top

042710: Gene, Sherry, Michael, Elizabeth,
Emily & Miles in front of the Eiffel Tower

042710: a Parisian mime

042810: The next six pictures were taken from our boat ride on the Seine: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral (2 views), a Parisian sparrow, Paris apartments along the Seine, and statuary on one of the buildings.

Miles and Emily flew home on the 28th, and Michael, Elizabeth, Gene, and Sherry headed for southern France. The first two pictures are of the beautiful countryside in the South of France.

042910: These next three pictures were taken in or from the cemetery in Laguiole. Laguiole is where the very best cutlery is made, and we all bought some.

043010: Then on to Conques, France--a very medieval city, the first of many that we saw.

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detail above the church doors

Elizabeth on a Conques street

043010: dinner in Figeac, overlooking the Celé River

050110: Our next stop was Rocamadour, a large city built on the side of a cliff. Steep streets? Yea, verily. Would you believe a medieval city with modern elevators? Truly!

stained glass window in church
in Rocamadour

050210: this is one intelligent pig!

050210: medieval architecture

050210: medieval church

050310: Carcassonne, France--a large medieval city within two walls, streets that wound around and went up and down, gargoyles on the churches, and stocks if anyone misbehaved!

entrance to Carcassone

Elizabeth and Michael

Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc),
Maid of Orleans

050310: French countryside

Up until now the weather had been beautiful, sunny, warm. May 4 brought us rainy, windy, very wet weather. So much for sunny beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. It was still beautiful to see, though! After viewing the Sea, we went to Nimes, France, which is rich in Roman history. We saw a Roman arena in Nimes, and a Roman aqueduct bridge called the Pont du Gard, which crosses the Gard River and was estimated to be about 2,000 years old. Was it there when Jesus walked the earth? It was amazing to think that such an aqueduct could have been so well built that many years ago that it still stands today.