Day 11 / Travel out of Paris to Tours, France, and a visit to da Vinci's Chateau and Amboise Castle!

Today I left Paris and took a train to Tours. From Tours, I rented a car and drove to Amboise. The countryside was a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Every little town is different. Some have castles and some do not, but each is beautifully charming in their own unique ways.

Surprisingly, much of the French countryside looks a lot like Alabama!

I am really looking forward to seeing the castles of the Loire valley and working on some ideas for exciting architecture and castle units with my students upon my return to the States.

Tonight, after hours of sitting in a train and brushing up on French road signs in my travel book, I explored the town of Amboise.

 

Leonardo da Vinci lived for a short time in a chateau in Amboise, so I had to check out his home!

This museum was filled with models of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions. 

I also went to the Amboise Castle!  

There was a little bit of rain while I was there, which led to some cloud cover and a high-drama sky in this photo of the Amboise Castle.

It was so nice to finish off the day looking at a beautiful sunset over the Loire river!

Day 10 / The Orangerie Museum

It was refreshing to visit The Musée de l'Orangerie, an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, after the Louvre visit yesterday. The Orangerie Museum is located in the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde.
It was full of Monet's Water Lilies!

...and many other famous art, also. Here are some Amedo Modigliani pieces.

 ...and Cézanne pieces,

 

 ...and Picasso pieces,

 

...and Renoir, 

 

...and so many other famous artists and renowned pieces! It is most famous for 8 murals of water lilies by Claude Monet, known as the Nymphéas. These paintings were arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. These paintings, displayed in two oval rooms all along the walls, are under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet. When I walked into these rooms, I felt a peaceful feeling emanating from all of the relaxing blue and green colors within the paintings.

Day 8 / Picasso Museum and Rodin Museum

There are so many museums to visit in France! I chose to visit the Picasso Museum, since he is one of my all-time favorite artists, and his work really goes over well with my students.  They enjoy the bright colors and his abstract style.

I'm already thinking of a million ideas for how to use the information gleaned from this exhibit with my students in art class! Not only were there a great number of Picasso's pieces in this museum, but there were also many pieces by other famous artists.

These are the parts that fit into the torso of a piece by Rodin. I think my students will find his interesting.

A Rodin sculpture without the arm yet.

The Thinker by Rodin.

Rodin was a master at capturing expression within his figures.

The Rodin Museum was also a great experience. Outside of the museum, there is a beautiful garden filled with life-size and larger than life-size sculptures by Rodin. Another full day of art in the lovely Paris, France!

Day 9 / An entire day spent at The Louvre!

Today, I went back to The Louvre early so that I could spend the entire day researching the immense selection of art and antiquities. I could skip past the most famous (and most crowded) pieces, since I had already visted them late in the evening on day 4.

Here are just a few of the highlights from the day.

Art from all around the world was represented within the Louvre, but I had been most looking forward to exploring the Egyptian collection, which did not disappoint!

What an exhausting and fullfilling day!! The Louvre is enormous! There is so much to see, and each new room seems more interesting than the last. I believe I could come back to this place over and over again for a week or two, and still not see everything.

Day 7 / Salvador Dalí Museum and Montmartre district

Today, I went to visit the famous Montmartre district of Paris, famous for street artists and the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, which is located on the crest of the hill.

Artists set up on the streets of Montmartre district.

Basilica of Sacre-Coeur on the top of the hill.

View from the top of the hill in front of Basilica of Sacre-Coeur.

As a fan of Salvador Dalí, I was excited to visit the The Espace Dalí, which is a permanent exhibition in France devoted to him and more particularly to his sculptures and engravings. The museum has around 300 original artworks.

Dalí is known for his long-legged animal pictures. My students will love these!

Dalís ink blot-style paintings were quite interesting.

My students love Dalí 's melting clocks! Here is a sculpture of one.

There was also some interesting reflective pieces. Here is a short video of this one.

 I learned so much about Dalí  that I never knew before. His ink blot paintings were new to me, and I really enjoyed the sculptures. The museum was too dark for me to capture one in a 3D scan, but I was able to get a lot of great photos of them.