S is for Santa Fe

All I need's a few more dollars
And I'm outta here to stay
Dreams come true
Yes, they do
In Santa Fe

"Santa Fe" from Newsies,
lyrics by Jack Feldman

There are so many choices for Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday this week. S has a lot of possibilities. I thought of Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Sonoma, and Silverton, but finally chose Santa Fe where "dreams come true, yes, they do." The photos below were all taken during visits in the 1990s. I really like New Mexico's capital. On my first visit in Santa Fe, there was some sort of fiesta in the city center with music and dance.

So beautiful, proud and talented!

The little girls were adorable.

One of the most famous hotels in Santa Fe -- the Inn and Spa at Loretto.

The Canyon Road is Santa Fe's art district with dozens of wonderful galleries. It's a pleasure to stroll up and down the road to see sculptures and other art objects. Don't hesitate to enter the galleries, too. You will find amazing artwork there. Below you see a statue outside the Frank Howell Gallery in Washington Avenue.

The statue in front of the New Mexico State Capitol.

On a walk in Santa Fe's city center, I saw this statue of a sleeping bear.

The Loretto Chapel.

The spiral staircase inside the chapel which is considered to be an exceptional work of carpentry. In fact, there'a a bit of mystery surrounding its construction. From Wikipedia:

"The architect died suddenly and it was only after much of the chapel was constructed that the builders realized it was lacking any type of stairway to the choir loft. Due to the chapel's small size, a standard staircase would have been too large. Historians have also noted that earlier churches of the period had ladders rather than stairs to the choir loft, but the Sisters obviously did not feel comfortable with that prospect because of the long habits that they wore. The reputed story continues as follows. Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was a miraculous occurrence. The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs. The wood for the staircase cannot be found anywhere in the region. The stairs had 33 steps, the age of Jesus when he died."

In Santa Fe, you find the most interesting stores. Some of them are even interesting from the outside. The Golden Eye is a good example.

I want to end this post with the lyrics of the song "Santa Fe" by the Bellamy Brothers:

Her turquoise lips kiss me like a lover.
Her silver eyes see right through my veins.
Her Indian heart asks when I'll return to her.
Her Spanish soul begs me to remain.
And no one that I've ever known can move me like she does.
No, it's not a woman that I love.

Santa Fe Santa Fe
I have been here in your arms and now I want to stay.
Santa Fe Santa Fe
I won't sleep 'till I'm back in Santa Fe.

Her sunrise could bring light into a blind man.
Her sunset could put tears there in his eyes.
Her colors are laying there in brush strokes.
Underneath those peote skies.

The lay of the land stirs all of my emotions.
She heals me with a laid back energy.
She holds onto my broken lifeless spirit.
And molds me just like pottery.
And nowhere that I've ever been can make me feel this way.
That's why I'm going there to stay.

Santa Fe Santa Fe
I have been there in your arms, now I want to stay.
Santa Fe Santa Fe
I won't sleep 'till I'm back Santa Fe.
Santa Fe
No, I won't sleep 'till I'm back in Santa Fe.

Weekend in Paris

Spring in Paris. Who wouldn't dream of that? In fact, I even made a digital collage with that theme last year. The universe has obviously listened -- I won a weekend trip to Paris! So my mom and I boarded this Air France plane in the morning of Friday, March 26.


The world surely looks different from way up in the sky. In only 1 1/2 hours we made it from Munich, Germany to Paris, France.


We were picked up at the airport by a friendly driver from Sri Lanka who brought us to our hotel near the Eiffel Tower. It rained for a few minutes (here you see the Place de la Concorde), ...


... yet we had a clear view when we first drove down the Avenue des Champs Élysées with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.


At the hotel, the other winners from various parts of Germany were already waiting. We left for a fragrance workshop at Givaudan which is according to Wikipedia "the world's largest company in the flavor and fragrance industry, creating and manufacturing taste and smell solutions." It was exciting to learn more about how fragrances are created -- we could even try our hand at mixing a fruity fragrance. The sponsor of the weekend in Paris was a company who produces laundry products among other things. One of the employees at Givaudan had created the different fragrances of their new fabric softener. That look behind the scenes was priceless for sure. Anyway, on our way to Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris where Givaudan is situated, we passed the Arc de Triomphe...


... as well as the Grand Arche in the middle of the picture below which is a monument in the business district of La Defénse.


On the way back to the hotel we drove over the River Seine. In the meantime, the sun had come out.


Our room on the fifth floor of the Hotel Le Walt had a big painting over the bed -- talk about classy!


The view from our hotel room was wonderful as well -- it felt as if you could touch the Eiffel Tower standing right behind the roofs of Paris with their many small chimneys.


For dinner our group went to the restaurant Le Comptoir du 7ème right next door. The ceiling lighting is a league of its own -- and the food was plenty and delicious.

On a short walk after dinner we admired the illuminated Eiffel Tower.

We could spent the following day to our liking. Thus we first visited the Opéra de Paris on Saturday morning.


A bunch of young people were driving around on bikes, yelling and ringing bicycle bells. They were advertising for the department store Galeries Lafayette -- La mode voit rouge (the fashion sees red).

A close-up of one of the golden statues on the roof of the opera.

A view of the beautiful opera facade with one of the gorgeous street lamps in the foreground.


As we walked towards the Galeries Lafayette, we passed several of these street lamps.

A station of the Paris Métro(politain) near the Galeries Lafayette.

That's the beautiful glass dome of the department store.

A detail of the exquisite Art Nouveau artwork.

Those sparkling mannequins were a hoot.

A view of the store's balconies -- at the ground floor there's the world's largest perfume department.


The Galeries Lafayette department store actually consists of three different buildings. The one on the opposite side of the street sells home accessoires like these colorful lamps.


The Boulevard Haussmann is also known for another department store -- Printemps. The window decorations were one of a kind.

The Art Nouveau facade of the Printemps.

Then we took the metro to the Musée du Louvre.

A first glance at some statues -- I loved how the man and the statue seemed to look at the same spot.


If you read or watched The Da Vinci Code, you will immediately recognize the glass pyramides in the inner court of the Louvre Palace.

Here we are already in the basement, looking up through the pyramide glass.

One of the most famous paintings is the Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine by Jacques-Louis David which was completed in 1808. It's amazing how big the painting is.


In fact, the architecture of the Louvre is as impressing as its many paintings and statues. In the background you can see the Nike of Samothrace.

A view towards the pyramids.

No visit of the Louvre would be complete without seeing the Mona Lisa or La Joconde.


The details of the various statues are stunning -- and, obviously, flip-flops have been in style for centuries.


A group of Japanese tourists looks around in awe like everyone else. Can you see Hermes in the background on the right side?


The sun shining through the window made the white marble statue of Psyche and Cupid come alive.

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonia Canova -- a close-up of the heads.

I loved the play of light and shadow -- the statues are put into scene very well.

Then it was time to say good-bye to the Louvre. We walked along the River Seine towards the Île de la Cité, a natural island in the Seine. In the foreground you see the Pont des Arts, a metallic bridge for pedestrians.

Love notes on a tree.

There were many booths selling vintage magazines, books and the like.

Here's Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge across the River Seine which we crossed to get on the island.


Our first destination on the island was the Conciergerie, a former royal place as well as prison. The most famous prisoner was probably Marie Antoinette. The Hall of Guards with its medieval architecture is very impressing.


Then we went to Sainte-Chapelle, a beautiful Gothic chapel which has a lower and upper level. Here's a column in the lower chapel with the fleur-de-lis.


The stained glass windows and the rose window in the upper chapel are considered to be the best of their type in the world.

A detail of a column on the entrance of the chapel.

Our last stop was Notre Dame de Paris, the famous Gothic cathedral.

A close-up of the gargoyles on the facade.

After a short stop at our hotel -- here a view of the street below (Avenue de la Motte Picquet) --,


... we left for dinner at the brasserie Boeuf sur le Toit. For dessert I had a crème brûlée which is one of the most famous French desserts and tastes just delicious.


The restaurant had a great atmosphere, elegant decor, and live music -- a wonderful chance to relive all the adventures we had had that day.


At night we had this beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower from our hotel window.

On Sunday morning we had a relaxed breakfast in the hotel's lovely breakfast room.

As we had still time before taking the bus to the airport, we walked to the Invalides.

That's the entrance of the domed chapel which is the burial site for some of France's war heros.

The most famous tomb is the one of Napeoléon Bonaparte.

The floor of the chapel is amazing.

Angel statues near the altar.

The altar canopy.

A view of Napoléon's sarcophagus in the crypt. Twelve marble goddesses surround the sarcophagus. They represent Napoléon's twelve war victories between 1797 and 1815.


In an alcove there's the tomb and statue of Napoléon's only legitimate son, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt.


All too soon the time for flying home was there, but the memories of that March weekend in Paris will linger on for a long time. Au revoir, Paris -- à bientôt!

If you now want to have a piece of Paris yourself, be sure to take part in my Paris bookmark calendar giveaway.