Life on the Vine

My mom and I really had a great visit to Paris.  It was the first visit for both of us.  During our four day visit we went to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, Orsay Museum, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles, Rodin Museum, Sacre-Coeur, walked the Champs-Elysees, and visited the Holocaust Museum.  We explored mainly on foot but also took the subways, buses and regional train.  I've already done a blog about our first stop on Friday, which was Versailles . This will be a fairly lengthy post but it'll be mostly photos.  I thought I'd share some of the photos from the three museums we visited - Louvre, Orsay and Rodin.  We logged more than 10 miles walking to and through these museums.  Surprisingly no-flash photography is allowed in the Louvre and the Rodin but photography is not allowed in the Orsay.  I wrote down some of the sculptures and paintings I found interesting in the Orsay and was just now able to find most of them on the Internet.  So, just a disc

Do you consider yourself a compassionate person?  I think most people would probably say yes.  We think to ourselves, "Sure, I'm a compassionate person."  I feel compassion towards a relative, friend or neighbor who is going through a difficult time; I cringe at the idea of animal cruelty; I cry and my heart aches at the stories of the devastating poverty affecting millions around the world.  Compassion is defined as " a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering."  Note that last part. Compassion is more than just 'feeling' something.  It is a 'strong desire' to actually do something about it.  Last year I read the book "The Fitting Room" by Kelly Minter twice.  In the book she examines Colossians 3:12 and what, as Christians, we are called to 'clothe' ourselves with.  Paul writes to the Colossians: &quo

Palace of Versailles It's a quick 3 hour train ride from Stuttgart to Paris.  We left Stuttgart around 0700 and by 1000 we were in Paris.  Paris has four main train stations and we arrived at Gard 'Est.  Before getting onto the subway, we stopped in the tourist information office and bought a Paris Pass, which came in very handy during the visit and definitely saved us some money.  After finding our hotel, and dropping our bags off, we were on our way to Versailles.  Versailles is about 30 minutes outside of the city and you can reach it on the regional/commuter trains.  Fortunately we had a train stop just a couple blocks away from our hotel. We'd decided to go to Versailles on our first day, hoping the crowds wouldn't be as bad on a weekday.  We also wanted to leave Saturday and Sunday open for sightseeing in the city.  Despite our hopes, it was very crowded inside the palace.  Although it wasn't as bad outside.  I imagine it's crowded all the time.  V