1922 Europe Journal, Part 7: Paris, Louvre, Versailles

Tuesday, June 27

“Again we slept late.  Had lunch here at the hotel before we started out for the day. Went to the Louvre and spent the afternoon there.  It was wonderful to say the least.  We were glad we were not with a guide.  Saw many beautiful paintings and statues.  The Venus de Milo and Victory of Samothrace impressed me as much as any I believe.” 

[The Winged Victory of Samothrace (also called the Nike of Samothrace) is a marble scuplpture, circa 200-190 BCE, of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory).]

“When we left the Louvre we went to the Madeline.”

[L'église de la Madeleine (Madeleine Church) is a Roman Catholic church occupying a commanding position in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The church was designed in its present form as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army. To its south lies the Place de la Concorde, to the east is the Place Vendôme, and to the west L'église Saint-Augustin.]

“Hunted out a little shop that we had found on Saturday.  I bought a bead purse. We got back to the hotel about 8:00 and had dinner.  Spent the evening talking and now I am going to bed.”

Wednesday, June 28

“Got up and went down to the American Express to get our railroad tickets for Geneva and get Swiss and Italian money.  No mail.”

“At 10:00 we started for Versailles. Visited the little palace first.  It was built in 1766 for Louis XV and occupied by Mme. dePompadour and Marie DuBarry.  Marie Antoinette chose it as her favorite residence. The gardens here were first laid out as botanical gardens but were changed by Marie Antoinette.  The farm was worked by real peasants.  There was a mill there and the dairy still standing.  We had a good natured little guide who could spiel of French history by the yard.  Next we took in the large palace.  Here we saw lots of interesting things from coaches to tapestry.  It is in this palace that the peace treaty was signed in 1919.  We visited the room on the third anniversary.  The table on which the treaty was signed is shown to all visitors.  The room of mirrors where the table stood in 1919 is a marvelous place.  There are beautiful gardens about the palace.  The fountains play only on the first and third Sundays of the month, so of course, we missed that part of it.”  

[The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919 in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I were dealt with in separate treaties. Although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919, and was printed in The League of Nations Treaty Series.]

“We got back about 6:00.  Went to the opera in the evening.  Saw “Samson and Delilah”.  Got home early.  We didn’t stay for ballet.”

[Samson and Delilah is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saens to a French liretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the Grand Ducal Theater on 2 December 1877 in a German translation. Samson et Dalila is a consistent presence in the opera houses of Europe. By 1920, the Paris Opera alone had given more than 500 performance of the opera.]

1922 Europe Journal, Part 5: Paris in the Spring

Disclaimer/Reminder: Please read and enjoy this blog and my grandma’s story. All images posted are very low resolution and watermarked. If you so desire a copy of an image you see, please contact me. I’ve found this a fascinating look back at history and events in both New York and Europe right after WWI. I continue to spend hours and weeks researching the places, events, and details, that she wrote about. My dream is to visit even a couple of these places and recreate some of the images and tours. 

Saturday, June 24

“We found our beds so comfortable that we didn’t get up until eleven. Had a grand rest.”

“After lunch we started out for downtown.  Tried the subway and got down o.k.” 

“As we strolled about, we would stop occasionally at a little shop.  Some of the girls bought some things, but I didn’t.  We went to the Tuileries.  Sat down in the garden and found that we had to pay for the privilege.  Looked at many of the statues and studied the arch at the lower end.  Erected to commemorate the victories of Napoleon, each side represents a different triumph.  At first we thought it was the Arch of Triumph, but after studying our map and using our heads a bit, we discovered the latter some distance up the other way.”

“Saw the monument erected by the schoolboys of France to Gambetta.  A short distance from it is one erected to Lafayette by the schoolboys of the United States.  Found the Louvre.  Also, the statue commemorating the last war, or rather one of them.  Each of the statues in the royal palace represented a different town or province of France.”

Le Monument de Gambetta

This photograph looks almost exactly like a pencil drawing postcard I found online. Her photo caption was "Looking towards the Louvre from the Tuileries."

“Next we decided to walk up to the Arch of Triumph, so off we started.  It was several miles, but was well worth the effort.  The Arch itself is a tremendous structure - erected in 1806 by Napoleon and finished by Louis Phillippe in 1836 in honor of the French Republic.  It is under this arch that the body of an unknown soldier, who gave his life in the last war, has been buried.  There were many floral offerings there today.”

“After our visit to the Arch, we took our first ride on the surface cars of Paris.  Happened to come across a man who understood English and heard us debating about the way to do it.  He explained it to us.  Had supper on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant.  At 8:45 we started on a trip about the city. Saw some of the things we had seen in the afternoon, but had them more fully explained.  Got back to the hotel about eleven and went to bed at once.”