Symmetry and echoes

For me, one of the most rewarding parts of our travels are the echoes of past travels, and connections within the same trip. Dinner on our first evening in Paris began with an aperitif -- something red, with a bit of sparkle. This is how our first dinner in Venice in May 2008 began -- something red, with a bit of sparkle.

Fountain at Jardin des Tuileries, early on our first full day in Paris

 

This trip echoed within itself, sometimes in photographs, some of them arranged for (minor) dramatic effect. The top image shows our feet propped up on the edge of a fountain as we rested early on a walk that would take us from home base through the courtyard of the Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, the Rodin Museum. The one below is those same feet, same shoes, propped up on a wall at Zandvoort after a long afternoon of walking the beach. That beach, so far as that goes, felt similar to the long beach we walk during our regular visits to the Oregon Coast. Like Newport, but different.

Tired feet at the beach in Zandvoort

Our trip to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on the second-to last day of our travels included some Van Goghs --from the same genius whose work was on display at the Rodin (the sculptor donated them to his own museum), Musee d'Orsay (which had borrowed some paintings from Amsterdam for its exhibit), and of course the Van Gogh Museum, which had also visited. It also included a surprising image of the Nieuwe Haarlemse Sluis on the Singel, painted in 1871 by Matthijs Maris. Maris had taken the location of one of our lunch snacks in Amsterdam (broodje, pepper sweets and wine) and imposed a Paris skyline in the background. Images of the Paris skyline were etched in our own backgrounds from the time we began planning the trip.

The painter claimed he painted this in a week to make a quick buck

Another painting at the Rijksmuseum was of the St. Bavo church in Harlaam.

Even at the time this was painted, it is unlikely the painting was physically next to the organ

From a distance -- amid heavy crowds, something looked familiar in the painting. It was the same church we had visited the day before on the initial stage of our journey to the coast. The 1636 painting, by Pieter Jaenz Saenredam, shows part of a painting of the resurrection of Christ to the side of the organ. This painting is gone now -- lost to the desecration wrought by Protestant iconoclasts who took over Catholic churches back in the day.

Organ at the church of St. Bavo

Stacey's posting about the first day triggers more echoes in my own mind and heart. The journey continues, even after it is finished.