
June 10: I took this picture last week from the second level of the Eiffel Tower. Dorette, her granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, and I rode an elevator to this viewing deck but walked down all 704 steps. The tower is a 1,063-foot urban landmark that ranks with New York City’s Empire State Building (1,224 feet) but has the added advantage of being in Paris. I like to kid Dorette that she’s never seen a flight of stairs she hasn’t wanted to climb (lighthouses are her favorite). Me not so much. So later while she and Avery were trudging to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral, I opted for drinking espresso and strolling the Marais neighborhood on the right bank of the Seine. All three of us had great fun.

June 9: This park in Paris, established by Napoleon, is among my favorite places on the face of the Earth. I shot this photo on an especially fine weather day during our recent visit. Unlike in the U.S., most pubic lawns in Paris are for looking at, not walking upon, sunbathing, napping, pitching woo, playing games, etc. But as the sign in the foreground states, this one is an exception to the rule. Sun worshippers of all kinds are welcomed on the grass.

June 6: The Eiffel Tower always amazes me as the inspiring visual centerpiece of the great city of Paris. I took this iPhone picture from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Today is our last full day here. I ain’t getting any younger, but I plan to return next year for the International Hemingway Conference. But as the French proverb he often quoted says, “d’abord il faut durer.”

June 4: This is one of two Ernest Hemingway homes in Paris I saw yesterday. I also walked past Gertrude Stein’s place near the Luxembourg Garden, also marked with a sign. Unlike the case with Hemingway, hardly anyone reads Stein these days. That would please Hemingway, who later had a huge falling out with her. At any rate, Paris loves them both.

June 2: Dorette and Avery in front of me yesterday as we walked from the train station to the palace of French kings at Versailles, a few miles from Paris. A great time inside the palace and especially wandering about the landscaped grounds in perfect weather. Dorette and I had been there before and were impressed with the enhanced visitor services.

May 31: Dorette’s granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, photographed outside the Louvre. Weather wise our best so far of our trip. We also hit Sainte-Chapelle and the Musee de l’Orangerie to see Monet’s Water Lillies, and it turned out tons of other works by impressionist or post-impressionist painters (17 Renoirs, nine Picassos, nine Cezannes, etc.). Out of this world. Highly recommend.

May 30: Highlight of our day was taking a train 30 miles north of Paris to revisit Monet’s Garden. Workers were sprucing up the lily pads as we arrived. And indeed, Monet was creating art here, not merely displaying nature. It’s one of Dorette and my favorite places. We’ll be looking his paintings of the scene tomorrow at the Paris museum devoted to his work.
Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland, along with Dorette Kerian and her granddaughter, Avery Dusterhoft, recently returned to the U.S. after a visit to Paris, “the City of Lights” (“la Ville des Lumières”). Dave has been to Paris several times, so he knows his way around quite well, as is evidenced by these beautiful shots. This is the first of two Paris galleries that will appear here.