To Really See Europe, Look Up!
This hot air balloon passed so close over our balcony, we could hear them talking.
If you are lucky enough to be visiting Europe this year, then to see it properly, you must do this: Look up!
One of the delights of the old world is the incredible detail that those master craftsmen decided to tack on to every building. In the future, will we look at our modern architecture and marvel over the details? Hmm. On verra, we’ll see.
I discovered the importance of looking up when I decided to flâner (to stroll, roam, saunter) around my own town of Beaune one day, with my neck, and my camera, craned up at a sharp angle. I discovered lots of surprises.
For example, I realized we have many, many stone niches, filled with tiny religious figures, perched up very high on street corners. I found that some of the stores I’m used to viewing at street level are quite fashionably dressed above their lower facade. And lots of other ‘architexture’, up above the eye-line.
Careful not to fall now, we are going for a stroll– so, heads up!
Sunlight hits a church steeple near our house.
A very fancy window on the second floor of a bank.
If you walk by this bar on the main place, you might miss the rather dazzling architecture that’s above it.
One thing I discovered on my walk: up high on many streetcorners are stone niches, filled with statues. This one is St. Vincent, the patron saint of wine.
In Beaune, we have a road to heaven! There is a back-alley cut-through well known to locals, called the Rue Paradis. But don’t take a wrong turn; around the corner, you might miss the sign high on the wall if you don’t look up…and descend a stairway into the tiny Rue d’enfer, the road to hell
The crown of a children’s carousel at the park
Love this door, but I hadn’t noticed the crest above it.
A tiny turret on a third floor
A gateway to the walled medieval town, with wonderful detail
Gorgeous stonework above a pretty shutter
“Peace”, on a public building in the main place.
The magnificent ceiling at the entry to our cathedral
An interesting brick pattern, above a bank
Look up from this storefront, and you’ll find a tucked-away terrace turret on a second-floor apartment, as well as a very old half-timbered building.
Small details delight the eye
An international set of flags by a window on an upper floor
And another pop of color! Royal purple above a liqueur boutique.
At the top of our belltower, look for the cat chasing a ball, which is part of a light show in the evenings.
And finally, look to the skies for an arc-en-ciel.
Favorite READS: Natalia, our reader-in-residence, says she is just getting around to reading Hamnet. Which of course is now also a movie. I’ve heard it’s very sad, and I confess I haven’t been brave enough to tackle it. Instead I’m going way back to Bill Bryson’s tour around Europe, Neither Here nor There. His books always bring a smile.
