Chicago - Art & More Art? - Part 1

Next stop --the Art Institute, the AIC for those in the know. Kids Free! Hopefully rat kids too.

Lions guarding museums are so snooty.

Another lion! This one is from India.

Now this is an odd looking cow!

Interesting sculpture. I heard it was by Calder.

Here is an even more interesting sculpture.

Who wraps their dog in aluminum foil and calls it art?

Who wraps their trash in aluminum foil and calls it art!?

Seems like a lot of wasted space. Where are my roller skates?

I need a breather from all that "art"!

A view of Millennium Park.

Paris - Pareeeee!--How Ya Gonna Keep Him Down on the Farm!

From London I took a train to Paris. First stop Notre Dame--a big and beautiful cathedral!

I then crossed the river to the Louvre. I entered through I.M.Pei's big glass pyramid.

I saw lots of art, including this tiny portrait of a lady. Not sure why there were hundreds of people trying to crowd to see it as you could hardly see the painting from here with it behind glass!

I really liked this statue, which they call the Winged Victory of Samothrace. There was a whole exhibit on it as they just finished a major restoration of the sculpture. I am not sure how good it was as she still doesn't have arms or a head!!!

Here is the Apollo Gallery. It is a very ornate room lined with paintings of artists and architects.

I then went to the Tuileries Gardens nearby and stopped by this statue of Charles Perrault. He is known for writing fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Puss in Boots. If you look carefully you can see Puss in Boots dancing around him with children!

One day I went to the royal palace Fontainebleau.

Here is another view of the outside.

Somehow I always seem to run into lions! Not sure how this Chinese one ended up at a French palace.

Here is the part of the palace called the Gros Pavilion. The statue is of Ulysses by Jean Petitot.

I also went to an even bigger palace, but it looks really small from here! It was  a beautiful day so I went to Versailles for a picnic in the gardens by the Grand Canal with some French friends.

Here they are with me.

We had a really nice picnic.

After lunch we walked around the Grand Canal. We found lots of dandelions.

We had fun blowing the seeds of the dandelions!

Before I left France I meet a couple of my French relatives!!! They talked a bit funny (someone said it was Froggy-Woggy), but we were still able to understand each other enough to have fun.

South Africa - Cape Town

On our last day in South Africa we went to the V&A Docks and took a boat ride to Robben Island.

Here I am on the island.

The island use to be used as a prison. For many years this is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Here is his cell.

After our trip we had a picnic.

And visited some ducks.

Back on board the ship heading to Namibia with some of my friends.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat & the National Museum

Our next stop was Cambodia. Here I am at Angkor Wat. It's the largest religious building in the world!

The towers were designed like lotus blossoms.

Our next stop was the National Museum in Phnom Penh. I found another lion.

I also made a friend with an elephant.

I even made friends with some students.

We then had a relaxing lunch!

Veitnam - Saigon - More Lions!

Here I am in our next stop--Saigon (a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City). I'm standing right in front of the big cathedral.

Across the street was this wonderful neoclassical post office.

Inside the post office. There's a painting of Ho Chi Minh on the back wall.

Another area of the post office with an old map of the area.

Scary lion!

Here's another lion.

Another lion. I think this one wants to play.

This one at the entrance to the zoo seemed much friendlier.