Friday Featured Art: Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was one of the first famous pieces that we saw at the Louvre. It's very beautiful. You can find out more about it by visiting the Louvre's special site here.

Thursday Text: Traditional Turkish Designs

I just ordered this book + CD-ROM from Dover Publications: Traditional Turkish Designs. (Yes, it's just graphics, but I'm counting it as text because it's a book...) I saw a lot of beautiful pillow covers at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul that featured Ottoman embroidery designs. I didn't find one with a design AND a price that I liked, so after returning home I figured that I could get this book with the designs and embroider my own! I really liked the stylized tulip (seen below) and carnation designs.

Birds

Have you ever thought about keeping a bird? We saw these ones for sale on a street in Paris. Their colors and patterns were so incredible. I would love to have one, but I think it would make me too sad to keep it in a cage.

Istanbul Design

There were some items in the Istanbul gift shops that featured really great graphic design. I didn't end up getting any, but I did write down the web site! Istanbul Koleksiyonu sells dishes, t-shirts, and notebooks with designs representative of the city. There are tons of seagulls in Istanbul, like on this bowl, and I loved the designs like on the notebook below with depictions of the skyline. (The web site is in Turkish...)

Baguette!

You always hear about how great French food is - baguettes, cheese, macaroons, etc. In our short time in Paris we only really had time for lunch. We bought sandwiches from a street stand near the Place de la Concorde. They looked like this (I found this picture via Google) - baguettes with Emmental Swiss cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo (that tasted like it was freshly made). They were fabulous.

Friday Featured Art: Winged Victory of Samothrace

During our time in Paris, I came face to face with my favorite work of art of all time: Winged Victory of Samothrace. It is so incredible. It stands at the top of a staircase in the Louvre. I really loved seeing it.

Thursday Tunes: La Vie En Rose

We were only in Paris for half a day, but the whole time we were there I was thinking of Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose. How can you not? Here's a sweet live version from YouTube - it wouldn't let me embed the video, but you can click on the picture (or click here) to go to it.

Turkish Tulips

An interesting fact about Turkey is that they're the ones who gave Holland tulips. Yes, they started the whole craze. I really love that tulips are a symbol of Turkey. This unusual variety is called the Istanbul Tulip (tulipa acuminata). It has pointy, knife-like petals. You can see a similar pointy tulip in the official logo of Turkey tourism, below.

{Istanbul Tulip photo from plant database.}

Spring Break

We returned Saturday from our spring break trip to Istanbul. On the way there we had a 10-hour layover in Paris. Then we spent 4 and a half days in Istanbul. It was all a really great experience for us. I'll have some fun things to share in the days to come...

Friday Featured Art: Flower Girl in Holland

This painting is another favorite from the lower level of the Art Institute. It is aptly titled Flower Girl in Holland and is by George Hitchcock. Lovely.