Grecian Blues

Image: Patriotic Blues

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I’ve had a long, happy association with the colour blue. From my teen years when I actually looked halfway decent in a pair of blue denim jeans – to the blue t-shirts I still like to wear, the colour blue continues to feature prominently in my wardrobe.

One of the things I’ve been doing on Ikaria and to a lesser extent on the mainland is taking photographs of interesting settings which feature the colour blue. Greece has pretty much laid claim to a particular hue of the colour blue you see on the national flag. The colour is literally everywhere. On buses, door and window frames, and prominent in Greek architecture. For some reason or other, I seem to have noticed the colour a lot more during this trip than on previous visits.

The name I have given to this collection of images – some of which you can see here – is Grecian Blues.

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Image: Recycled Blues

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The colour seems to be especially popular on prefabricated window shutters and door frames, but I have also seen it used to highlight features on churches, fences, packaging materials and more. I’ve not seen such a wide use of one particular colour anywhere else in the world, although I’ve got no doubts examples exist. The Greeks though seem to have adopted blue as the national colour, if such a thing seems possible.

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Image: Church Blues

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Etymology and definitions: The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, which in turn comes from Old French bleu, bleve, blöe, which are themselves of Germanic origin. [Source: Wikipedia... ]

Speaking of etymology, it would seem that Australians are the only nation that refer to red-haired men by the nickname, ‘Bluey’ or ‘Blue’. I’m not sure if there is a definitive answer for why we do this, but I did find one possible explanation online:

The term stems from the Victorian Goldfields in the 1860s. A large number of Irish folk immigrated to try their luck. A fair number of these folk were red headed men who quickly gained a reputation for their fondness of liquor, and fighting. So much so that on the occasion of a red headed Irishman passing by, the comment was often passed, "there goes a blue", i.e. a potential fight. This of course was stretched to "bluey" and also explains why women with red hair are not called ‘Blue’. [Source: Answer Bag… ]

Which only raises another question – why are fights or arguments referred to as ‘blues’? But let’s leave that one for another day, before I become completely sidetracked.

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Image: Graffiti Blues

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Some common connotations and associations for the color blue: ice, water, sky, sadness, winter, royalty, boys, cold, calm, magic, trueness, conservatism (universally), liberalism (in the USA), and capitalism.

Okay, getting all fetishistic about the colour blue might seem like a strange thing to be doing, given all the other options I have available to me, but I have become quite taken with the colour and its many uses and applications in Greece and on the island. Originally, I was only going to use one shade or hue of blue, but were just too many options and alternatives to that, so I have taken photographs of a wide range of objects and scenery. Even garden water pipes!

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Image: Gardeners Blues

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In the English language, blue may refer to the feeling of sadness [as in], "He was feeling blue". This is because blue was related to rain, or storms, and in Greek mythology, the god Zeus would make rain when he was sad (crying), and a storm when he was angry. Kyanos was a name used in Ancient Greek to refer to dark blue tile (in English it means blue-green or cyan). The phrase "feeling blue" is linked also to a custom among many old deepwater sailing ships. If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port. [Source: Wikepedia… ]

Ancient Greek apparently lacked a word for blue and Homer called the colour of the sea "wine dark", except that – as noted above – the word kyanos (cyan) was used for dark blue enamel. Blue is commonly used in the Western hemisphere to symbolize the male gender in contrast to pink which is used for females. And I’m sure most, if not all readers will be aware of the musical genre commonly referred to as the blues.

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Image: Parking Blues

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Back in 2009, Britain's Daily Telegraph in an article titled, Blue light 'makes you happy', reported on a study which showed that: "Despite the colour's gloomy connotations, exposure to blue light can increase confidence and boost happiness levels..."

The article goes on to say, "Researchers exposed a group of volunteers to a range of colours and lights. They found that blue and green made male subjects feel happier, while blue, purple and orange did the same for women." Also, "Blue and red improved confidence levels among men, while blue and purple were best in this respect for women…"

Interestingly, once I started on the project, I was amazed at just how widely used the colour was. Even garbage bags come in the colour.

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Image: Yamaha Blues

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Alternative therapies have their own take on the colour blue. In metaphysics blue is the color of truth, serenity and harmony, and helps to soothe the mind. According to the Crystal Links website: "It is good for cooling, calming, reconstructing and protecting." It is also good for "...raising frequency," whatever that means.

Holistically, "Blue is associated with the throat chakra, which deals with willpower and communication." The Holistic Online site also adds that "Blue is a calming color, good for curing insomnia. It can be used for throat problems, asthma, stress, and migraine, and it is good for improving verbal skills."

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Image: Bedroom Blues

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Shades of blue

Among the 52 types of blue listed on Wikipedia’s List of Colors page are Azure, Baby blue, Bleu de France, Bondi blue, Brandeis blue, Carolina blue, Ceil, Cerulean, Cobalt blue, Deep sky blue, Egyptian blue, Electric blue, Glaucous Han blue, Iceberg, Indigo, Majorelle Blue, Maya blue, Midnight blue, Palatinate blue, Periwinkle, Prussian blue, Sapphire, Sky blue, Steel blue, Teal and Ultramarine.

Oh, and then of course there is just plain, Blue.

Read more about the color blue here… (go on, you know you want to).

Yes, friends, it may be labouring the point, but there are a lot more images like these in my portfolio. If you are interested in checking them out head on over to my Flickr page and take a look. Or click here to launch a slideshow of all the images in my Flickr gallery.

Top of The Tower Views

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The Champ de Mars stretches out into the distance from the feet of the Eiffel Tower. The Champ de Mars is a large public green space, located in between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire (Military School) to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius ("Mars Field") in Rome, a tribute to the Roman god of war. The name also alludes to the fact that the lawns here were formerly used as drilling and marching grounds by the French military. [Source: Wikipedia... ]

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Two views of The Trocadéro, and the Palais de Chaillot, an area across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. The hill of the Trocadéro is the hill of Chaillot, a former village. For the Exposition Internationale of 1937, the old Palais du Trocadéro was demolished and replaced by the Palais de Chaillot which now tops the hill. Like the old palais, the palais de Chaillot features two wings shaped to form a wide arc, however, unlike the old palais, the wings are independent buildings and there is no central element to connect them: instead, a wide esplanade leaves an open view from the place du Trocadéro to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. [Source: Wikipedia... ]

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Left Bank view. The large building in the middle of the image is Les Invalides at Avenue du Maréchal Gallieni. Officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. Les Invalides also serves as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte. [Source: Wikipedia... ]

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Eglise du Sacré Coeur (Church of The Sacred Heart), Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, 94250, Gentilly. Standing at a height of over 60 meters, the Church of The Sacred Heart, was built in 1936. Originally, the church was to be part of the City International University which is directly opposite, but it has now been cut off from the University by the A6a highway. Today, the church is mostly frequented by the large Portuguese community who live in the area and who have made Paris their home. [Source: The Evene France website… ]

Not a bad photo considering I took the shot from the top of the Eiffel Tower, and the church is between five and six kilometers from the Tower as the crow flies. If you go back and look at the previous image, the church is the pale triangular smudge at the top right of the skyline!

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Another view of the Les Invalides complex.

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A couple of general views of Paris in the near vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. Note the dark triangular shadow of the Tower (pointing due East) in the lower left of the photograph immediately above. The late afternoon sun causes the shadow to reach out hundreds of yards across the River Seine.

After more than 30 years of waiting (see previous entry The Eiffel Tower – A Promise Kept). I am delighted to have finally visited this iconic structure and happy too, to have had the chance to see Paris from the unique perspective provided by the Tower. If you ever have the opportunity to make the trip to the top, I can highly recommend the experience – and the views.

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Finally, for the technically minded, all photographs were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, and enhanced using Photoshop Elements 4.0.

Click here to see these Parisian photographs and other travel images on my Flickr page…

Palace of Versailles Gardens

Image: Plan of the chateau of Versailles and the gardens dating from 1746, by the Abbé Delagrive, geographer of the city of Paris.

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The gardens of Versailles cover 800 hectares. I don’t know who has the job of counting them, but according to Wikipedia which uses the official Château de Versailles website as its source, there are 200,000 trees on site, and 210,000 flowers are planted annually, as well as 50 fountains spraying 620 jets of water into the air. The surface area of the Grand Canal covers 23 ha., and if you want to walk the perimeter of the Grand Canal, you should be prepared for a stroll of over 5.5 km.

However, none of these facts and figures really capture the overwhelming size and scope of the grounds surrounding the main Palace building, and as I wrote in my last entry Viva la Revolution, it is while walking around these grounds and gardens that the grandeur of Versailles really overpowers you and hits home.

I spent a couple of hours walking through the grounds on a freezing winter afternoon, with the snow crunching underfoot, and a low mist hanging over the long allies and landscaped gardens. It was hard to believe that the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Paris with its 12 million inhabitants lay sprawling around the site.

The gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre. In addition to the meticulous manicured lawns, beds of flowers and sculptures, are the fountains which are located throughout the garden. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique. In 1979, the gardens along with the château were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and are one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year. [Source: Wikipedia...]

Where the main building was packed with a constant stream of visitors filing dutifully through grand halls, past royal bedchambers, and room after room filled with a priceless paintings, sculptures and other objects, the gardens were almost devoid of people or the constant presence of security personnel and other staff. I felt as if I had the whole garden complex to myself, and rarely saw or heard anyone else as I wandered down long allies, exploring side paths and small alcoves, while discovering just a small part of this incredible place.

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Image: Bosquet de la Salle de Bal, Versailles

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The World English Dictionary defines a bosquet as: (noun) a clump of small trees or bushes; thicket

The Salle de Bal (ballroom?) bosquet was designed and built between 1681–1683. It features a semi-circular cascade that forms the backdrop for this ‘green hall’. Interspersed with gilt lead flares, which supported candelabra for illumination, the Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1683 by Louis XIV’s son, the Grand Dauphin, with a dance party.

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Image: The frozen over Bacchus Fountain in the gardens of Versailles

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The Bacchus Fountain (also called the Autumn fountain), is one of four fountains dedicated to the seasons and can be found near the Royal Walk. Bacchus, a figure of Roman mythology is said to have taught the cultivation of the vine throughout the world. He is regarded as the god of wine and drunkenness, and in this sculpture he is surrounded by small satyrs, half child and half goat.

It wasn’t until I reached the Grand Canal that I encountered people in numbers, and even then, there were nowhere near the numbers one might expect to see on a warm summer day at the height of the tourist season.

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Image: Allie du Roy (the King’s Alley), one of many that crisscross Palace grounds and gardens

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Image: The 1,500 metre long Grand Canal disappears into the distance

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It was Louis XIII who began the program to layout the gardens of Versailles in the 1630s, and it was Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson who designed the gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660s. With the aid of the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Le Brun, and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would keep him occupied for the remainder of his reign – as it would successive kings and rulers.

Like many of the most famous locations around Paris, you need at least two days – and preferably three – to explore the Palace of Versailles and surrounding gardens with any type of thoroughness. I was there for less than a day and never saw any of The Grand Trianon or anything of Marie-Antoinette’s estate. I missed most of the copses and groves, fountains and open-air salons, the King’s Garden, the Apollo Baths, the Ornamental Lake of The Dragon, and many other locations large and small as well as dozens of sculptures that had been covered over to protect them from the harsh winter elements.

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Image: the statue of Apollo (in the Grand Canal) trying to break out of encroaching ice!

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One could of course, make a good argument for leveling the whole site and turning the acreage into cheap public housing for those that need it most, but then people might forget the reasons for the French Revolution: the poverty and hunger; the near financial bankruptcy of the Crown following France’s involvement in the Seven Years War and its participation in the American Revolutionary War; and the perception by many French people that the Royal Court at Versailles was isolated from, and indifferent to the hardships they were facing. These are just a few of the reasons behind the upheaval leading to the revolution of 1789.

As I said in my previous entry on Versailles, I can’t think of any modern political leaders who wouldn’t love to be able to bask in the glory and opulence of a Palace like Versailles. Which is why the Palace of Versailles should be maintained and kept open to the public and visitors from all over the world – to remind them that absolute power, corrupts absolutely. And to remind them that if they are not vigilant the power elite will happily create their own versions of Versailles.

You may be thinking: But they are doing that anyway, and it is true, they are. Saddam Hussein had palaces to spare. The former Shah of Iran had his own grand palaces before he was thrown out by the Iranian revolution of 1979. No doubt, Kim Jong-il of North Korea is happily sheltered from the hungry eyes of ordinary North Koreans in one of his many citadels. President Ferdinand Marcos and his shoe fetishist wife Imelda had their own versions of Versailles amongst the poverty and corruption of the Philippines before Corazon ’Corey’ Aquino led the People Power revolution in the 1980s, that finally brought an end to their indulgences. And so it goes on.

But I say again, that is exactly why the Palace of Versailles should stay. To remind the French and the thousands of people who visit the site, that not only should they remain vigilant, but also to give them hope that together they can challenge the power elites that govern them, and that they can make a difference.

More Information

All of the factual historical information used in this and my previous entry about the Palace of Versailles is drawn from two internet sites; the Official Palace of Versailles website… and numerous pages on Wikipedia (that wonderful and indispensable online knowledge base), including the Gardens of Versailles page…