Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

The Paris Opera house, also known as Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier.
Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009

If there is something that makes the French French, I think that is a certain spirit – they just don’t do boring. It’s in the fashion, women in skyscraper skinny stilettos in the Metro in the morning, their passion for life and, in their architecture. Take this Opera Garnier for example. It’s an orgy in marble and gilt, exudes a love of life and is a grand example of how to do things with panache!

Just consider that they started to plan this building with its surrealistic grandiosity less than half a century after the French Revolution in 1793, when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been publicly beheaded because of their opulent life style.

The realization that there actually is an indoor lake under the basement make you half and half believe that there probably is a phantom somewhere in there too. All sets the stage in our minds for a great theatre play. You just need to step inside and the grand entrance staircase will within the blink of an eyelid place you in the spotlight, on stage in the theatre of life, cast as the star.

On the roof are sculptures of Apollo, Poetry and Music by Aimé Millet and Liberty by Charles Gumery.

The grandeur strikes you already when you set your eyes on it from across Place de l’Opéra. Above the golden frilly edge of the roof are statues of Apollo, ‘Poetry’ and ‘Music’. This is the ideal setting and one can think that Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (1909) must have basically written itself. This was also the story that was later adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber to the musical, The Phantom of the Opera in 1986 and became one of Broadway’s longest running musicals of all time. I can’t even write the title without hearing the theme in my mind. Continue reading “The Opéra Garnier in Paris, France” →

The heart of Chartres, the Notre Dame Chartres Cathedral looms impressively over the town and is visible from miles along the plains of Beauce.

The entire landscape around the city of Chartres about 45 km south of Paris, is mostly flat agrarian countryside. Mile after mile of fertile soil made the foundation of wealth that went into the building of this Cathedral. From a distance, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres seems to float among the clouds. This impossibly large structure strikes you as unlikely as Noah’s ark, just stranded on the mountains of Ararat.

The west facade of the Notre Dame in Chartres, a magnificent piece of mid 12th century high Gothic architecture. Its famous Portail Royal, completed about 1155, is currently under restoration. In this picture, the right (south) tower is the original, older, from about 1150. The higher, left (north) tower was rebuilt in 1513 after a fire.

The medieval charm of Chartres envelopes you as a warm cloak even as you approach the small town. The river Eure that runs through the town provides it with a picturesque backdrop and one is immediately taken in by the timbered architecture of the houses that line the cobbled streets, making them look almost right out of a Brothers Grimm fairytale.

At the heart of this city is the massive and striking Notre Dame Cathedral in its Gothic glory. From afar, the looming structure seems to float on clouds. It is only upon drawing closer that you realize that it sits quite solidly, on a hilltop, previously known as The Mound. Continue reading “The mysterious ‘Notre Dame’ Cathedral in Chartres, France” →

In the background, Le Grand Casino, Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, D Neikter-Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2008

The kingdom of Monaco is stunningly famous despite its modest land area. Only 800 meters by 4.8 km (0.5 x 3 miles) it is the second smallest country in the world. The only state even smaller is the Vatican inside Rome. As such, you can walk clean through the country of Monaco almost without noticing that you’ve entered or left it. The country is however, fantastically scenic as it clings to the rocky, sometimes vertical slopes of the coast of the Mediterranean sea. One fifth of the entire city-state of Monaco is reclaimed from the sea and the main feature of this place is a very large harbour where the exceedingly rich who live here have their luxury yachts.
Continue reading “Stirred, not shaken, in Monte Carlo” →

Cannes – City of dreams.

The Hotel Majestic Barrière offers a splendid view across the La Croisette towards the Cannes Film Festival’s main building with its roof designed as a spacious helipad. To the left, is the beach where a bikini clad Brigitte Bardot introduced a new beach fashion to a whole world in the early 1950s. In the middle is the private entrance for artists to the festival building, right now leading into the Palais Club discotheque. Further out is the Port de Cannes where many large and comfortable private yachts are anchored.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2008

Once a year the city of Cannes becomes the focal point to all who hold any hope of making it into the fame and fortunes of the international movie industry, as it hosts the most important film festival in the world, the annual Festival de Cannes.
Continue reading “Hotel Majestic Barrière, Cannes” →