Along with bridges, I love arches. How can something so perfectly curved also be so solid and dependable?
The shadow beneath the arch is like a gateway to the world beyond the arch; a parallel world that only the brave dare to step towards. When you stand beneath the arch, as well as shadows, there are echoes modulating your voice into something otherworldly. Your voice rises and booms. It is the way wind striking water must sound to the creatures living below the surface.
I marvel at arches wherever I go. There is a grandeur about them. As well as a sense of the impossible. It is almost as if they should collapse into themselves – but they don’t. They are a miracle of physics and engineering all at once.
I dream of arches all over the world. In cathedrals, historic homes, art galleries. But the arch I long to stand before the most is the glorious Arc de Triomphe in Paris. One day we will meet mon arc.
One day soon.
Arches. More things that lift my spirits.
Selma In The City 
With you mentioning it, I am reminded that I too like arches. As I write this I look out on the three arches on my veranda. You are right they are a bit unbelievable.
LikeLike
There’s just one arch I’d take issue with … that’s the ‘golden arches’ outside Macdonald’s
LikeLike
One day you will go, and then you will write an incredible post about it 🙂 I look forward to it already.
You and I, we must be on the same wave length. I was just thinking in the shower this morning how nice it would be to write a “things that make me happy” sort of post.
LikeLike
I love arches, too. I’ve been fascinated with them since I was a little girl. There’s something so mysterious about them.
LikeLike
First off, happy blogoversary. (I think I missed it.)
Arches are beautiful — I love arched aquaducts… there is just something tremendously satisfying about the shape.
LikeLike
I too like arches and a whole lot more than bridges!
LikeLike
Cool, arches like upsidedown smiles. I think I have an arch poem somewhere. So many things to lift the spirits, I don’t think you will ever run out.
LikeLike
LAURI:
There is just something about an arch that invokes an awestruck response. I have been noticing them all day. It’s made me feel really good.
TRAVELRAT:
Now there’s an arch that stinks, for sure. Not a fan at all. Takes the term ‘greasy spoon’ to an entirely new level. Blech.
LAURA:
You should write that post. I have found the posts I have done so far to be extremely uplifting. It has made me realise there is so much in this world I really, really like. I thought I would struggle to find things, but I haven’t. And yes, one day I will go to Paris and I will see all the things I’ve been yearning to see!
MAMA ZEN:
They definitely have a mysterious quality. I can’t help but go WOW when I see one. I wonder if those who built them feel the same way.
NAT:
Thanks, hon.
Oh yes, so satisfying. They just seem so perfectly formed. i really do love them!
PAUL:
I would love to read that arch poem. They ARE like upside down smiles. You know what? I don’t think I’m going to run out, either. I’ve got at least one hundred more things on my list!
LikeLike
Keep watching my Pic of the Week … there’ll be a picture of the Forth Bridges going up soon.
Like the one about the magnificent bridge over the river (really a stream with delusions of grandeur) in Madrid. Someone remarked that the madrilenos should either sell the bridge, or buy a river!
LikeLike
Thank-you for sharing the beauty and majesty that you find in arches. We so often take that which is common for granted, yet as you pointed out there is so much to be enjoyed if we are open to it.
LikeLike
MELEAH:
The good thing about an arch is that usually you don’t have to drive over it. Thank goodness!
TRAVELRAT:
I can’t wait to see the Forth Bridge. You have such great pics of the week!
TOBEME:
I think the commonplace is beautiful. There is so much to see everyday that we enjoy You’re right – we just have to be open to it!
LikeLike
Oh, you most DEFINITELY must visit the Arc de Triomphe (well…inhale, inbibe, ingest ALL of Paris!)!
What I didn’t expect…what had the greatest emotional impact…were the names of famous battles etched beneath the Arc and all along its sides. Visitors would seek out a specific tile and would quietly intone to a young ‘un: “Your great-great grandfather/grandfather/father…died there.”
The traffic zooms in a crazed mass round and round the memorial. But, beneath the arch, stand human beings in solemn contemplation…
LikeLike
Hi JONAS,
I didn’t know that. Now I really can’t wait to go. I know I’ll cry when I get there (for many reasons) but to see the names of those battles….what a moment!
LikeLike
Yes, Selma. it’s quite the experience.
Another experience I had not envisioned hit me when I viewed Napolean’s red porphyry tomb beneath the cupola of the Golden Dome Cathedral. I just kinda pegged it as “another sight to see”. What I didn’t anticipate were all the battle flags hanging from the rafters above the sarcophagous. The standards hanged torn and blood-stained. Reminders of campaigns won and lost.
Those tattered bits o’ fabric rendered Napolean’s final resting place a holy place. A memorial to empire won and lost. A testament to human courage and human folly.
History is a living thing.
LikeLike
Hi JONAS,
Just thinking about seeing those standards is choking me up. Those valiant, brave soldiers. I will put that on my list. I’d better get saving!
LikeLike