Café du Dome, Café de la Rotonde

On a warm evening the Dome is at its best, brilliantly lighted, terrace and interior rooms crowded, all Bohemia there.
[Robert Forrest Wilson, Paris on Parade]







Café du Dome, where Sinclair Lewis often dined.

When Giacometti became discouraged after working all day in his studio, he could be found at a back table inside the Dome, sculpting his magically intricate miniature sculptures. (Val Clark, The Parisian Café: A Literary Companion)






And this is Café de la Rotonde, where Edna St. Vincent Millay often dined during 1922 (going so far as to use the café as the return address on some of her letters)A little farther down the street at 159 boulevard du Montparnasse, Edna St. Vincent Millay lived with her mother during 1922--just a three-minute walk from her favorite café.


When Modigliani was starving and penniless, he could be found at la Rotonde, sketching portraits of café patrons, earning enough in a few hours to get him through the day. (Val Clark, The Parisian Café: A Literary Companion)

I was about to spend several days in Maine - a good friend had invited me there. We changed a couple of eMails to set the details. One of the trips we were having in mind was to Bar Harbor, to climb Cadillac Mountain. My friend's wife was very enthusiastic about this excursion and she told me about Edna St. Vincent Millay and her passion for that place, Cadillac Mountain, where the sun first hits the Eastern coast. Edna St. Vincent Millay had been the object of an intense admiration in the family of my friend's wife. Her mother had made a movie about Edna. Her grandmother had also been a huge fan. For Edna's poetry? Perhaps, but I'm sure mostly for her feminist views, quite radical for her epoch.

Well, eventually we didn't find the time to go there, as our schedule was overcharged with sailing on the rivers and the lakes in Damariscotta area. That was great - you are there, on the huge lakes surrounded by endless woods and you cannot believe you are in today's America!

So I saw Bar Harbor and the mountain, Cadillac, only in some photos - and I missed the places, they are gorgeous. Look at this photo, sunrise over the Bar Harbor - and you'll agree with my friends' wife - that place was very generous for Edna St. Vincent Millay's inspiration.

The heart can push the sea and land

Farther away on either hand;

The soul can split the sky in two,

And let the face of God shine through.

(Maine)