PARIS –  Of the many bridges that span the Seine River, none is more beautiful nor majestic than the Pont Alexandre III.  Just south of the splendid Grand Palais, this bridge was named in honor of Russia’s Czar, Alexander III. Completed in 1892, the bridge is a monument to France’s Bel Epoque and represents the high-water mark of European civilization at the end of the 19th century. It’s also an odd monument to Czarist absolutism here in the birthplace of the French Revolution. For me, the Pont Alexandre III recalls tragedy and immense sorrow,  for this bridge symbolically lit the … Continue reading The Killing Machine of World War I