Week XI, Visitor

Tuesday, August 23, Carolee had her next-to-last school day.  The final three days were spent in a contest between classes: certain questions had to be answered from clues scattered about in the broad vicinity of the Alliance Francaise.  My own morning was spent on a long stroll across the river and through and around the Jardin des Plantes.  In the southwest corner is something called the labyrinth.  It turned out not to be any kind of maze but simply an artificial conical hill.  Grinding up and down it was good for my walking skills but afforded no good view from the top because it was well planted with trees.  The rest of the park was as pretty as ever.
     Carolee came back with the news that her class had won again!  The prize was a DVD for each student.  On Wednesday, mid-afternoon, we packed off to the Gare du Nord, where we met the Eurostar from London and Carolee's friend, Marian, from the Court in LA.  We walked from Place de la Bastille down the Rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine in order to show her the Paris street life.  A dinner at home was prepared as Marian settled in.

Liberation of Paris Commemoration at police building

Military salute, liberation day commemoration

     On Thursday, Carolee had her last morning of school, but she had researched an interesting morning for Marian and me.  August 25 is the anniversary of the liberation of Paris in 1944, and there were local celebrations in our (12th) arrondissement, as well as the others, I suppose.  I led Marian down the Rue de Daumesnil and the Viaduc des Arts for some pleasant window shopping.  Our first stop was at the police headquarters.  A number of officials had gathered around a memorial plaque on the wall, and there were a very few onlookers like ourselves.  Following a military salute with a bugle call, wreaths were formally placed below the plaque and the short speeches were delivered from a portable podium.

Liberation commemoration

Wreathes laid before WWI memorial

Mairie (City Hall) of 12th Arrondissement

Police Building decorated with Michelangelo's Slave

       They had another such ceremony to do and we followed along.  This one was at a memorial to the first world war, and the ceremony was identical.  They were surprised to see us again.  The third stage of the event was hoisting glasses of champagne in the hall, the Salle des Outres Mers, at the nearby local city hall.  We had hung back but were welcomed in.  Before long we were chatting it up in fractured French and English with some aged veterans (Vietnam, it seems, not WWII).  It didn't hurt to be Americans, given the history.  The youngish police chief, clearly a skilled politician, complimented my French.  We drifted out with the others and returned along the Promenade Plantee, where we got a good photo of the astonishing police building (photo, infra).

Liberation Day ceremony at Hotel de Ville

     But there was a bigger event coming: we had been given tickets to a 5 pm celebration at the Hotel de Ville.  We were unprepared for the size of it.  The parvis (plaza, maybe) in front of the Hotel de Ville was covered with thousands of chairs facing a temporary stage backed by an enormous video screen and a powerful sound system.  Our blue tickets got us into the left section.  Veterans were given white tickets for the center, and no doubt tickets for the right section were red.  The event started off, of course, with a military parade.  Then various generals and veterans were honored.  The center of the program was patriotic, with music alternating with speeches.  We had, of course, the Marseillaise, and I wish I could have sung along.  Two students were chosen to give speeches to show, I think, that the young were appreciative of the importance of the liberation.  All this could have been the program for a 19th century event, and probably was many times.  But in our 21st century, we were shown a slick video history on the giant screen of the seven or so days of the Resistance's uprising and the liberation.  The deportation and murder of French Jews and Rom was the subject at the end of the video.

Doctored do-not-enter sign on Ile Saint Louis

     The program all done, we drifted through a thinning crowd over to Notre Dame, which we entered finally, noticing that the line was uncommonly short.  A mass was in progress, but gawkers were allowed at the back and sides.  We walked Marian back home through the crowds on the Ile Saint Louis, then through the barren Arsenal quarter, then over the Saint Martin Canal footbridge with its lovely panoramas in both directions, and finally back to the 12th and home.  A long day.
     Friday, Marian and Carolee went off to the Musee d'Orsay and followed this visit up with a long walk home.  I stayed home with a game leg.  Crepes and cider for dinner that evening.  We made plans for a visit to Giverny the next day, although somewhat worried by a forecast of rain.

Carolee by lily pond

Monet's house beyond arcaded path

The lily pond

Garden in heavy rain and wind

Sparkling garden after the rain had cleared

     Getting up real early we saw heavy rain through the windows, so we slept in for a while.  Two hours later the rain was gone so we got rolling to the Gare Saint Lazare, bought tickets and got onto a train for Vernon just in time to arrive before noon.  About 200 tourists like us also got off at Vernon and we all lined up for the bus to Giverny.  This took a while, what with everybody having to make payment, but eventually the packed bus lumbered off through the narrow twisty streets of Vernon and into a gentle countryside for a few kilometers' ride to the village of Giverny.  A quarter-mile hike through the charming village brought us to Monet's house and gardens, where we were quickly admitted by friendly attendants.  Of course you go immediately to the gardens.  These were extensive but divided in two main portions:  a garden in numerous rows near the house, and the lily pond on the other side (underpass) of a road.  It was all, of course, very special.  At the outside border of the pond area one could see how the terrain there looked before the garden was built: a rather shabby marshland.  Eventually we went up to the house, just in time as it turned out, because a summer freshet came through pretty hard with the rain moving at a 45 degree angle.  We liked the well-preserved house and furnishings a lot better than, say, Victor Hugo's.  Heading back we were lucky to be delivered to the railroad station just in time for the last train for three hours.
     Sunday Carolee's back was bothering her so we worked out a plan where I would deliver Marian to the Eiffel Tower, where she would go up but I would take an easy route home.  We waited together in one of the long lines until I couldn't stick with her any more.  We had taken the #69 bus, which was fairly empty on a Sunday morning, so Marian got glimpses of some of the best sights in Paris, in particular the Louvre Pyramid.  Taking the same bus back, I got off near the Louvre and crossed over to the left bank for a pleasant stroll along the bank.  Found a book by a good author at Shakespeare & Co.  Marian arrived back in the early evening after some really impressive walking.  After the tower visit she hiked up to the Trocadero for the view, then up Avenue Kleber to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysee, along the river, through the Tuileries Garden, by the Pyramid and eventually found her way home without mishap.

Grand Palais and Pont Alexandre III by night

Eiffel Tower from Pont Alexandre III

Montmartre, Lapin Agile

Montmartre, steep hill

Montmartre, steep steps

Near Sacre Coeur - Space Invaders

Marian, Sacre Coeur

St-Martin Canal lock to Seine

     Monday the main event was a visit to Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre.  This time we tried to minimize climbing by getting off at the Lamarck-Caulaincourt metro stop, a bit north of the peak.  There was still plenty of slogging up steep streets, but we saw the really charming semi-rustic streets.  Halfway along we passed the Lapin Agile, made famous by the Picasso crowd so long ago.   After a longish spell with the expansive view of the city, Carolee and Marian strolled down the grand stairway below Sacre Coeur while I tried my hand, or rather legs, on a side stairway which had a good sturdy handrail.  We met easily at the bottom and descended through a couple of crowded blocks lined by schlocky souvenir shops.  In the metro I took trains home while the other two went on to the Cite stop to see the Deportation Memorial.  It turned out to be closed that day, but they had a pleasant walk back along the Seine left bank to the Austerlitz Bridge.  In the evening we all went out for some night photography, starting at the Esplanade des Invalides and crossing over to the Place de la Concorde.  Big success, it was.
      Next morning, Tuesday, Carolee went with Marian back to the Gare du Nord for check-in to the Eurostar.  I think we mostly rested that day.  Marian made it back to London, no problem.

Week X, Back in Paris

Louvre under restoration, with watch

Building wrapped in steel

Perrier shrubbery

Tutu wedding dress

Wednesday, 17 Aug, Carolee took the long way home from the Alliance Francaise and caught some curiosities with her camera.

Nebbish tombstone in Montparnasse Cemetery

     Thursday, on a class assignment to find clues here and there on the left bank, she discovered a remarkable tombstone by Niki de Saint Phalle (as she learned later) in the Montparnasse cemetery.
I made it back that evening by train through a severe thunderstorm in Belgium.  The central station in Antwerp has undergone a major renovation.  Trains now come in underground at three separate levels to an immense open hall with a dramatic escalator leading up the middle.  The 19th century building on top is essentially unchanged.  Great escalator ride!

Community garden

Marche d'Aligre with schoolkids

Lunch

Huge book store

     Friday we took it easy but discovered a community garden nearby, filled largely with flowers.  Our daily activity is recorded with a picture of our local farmers' market and lunch at home.  An afternoon stroll took us over by the Jewish section in the 4th, where we discovered the largest bookstore of remaindered art books I have ever seen.  The name, in the picture, is not a bad pun in French.  We later discovered it's a chain.

Alas, Cavaille-Colle is gone.

Guimard Metro entrance, artists' studios (large windows)

     Saturday we knocked around Montparnasse a bit.  Emerging from the metro at Denfert-Rochereau and passed by the entrance to the catacombs, which had an immense line waiting to get in.  One attendant, seeing me hobble along, made to let us in ahead of the line.  Well, it would have been insane to try it, we figured. with tight stairs and low passages likely.  The first part of our plan was to see if the 14th offered a neighborhood as filled with amenities as ours in the 12th, but maybe a little cleaner.  Indeed it does!  There were great shops along the pedestrianized portion of the Rue Daguerre, where I had stayed 20 years ago for an astronomy meeting.  We liked it a lot.  Turning onto the Montparnasse cemetery we paid our respects to a few famous dead people.  Among others was the grave of a famous French organ builder of the 19th century.  A few blocks away we found a building especially built to house the studios of some early 20th century artists.  A couple of blocks away we found the equally famous restaurants they met at - La Coupole, La Rotonde, La Closerie des Lilas.  But it was hot and by now we were glad to call it a day.

Apartment blocks above Parc Andre Citroen

Rusty steel statue Seine-side

Giardino segreto, Parc Andre Citroen

Side garden, Parc Andre Citroen

Lavender, Parc Andre Citroen

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Passage among side gardens

     The next day we went for something well off the beaten track - Parc Andre Citroen.  This large and modern park was built on the site of the former Citroen Auto Works.  It was conveniently located for us at the far end of our local Metro line.  The designers did a remarkable job of taking an odd-shaped large parcel and turning it into an open main park, mainly grass and walkways, but nestled against it were smaller sections of park, each with a distinct character.  I supposed they must have steeped themselves in the design of old Italian gardens, which are, well, sectional: you might have here and there a bit of your geometrical French design or large wooded spaces in the English manner, but the point was there'd be a number of small sections each with a distinct character.  I'll let the photos do the work, just above.  One curiosity worth mentioning was a very large tethered hot air balloon in the center, and rides were available for a price.  We never saw it go up, which is a bit of a shame.

Carolee, pre-souffle

Seine, storm, boats from Pont Neuf

     Monday was my birthday, so we went out for dinner at La Cigale Recamier, on the Impasse Recamier in the 6th.  We indulged in their specialty - souffles.  Carolee had the Forestiere (mushroom) and I had Gorgonzola.  Dessert was a caramel souffle,  Lovely setting.  We couldn't let the evening go quickly, so we decided to walk a while in spite of a gathering thunderstorm.  We headed directly for the river and walked first past the Academy of France, then to and across the Pont Neuf, where Carolee took a pretty picture.  If memory serves me, we caught the #76 bus on the other (right) bank.
     Tuesday, the last day of this week, is a blank.  Must have done something.

Week IX, Another Visit

By this Wednesday we had been in contact with Wendy by email, the telephone having been a bit confusing.  A meeting for dinner was arranged.  Whatever we did that day is lost now, no pictures being in the bank.  Deciding to walk over to Wendy's hotel in the Marais, we again passed through our favorite Place des Vosges, exiting at the corner through the Hotel de Sully.  Alas, we arrived just at closing time and were flushed out to where we entered.  A bit late, we met Wendy at the door of her hotel.  Luckily all around, she had found an interesting eatery only a block away which specialized in crepes and cider, Normandy cuisine.  The waitress kindly accommodated our desire to use our French (Wendy included) and even brought us, on the house, little pitchers of other varieties of cider.  So with the weakly alcoholic cider and varied crepes we dined well.  On top of this, Wendy had brought us some offerings from her travels:  slices of Serrano ham from Spain, a huge hunk of parmesano cheese from Italy, and some aged gruyere cheese from somewhere.
     Wendy wanted to see what an apartment in Paris could be like, so we invited her to dinner the following evening.  Needing speed, she sight-saw on her own the next day.  But with Carolee in class for the morning I got my courage up and headed for the Louvre.  I couldn't find the reputed passage from the metro stop to the Louvre entrance, so it was up and across the busy Rue de Rivoli and into the courtyard.  With my cane I was intercepted as I headed for the very long line of visitors and was shown right into the pyramid.  The open-air elevator being busy, I picked my way down the wide spiral staircase, approached one of the money-taking and ticket-issuing machines and eventually divined its mysteries.  What now?  The entrances into the Louvre were several and not specially marked, so I picked one and found myself admiring the early walls of the Louvre fortress before winding up at, with no choice, the Egyptian section.  Happy with this, I spent quite a bit of time looking at very ancient stuff before carefully moving up one of the grand staircases to something newer.  I bumbled my way over to the north wing and was rewarded with some major 17th century Dutch paintings.  I then made the mistake of moving on to the apartments of Napoleon III, which proved to be a real labyrinth, and it took a good while to make my way back to the south wing, where the really famous stuff is.  Running out of time, I was tempted along the way by a couple of rooms with fine Corots but had to press on.  In a few minutes I found myself a few feet away from the Winged Victory of Samothrace along with a zillion other people, all taking photos.  decided it was my very favorite statue.  I searched around for the Venus de Milo but couldn't find her.  Negative time left, I hurried over and passed through the room containing the Mona Lisa and so many people around it that I was reminded of swarming bees.  Down a grand staircase I got to see Winged Victory from below as I had hoped.  Had to ask for the way out, which was into the pyramid again and up.  Metro home.
    Dinner with Wendy at the apartment was one of our standard simple meals enhanced by flowers and desserts that Wendy had brought.  We walked back with her to her hotel, then passed behind a huge inflatable movie screen that had been set up for free movies in the Place des Vosges.  Tired and late, we didn't stay.  Wendy headed home the next morning.
     The Friday of that week we  discovered Le Baron Rouge, Paris's only barrelhouse, where you buy wine right from the barrel.  After that an easy trip to see the main Printemps store in the Opera district, then down the Avenue de l'Opera to see a church, St Germain l'Auxerrois.  It's in the center of things, across from the Louvre's east facade, and was the royal church, until royalty moved to Versailles.  It's most notable for being where the the bells were used to signal the start of the St Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Le Baron Rouge Barrelhouse

Printemps

Choir, St Germain l'Auxerrois

But on Saturday we we ready for an ambitious program.  It started with a free museum visit at the Petit Palais, which was erected in 1900 or so in the finest beaux arts style.  Because of the cane we were shown into a door at ground level and passed through very modern passages where we saw Byzantine icons for a while.  Finally finding an elevator we found ourselves, once up, in a very beautiful semicircular courtyard surrounded by a magnificent colonnade.  Finding our way back into the building, we saw their main exhibition of turn-of-the century paintings, all interesting but not generally great enough for a more famous museum.  Great boutique and bookstore.  Back into the courtyard for coffee in the cafe, we discovered it was raining heavily.  This let up by the time we were ready to move on.  Off to the riverside and along a stately alley we found an American memorial to Lafayette.

Petit Palais, courtyard pavillion

Memorial to Lafayette

     Through wet streets we moved from the river to the Avenue Montaigne, where the largest fashion houses are located.  At its end, the Place de l'Alma, where a statue of the Statue of Liberty's  torch has been made into an improvised memorial  to Lady Di, who was killed in the underpass there.  Carolee says that six years ago it was simply covered with memorials and graffiti. A newlywed couple came by for pictures.

At Coco's

At Valentino's

Vestigial Lady Di Memorial

Newlyweds, photographer, flame

     The day's adventure continued with a walk further along the Seine to the Pont d'Iena and up the hill to the Trocadero for the grand view (no photos this time),  Enough for a day.

Ready for a TGV experience

     Sunday, I was off to Holland for a few days.  Carolee took a picture of me at the Gare du Nord, where I caught the TGV to Antwerp.

Virgin carried from Notre Dame

Hymn truck

Virgin by Hotel de Ville

Virgin at Saint Michel

    Monday, August 15, Carolee watched a procession in honor of the assumption of the virgin, starting at Notre Dame and heading first toward the Hotel de Ville (stopping for a prayer) and then along the river and across to St Mich, then to the Ile St Louis and finally back to Notre Dame.

     Tuesday, walking home from class, she spotted the Louvre reinvented as ad space.