Parigi: Late birthday for Rae
One of our first stops in Paris was Galeries Lafayette, only about 5 blocks from the apartment we rented for 10 days in the 8th Arrondissement. We were 2 blocks from the Madeleine and 4 blocks from the Opera House. A great location. Boulangerie/Patisserie a block away, a good Italian restaurant, Pompeii and 2 bodegas just down below our apartment. I was surprised at all the restaurants offering pizza, in Paris. And most looked like they knew what they were doing. No American, thick crust, bready things but real close to true Neapolitan style. Lots of Italians and Sicilians in Paris. No surprise due to the lack of jobs in Italy.
The Opera House from the view deck of the Galeries Lafayette. There’s a small coffee shop/cafe on the roof but the “Seattle” weather meant it wasn’t open
We came to Paris this year because we couldn’t last year due to my medical treatments, so we put off Rae’s milestone birthday trip one year and she and Cathy finally got me to Paris. We had planned on doing museums, museums, museums, landmark churches, and a few Michelin star restaurants while there. Now, we didn’t do too much craziness in the Michelin realm. We targeted lunch service so we could get the food, without the exorbitant prices at dinner. Worked out fine.
Two big errors though. Neglected to take Bozo out of the bag and I was careless on the subway and had my wallet stolen. Luckily I don’t carry all my documents and cards but the gypsies got my driver’s license, passport card, debit card and Visa card along with about $150 Euros. Busy subway on Sunday afternoon, standing hanging on with one hand and holding my walking stick with the other I failed to keep my bag directly in front of me. Within 15 minutes of realizing I’d been robbed we were back a the apartment and I got online and cancelled everything. Even called the US State Department to void the passport card. Only problems are that I have to replace all of them. I got the new debit and credit cards in the mail the day after we got back. The damn driver’s license is a 30 day operation and it can’t be forwarded or held if we’re not home. Same with the passport card. I’ve ordered the license and am trying to decide if I wait till it shows to head to AZ or take a chance and have to re-order it when we get back. Doctor appointment on May 14 and CT on the 13th kind of limits our window if I wait. I’ll be ordering a new passport card but may wait till we get back from the Southwest to do that so I will be here to receive it.
As stated in the first photo above on Friday, our first day, we headed out on foot for the Tuileries and Notre Dame. To get there from our apartment at 11 Rue de Castellane it was only about a mile to get to the gardens. On the way we passed the US Embassy on the Place de Concorde. The Tuileries were a bit disappointing. The trees were bare, and all had flattops per Marie Antoinette’s preference. Not sure why they’d keep it this way except for tradition and overall design. There are wide walking areas, all gravel and full of “duck ponds” from poor drainage. The central part of the Tuileries was grassed but fenced off due to the winter. At the far end is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. There are several Arc de Triomphes in Paris. Kind of like the obelisks that Napoleon stole from Egypt that are in many of the public places. After walking to the east end of the gardens we headed towards Notre Dame, came upon the fountain of St Michel, the statuary gives it away. I captured several shots of the buildings along the way. Trying to get the feel of the new camera I took shots of architectural details at the cathedral and the interior.
The next day we took Metro to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur. Montmartre is the artists neighborhood and there are outdoor stalls where local artists sell their paintings and drawings. Not having space, or funds for the good stuff, we passed on buying art. Rachel has a practice of buying local art works but since she visited Paris multiple times while at school in Malta she didn’t get any either. The church is beautiful and worth a visit. The views of the city are exceptional from Montmartre.
We hit the Galeries LaFayette early on Sunday to avoid the crowds, This is like an early department store/mall with several floors of products and, it felt like, different vendors with space inside the Galerie. It is built around a central atrium, like an open courtyard, but the top is a unique dome of stained glass. If you go to the 6th floor there’s a glass walkway that extends out over the center atrium so you can get up close to the dome and enjoy the view down to the main floor. You can take a stairway to the roof, outside the dome and see some great views of Paris. There’s even a restaurant/coffee shop on the roof but it was too early in the year, and cold and windy, so it wasn’t open despite the covering tent.
This next set of photos constitutes Sunday, when the Champs Elysee is closed to traffic on the first Sunday of every month and turned into a pedestrian mall from the Arche De Triomphe for most of its length. Security is intense. All people are searched, run through magnetic screening and bags reviewed. The two Metro stops on the section reserved for pedestrians are closed and all the side streets entering to the Champs Elysee are blocked off to vehicle traffic with 2 gendarmes, one with an automatic rifle, are positioned to prevent people from entering. Many of the teams have one woman, and she almost always has the automatic weapon. There’s some great shopping, and we ate lunch at the Renault store, where you get to see their products, including F! race cars and, naturally, racing souvenirs. To get to the Champs we took Metro to the Arche De Triomphe, did the tourist thing without climbing to the top, too cold, too windy and too crowded to just get a different, and lower view, of the skyline than we got at the Galeries Lafayette.
On Monday we went to Sainte Chapelle to see the stained glass. The church’s walls are almost all stained glass. It’s hard to see how the roof is supported by just the narrow columns, but it is a 13th century construction miracle. If you go be sure to check out the chapel downstairs. Many of the old churches have chapels under them. The Palatine Chapel in Palermo’s Normandy Palace has a very simple church used by the king and his family for daily services and Sainte Chapelle is no different. Near here is a museum of the palace kitchens and dining hall. The space is vaulted, simple and beautiful. The fireplaces are amazing. Huge openings that you can stand up in. The fireplaces were specific to types of food. One was used for meats, one for vegetables, one for soups, etc.
We finished the day with a trip to the Musee d’Orsay. It’s a beautiful repurposing of a 19th century train station. I guessed that the minute we entered. It’s a long vaulted building with a vaulted glass ceiling and a really interesting redesign. The main floor rises towards the rear with galleries respective to eras. Some wonderful paintings and sculptures are here. Most are 19th century artists. Monet, Manet, Rodin, Degas, Delacroix, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Claudet, etc. There is a restaurant on the top floor and I found a window onto the roof for some photos. The station’s two giant clock faces were left and make great windows to the present from the past.
I’ve done enough for this day. It’s taken over a month to complete this post since I didn’t find the time while in Arizona. I’ve got another week of photos to get through on Paris and then do a month’s trip to AZ.
So, Ciao for now.