Parisian Encounter

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It had been a long time coming, but we finally made the hop over the water from London to Paris and what a fantastic weekend we had!

Montmartre

I arrived on the Thursday night and met Rhi at Gare du Nord. She was our gracious host for the weekend, allowing us to stay with her in her beautiful old apartment in Montmartre, the artist and bohemian quarter of Paris. She was the best tour guide for the weekend with her duties starting that evening without request. We dropped my bag off and set up the hill to the top of Montmartre to see the Basillica of Sacre Coeur, which sits at the top of the hill and happens to be the highest point in the city. On the way up, I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up in a blue European Union flag theme, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The tower lights up every night for 10 minutes to mark each hour while its beacon sweeps Paris. We chose a little restaurant at Place du Tertre, which is the place of artists. Rhiannon explained that during the day, the artists fill the square with their easels and it is usually hard to walk around due to the masses of tourists, but tonight it was pleasant with a lively dining scene.

Chateau de Versailles

I had all of Friday to explore the city by myself, as our mate Mik missed his plane the night before. Who forgets their passport when flying international? Then who misses the next flight due to being late? Poor kid, it would have cost him an arm and a leg to purchase his third flight over from Bristol. Because I was boy-free, I decided I would visit the Palace of Versailles, a place I had only dreamed about visiting for years. It is located 20 kilometres southwest of Paris, so I thought I would make a day trip out of the visit. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France, officially being established there on 6 May 1682. It is one of the largest palaces in the world and so I had grand visions of what the palace with it knot gardens would look like. Being nearly Winter, I was only to be disappointed with the gardens. Many were dug up ready for planting for next year and many of the manicured hedges were missing sections so the complete shape was not perfect. I am not usually the gardening sort, but I found myself disappointed that the grand parks and gardens were not a visual delight. The rooms of the palace are just like any other palace visited before and so didn't really hold much interest for me, however I did enjoy seeing the paintings of Marie Antoinette and learning more about the person that she was. They even displayed the hidden door that she used to get away from the revolutionaries when they came to rid the country of its monarchy.

The grounds were massive and after walking for 2 hours in the freezing cold of November, I decided to head back into town a little earlier than expected. I was to meet Rhiannon after she finished work on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, so I headed in that general direction. I exited the metro at Invalides and walked across the Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate bridge in the City. It is decorated with exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs and nymphs and it was named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892.

Avenue des Champs-Elysees

Walking past the Grand and Petit Palaces, I found my way using my trusty map to Avenue des Champs-Elysees. To my delight I encountered Christmas markets set up on either side of the road, selling everything from Christmas ornaments to crepes and hot mulled wine. Once I past all of the stores, I came to the main part of the shopping section of the avenue. With its cinemas, cafés, and luxury specialty shops, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world and obviously the most prestigious avenue in Paris. I took a photo of the massive Louis Vuitton store to show my sister, Ana, who loves their bags. I thought that I would have a look at their wares and suddenly felt very self conscious about carrying my small dusty backpack. Thankfully my winter hat was big enough to cover my bag in my hand, so I could walk in without feeling the judging eyes of the customer service staff, who realistically wouldn't be able to afford the bags either on their wage, but who still felt intimidating none the less. Hmm.. €1000 for a bag and an ugly bag at that! Not really my thing. Maybe I could buy Ana a key ring... nope €250 for that is just too much to spend on such an item!

Arc de Triomphe

I continued up the road until I reached the end where the Arc de Triomphe stands. It is so much bigger than I thought it would be. The triumphal arch honours those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arch there are all of the names of generals and wars fought. Rhi called at this point and she was on her way giving me 45 mins before she arrived. Being the tourist, I thought what better way to spend the time then by seeing a tourist site!

I accessed the arch via a subway under the round-a-bout that surrounds it, paid my €9 to gain entry and proceeded to climb the 284 steps to reach the top to see a panoramic view of Paris. It was a great view of the 12 major (very straight) avenues leading to the exceptionally busy roundabout in which the Arch stands. The Eiffel Tower is so prominent, standing so tall over the rest of the skyline. I could see Montmartre hill and other landmarks allowing me to get my bearings on such a huge city. I couldn't hang around long, as it would take me about 15 mins to get back across to the Metro where Rhi would be arriving. Inside the Arch is information about the construction and a little about Napoleon. It was all in French, so I didn't mind so much missing out on viewing it all.

Christmas lights

Rhiannon arrived basically at the same time I did and we proceeded to walk back down the avenue. Being a producer, her work consumes much of her time and she had a Russian artist call her at that point to discuss his movie for the European film festival that she is organising and also about the interview that she wants him to do for the documentary in the lead up to the festival. What an interesting life! It really was amazing that she could fit us into the busy schedule of her life for the weekend.

As it was evening and all of the Christmas lights were turned on, we stopped to take photos of the beautiful lights and the great scene that is the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. We stood in the middle of the road (on a small island) and took photos up the street to the Arc de Triomphe and down the street to where a huge, illuminated Ferris wheel had been set up for the Christmas festivities. We walked down the 2 kilometre avenue, past the big wheel, through a big park, the Jardin des Tuileries, and without expecting it, the glass pyramid of the Lourve loomed in front of us, having until this time hid behind a smaller arch at the end of the park.

Pyramid at the Louvre

It is an image that I have seen so many times in magazines, books and films. I was truly impressed with the artistic structure and it didn't seem real that it was before my eyes, as it was like looking at another one of those pictures. Le Cafe Marly, a restaurant in the Richelieu wing of the Louvre Palace, was our destination for dinner. We sat on the restaurant terrace next to lovely warm heaters, with the pyramid no more than 45 metres away. What a view! Rhi had really chosen a great location for our meal and the food was divine. I loooove French food, and this experience only cemented that fact even more so. I was served giant St Jacques scallops, not something that I would normally order, but it was a test to see if the Frenchies could prevail in their ability to impress my taste buds and they scored a big thumbs up from me.

We picked Dan up from Gare du Nord later in the evening and made our way to Café des Deux Moulins, a lovely art deco cafe where the character Amelie worked in the film of the same name. A few wines gave us time for Dan and Rhi to catch up before Dan and I joined the queue for the Moulin Rouge and Rhi went to pick Mik up from the train station - he made it after all!

Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge (French for Red Windmill) is a cabaret built in 1889, marked by the replica of a red windmill on its roof and is located in the Paris red-light district of Pigalle, as one would expect. It is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance, originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site. The can-can dance review evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. We watched the current show, 'Feerie', that has multiple acts that are performed by a total of 100 artists including doriss girls, dancers, acrobats, magicians and clowns. Some of the acts were a little corny and it does seem true that failed ballet dancers work there, as can be seen from their bad timing, but the show was enjoyable, especially due to the entertaining comedians and the incredibly strong acrobats. Dan didn't mind the show of extra flesh either. I just felt like cringing for the poor girls jumping up and down without a bra!

Our reunion with Mik is never dull and so we were looking forward to spending more time together the next day.

Coffee and Art

Saturday morning was wet and cold, but that didn't dampen our spirits to get out and see the city. Rhi took us all back to Montmartre, for the boys to see the city skyline from the hill and for us to have a much needed coffee hit at a little cafe near the artists square. In the daylight, the experience there was so different with the hustle and bustle of artists and interested buyers filling the available space in the square. I looked at purchasing a beautiful painting of a Parisian cafe building, but was disappointed to know that I couldn't afford the €250 price tag. The painting was of a good size and would have been worth that much. I looked through cheaper paintings in a nearby store, but couldn't find a matching pair of scenes. The store owner told us never to come back when we left, not sure what his problem was. He was the only rude Parisian to be encountered on our trip, which is on the contrary to everything you hear about visiting Paris. Most people have told me how rude the people are. We always try to speak a little of the local language, so I think that helps, plus hanging out with a French speaker helped tremendously with our interactions with people.

Vintage clothes and food

Le Marais, the old part of the city, was our next destination. I always love wandering around old cobbled streets with quaint little shops selling their wares. We visited a vintage store for Mik to buy some 'new' clothes. Rhi scored a fab handbag for cheap and we had fun rummaging through people's second hand clothes and shoes. There were many fur hats and jackets available, as well as many other weird and wonderful items. A pair of red boots kept calling my name, and they would have won me over if I didn't have a thing about wearing other people's shoes.

We were all cold and starving by this point, so we found a warm looking restaurant that met my criteria of serving French Onion Soup. They only call it onion soup, but I know its the real deal. We were told it would be a 10 minute wait to be seated, which we happily accepted whilst we perused the menu outside in the cold. Ten plus minutes later, Rhiannon was on the case, ensuring that no one got in before us, as a few people had tried. She had the confidence of the waiter,so we knew that we would be in when a table was free. All of us, except Dan, knew what we wanted after the seemingly long wait for our table, so we couldn't order straight away so the man had time to decide. A feast and wine later, and some more vintage shopping, we wandered across to Ile de la Cite, a natural island in the centre of the city, to where the Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame towered above us. It is hard to believe that such a huge building was constructed in 1163 and is still standing. So much history occurred in the building: in 1558, Mary Queen of Scots was married to the Prince Francois and in 1804 the coronation ceremony of Napoleoan I with his wife Josehine took place there. We went in for a look and sat down on the pews to rest our weary legs. There was so much ground to cover in this city that we were weary from so much walking. Upon hitting the fresh air outside once more, we decided to get out of the wet and cold and go back to the apartment.

On the way back, we stumbled across some food market stalls, so we stocked up on cheeses, cured meats, wine and antipasto ingredients, like semi-sundried tomatoes to munch on for our evening snack. The Aussies were playing France in Rugby Union at Stade de France in Paris this evening, and Rhiannon's French housemates had friends over to watch the game. It was fun to gee them on, before we left at half time (knowing we would win) to meet up with Rhi's friends at a Jazz bar in St Germain. The bar was packed and we couldn't even stand downstairs where the band was playing in the old dungeon that had been converted into a bar, so we decided to hang out upstairs, where there were less people, to get acquainted with Rhi's Parisian friends. Rhi's mate Caesar was a blast and it was lovely meeting everyone that came. They all spoke good English, so we had no problem communicating. We knew it was time to go home, when Caesar acted as a pole and Rhiannon was the dancer!

Bone, bones and more bones..

A sleep in on the Sunday morning, didn't really give us many hours kip, but we had plans and didn't want our time together to be wasted. We managed to get out the door by midday after eating a wonderful spread of croissants, pain au chocolat and other pastries from the boulangerie (bakery) across the road. The one thing I love about France is that there are no big chains taking over the streets and that normal residential areas still have little bakeries on the corner or a nice little wine bar or cafe in the vicinity.

Rhiannon took us to the catacombs, an underground ossuary, which is organised in a renovated section of the city's vast network of tunnels. It was set up towards the end of the 18th century, due to city growth and generations of dead beginning to overwhelm Paris' larger churches. Paris' largest cemetery, Les Innocents, was saturated to a point where its neighbours were suffering from disease, due to contamination caused by improper burials, open mass graves, and earth charged with decomposing organic matter. After almost a century of ineffective decrees condemning the planned cemetery, it was finally decided to that the remains of all the condemned inner city cemeteries would be moved discreetly to a renovated section of Paris's abandoned quarries. We descended 143 narrow steps and walked along a tunnel before we found the entrance to the ossuary. There are 6 million bones stored in the catacombs, with some strategically aligned to form images or alter-like visuals. At the end of the 1.7km walk, we found information about the people whose remains were moved there, although a French interpreter is required to understand the posters. Normally, on a hot summers day, it would seem to be cold so far underground, but for us it was a nice temperature compared to the wet and wind that awaited us after our ascent.

Chocolate

There was a chocolate shop that I had hopes on visiting and Rhiannon knew exactly where to take us to find it. We were not disappointed when we got there. Besides selling chocolates and chocolate pastries, they also sold hot chocolate and had tables for us to savour the experience. Luckily Dan and I shared the drink, as it was so thick and rich. We also shared a giant chocolate macaroon, which made our tastebuds swoon with pleasure at the soft ganache filling (when did macaroons start having filling?!) and its crunchy outer shell. hmm... I am drooling at the thought of it now...

Winter walk

Dan hadn't seen Champs-Elysees or the Arc de Triomphe, so our tour guide took us there to see the Christmas lights and the 8 lane street. Dan was impressed with the Arch, having heard about it from the French guys at his work place. As we got near, we saw a line of army officers standing upright with their rifles over their shoulders. Underneath is the tomb of an unknown soldier from World War I, and I had read that at 6:30pm every day they relight the flame in remembrance of all the soldiers who have lost their lives, so we guessed it was that what was going on. We walked down the avenue and the Dan had to visit the Peugeot flagship store that had 4 ultra-modern vehicles on display. The store was decked out like a night club with disco balls on the ceiling, multi-coloured lights flashing around the room and music pumping in the background. There were even bodyguards there busy keeping people from 'hurting' the cars. After another photo shoot in the middle of the road, we walked down the length of the street passing the winter markets again. I had to buy a coconut macaroon, my favourite bickie, and we drank vin chaud (hot mulled wine) from small plastic cups to warm ourselves. Dan was admiring a huge pan of tarteflete, a cheesy potato and bacon dish that we had previously enjoyed when French friends had cooked it for us last year, but as Rhiannon had booked us in for an all-you-can-eat medieval feast, we had to keep room in our bellies for more.

Medieval stuffing

At the medieval restaurant, the waiter brought out a huge basket of raw vegetables for us to do what we wanted with and there were barrels of red wine nearby for an endless supply of vino. We made our own salads from the basket for entree and then we were presented with our choice of chargrilled meat and veg for the main. We had eaten a rather large "small" lunch and due to our exhaustion from the long nights and active days, we made it a not so late night out. We all had early starts in the morning, with everyone but me going back to work.

Eiffel Tower

Dan caught the Eurostar back to London, Mik managed to catch his plane to Bristol and Rhiannon headed off to work in the morning, so I was left to decide what else I wanted to see on my last day in the beautiful city. I have always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower up close and I was interested in seeing Mona Lisa smile, so I knew what I would be doing that day. It was great to get to the Eiffel Tower before the massive crowds got there. I probably only waited half an hour to get up to the top unlike the 2 hour wait I have heard about. Not keen to climb the 1665 steps, I paid for the elevator ascent. Being uncomfortable with heights, I found the last elevator ride up a bit daunting. The tower is 325m high (equivalent to 81 levels in a high rise building). The sun was shining and there wasn't much cloud around, so my view of the city was clear and far reaching. I visited the first and second levels of the tower as well and snapped too many photos. I love the old architecture of bridges and buildings like the Empire State, so the structure was fascinating to me. I even managed some photos without people in them, which was thanks to visiting in the off season.

Mona and mummies

Having stretched my stomach with all the eating of the past few days, I was crying out for some food and then I remembered the tarteflete at one of the Christmas stalls along Champs-Elysees. It was kinda on my way to the Louvre, so I thought why not! The cheese was really strong and I was only able to eat half the portion that they served me, but just as I was about to get up from my bench seat in the park, a homeless Serbian woman begged for money. I had been hassled a lot this weekend for money by plenty of homeless people, mainly Serbian women all dressed in a similar way with the head scarfs covering their heads and the long gipsy skirts. I don't like to give money when I don't know what it is to be spent on and so I once again politely refused. At that she asked if she could have my lunch, which I willingly gave her. Feeling better about not having wasted my lunch and also helping a genuinely hungry person out, I marched onwards to the Louvre.

Once again, the line was not too long, such a plus at visiting at this time of year. I breezed through bag security and promptly purchased my ticket through a ticket vending machine. This was all too easy, nothing like the horror you read about queues and long waiting times. I looked at the supplied map and was disheartened to see that the Rome and Egyptian section was closed for renovation - I had only come to see Mona and the mummies as I am not much of an art buff. The Italian paintings section was my first destination, as I had to see that smile. She was great. They had given her a whole wall to herself within a climate controlled, bullet-proof glass case. It was hard to get a good photo due to the glare off the glass, but I managed to bustle my way to the centre of the room directly in front of her for a good look.

Raft of the Medusa

On my way out past the other paintings I stumbled across another famous piece of art, the Raft of Medusa. It is an extremely large oil painting (4.91m x 7.17m), so it was hard to miss, and depicts a real story of the aftermath of the wreck of a French naval ship called Meduse. Due to the limited number of lifeboats available on board, 147 passengers were forced onto a raft on which they floated for 13 days. Most of its occupants died. Before the survivors were rescued, they suffered from starvation, dehydration and madness. The cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain, who had been granted his post in an act of political favour by the court of the recently restored French monarchy, so the wreckage caused a huge scandal.

The artist, Théodore Géricault , originally tried to capture the five episodes of the survivors accounts. They were the Mutiny, Cannibalism, Sighting of the Argus, Hailing the Approaching Rowing-Boat and the Rescue. In the end, he created 4 groups:

1. The group of dead, dying or despondent men.
2. Four men who stand, alert and watchful, on the other side of the mast.
3. A group of men who struggle to rise to their feet.
4. Three men who mount some barrels at the Raft's forward end and signal to the Argus

Théodore faced the challenge of expressing the human reality of the accident with its content of terror, anguish and tension. To achieve such realism, he practised drawing and painting many studies from life. He created portraits of dying patients and produced a still-life of dissected limbs and severed heads. He kept the human fragments in his own studio for him to observe and record their gradual decay. And you thought art was boring....

Opposite this massive painting was the coronation of Napoleon I with his wife Josephine, the exact painting that I saw 3 days ago in the Chateau de Versailles! Confused, I found out that the one that I had seen earlier was a replica. For a novus like me, I have no idea what is real and what isn't.

And there were mummies..

To my delight the Egyptian antiquities section contained plenty of what I wanted to see. Not sure what they were not showing due to the renovation, but there was more than enough mummies, tombs, paintings, hieroglyphics and statues for me to wander past. I was so tired, I actually went for a nod when I sat down in one of the showrooms! Right, time to go. I walked past the medieval Louvre moat on the way out and said my farewell to the glorious building that houses the museum. Did I mention that I like architecture...

La fin - the end

I briskly walked up Rue de Rivoli, one of the most famous commercial streets of Paris, and conquered the metro to arrive where my journey had begin, at Gare du Nord.

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Photos

Modern car
At the Peugeot Flagship Store

Dune buggy
At the Peugeot Flagship Store

On Avenue de Champs Elysee
With the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street

Drinking Mulled Wine
Rache, Rhi and Mik

The pyramid
Entrance to the Louvre

Comments

[Scrim]

I never knew you liked mummies and stuff.
Bristol Museum has a great little collection of those! Or used to