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Published: July 13th 2012
Paris is a city that is very easy to walk...provided you have decent (although fashionable) shoes. Everywhere we turn, we see another gorgeous church or monument to something. It's actually a bit overwhelming, even with European history expert, Lee. A few years ago, he bought a city walk deck of cards and the goal was to do one every day we were here. So, the first week went by and we didn't even crack open the box. Today, we decided 2 a day might get us going, so we picked 2 that overlapped and set off.
We metro'd over to the 2e and walked by the Tour St. Jacques - the tower with no church and continued to the neighborhood of Les Halle's. There's a hideous underground American style mall that we absolutely avoided, and walked instead to a 16 th century church, St. Eustache. On the way, we passed the site where Henry IV was murdered by a religious zealot who hopped in the king's carriage during a
traffic jam...in 1610... 400 years later, I'm still sitting in unsolvable traffic. Lots of funky art embedded in the walls- just look up instead of down and we see it everywhere.
Protect yourself from zombies
And have a drink while you're at it.In case the world ends, we know now of the place to go - a bar called "Dernier Bar Avant la Fin du Monde" or " The Last Bar before the End of the World" complete with free wi-fi and anti zombie bunker. Really. We paused for a moment and headed on the St. Eustache.
The church is old and gorgeous like every church in Europe, but this one had something that surprised us- in the middle of all the 16th century oldness was a very modern 1990 Keith Haring metal tryptich. No signs- it stands unannounced in a dusty back chapel.. As we walked along to the back of the church, we saw some English pamphlets with an explanation. It seems this particular church does a lot of community work and outreach with AIDS victims and their families. Haring started this piece and after his death in 1990, his foundation gave it to St. Eustache. We had to walk back to the triptych and take a closer look. We lit candles for Jo, and headed back outsidE to finish our walk.
As we walked along, we came upon the kitchen store to end all kitchen stores -
Henri IV was here
And then, he wasn't. E. DeHilllerin. It is Sur la Table on steroids. I entered a dusty, cluttered, cramped cooking wonderland where one can find any cooking item that ever was- and some you never knew existed. Copper pans hanging from the ceiling, shelves floor to ceiling packed with every size imaginable cookie cutter, springform pans, tart tins from teeny to enormous, knives of every size and use .. and that's just the left 20 feet of the store! The other side is stuffed with pastry rollers and cooking sheets, and then...there's the downstairs! Hold on to the bannister because the stairs are well worn from the likes of Julia Child and every great French chef icluding Ratatouille. I feel like I've stumbled into into a magic cave of heavy white plates and sauce pans galore. Bare lightbulbs hang from the cave ceiling and I saw pots big enough for an adult man to hide. Lee? Lee? Of course, I had to buy a mini Madeline pan and some miniature ring cake pans to stuff in my suitcase. The purchasing process is another chapter in a book, but I will tell you if you ever go to this store- watch for a while to
see how it's done. It's not a simple process, but you will feel very Cordon Bleu when you walk out the door.
We strolled along for a while to clear our heads and, cue angelic music...aaaahhhh... the mother ship of all shoe stores - Christian Louboutin - appears before our very eyes. I briefly joined the line to gain access, but decided to save it for another day and console myself with mere window shopping. Adjacent to the mother ship was a beautiful old covered passage way that housed a number of beautiful but very expensive shops filled with sparkly jewelry and antique books. It was so quiet that we strolled along for a while in perfect peace. We left and found some more peace and quiet in the Palais Royal - a quiet garden in the middle of the city nearly across the street from the Louvre and hidden from sight. Manicured trees (the French love their cube shaped trees), a pretty fountain, and gardens of flowers....this was a nice little gem of a find. We found another hidden covered passageway with more expensive shops and settled down for a glass of vin before heading home.
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jo
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Count down... demain...Le Jour de Bastille! - LA VIE EN ROSE
Another walk down Paris pour moi.... DeH. cooking establishment reeked with the smell of garlic, rosemary and sage. What incredible memories are being made, and the storyteller you are will gladen the heart of your grandbabies to be. Drinking wheat grass shots and thanking you for the ernstwhile prayers. A second opinion is scheduled for July 18th with a wellknown oncologist/surgeon bladder person. Went haywire and had a relaxing French pedicure. The seat had a back massage feature, the dingdong of the Vietnamese lingo got to me after awhile. spoken and written grammatical English is a thing of the past in this town, and indeed in many cities. Looking forward to your mental pictures of your next escapade... on a hapy note, understand that the Euro is at a 2 year low. Beneficial for the Champs Elysee (?) shoe enthusiasts.. Signing off; Hugs to Lee and no surprise that Will & Ry are so happy inBarcelona. Great place~ Josephine.. french for Giuseppina