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Published: November 2nd 2016
Our "Home" in Paris
safe and snug against the dockTuesday - Oct 4 - Day 1- As mentioned in the previous blog entry we are now in Paris. Of course the first day we had to do the basics first – check in with the marina office, take a shower and then take a short walk around the area. From the marina you can see the Bastille Monument and close by is the new Opera House. Our main mission for this walk however was to get to a store to buy a baguette – we know what is important! When back onboard we opened the bottle of champagne we had been chilling for a few days. Sipping that with French bread and cheese made for a perfect ending of our arrival day in Paris.
Wednesday - Oct 5 –Day 2 (first full day!) - The weather was beautiful – sunny and warm so the plan was to check out a few gardens we knew of from our friends Sally and Al. We will wait for grey days to head to the numerous museums that we are looking forward to exploring. The first garden we made it to was the Jardin des Plantes which we found was quite close making
French champagne, bread and cheese
a perfect way to celebrate our arrival in Paris for a short walk. Even this late in the season there were numerous flowers still in bloom making for a lovely stroll. The gardens are on the same grounds as an enormous greenhouse that we didn’t visit today but will keep on our list for another day. There are also a few other museums located here such as the gardens are only one part of the Natural History Museum complex which will have to keep for another time. We definitely wanted to stay outdoors on such a gorgeous day so we headed over to another garden located at the Luxembourg Palace (now a government building).
On the way there we passed by the mosque. It is quite an impressive building with its beautiful tile work. They have a restaurant/café here which we had first heard about from our friend Kay. We will put it on the list for another day as we still want to stay outdoors as much as possible today.
The Luxembourg Garden is spectacular as it is the grounds of the previous Luxembourg Palace. One of the first things that strikes you when you enter is the water pond with numerous chairs scattered around with
people enjoying the sunshine. There was a vendor renting small sailboats that people could put on the water pond to watch them move with the wind. They were even given sticks to help move the boats along if they get stuck anywhere! We did notice that the vendor had a pair of hip boots which we’re sure he had to use at the end of each day to “rescue” any that didn’t make it over to the side. Looking closely at them they flew flags from a wide variety of countries so people could pick out which country they wanted to have. Definitely a fun activity as we noticed by the number of people renting them.
The Palace itself is no longer a Palace, but holds the French Senate. The Palace was originally built in 1610 by Queen Maria de Medici right after Henry IV was assassinated. She purchased a hotel with additional land for her residency. She told the architect that she wanted her home to be fashioned afar her childhood home in Florence, but with a French design. She had the gardens terraced and fountains were run from water from a nearby aqueduct. In 1610 Louis XIII
The Bastille Monument
can be seen from the marina sent his mother into exile. She died in Cologne in 1642. During the French Revolution this was used as a prison, but now for two centuries it has housed the French Senate. The gardens continue to be managed and maintained by the Senate keeping to its design from the 18
th century. It is a combination of French geometric designed gardens to curved terraces and less ordered English gardens and include a large chestnut tree grove. They have very nicely provided numerous chairs in all parts of the garden so there is a place to relax for both the shade and sun worshipper.
We enjoyed taking a rest in the park people watching and enjoying the scenery. As the building is an official government building we noticed many armed guards, but very close to the building there were still plenty of people walking, jogging and running by enjoying the respite from the hectic city life.
On the way back to Tsamaya we walked near Notre Dame and were able to see it in a different light as it was getting close to dusk. One more place to visit was put on our list of “things to see”. It was
The New Opera House
is very close by the marina quite a full day of walking but with the weather so pleasant and having a few gardens to relax in during the day it was a great first full day in Paris.
Thursday – October 6 – Day 3 We were very fortunate in having another sunny day in Paris so decided to take in one of the iconic monuments – the Arc de Triomphe. On our walk there we passed through another of the many gardens in Paris. This one was the Jardin des Tuileries which had been the gardens associated with a palace that once stood in this location. Queen Catherine de’ Medici started the building of the Palace at this location in 1561 as well as started the first garden here. Later it became the royal residence under Louis XIV who commissioned his gardener to install a park in front of the palace in 1666. The garden at this time was made accessible to the public. Unfortunately the Palace was set on fire in 1871 and in 1883 it was torn down. Fortunately for all of us the gardens remain and are a lovely spot to wander through. The water feature that would have been in
front of the palace still remains and even though it was a little chilly this day there were plenty of people filling the chairs and either socializing or just soaking up the rays of the sun. One thing we have noticed already in the couple of days that we have been here is that not everyone is starring at their electronics, but either reading a book or more common they are sitting in groups socializing with friends and family. It is nice to see that not everyone is connected to their electronic devices constantly.
We continued through the park and headed to an obelisk that we could see straight ahead. Even when we got over close to it, we weren’t sure what it was, but later looked it up and found that it was the Luxor Obelisk. It is 23 meters high (75 feet) weighs 250 metric tons and originally stood in front of the Luxor Temple in Egypt. It is over 3,000 years old and a twin obelisk stands at the Luxor Temple to this day. It was shipped to Paris in 1833 as a gift to France from the King of Egypt. In August 1832 a French
paddle ship sailed to Egypt to meet up with an Egyptian barge to pick up the obelisk. It actually towed a barge with the obelisk on it back to France making it to Paris in December 1833. In order to get to Luxor the French had to have a 49 meter long barge built that was flat bottomed to get up the Nile. 300 Egyptian workmen had to dig out a canal in order for the barge to get close to the obelisk. This whole process was quite an engineering feat both with the loading of the obelisk, sailing it back to France and then off-loading and erecting it in place in Paris. It was put on a pedestal which has diagrams on each side detailing the complex machinery devised to accomplish this process of taking the obelisk down in Luxor and the erection of it in Paris. Quite an accomplishment indeed.
Walking down the Rue des Champs-Elysees from the Luxor Obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe with hundreds of other people passing by the shops of exclusive shops such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and perfumers’; we were surprised to see that other chain stores such as Banana Republic
Bob Forgot to Tell Me!
Didn't know he was a chef at this restaurant in Paris! and H&M and fast food shops have moved in to this once exclusive area. Fortunately it still gives you the feel of the elite that once lived here especially with viewing the spectacular structures that line this street that once housed the bourgeoise. This avenue leads you straight to the Arc de Triomphe an imposing 50 meters (164 ft) tall, 45 meters (148 ft) wide and 22 meters (72 ft) deep. It was built by Napoleon. It was started in 1806, but never completed until 1836. Depending on what you read he either built it to honor those that fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars or the other version states he did it to celebrate his own victory at Austerlitz. With the names of 660 generals and battles engraved on the Arc and numerous relief carvings of Napoleon himself it seems like it is a combination of these two. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI lies beneath the central archway with an eternal flame, but now also honors those from WWII as well.
We decided to next stop and visit the Petit Palais which houses the Musee des Beaux Arts (museum
of Fine Arts). The building was designed for the Paris Exhibition of 1900 as well as the Grand Palais which is located just across the road. You are first greeted by a magnificent wrought iron entrance gate and then enter into a large area covered with mosaics on the floor, paintings on the ceiling and light shining through four round openings with stained-glass windows. Quite a grand entrance indeed. The museum is not large, but does display work including French and Italian Renaissance as well as Flemish and Dutch paintings. Furniture, glass and metal objects are on display as well as numerous sculptures. They also have a wonderful setting for their café with an outdoor garden which we enjoyed while there. A nice ending stop for our day.
Friday – October 7 – Day 4 – A break from being a tourist in Paris – We had to do a few of those every day things such as walking to the grocery store for a few things, laundry and made a pot of soup. Bob was trying to remind me that Paris will not disappear in a week so we don’t have to pack everything in to the first
week! It was good to get a few things that needed to be done on the boat today.
Saturday – October 8 – Day 5 – Today was a very enjoyable one as our friends, Ann and Jean-Paul, whom we first met in Honfleur were coming back from a vacation and passing through Paris on their way home. We had made arrangements for them to stop at the marina for lunch on the boat. It was wonderful to see them again – am sure these will be friends that we will continue to stay in contact with! Ann stated she must bring something so we asked them to bring dessert. We were so glad we did as they introduced us to some fabulous French pastries. Jean-Paul cut each of the 4 different desserts up so we could each try them (although the chocolate one was cut into 3 pieces as Ann doesn’t like chocolate – a bonus for the rest of us!) The pastries not only looked fabulous but they are not really sweet which made them very pleasant indeed. Sorry I didn’t take any photo of them as they were beautiful but we were too eager to try
We Didn't Get to Visit the GreenhouseJardin des plantes
at the Jardin des Plantes Today - We Put it On the List them and the camera wasn’t a priority! That evening Bob and I took a short walk around the area just to stretch our legs – always good to see some of the same places in different lighting. Surprisingly we are already feeling quite at home in this area and finding it quite easy to find your way around (even though there aren’t any square blocks – all streets seem to run at angles)
Sunday – October 9 – Day 6 – We had found out that there was going to be an organ concert at a church in the afternoon so with the sun out we planned having the day out ending with the concert. We packed a picnic and headed to the Palais Royal as it was heading in the direction of where the concert would be later. The gardens here are completely surrounded by buildings that made up the Palace complex. We learned that the Palace had originally been built between 1633-1639 for Cardinal Richelieu, but when he died it became the property of the King. In reading the history it became the home of numerous members of the Royalty over the years. In 1780 King Louis
Philippe II took control and expanded and redesigned the complex of buildings as well as the gardens. He opened them to the public as a shopping and entertainment complex complete with a theatre, numerous boutiques, cafes, salons, bookshops and museums. It became a major marketplace at the time and was frequented by people of every class. Now the buildings house the Ministry of Culture and the National Library Depository and the Constitutional Council. As it was a Sunday we did not see any official activity, but the gardens were being enjoyed by many.
One area in front of the buildings was covered by black and white columns of various height – many people were enjoying standing on these and taking photos. A contemporary art installation that was definitely interactive from what we could see.
The organ concert was in the L’eglise de la Madeleine (Madeleine Church) so we headed over there after our leisurely picnic lunch. The church is built in the Neo-Classical style and is quite an imposing structure with its 52 Corinthian columns (each 20 meters high). This style was chosen as it was built to be a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army. As
The Mosque in the Latin Quarter
has a cafe we will have to return to another day a matter of fact when you look at the fresco in the half dome above the altar Napoleon is easily seen as a key figure in the “History of Christianity”. After having a chance to walk around the church we enjoyed an hour long organ concert. Another pleasant day in Paris. This is definitely spoiling us as the weather has been cooperating beautifully for us to be walking around town with the bonus of having picnics in October!
Monday – October 10 – End of the 1
st week – Today we had some errands that had to be done first thing. We had to go to a phone store located here to deal with getting our sim card sorted out for our iPad. We wanted to get it changed so we could use it in our phone instead so got there close to their opening time so we wouldn’t have to wait too long. With 2 hour lunch breaks here in France we find that places such as these are busy during this time as that is when everyone does their errands if they aren’t out socializing over lunch with friends. We got the sim card changed and hopefully
Only a Few of the Locks on the Bridge in Paris
we had heard they had been removed, but guess not! this will work out better so as the phone is 4G so we should now be able to get 50 GB of data per month. We will see how this works out. Next was the post office to mail our absentee ballots back to NY as we always make sure we exercise our right to vote no matter where we are. It wasn’t a difficult process to get the ballot as we could print it out electronically but you do have to mail it back in time to get there before election day. It will have plenty of time to get there seeing they are both on their way there as of today.
In our wandering around we ran into another church – Saint Augustin so decided to take a look inside. It was built between 1860-1868 and appears to be quite large inside even though the plot of land that it sits on seems to be quite small and triangular. The church is 300 feet in length and 240 feet wide. It is unusual in that it is built around a metal frame with some of it exposed inside. Napoleon had requested Georges-Eugene Haussmann to make some drastic
The Luxembourg Garden Is Magnificent & Well Used
the rental sailboats were quite a hit with the kids changes to the look of the city of Paris. He accomplished this by cutting through the city with boulevards and building prominent public buildings at the ends to provide impressive vistas. One of these boulevards was cut from Madeleine to this spot where this church was built. He also wanted to design it so that it would be visible from the Arc de Triomphe. In order to accomplish this he had to install a dome of 200 feet tall even though the plot of land was quite small. At the time many felt that it was out of proportion as a result, but with all of the other buildings around that point did not stand out to us when walking by.
We headed back to Tsamaya after this as we have planned a day trip away from Paris for tomorrow – we are heading by train to Versailles. Will give details in the next blog update. In looking back we feel that we did pretty well with checking out a few areas of Paris within our first week here. We also know though that there are lots more places that we want to get to before we leave for
The Luxembourg Garden Provides Plenty of Chairs
to enjoy a day out in the sun with the Palace behind the US this winter. We will see how much we can get to! Will keep you posted.
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