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Published: December 31st 2016
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Today we were in the Marais quarter. It seems like every building here has a story, and most of them consist of the makings of a movie - lots of sex & violence. But the French aren't into happy endings. Most of the stories here have morbid endings that often involve people losing their heads. And when they don't, there's poison involved.
We took the Metro to the Bastille square. The Bastille itself is long gone, of course, and now there's a large square with the Colonne de Juillet memorial tower at the center. We walked around the square and into Rue Saint-Antoine, past Hotel de Mayenne where, among other morbid stories, a close friend of King Henry III lay dying after getting wounded in a duel. The king ordered that the street be laid with straw, so the noise of passing carriages wouldn't bother his close friend.
We turned right into Rue de Birague, and under the arched entrance to Place des Vosges, where Victor Hugo lived. We walked around the place. It's a large square garden area surrounded by buildings, like a closed neighborhood. Very nice! Victor lived in a corner house, where he could (and did)
slip out the back to meet his mistress. We visited his house, now a free museum. What surprized me most about the place is that in the entrance there's a showcase of books. Most of them biographies of the writer, a few general booklets about Paris, and only two books by Hugo; Les Miserables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Is that all he wrote? France's greatest writer? Two books?
We walked around the square, looking into all the galeries there. Some interesting art, even to our uneducated eyes. We took a few side streets, had a few peeks into the private courtyards to get a little feel of how people lived here in the 17th and 18 centuries. We wandered down Rue Pavee and visited L’éclair de Génie, an eclair shop. We had to get a couple of eclaires, right?
We found a bench on Rue de Rivoli and enjoyed our eclaires. Really enjoyed them! We may not be lovers of gourmet French dining, but even we agree that the French are experts when it comes to cakes & pastries!
We went back the way we came, and on towards the Picasso museum. It's a palace
turned museum with a pricey entrance fee, so we didn't go inside. Instead, we went towards the National Archives in Hotel de Soubise. Part of the buildings on the grounds date back to midaeval times. There's a fortress turret overlooking Rue des Archives that dates back hundreds of years, and the whole complex has another of those French stories of love, sex, jealousy, murder and executions spanning over centuries.
We continued down Rue des Archives to Rue Rivoli and saw the beautiful Hotel de Ville, the Paris city hall. As usual in Paris, long lines snaked around the block at both entrances to the building. We opted instead to find a place to eat.
We took some side streets towards Hotel de Sens, a very impressive, if not very large midaeval castle with another story. From there we walked back towards Rue St. Antoine and the Bastille. There was a Christmas fair going on there, so the kids took a ride on one of the rides there. Ethan lost his hat while the thing swung the kids around, and it landed at the top of a tree. His ears froze, but he had a lot of fun anyway.
We walked around the area and finally sat for a bite at a small fast food place. So-so, but the cakes were sweet and the drinks were hot. Then we took the Metro back to the hotel.
Later on we popped out to a nearby supermarket for baguettes and cream cheese for dinner. It was nice (not to mention cheaper) to eat in our room as opposed to a restaurant for once.
Tomorrow we're going to Monmartre.
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