"In the morning, in the evening,/ Ain't we got fun?"
Monday morning, I awoke at the Patio Saint Antoine and readied myself for the day. Careful to bring the plastic room key, I headed out and across the courtyard to the elevator. It was early, but breakfast was already being served, and I was ready for mine. Down to the lower level, I crossed the main courtyard and turned left down the hall.
Courtyard leading to the elevator
Over to my right was the breakfast room with food spread out and ready for the taking. I took a table and made my first round, to get coffee, croissant, and cereal and fruit. The attendant asked my room number and checked me off a list. The coffee was good, and everything tasted fine. The day was starting well.
Petit Déjeuner
Soon, a woman in our group appeared and asked if she could join me. Her name was Caroline, and we discussed everything that came to mind. I got eggs and sausage to fortify myself for the morning. Suffering a little from sensory overload, I finished and headed back to the room, and met Laron and Jana as they were entering the breakfast room.
At nine, we gathered in the same upstairs lecture room as the night before. I noticed that just behind it was a second-floor breakfast room--to catch the overflow from the one downstairs. Thomas talked briefly and then introduced Jennifer Burdon, but before that, he made a point of stressing that whenever a time was set for us to regroup, we should always be there on time, because he would leave prompty then and would not wait for stragglers.
Jenny was a longtime Paris resident who had moved here from England many years ago. Apparently, she'd come to sing at the Lapin Agile over in Monmartre and to be with her French boyfriend who sang there as well. She was well known for her walking tours of the city. She had a display pad mounted on an easel on which she wrote and drew as the lectured about the history of Paris. Something I loved about Roadscholar was these lectures which provided so much wonderful information about what we were going to see. Like Chaucer's Scholar, gladly would she learn and gladly teach. The rapport between Jenny and the group was very good.
Jenny's first lecture
At the top, she had written the motto of Paris--Fluctuat nec Mergitur--it floats, but it doesn't sink.
(The years have not been kind to Laron's and my hairlines.)
We would soon be leaving on a bus tour of central Paris. Part of the plan was to go down the Champs Elysées around l'Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe and over to one of the museums in the Palais de Chaillot. Then later, the bus would deliver us to the restaurants across the Seine from Notre Dame for lunch.
In the afternoon, we'd tour Notre Dame and the Ste. Chapelle with Jenny and Thomas and then he would go with us on the Metro back to the hotel. Thomas called this first subway ride our course in "Metro 101." I was happy enough with the prospect of seeing buildings I'd already visited, because I always learned more from the lectures than I'd known before and because of their beauty and the fact that appearances changed with the weather, the sunlight, and the time of day.
At about 9:45, we returned to our rooms, and this time, I brought my camera and cell phone. Soon we were out in front of the hotel and boarding our bus. With just nineteen in the group, there was plenty of room for everyone, and of course, Laron and Jana and I sat close so we could visit. My recall of this ride is almost nonexistent. Maybe I was so used to riding the bus on the earlier tour that this was nothing new to me or perhaps because I had friends to talk to I was distracted, but this is without doubt the biggest hole in my recall for the month.
Nevertheless, I had a good time today, and what we listened to and saw was fascinating. I enjoyed touring with Jana and Laron, and when I'm in the swing of things, I am certainly not making observations for a blog I never imagined anyway.
Rick Steves called the walk down the Champs Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde one of the greatest tourist experiences the world had to offer. Even with two weeks in Paris, I was never able to do that walk, but the bus ride served as the next best thing. I was never able to visit Père Lachaise Cemetery, either, but as anyone who has followed this journal must realize, we did manage to see great deal! The fact that so much still remained to see and do points up one of the best features of France and its capital--THERE IS NO END OF THINGS TO SEE AND DO!
L'Avenue des Champs Elysées (The Avenue of the Elysian Fields)
L'Arc de Triomphe
Work was going on under the Arch.
Twelve avenues radiate from L'Etoile.
(No wonder Johanna wanted to go up to the observation deck atop the Arch!)
Looking up the Champs Eylsées from the Place de la Concorde with Luxor Obelisk at bottom
( Rick Steves calls the walk between these two points one of the world's greatest experiences.)
As the photographs illustrate, the Arc de Tromphe is in the center of a mammoth traffic circle called L'Etoile (the star). From there, twelve avenues radiate out from the center. This only the largest of many traffic circles in the city and throughout the country. Our experience, despite Chevy Chase's take on this, is that they work fine most of the time. We were never "stuck" in a circle.
When the bus tour started to wind down, we exited L'Etoile onto Avenue Kléber and stopped on the Rive Droite side of the Palais de Chaillot. This was where the bus could park on the opposite side from the Jardins de Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower . Here we entered the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine (Museum and Architecture and Heritage).
This terrific art-deco building, or pair of buildings, was built in 1937 to highlight and complement the Eiffel Tower just across the Seine. One half of the complex houses the architecture museum, and across the esplanade, the other side contains a museum of anthropology and maritime history. I had seen pictures of it many times before and had even gazed down at it from the Eiffel Tower last week, but the simplicity of the elegant design and the excellent proportions of the place had not prepared me for its size. It was very large, and the fountain and gardens on the river side were impressive. I was really glad to be here and finally have my curiosity satisfied!
Le Palais de Chaillot
How would it be to live in a place where scenes like this are part of everyday life?
Les Jardins du Trocadéro
(The low building behind the fountain is an aquarium.)
(The low building behind the fountain is an aquarium.)
Le Musée Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
The building had large lobby filled with architectural models, much-needed bathrooms on the lower level, and a big exhibit hall with carvings and exterior design elements salvaged from buildings as they were torn down. The two buildings formed an arch which faced the Eiffel Tower.
Model of St. Suplice in the lobby
Priceless medieval art salvaged from construction sites
After a little over an hour at the architecture museum, we boarded the bus to go to lunch. I had not taken any pictures yet, but Charlie, a fellow tourist, took a bunch of them, and I am sharing some here. One photo that I especially like is this of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro side of the museum. Seagulls had come down the Seine to Paris from the Channel, and they were flying all around as he caught this image of one framed against the Tower.
Tourists trying to avoid a "fly by"
After an interesting drive back to the bridges across from the Ile de la Cité, we disembarked from the bus and said good-bye to our driver. We were on the banks of the Seine directly across from Notre Dame. Jenny had pointed out several good places to eat, and Thomas said to be back in an hour and to meet right where we started.
Le Départ Saint Michel was nearby and looked good to the Robinsons and me, so we took the line of least resistance and settled inside for lunch there. Pictures of the place show it with a lively outdoor seating area, but this was November, and few braved the outdoors for lunch. Like most others, we went inside and found a table for ourselves.
Lunch was tasty and pleasant, and we were out of there in about forty minutes. That left time for us to go to the nearby Shakespeare and Company book store. This was a famous landmark and major tourist destination. It was named for the place established by Sylvia Beach long ago as a literary, artistic hub in the twenties and home base for most English-language authors who lived in Paris at that time.
Sylvia had started the original store on Rue de l'Odéon farther inside the Left Bank, and there she published Ulysses by James Joyce when other publishers refused to touch it. Shakespeare and Co. was where Hemingway went for moral and financial support when he lived here and was working on his early novels. He mentions Sylvia Beach and her store fondly in A Moveable Feast. This newer location was opened after WW II, and it continues the policy of selling only English-language books. The Robinsons and I were keen on checking this place out!
A Wallace fountain in front of Shakespeare and Company
I was there at last!
Going through the stacks
Outside the building, we shot a few pictures, and a girl sitting on a bench in front came up to us and offered to take our picture. That was wonderfully nice of her, and it turned out to be one of my favorites photos of the entire month!
Here we are again going where we want to go and doing what we want to do.
Jana and I both bought books inside. My choice was a translation of The Knot of Vipers by Francois Mauriac and a copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. A "really big deal" was getting the store to stamp the inside of the purchased book with its own unique logo. This I did before we left, but time was drawing nigh for us to return to the tour.
Everyone wanted a book with this stamped inside.
We soon gathered for the count and started across the bridge toward Notre Dame. Here are a few shots of the cathedral from the left bank with flowers in the foreground.
Notre Dame de Paris from the Left Bank on a cloudy afternoon
After our whole group reported on time for après-déjeuner touring, Thomas and Jenny led us across the bridge and into Notre Dame. Mass was going on when we entered, and Jenny had to whisper most of her lecture, but she was very informative and pointed several things of interest. I was glad we had her along.
The carved wooden frieze behind the altar was something I'd overlooked before, and this time I got better pictures of St. Genviève's reliquary, and saw the devotional to St. Juan Diego for the first time.
I've written about Notre Dame and featured it before, but I will include both photos which I took and some fine shots that Charlie took, too. After all, the Robinsons and I are in some of them.
Fortunately, this time, I was able to keep the rose windows in focus. The pictures speak for themselves, but this time the concentration is more on the interior and less on the exterior.
St. Joan
Carved wooden frieze facing walkway behind the altar
Jenny and Jana
St. Denis
Reliquary of St. Genviève
Shrine to St. Juan Diego
When we emerged from the Cathedral, Jenny went into detail describing the carvings to the sides of the doorways and at the tops of the portals. I spotted a notice about the times when the Crown of Thorns would be put on display and shot a picture of it. Jenny also mentioned the Point Zero marker in front of the building and that all distances in France were measured from it. I also noticed large flock of pigeons over near the riverbank and photographed them to show my son Aaron who raises homing pigeons back home.
Jenny lectures at the front of Notre Dame. Who's that guy with his back to the camera??
St. Denis
Pointe Zéro
Aaron, this picture of pigeons is for you.
Then we walked over to the courts compound which surrounded the Sainte Chapelle and entered the fenced yard that faced the courts building and also led to the Holy Chapel. This whole area is public space now and the Chapel is preserved purely as piece of French history. Much of the old Palais de la Cité was burned during the Paris Commune in 1871.
Jenny did most of the talking during this phase of the afternoon, and despite her extensive knowledge and able presentation of facts, I objected to something she did here, and writing this brings it to mind.
Jenny's humor in discussing the Ste. Chapelle, St. Louis, and the Crown of Thorns hit me wrong; it was very derisive. As she made fun of certain Catholic beliefs and elicited chuckles from several members of our group, others of us just listened and remained silent. At first, she seemed oblivious to the idea that anti-Catholic humor might offend some of us. Later, she caught on and toned it down a little.
Le Palais de Justice
The Ste. Chapelle souvenir shop was in the lower chapel.
Jenny points to the Ste. Chapelle in 13th-century Paris.
Once more in the upper chapel of the Ste. Chapelle, now in the light of a cloudy afternoon
Déjà vu, but "a thing of beauty is a joy forever!"
After we exited the Ste. Chapelle, Jenny said her good-byes and headed home on her own. Thomas then took us across the street to the Cité metro station still on the Ile de la Cité, an island surrounded by the Seine. Trains ran under the ground, and often that meant under the river, too. Here we caught Line 4 which took us to the huge Châtelet station that had nearly overwhelmed the Robinsons and me on Saturday.
Thomas, however, knew right where to go to catch Line 1, so all we had to do was follow the leader. After we boarded Line 1, we rode with him to the closest Metro station to the Patio St. Antoine, which was called Reuilly-Diderot.
Leaving the courts building
Waiting at Cité for Line 4
The Reuilly-Diderot station near our hotel was built in 1900. It would become a very familiar point of return--and departure!
When our group walked up to street level at Reuilly-Diderot, it was getting dark. Through well lighted streets, Thomas led us across the street and then down another very narrow, slanting side street called Rue Claude Tillier. After walking a long block, we reached familiar territory--Rue Faubourg Saint Antoine. Seeing the hotel in the distance, we went toward it, either directly across the street, or to the right for a later crossing. The Robinsons and I did the latter, and we spotted and smelled a wonderful little pastry shop across the Rue and down a little from the hotel. We noted this for future reference!
Soon we were back at the Patio St. Antoine, and after Thomas specified the lecture time for Tuesday morning, we split up and were on our own for dinner. Laron and Jana and I agreed to meet back here after a time in our rooms and go to one of Thomas's recommended places--"the Extra Old Café" just down the street.
In under an hour, we met and headed out, went a few blocks toward the Nation Station, and found our restaurant on the corner. We went in, and the guy at the bar was very friendly; a waitress showed us to a table, and we settled in for a nice, comfortable dinner in what was, on Monday night, a fairly uncrowded place.
The Extra Old Café
I do not remember what the Robinsons had to eat, but I could not forget that hamburger Paul had had at the Café St. André last Thursday over in the Left Bank, so I ordered un hamburger et frites! It was on the menu, and after more than a month without one, I was ready for a burger. Fortunately, it was absolutely delicious! We enjoyed our time at this café; the food was good and reasonably priced, and the service was friendly and efficient. After we paid the bill, we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Dinner at this café marked the end of another very good day.
For reasons which will become apparent in the next journal entry, I'm going to tell what happened back in the room. After I had showered and prepared for bed, I turned on French TV and channel-hopped to see what was on. I came to one canal which was showing the movie Indochine starring Catherine Deneuve.
Of course, there were no English subtitles, but the film had just started, and I thought I could wing it, even though the French was très rapide. So I started watching and could not quit. I'd never seen this before, but I was a longtime fan of Catherine's and had seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Benjamin at the Texas Theater on The Drag in Austin during UT days.
A demain, Catherine!
Anyway, tragic though the story was, Catherine was her Oscar-winning self. With the film over, I finally turned in. After all, I needed my rest for tomorrow when we would tour the Left Bank with Jenny and Thomas at the top of their form.
Fin
