The cab driver from the airport to the hotel on a 2000 return trip to Paris was quite entertaining. He swore at all the other drivers and kept up a running commentary in a mixture of French and English. This was one of those times when I was trying hard not to watch what he was doing and just keep praying (when not answering one of his questions). Mom kept up a running prayer, eyes closed. I felt that I was doing well not to let out a scream at any of several points. On a trip earlier this year, I actually did let out something between a gasp and a small scream while being driven from the airport to the hotel in London.
I planned and booked the entire trip myself. The Paris version of Grey Lines (which is called Cityrama) was just around the corner from the hotel where we were staying. So we had some days when we stayed in Paris and explored the city and others when we zipped around the corner and got on a tour coach to some place fun for the day.
At one time the hotel had been an apartment building, with an apartment (flat) on each floor. Our room seemed to have been the sitting room of the apartment that had been on our floor. It was light, airy, and roomy. It also had a lovely balcony. We could see the Tuileries garden, the Musee d’Orsay and the river when we looked in one direction, and Sacre Coeur in the other. You would have thought that this would be an expensive hotel, but it wasn’t. The price even included breakfast.
The hotel was just up the road, about a half a block, from the Louvre. We walked down to the Tuileries, hung a left, and we were there. I had learned of a second entrance to the museum that didn’t involve standing on line forever in the courtyard and entering through the pyramid. We gave it try and found there was no line at all until we were inside under the pyramid and on the line for the actual entrance ticket. Slick deal! Did I feel guilty about all of the people waiting in that interminably long line? Nope. Normally I would have been with them (and on my first trip to Paris, I had been).
They had an exhibition of Rembrandt’s etchings in galleries in the Sully wing. That’s where we began. Then we went and said, “Hi” to the Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa (as well as a few other masterpieces) in the Donan wing. When I had seen the Mona Lisa before, I hadn’t been able to get much of a view. Too many people. This time I was able to see it quite well and linger in front of her for a bit.
We had some lunch in the museum, then went on to explore the English artists (Constable, Turner, Gainesboro), followed by the period furniture and the Napoleon III rooms in the Richeleau wing. By the time we were done, we were worn out. We had dinner at a café just across the street from the Louvre which faced the golden statue of Joan of Arc, headed around the corner and up the Rue de St Roch to the hotel.
The day we went to the Musee d’Orsay was the day we ended up in the “line that snaked along forever”. Unfortunately, I had chosen the day that the Louvre and most other museums were closed. Well, so did everyone else. We inched along for a good hour before we finally made it into the museum. But, at least we spent most of the time on the side of the museum facing the Seine. So we had something to watch.
I am a huge fan of the French Impressionists. This museum was chock full of many of my favorite paintings, including those from which I had created my own version by attempting to copy a photo in an art book. I was very surprised to find that the original of the Degas painting “L’etoile” was about the same size as the version I had painted of it. I somehow expected the originals of all these works to be so much larger. We spent much of the day there, having lunch in their café. I found that the building itself was fascinating as it was a former rail station. There were some men repairing one of the massive clocks high up above the galleries.
As we explored the city, I kept thinking of the film “An American in Paris” and imagined Gene Kelly gliding by. Most of what we wanted to see in Paris itself was fairly easy walking distance from the hotel. One day we walked up the Rue de Pyramides to Avenue de l’Opera. We visited the Paris Opera — the Palais Garnier. The exterior was in scaffolding, so I couldn’t get any really decent photos of it. But I did get some good shots of the grand staircase.
We were disappointed to find that we could not tour the lower levels — especially the lake. Yes, there really is a lake. I suppose that there just isn’t a safe or convenient way to get tourists down there. It probably would be rather boring in reality anyway. The romantic image in our minds is more intriguing.
Because the water table was so high and the foundations needed to be so deep, the builders flooded one of the subterranean levels to have the pressure inside of the building counteract the pressure being exerted by the water outside of the building. Ingenious really. But that also means the water would be wall to wall.
We came back down towards the hotel via a route that allowed us to take in the Place Vendome and the Place du Concorde. The Place Vendome is a grouping of very expensive shops (such as Chanel and Cartier), restaurants, hotels (such as the Ritz) and flats. This is where Frederic Chopin and Coco Chanel both lived.
During the French Revolution, the Place du Concorde was renamed the Place du Revolution and was where the guillotine was set up to execute the more important figures such as King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, Princess Elisabeth of France, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, and Maximilien Robespierre. The obelisk in the center of the square is Egyptian, from the time of Ramses II and is said to be located on the spot where the guillotine used to be. In 2000, there was a very large Ferris wheel erected in the square for the millennium celebrations.
Also connected to the Revolution was the church at the top of the street our hotel was on, Saint Roch. The church had been built in the 1600s. The Marquis de Sade was married there in the 1700s. Several battles during the Revolution were fought around the church, including one in which a young lieutenant named Napoleon distinguished himself. The façade of the church and the steps leading to it are pock-marked with bullet holes and damage from explosions. Inside are several chapels. The one Mom and I chose to sit down in was dedicated to the French Jews that had perished in the concentration camps during World War II. The inscription on its wall says, “Mon Dieu, fait de moi un instrument du votre paix” — “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”
Our last day spent in Paris, we walked over to the Isle de Cite, which was the island on which Paris was originally founded. The Romans mentioned the island as being walled with wooden bridges in the 300s. Our first stop was l’Conciergerie. This had been where most the roughly 2,900 people guillotined during the Reign of Terror were imprisoned. It is a pretty large building and was fascinating to visit — sort of like a French version of the Tower of London. They had a recreation of Marie Antoinette’s cell, complete with a wax representation of her. Parts of the building are medieval.
From l’Conciergerie, we went to Saint Chappelle. This royal chapel was built in the 13th century, by the king who later became known as Saint Louis (Louis IX), as part of the palace what was there at the time in order to house the crown of thorns, a piece of the cross, the lance that had pierced Christ’s side, and other relics. The chapel was gorgeous. It often is referred to as a jewel box and I would agree. During the French Revolution, much damage was done to the chapel and the relics were dispersed.
After lunch in a café near Notre Dame, we visited Notre Dame. Although we had been there before, it had been while on a tour, so it had been a relatively quick visit and rather overwhelming. This time, we had all the time we wanted. We not only explored every nook and cranny, but also spent some time just sitting in one of the pews (near the statue of Joan of Arc) and soaking it in. The cathedral began being built in 1163. It is enormous and quite dark inside. I am looking forward to visiting it again with a digital camera that will be able to better capture the interior. There are a few fairly decent shots included with this post.
In the next few posts, we’ll continue our time in France with visits to the Champagne Region, the Loire Valley, Normandy, Fontainebleau & Versailles, Monet’s house, plus the village where Van Gogh died.
