Friday, December 04, 2009

Day 5: More Religious and Artistic Adventures

After a restless night due to a party going on upstairs in our building (to which I was NOT invited), we drank cups of coffee with our fresh croissants and a cold slice of quiche I bought for breakfast. Although we had already been to Notre-Dame, we had had to leave right after Mass so we opted to start our day there and finish enjoying all the little side chapels.

My favorite part of the Cathedral by far is a little round painting in the ceiling right over the main altar. It depicts Our Lady against a blue starry background. The medieval simplicity of it was delightful and I just sat and gazed at it until my neck was killing me and I got dizzy. Unfortunately, the church was too dark to take a good photograph so bare memory will have to suffice.

One thing we missed seeing the first time around at Notre-Dame was the treasury. We had to pay a few euros to get in but it was well worth it, despite the advice of shoestring (and irreligious) travel guru Rick Steves. The treasury was filled with ornate gold reliquaries dating between the 11th and 17th centuries, St. Louis' white robe and religious chain, huge wooden vestment cabinets painted with colorful scenes from St. Louis' life, and a collection of tiny ivory cameos of every Pope from St. Peter to Pope Benedict XVI. All but the most recent six cameos, made to complete the collection last year, were anonymously gifted to the Cathedral. Simply beautiful.

Above: The baptismal robe of King Louis IX, aka St. Louis

The folding doors of the vestment wardrobe, painted with scenes from the life of St. Louis

Outside Notre-Dame, we found the outlines in stone of the church that Clovis originally built on the site, one that held St. Genevieve's tomb for awhile. Also in the courtyyard of the Cathedral is a stone that marks the very center of Paris.

Statues of the Kings of Judah on the outside of Notre-Dame. The heads are modern reproductions; the originals were destroyed during the French Revolution when they were mistaken for French kings. However, you can still see the originals in the Medieval Museum at Cluny.

We continued to walk around Notre-Dame, past the sobering Memorial de la Deportation erected in memory of the Jewish people killed during WWII, and across the bridge to the Ile St. Louis, by far my the most charming spot in all of Paris. We got some of their famous ice cream (mine was chocolate and hazelnut) and walked up and down the r. St. Louis to do some serious window shoping. The streets are lovely: street performers play music and visiters enjoy open air cafes. There are signs on store windows though: don't dare to bring your delicious ice cream cones inside!

Point Zero in Paris, and our feet.

Another bridge took us back to the mainland, where our next stop was to be the Centre Georges Pompidou, a modern art gallery that most Parisians detest because it is an eyesore with its daring exposed ductwork and exterior escalators. But while we walked we stopped to visit two churches, St. Gervais, whose organ was used by the famous Couperin dynasty, and St. Merri, originally a beloved parish church that is now sadly - tragically - delapidated and now houses more pigeons and homeless than worshippers. Jesus was there, only signalled by the burning lamp. It made me cry; a church should never be so abandoned. It gave me a taste of what a dusty, cobwebbed soul must be like when a man has forgotten the King of His Heart and shoved him in a dark corner.

At the Pompidou, Mommy and I picked our way amongst sunbathers in the courtyard (yes, sunbathers) to the entrace, rode the escalators, peered at the library that was Mommy's old haunt, and finally wandered into the galleries of Picasos and other works upstairs. I am particularly fond of modern sculpture, and found one piece to be most telling: an empty frame with twine and labels tied around it, signifying (to me anyway) how art is mostly labels and trimmings these days, without any real substance or soul.

Mommy was really tired at this point, so she gave me the map and went back to rest. I got my bearings for another sidewalk-bonding session, and walked a rather long way to the Louvre. The Louvre began its life as the second palace of the French kings after they left the Conciergerie, and only later became an art museum. As with most other French buildings (Notre-Dame, Versailles, La Conciergerie, and Sainte Chapelle to name a few), it was at one point going to be razed and was only narrowly saved by a few far-seeing persons who donated money to save it. The new entrance - it wasn't there when Mommy lived in Paris - was very nice, with big cafe's, shops and staircases that were quite pleasing to the eye.

My feet were already killing me and I am not a huge fan of paintings, so I picked a few things to see. I made sure to walk through the Egyptian, Green and Roman galleries (I found Celeste's temple of Zeus and the Venus de Milo) and the medeival and Italian Renaissance galleries (I found some of my favorite religious paintings of St. Francis of Assisi and the Madonna). And, of course, I saw the Mona Lisa. Why is she so famous? I am sure I can't tell you. In my opinion the painting is sort of small and there are far prettier portraits in the gallery. But I took my photo (photos are allowed in French museums) and moved on.

It was hard to decide to be more impressed by the artwork or the fact that the French royals once lived here with their entire court. I don't think I would have minded living there. It was fun to imagine artists lazing around the galleries where the art is now displayed, artists that more often than not were like leeches on the crown.

I took the metro back via the Louvre stop, accessible in the basement of the museum at the center of the basement shopping mall, complete with a Starbucks. I met Mommy back at the room, and we went out for dinner at a creperie near r. Montorguiel. It was a nice place with a family atmosphere. We each bought two crepes, one for dinner and one for dessert. My dinner was one made with egg, cheese, ham and sweet onion, and the dessert one was a chocolate (yay!) crepe with whipped cream.

The Friday night parties had already started on r. Montmartre as we walked home. It looked to be another loud night in our apartment building. We called home to talk to family in the U.S. and went to bed.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Day 4: Who is Buried in Napolean's Tomb?

Above: Our apartment building on r. Montmartre

After my morning walk to the bakery for croissants and (this time) a scrumptious chocolat almande, Mommy and I enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our apartment. The French do not sell cream or half-and-half for your coffee; rather, they sell bottles of "demi-creme" that are more syrupy than milky. We tried that for a couple of days and decided that we had better just buy plain milk instead. There is nothing like French milk in your coffee, smooth and thick. In Parisian laid-back fashion, we relished our breakfast before hitting the sidewalk for a rather chilly day of sightseeing.

(The metro stop at Bourse)

We came out of the metro right in front of Les Invalides, the huge veterans' hospital built by Louis XIV which now houses in part an Army Museum in addition to a contemporary military hospital. For a few hours, we ooed and ahed over an enormous collection of armour, weaponry, and artillery pieces from the middle ages through WWII. This museum was the one place I was told I simply had to see by friends in the Fort McHenry Guard. The collection is truly a royal one that must be worth billions of dollars.


The imposing inner courtyard of Les Invalides


A magnificent display of armour in the Musee de L'Armee


A priest's uniform from WWI

At the center of Les Invalides was our next stop, Napolean's Tomb. The chapel is split into two halves by a glass windowpane in the center, on either side of which are grand altars. Originally, Louis XIV built the chapel so that he could attend private Masses there knowing that his army was nearby, in their own chapel on the other side of a glass divider. Now, with the focal point of the king's side of the chapel being the magnificent tomb of the emperor, all that is left to testify to Louis are the sun carvings and the "L"s carved in the stone all over the walls and ceiling.


The dome/ceiling of the king's chapel at Les Invalides

Napolean has long been a favorite fascination of mine for his brilliant military innovations and for his involvement in a period of history when the Church owned land and fought wars. I am fairly certain that, had I been alive, Napolean would have fallen in love with me over Josephine. ;)


The Emperor Napolean

Before leaving Les Invalides, we visited the veteran's chapel "on the other side" of the glass where the veterans still attend Mass. The upper ceiling is lined with captured enemy flags, dusty and mainly gray with age, a testament to the valiant Frenchmen who fought and continue to fight in service of their country. The rest of the chapel was sparsely decorated, but I thought the muted tones of the stonework and the way the light played around the chapel was breathtaking. It was one of my two favorite churches that we visited in Paris.


The veteran's chapel at Les Invalides


Mommy was getting tired, so she took the metro to the Champs-Elysees while I walked to meet her there. I must say I *adore* walking around the streets of Paris, drinking in the sights of people and places and getting in touch with the pulse of the city through the sidewalks. I could do it for the rest of my life! On my way to the world-famous avenue, I loitered on the grandiose Pont Alexandre III (built in honor of the Franco-Prussian alliance) and waved to boat captains in their cargo ships on the Seine before going on my way. I got twisted around and ended up at Pl. de la Concorde with its obelisk. I had no idea where I was until I noticed that everyone around me was taking picture of something in the opposite direction. I turned around, and there in front of me, down the Champs-Elysees, was the magnificent Arc de Triomphe.

Then I realized I was standing in the middle of the road and had to make a mad dash for the sidewalk.

Pont Alexandre III

The Champs-Elysees was fun for window shopping (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Renault are a few of the stores that line the avenue) but there were too many people for it to be truly enjoyable. Possibly the most amusing experience was walking into the Gucci store - not to buy, but to say that I had been inside - and I overheard an English gentleman apologetically telling his female companion about the Gucci keychains ($80 each!): "Honey, just pick three." When I found Mommy, we went to a sidewalk cafe for cafe au lait, a pignelle (for Mommy) and a pain suisse (for me). Then we continued to the Arc de Triomphe.


The Arc de Triomphe, seen from the Champs-Elysees

At the Arc, begun but not finished by Napolean in honor of his military victories, I got to flirt with a group of dashing French soldiers (with their HUGE gold epaulets) in between taking pictures from the top of the Arc of sprawling Paris below and visiting the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Mommy went back to the room when we were done, and I walked back down the Champs-Elysees before catching a metro back myself. The metro trains are interesting because you have the added excitement of having to manually flip a latch to open the doors on the train. I ran right into several train doors before I remembered that they weren't automatic.


The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

For dinner, I went and bought quiche for the two of us on r. Montorgueil. Bon Appetit!


Paris from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Day 3: Beauty, Passion, Religion, Justice and History

I woke up bright and early and braved the morning chill to run down to one of the local bakeries (boulangeries), Pâtisserie Traiteur, to buy two fresh croissants and a pain suisse. I think I was wholly addicted to French baked goods at first bite; I don't believe I will ever forget my first mouthful of flaky, buttery croissant. While I went to the bakery, Mommy made coffee and we enjoyed our first French breakfast before heading out into the city.
In our search for a phone the night before, we found a métro stop, Bourse, that was much closer than that recommended by Giovanni. We took the métro to pl. du Châtelet - my première glimpse of downtown Paris - to start a walking tour. To my delight, Mommy had picked out a fabulous series of books of walking tours of Paris before our trip. You could see the medieval towers of La Conciergerie across the bridge from pl. du Châtelet where we stood at the fountain surrounded by stone sphinx. We strolled down quai de la megisserie and back again, looking in pet store windows at adorable puppies and smelling flowers outside florists' shops, ironically on a street that used be lined by butcher shops.

Next, we crossed the bridge to visit La Conciergerie. Originally the palace of the French kings, it was vacated by the royal family after one king endured the scarring episode of seeing his ministers' throats slit when he was (unsuccessfully) attacked there during an (equally passionate but unsuccessful) uprising. The sturdy medieval building was then converted to a prison for use during the Revolution, when Robespierre presided over trials where the kings used to dine. Marie Antoinette was also held there until her death - you can see her "apartments" - and Robespierre spend a few of his final hours there before he was taken elsewhere to die, crushed by the unstoppable machinery of the Revolution.On our way out, we found out from a Jason-Statham-esque "bouncer" that Sainte Chapelle was close for an hour or two. So we continued on our walking tour via a cafe nearby, where we paused for café au lait.We crossed Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris dating to the medieval period, to the Île de la Cite. We meandered through the streets, peeking into shop windows and thouroughly enjoying the quiet parks. Finally, we visited the very tip of the île, a park called pl. Dauphine, before heading back to Sainte Chapelle to stand in line.

Sainte Chapelle was absolutely incredible, with its "light as a feather" Gothic architecture and four walls of nearly floor to ceiling stained glass telling the story of the Pentateuch. St. Louis built the chapelle to house the relics of the crown of thorns that Christ wore, which are now housed in Notre Dame. In stark contrast with the "Sun King" who built his chapel at Versailles in two levels so the court would always be worshipping him worshipping God, there is a hole in the wall of Sainte Chapelle through which you can see the private chapel where he and his family used to sit for Mass. There was no way to fully soak in the beauty of the windows.On our way our we stopped by the modern-day court of law, the Palais de Justis, where lawyers in black robes rushed about with briefcases and cell phones. I wish professionals were distinguished be such honors in the United States; only doctors of medicine wear special clothes. There is one large statue in the main hall of the Palais of a lawyer with a turtle, to symbolize the pace of the legislative process.We walked past the Préfecture du Police on our way to la Crypte Archéologique outside of Notre-Dame. The crypt contains what is left of the Roman ruins of Paris, ruins of the medieval Norman city, and of St. Vincent de Paul's home for foundlings. One of the things that impressed me was the Roman presence in the city, marked by the majestic Roman baths. The power of the Roman Empire was incredible; it just fascinates me that you can see exactly the same style baths in England, France, and Italy amongst other places in Europe. Regardless, if you want a decent history of Paris from the Celtic tribe of Parisii, Clovis and the Normans up to the 17th century, the crypt is a fabulous place to start. It houses awesome little panoramas of the changing scenery of Paris over the centuries.Notre-Dame itself was breathtaking. After spending so much time in England where the Catholic churches were either taken over by Protestants or are too poor to have centuries of dust cleaned off the walls, it was refreshing to see a living, breathing Catholic church in Europe. There were posters for the Year of the Priest along the side corridor, priests hearing Confessions in several languages, and worship continuing as usual despite thousands of visitors. After walking around to look at the place where Mommy was a Shrine-lurker in college, we stayed for Vespers and Mass.We swung by the Hôtel Dieu, a huge public hospital, on our way to the metro. Back at the room, we enjoyed a baguette and cheese from the local cheese-shop (fromagerie) for dinner before falling asleep.