THE WEEK IN PARIS ENDS

Every good thing must come to an end and so it is with our trip to Paris.  We wanted to end it just enjoying the ambiance  that Paris projects.  After looking at a few things to do we decided to go to the Marais area and just walk around.  A little walking tour on Trip Advisor (City Guides) suggested starting at the Hotel De Ville. We had a plan.  Walked to the subway and having just missed the train as it departed we sat down to relax a bit.  I looked over and here's what I saw.  Now "those shoes are made for walking" but ...   She was looking at the map and I just hope she wasn't planning on walking too far.  Always entertaining to be in the subway.  There was an instrumental quartet playing and their sound was fabulous.  Like music in a Cathedral.  

Waiting for the metro - notice you don't see my shoes - practical old lady ones.  I crop those out!

Even on the train itself you can hear entertainment.

Of course a cup was passed before the door was opened and I had  just taken his picture and was  inches from him so kind of felt obligated to give him a donation.  Besides, I'm keeping track of all donations. With no house, I need all the deductions I can get.  I probably should have given him more than a euro.  Next time.  

We got off the Subway and were greated by this musical scene - a carousel.  What fun.  We asked someone to point us to the Hotel de Ville and on our way looked for some of the streets that were mentioned on the walking tour.  

Almost immediately we foune Rue Vielle du Temple touted as a gorgeous street for walking.  Rue Vielle du Temple is the heart of Paris nightlife.  What were we doing there in the middle of the day?  Well we found that there are plenty of bars, cafes, restaurants and shops to keep you busy.  "...and thepeople  watchng is great." Next we found the Rue des Rosiers a little street with a whole lotta history.  The  Rue des Rosiers ( or Street of the Rosebushes) is the center of Paris' Pletzl ( or Jewish quarter).  The street had some fun, trendy shops and a lot of good eaterys as well.

We stopped in the Kusmi Tea Boutique and tasted some "love"ly Iced tea.  Sharon bought a box of the "love tea" to take home and I bought some" detox tea '.  I think a little detoxing after all the French food I've indulged in might be a good idea.  Besides it really did smell good,  So if tastes as good as it smells and it has the benefit of detoxing - what a smart purchase!

We found a little spot for lunch which turned out to be so good.  I had a carmalized onion, blue cheese, pecan Pernod quiche that came with a small cup of gaspacho and a side salad.

Oh yes, I almost forgot  and a glass of wine.

Finally what we sought out to do - find the Hotel de Ville.  We circled everything that we saw saying "Hotel du Ville" but could not find the Hotel.  We saw Shopping Plaza Hotel de Ville, Restaurant Hotel de Ville, etc.  Finally it occured to us that we were right in front of the Hotel de Ville.  Not a Hotel at all but the City Hall.  

Until 1114 when water merchants created the port de Greve ( shore harbor) to relieve Paris's busy port the site was merely a shingle beach.  The square  was known as the 'place de Greve.  In 1246 the first municipality was created when the Parisian trade guilds elected aldermen as representatives to the King.  There was no building until 1357 when one of the guild men bought a house near the place de Greve. 

In 1553 King Francis I decided to build  a dedicated city hall.  The building was completed in 1652  A revolting  commune which had occupied the Hotel de Ville for months set the building on fire in May 1871 destroying it and all the valuable papers inside.  A competition was held to design a new Hotel de Ville and the architects who won had proposed designing the new building in the same style as the original.  Construction started in 1873 and nine years later was completed.

The building is decorated with 108 statues representing famous Parisians and 30 statues which represent French Cities .  The clock at the central tower is adorned with several feminine sculptures representing the Seine River, the city of Paris "Work" and Education.  

From 1310 on, the Place de Greve was the square where most of the executions in Paris took place.  Here people were beheaded, quartered, cooked up or burned at the stake.  In 1792, a guillotine was installed which would prove useful during the French Revolution.  The last execution took place in 1830 after which the square was renamed Place de l'Hotel de Ville.  Today it is still a place of a lot of activity. today we saw games being played in "sand boxes" and I'm told you never know what could be going on in the square, no beheadings however.  

The square was later enlarged to its current size as part of the modernization of Paris.  In 1982the large   square became a pedestrian zone.

We walked home along the Rue du Rivoli, one of the biggest shopping streets in Paris.  We arrived home in time to rest before going out to a casual dinner.

GOOD BYE PARIS!

To the train staion. A little coissant and coffee while waiting for our train.

And home to Amsterdam. Our corner of the world  Brouwersgracht and Prinsengracht.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE MORE PARIS

It was a beautiful day and a trip to a museum probably doesn't sound like something you should do when the sun is out, temperatures are mild and there's a nice breeze.  But when you can visit a beautiful museum that has a lovely garden it's a grand idea.  Saving steps,we again boarded the metro.  We had a little problem but just switched metro stations and looked on our handy dandy app and found the station where we had to change lines -  Gare  Montparnasse.  Well, I'm not too sure if it wouldn't have been shorter to just walk to the museum from the first stop.  We walked underground for miles, I think.  Yup!  We were really looking out for Sharon's foot.  We did get on a moving sidewalk - miles long - and there was a sketch depicting the Battle of the Somme that ran the entire length of the moving sidewalk.  It is unbelievable.  It goes on forever as did the moving sidewalk.  The Battle of the Somme  took place in 1916 and is famous chiefly on account of the loss of 58,000 British troops ( one third of them killed the first day of the battle) and to this day remains the one day record.  

Fortunately our stop at the Invalides Metro stop was right at the Museum.

We had a very short wait to get in and than proceeded to the gardens first.  We walked around the courtyard and ...

(Now if Sharon's feet were made of this substance she probably wouldn't have foot problems, but could she find shoes to fit?)

found a nice path which we walked long

admiring the gardens

 and the statues and ...(You are probably thinking" Wow! What beautiful statues". But it's just Sharon and me!  I'll get to the statues later.)

spotted a little sign with a knife and fork on iit and we decided to follow it to see where it would lead.  Surprise, surprise, a restaurant.  We decided we'd be much happier if we put something in our stomachs so we got our lunch and found a little table and just enjoyed sitting in the garden.

We finally pulled ourselves up and started the walk around the gardens.

This area was just filled with trees and his works placed throughout the area.  Just a beautiful way to display his sculptures

Victor Hugo

The fountain with the dome of the Invaldes chapel in  the background.

Behind these arches there was a little playgound for children and people were sitting on the grass picnicing.   It was lovely.

The view of the hotel Biron, the home of the permanent collection, from the stairs at the far end of the garden.

Looking the other way.

Looking down on a part of the garden from the second story of the museum.

Lots of beautiful flowers...

Can you spy the not so beautiful flower?  Pretty well camouflaged!

Inside the museum were more of Rodin's works.  It was the life long dream of  Rodin to create his own museum.  As soon as he enjoyed solid recognition and financial affluence he pursued his dream.  He undertook long and fastidious negotions with the state.  At the ministry the testimonies of admirers piled up. A petition was circulated.  But Rodin once more confronted jealous hostility and the arcana of the administration.

Vilified by some, supported by others, Rodin gave the entirety of his collection to the State in three succeessive donations during 1916.  Finally, after heated debates, during the middle of WWI the Chamber of Deputies and then the Senate accepted the donation.  The National assembly then voted its approval of the establishment of the Musee Rodin at the Hotel Biron.  The delays due to the war prevented the sculptor from seeing his dream realized.  He died two years before the museum was finished in 1919.

In any case, Rodin made it possible to save the Hotel Biron from demolition by negotiating the terms of his donation with the State.  A vertible setting for all the artist's work, today the Hotel Biron is entirely devoted to the memory of the sculptor.

(Rodin had  lived and worked in the Hotel Biron for many years).

In the pictures notice not only the sculptors but the woodwork  and chandeliers, etc.

The famous "The Kiss".

By the time we finished looking through the museum we decided it was time for a treat -- a cup of coffee and to cool off a little bit of ice cream.  We returned to our spot in the garden where we first ate and enjoyed again the serenity of the museum.

We headed home to rest.  Dinner time arrived and out we went to a another little restaurant in the neighborhood on the Place Dauphine.We got to the restaurant early but we sat down and ordered a glass of wine.  I had a Chateauneuf du pape which was devine. While we sat we watched people playing boucci ball in the square.

The serious players.

And the kids and families.

This was the little restaurant 

  I had a wonderfully prepared steak that was accompainied by a risoto with parmesan cheese and parmesan cheese crisps.  Delicious!  Well, I should have quit there , but on the menu was my all time fovorite desert -profiteroles.  Sharon agreed to share the dessert with me. It was finger licking good!

And so ended another wonderful day in Paris.  Tomorrow is our last day and we have to pack and all that stuff but I'm sure we'll find something to do.  Stay tuned!

MORE PARIS

My poor older travelling companion has injured her foot. I don't think our 4 hour walking tour did it any good so we are going to lay low for the next few days.  We're going to make use of our metro cards or stay close to home.  When home, Sharon is going to ice her foot and hopefully before too long she will be fully recovered.  That's our plan!

So today, we decided to stay close to home.  Out the door and up the steet we bought our tickets for the Conciergerie and the Sainte-Chapelle.  

For centuries the Palais de la Cite was the residence of the French Monarchary.  At the end of the 4th century Charles V left the royal residence on the Ile de la Cite for the hotel Saint-Pol.  He appointed a steward or "concierge" endowed with legal powers, to run the Palace and prision.  The Conciergerie was listed as a historical monument in 1914.  The palace itself has disaappeared leaving the Sainte-Chapelle all but surrounded by the Palais of Justice. 

The Hall of Men-at-Arms, was built from 1302n onwards under Philippe le Bel and is considered one fof the finest examples of Gothic secular architure.

After a fire in 1776, Louis XVI modernized the Conciergerie prison, which was later put to very good use during the French Revolution.The prisoners gallery was the prison's main thoroughfare, where prisoners could wander freely.  Reconstructions can be seen in the building, of the Clerk's Office, the room where prisoner's names were registered; the concierge's office, who under the Revolutiion was put in charge of the prisoners; and the grooming room where prisoners were stripped of their personal belongings before being executed.  In an upper level room is a list of prisoners held in the Conciergerie during the Reign of Terror.  The list of names spans three walls.  Very moving.

Among those prisoners held here was Marie-Antoinette and Robespierre.  In 1793 and 1794, over 2700 people appeared bfore the tribunal's public prosecutor.  In 1794, witnesses and defenders were eliminated and ten of people were guillotined each day. In 1795, after the fall of Robespierre, the tribunal was dissolved.

In 1815 Marie-Antoinettes Chapel was built on the exact spot where her prison cell stood.

Her cell was reconstructed on part of the actual site of her dungeon.  She had made a failed attempt to escape and thus she was moved to this cell and was permanently guarded by two gendarmes.

Sharon and I both enjoyd the Women's Coutyard.  Condemned Prisoners washed their clothes and ate in this area.  It is also where the condemned prisoners waited in groups of 12 for the cart that would carry them off to the scaffold.

Here you can also see the fountain where they washed their clothes.  That's Sharon sitting on it.  We have a wash machine back at the flat so no doing laundry in the fountain for us.

I'm just waiting for the cart to carry me home.

Interestingly enough this courtyard extended all the way to the street where we are residing.  

We left the Conciergerie and walked next door to the Sainte-Chapelle ( The Holy Chapel).  The chapel was built by Louis IX for use as the royal chapel and to house his precious relics - the crown of thorns which  he purchased from the impoverished Latin emperor, Baldwin II for 135,000 livres.  ( The chapell cost 40,000 livres to build).  A piece of the true cross was added along with other relics, making Sainte-Chapelle a valuable reliquary.  Most of Louis' precious relics were lost or destroyed in the French Revolution; the few that remain are in the treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Sainte-Chapelle was planned in 1241, started in 1246 and quickly completed.  It was consecrated on April 26, 1248.  During the French Revolution the chapel was converted to an administrative office and the windows were obscured by enormous filing cabinets.  Their all but forgotten beauty was thereby inadvertently protected from the vandalism in which the choir stalls and the rood screen were destroyed.  

"The interior gives a strong sense of fragile beauty created by reducing the structural supports to a bare minimum to make way for huge expanses of exquisite strained glass.  The result is a feelin of being envelope in light and color. " The windows are in blue and reds and illustrate 1.130 figures from the Bible. There are 6,458 square feet of stained glass windows .  The windows are in the process of being restored and releaded, etc.  A project which if I recall has been going on for 5 years and is due to be completed this year.  Despite the construction you can still see many of the windows and get a sense of the beauty of the Chapel.  Pictures do not do it justice,

Downstairs from the chapel is this small chapel area where this statue of the ultra-devout King Louis IX is displayed.  

It was a perfect outing so we went home, Sharon iced her foot and I continued to read a book, Freedom, for the second time.  Too long since I read it.  I've signed up for a book club with Inter-Nations and have to have the book read by the 1st.  

We recovered in time to go out to dinner at a little Mexican Restaurant not too far from the house and had a very nice meal!

Our plans for tomorrow ,if Sharon is able, is to go to the Musee Rodin.

Au revoir pour present

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