Paris Revisited

I am off again, this year to France, Germany and Austria.

I spent 4 nights in Sydney, fortunately in beautiful weather, a few showers on the way to the airport were the only indication of the deluge to come after I departed.  I again made the obligatory ferry trip to Manly and had a lovely lunch with my sister on the waterfront at Circular Quay following a movie set in France which seemed appropriate.

After a night in Dubai, I reached Paris on April 21 and took possession of the apartment where I have now stayed 12 nights.  While different, it is in the same area in the 13th arrondissement where I have now stayed many times and a Navigo decouverte or weekly ticket on the metro, buses and trams allows me to easily move around inner Paris.  The first week had glorious sunny weather but it changed on Saturday and has been rather cool and showery this week.

I planned my whole trip around attending the Anzac Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial in Villers Bretonneux. There were a few showers as we left by coach from Gare du Nord  at 1.30am but, soon after arriving at the site just before 4am, the deluge began.
I am told about 6000 were there and was impressed that there were many French people at such an hour in such weather. They still respect the Australians who saved the town on April 25, 1918. While the emphasis was on Gallipoli this year, I guess this will move here in 2018.
I was honoured at the end of the service to be able to place flowers and a card from my sister and me in memory of my uncle who is buried nearby, having been killed at Pozieres in June 1916.

We went for breakfast and to dry out. Fortunately the rain did not return as we were taken to the memorials at Pozieres and Bullecourt then, after lunch, to Fromelles and the Cobbers memorial.

I have toured the Somme before but this trip the emphasis was on Australian Memorials rather than those of all the Commonwealth countries.

The days before Anzac were mainly to overcome jet lag but I did wander in some gardens and visit the Picasso Museum, newly reopened, as well as the Museum of Modern Art.

Last Monday I took a long train ride to visit Mont St Michel.

 The day was sunny but cold. It was French school holidays so very crowded and the place is over commercialised but the Abbey was interesting and picturesque.

Tuesday and Wednesday were in Paris and I went to the Chateau de Malmaison

 where Napoleon and Josephine lived and Josephine remained living after their divorce and finally died. The furniture was impressive as were the gardens.

Thursday, another train trip to Normandy and a tour of the American landing beach of Omaha and the war cemetery. There were not enough numbers for a tour of British/Canadian sites but I guess one beach is like another and it was interesting to compare the American Cemetery

 with the many Commonwealth war cemeteries I have visited.  I was pleased to see in the Museum the flags of all nations involved in the Normandy landings included Australia and New Zealand.

Our forces, of course, were more involved in the Pacific at that time.

I have had some musical experiences in the evenings as well. A string quartet in La Chapelle with works by Mozart, Schumann, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Dvořák was pleasant as the sun set through the magnificent glass windows.  Dvorak’s opera ‘Rusalka’ at the Opera Bastille on Sunday afternoon was lovely and it was wonderful to hear the Orchestre de Paris play at the Paris Philharmonie. Arcadi Volodos was the soloist for Beethoven’s Piano concerto number 3. By coincidence I have now heard that piece 3 times in one year, in New York and Dunedin as well. Fortunately I think it is great music.

The Paris Philharmonie was only opened a few months ago and is the largest concert hall in Europe.  A New Zealand and a Japanese Company were the sound engineers and the acoustics have received rave reviews.  I had a front row seat and the photo taken with my phone gives some idea of the modern design.

An organ recital at Notre Dame Cathedral was less impressive.  Wonderful setting and I discovered the strange sounds an organ can make but the modern music was not to my taste.

Then last night a chamber orchestra in the Church of St Madeleine with a variety of composers. I particularly enjoyed the soprano who sang “Casta Diva” a favourite of mine.

Rather disappointed the weather has not allowed me to wander the streets and parks of Paris as much as I planned. Some final photos taken in the Luxembourg Gardens.

A very different type of holiday is ahead of me this week on a barge in Burgundy.

Paris

Those who received my messages back in 2011 might remember that  I was disappointed in the hotel where I had previously stayed in 2002 and 2007. It had a small kitchenette but the management had changed and was not at all pleasant.  I found a studio apartment on the net not that far away and it has been a marvellous find. While further from the metro it is much bigger with a full kitchen, good size bathroom and washing machine, small balcony and costs less than the hotel.  The owner met me and took a good size deposit which I hope he will return tomorrow.  There are 3 pass numbers to key in at the doors and lift but I guess that makes it very secure. I have made my own breakfasts and lunches and 2 dinners. It has been wonderful to get breakfast without getting dressed first (except I have thrown my track pants and a jumper over my pajamas along with shoes and plodded down in the lift and 100 metres to buy a baguette each morning).

The first day I just rested and did my washing until I went out and bought some food (I had purchased some breakfast necessities from the nearby supermarket the night before). Then after lunch I made my way to the hotel where my sister and brother-in-law were to arrive in the evening after flying from Barcelona. I checked out some nearby brasseries. I spent time sitting in the Parc Monceau which I had found in 2011 and loved. It was alternately sun and cloud but I had not taken my camera. All my photos of this park had been lost in the great computer crash of December 2012.

Sadly as I had dinner with my sister, her husband and their friends, it began to rain which has been the story of their cruise and it continued through much of their stay the next day. I again met them after another lazy morning due to the weather but a bad habit I have developed. They had been on a morning bus tour of the highlights and after lunch I took them to a museum which I had also found on my previous visit.  The Museum Nissim de Camondo is a house built just before WW1 to hold a remarkable collection of 18th century paintings and furniture. As the Count de Camondo’s only son, Nissim, died in the war,  the house was left to the State and I think it must be one of the best little museums in Paris.

As the rain had eased when we left, we visited the Parc Monceau but the only photo I took was of a nearby mansion or hôtel.


 

Friday was grey and cold but at least no rain so I went back to my book on the walks of Paris which had led me to that museum and park back in 2011. This time I chose a walk around the Marais of 3.5km. I passed the garden of the Hôtel de Sens with its mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles and one of the oldest buildings in Paris

 and it pointed out the scissors and knife grinder carving on the wall from the city’s medieval past that I would never have seen without the book.

I had seen the impressive Place des Vosgues before and visited the Picasso Museum so did not mind that it seems to be undergoing extensive renovations and is closed. However I was led to a small (and free) museum Cognac-Jay which had many 18th century painting, furniture and objets in a wonderful hôtel built in the 16th century.

In the evening I went to another musical function, a piano recital including works of Chopin, Rachmaninov and Schubert at St Ephrem’s church.

I experienced a malfunction of the metro for the first time. I have often commented how this is a regular occurrence on the London tube and thankfully I understand the announcements and can take appropriate action. It was a little frustrating to not know what was actually going on but I took comfort that many people stayed on the platform, although some left, and after about 20 minutes the trains began to run again and I was not late for the concert.

Today the sun finally returned and I chose another walk around Place Bastille of 5 km.  While parts were interesting with the fruit markets and old buildings eg the Boulangerie or bakery,

others were long merely passing where some building had once been. A photo of a metro entrance  was a typical Paris scene for me.

 I again ate a lunch made with part of the breakfast baguette but, after I reached the end, I walked the short distance to the Ile St Louis and found the creperie that I had visited last time.  I had told the French lady from whom I regularly buy crepes at the Dunedin Station markets that I would be going there again. I expected them to be dearer but they were not, however I do not sit down and combine my crepes with a glass of wine followed by an expresso on my Dunedin market visits. As I left I passed the Ile de Cité with Notre Dame and the Seine  and I again realised why I love this city so much and am already thinking of my next return.

However tomorrow I must pack up and head for Switzerland and must getting going early in the mornings again..

Wandering in Paris

Art Nouveau House

Markets Rue Poncelet

I have been to Paris a number of times and my last  two visits were each over 10 days so I did not need to see the usual tourist icons.  I was fortunate to find a book in the Dunedin Library called “Walking Paris” by Gilles Desmons and then ordered an updated copy from Amazon.com.  It has been a gem. I love wandering the streets of Paris but this book has led me into little nooks and byways and pointed out buildings that I would have walked blindly past. There are 30 walks ranging from 3 to 8 km each and I completed 3 of them plus parts of another 3 so this book could have me coming back again and again.

On Saturday I probably walked nearly 10 km. I began at the Arc De Triomphe and headed into the northern precinct of Ternes which is off the usual tourist track.  Art Nouveau buildings (photo 1), the dance hall used to film parts of “ Last tango in Paris”,  street markets (photo 2) and the leafy Place des Ternes led me past the Russian cathedral to the Parc Monceau (photo 3). I, of course, stopped for an expresso, sitting at a table on the pavement, along the way. Then I visited the Museum Nissim-de-Camondo. This 1910 house was built to house the 18th century collection of the owner and left to the State but on the condition that everything be left as it was, so it contains porcelain, tapestries, and other art works just as the owners would have displayed them when they were living there(photo 4). Even the downstairs kitchen facilities are state of the art 1910 and have been kept original.

I returned to the lovely parc for my lunch prepared that morning in the little kitchenette in my studio. As on previous visits, I had gone out early to buy a baguette from the nearby bakery and used it to make breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately the hotel is now very dated, they have removed the only English TV channel (even CNN keeps me up with the world) and the Wifi would not work in my room. The owner was very arrogant., I think he is new.  If I am fortunate to return to Paris I will be looking for somewhere else to stay.

After lunch back in the park I made my way to another museum past many large homes, a wealthy area of Paris. There was a queue for the Museum Jacquemart-Andre because of a special exhibition of art and photos by a couple in the early 20th Century. I was more interested in the regular paintings - French, Italian (Mantagna, Tiepolo ceiling, Uccelo) Flemish and even a British Reynolds and a Gainsborough. It is described as the best collection of Italian paintings in France outside the Louvre. Again in a beautiful home built in the mid 19th century.

I completed this walk and added part of another nearby walk which visited two churches, St Phillipe de Roule and St Augustin then past the Palais D’Elysee ( I was not invited in), the British, US and Japanese embassies to the the Eglise Madeleine which I have visited several times so I thankfully caught the Metro back to my little hotel and dinner in the Brasserie a block away.

On Sunday I went out of town to St Germain en Laye about 19 km from Paris. This is a mini Versailles and about the same distance from Paris. It is nowhere near as good as Versailles but it is free and not crowded although there were a lot of locals picnicking in the park on the May 1 holiday.  After arriving in the town I had my usual expresso in thesquare or place then headed into the gardens following the Petite (small) Terrasse to a view over the river to Paris in the distance. Then I walked along part of the Grande Terrasse (photo 5). It is 2.5 km long but I did not go all the way. I turned into the forest which was delightfully cool (it was a lovely sunny day). people were walking, jogging and bicycling. Back in the formal gardens you could purchase lunch and eat in deck chairs but I ate my sandwich and juice prepared that morning. I then walked through the town, a bit quiet on a Sunday although I later found the market as it was closing down. I headed for a museum about a km away but was disappointed that, although it is open on Sundays,  not on the May 1 holiday. After taking a wrong turn I needed a beer when I arrived back in the main square. I then headed for the chateau (photo 6) which is now a museum of prehistoric to medieval objects. These did not interest me but I wanted to see the Saint Chapelle which was built by the same person as built the glorious one opposite Notre Dame in the city. Being a holiday, the chateau was not closed but free, so lose one, gain one. Sadly the Chapelle while similar looking, only has clear glass windows so does not have the beauty of its city cousin. However the 13th century Gothic architecture is the same.

On Monday I headed first for the St Denis Basilica (photo 7). It is 9 km from the centre but still on the metro system. The basilica was established in the 7th century but largely built in the 13th. It was the first structure to be built largely in the Gothic style and is the burial place of nearly every French king from the 10th to the 18th century. Although many were dug up during the revolution, as far as possible they have been replaced, even what could be distinguished of Louis XV1 and Marie Antoinette. There is a memorial statue of them. Some beautiful windows as well as the tombs. I had often wanted to visit the cathedral but it is a longish journey out in the metro.
Back in the city after an expresso and a lemon crepe on the Ile St Louis, I began one of two walks from my book through the Latin Quarter and around the Sorbonne University.
While the book recommended entering many of the schools, it was probably dated as there were doormen checking student IDs so I stayed outside.  Showers meant I cut short the walk and returned to my room a little after 2 pm to eat my lunch and rest.

Finally on Tuesday I headed back to the same area as I realised I had never actually been inside the Pantheon. This was designed as a church but was finished around the time of the Revolution when churches were very out of favour so has become a pantheon to the great men of France. I saw the tombs of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacque Rousseau, Emile Zola, the Curies  and many others whom I did not know. The pantheon itself is colossal and I joined a tour up 250 steps into the Dome and a great view over Paris (photo 8). With my fear of heights, I was a little hesitant but there was a broad stone parapet and only one small section of stairs looking down over a dizzying height so I managed okay. I went into the nearby Eglise St Etienne du Mont with a flamboyant architecture of various styles as it was built over 2 centuries. The stone rood screen(photo 9) is apparently unique. The organ was playing, making it a very pleasant experience. I then followed a shortened version of the 2nd walk described in the book through the Latin Quarter and found the Roman arena which is the oldest monument in Paris then through a typical Parisian Place and down the famous Rue Mouffetard with its fruit and vegetable market. Past the Mosque which I did not have time to visit as I went into the Botanical gardens for a brief visit and lunch and then back to my hotel as I had to make my way to the station Montparnasse and catch the 3.50 pm overnight express to Portugal.

I have 182 photos from my time in Paris and it was hard to choose which ones to post

Parc Monceau

 

Nissim Camondo Museum

 

Grande Terrasse St Germaine en Laye

 

Chateau, St Germaine en Laye

 

St Denis Basilica

 

Paris from the Pantheon

Eglise St Etienne du Mont - Note Rood Screen