Mostly Old, Some New: Paris

18-19 May 2010: Paris, France

On Tuesday evening I finally arrived in Paris and waited at the airport for a little while for Grace, who was coming from Grenoble, where she has spent the past year studying. When she arrived, we got on the metro and headed into the city. Kelsey had texted me instructions to get into her apartment (she was out for dinner with her parents) and we arrived with minimal trouble, dropped off stuff and went back out to find some dinner ourselves.

From the time I arrived in the airport until the time I got back to Kelsey's and fell gratefully into the bed of her absent roommate, I felt as though I were walking through some kind of dream sequence. Grace and I walked down Kelsey's street and into the neighborhoods surrounding it without paying too much attention to where we were going, just looking for a place that looked good and relatively inexpensive to eat. ('Relatively' being the operative word; Paris is expensive no matter what.) The back streets were narrow and cobblestoned. We walked past a derelict-looking church looming over a narrow street, a homeless man curled on the stoop. Grace told me of the increasing lack of religious sentiment in French society. The only reason Notre Dame continues to operate is because of the tourists. I think of Elodie's disdain for Paris and also her own surprise at Nora's confidence in the existence of God. That her parents were not married, Grace told me, is not uncommon - a lot of people don't get married, but do have a civil union.

Eventually we get to the wider avenues and at last pick a café much like the others on the adjacent corners and sit down at a tiny table on the sidewalk. Grace helps me with the menu and orders a goat-cheese dish for me. The sky was dark, but the yellow glow of café lights and streetlights filled the air and it felt as though I might run into some revolutionaries relaxing or some bohemians would settle down at the table only a hairsbreadth from ours and argue over absinthe about the latest Salon exhibition. The food arrived: the goat cheese was on four triangles of toast, drizzled with honey, on the corners of the plate, slices of tomato in between and a little salad in the center. Perfect.

Finding our way home was a little complicated, but at last we found the roads we wanted and on our way passed... something - I want to say some kind of temple or something... Grace accompanied me back to the apartment, but had to go right away to catch the metro before it stopped running for the night so she could get to the house of the family with whom she was staying. Kelsey arrived moments later and explained that her roommate was in Spain for the rest of the week, so I could have her bed. She gave me the grand tour of the apartment. When you walk in, the entrance area has wooden ceiling beams and a little metal and wood spiral stair is right in front of you. To your left is a very modern bathroom with a glass-walled and wooden-floored shower that feels like rain. Just past the spiral stair is a huge, comfy red couch, a glass coffee table and matching dining room table, above which is mounted a flat-screen T.V. in between two windows. The kitchen is to the left - small, but with everything one needs and a breakfast bar to separate it from the dining table. The apartment came with all this - including Buddhist decor and magnetic spice containers on the side of the fridge. Up the spiral stair is Kelsey and her roommate's sunny room with a sloping ceiling and windows looking down to the street, and an actual BATHroom with a very nice bathtub, washer and dryer, and a sink that matches the modern, new-agey theme of the rest of the apartment. And furthermore, there was a loft where yet another roommate lived, but normal people would probably use as a studio or office. So basically, everyone should be jealous of these accommodations, arranged for by Kelsey's international studies office. I know I was, especially after living in Leeside (don't get me wrong, Leeside was generally fine, but there's no comparison here).

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Wednesday morning dawned sunny and clear, though the air was still chilly when I walked out to meet Grace at Luxembourg Gardens, more or less across the street from Kesley's apartment building. I could see why it was Kelsey's favourite place in Paris. From the entrance we came in, there were trees arranged in rows with a fine white gravel covering the ground, as it does in the whole park. Beautiful old benches with seats on both sides line the central path. Some white marble steps bring you down through a strip of sloping garden into the central fountain area. On the other side, the slope is decked with statuary after the classical Roman model (which is after the Greek model). There are plenty of chairs - some normal, some designed for lounging. The fountain's pond is expansive, so the small fountain in the center does not disturb the calmness of the water, but does create currents which, along with the wind, propel toy sailboats across its surface. The children can get a boat and a pushing stick at a little stand nearby. The sight of little ones leaning on the low edge to push at their boats is not only adorable, but classically Parisian, it seemed to me. At one end of the fountain is a palace, at the other end, past the area of chairs are stairs that lead up to a long grass carpet with paths on either side lined with trees manicured to be tall rectangles. On the other side from where we came it, the park continued with trees in rows with benches in between. A wide path between the fountain area and trees was used for tai chi practice in many places. Statues of queens and other important figures stood at the edge of the trees, supervising the tai chi as well as a pair engaged in a fluid, dance-like battle with staffs. Hidden among the tree area was a tennis court, a playground, a low building with bathrooms and possibly recreational facilities, and pony rides (I think). Beyond the green, shady trees was a garden enclosed by manicured bushes and a more open area decorated with Trees of Heaven. Their leaves were not out yet, but their funky purple flowers smelled delicious. Everywhere throughout the park were moveable chairs and beautiful benches and all kinds of statuary. When we went through the Jardin de Tuileries later, the idea was similar, but with few trees and more irises. I think it is a great idea to have moveable chairs - at Luxembourg, some were left arranged in a circle, wouldn't it be great to have meetings there? But of course, someone in the States would just vandalize them or steal them.

From the Gardens, we walked down to the Font de Sant Michel which reminded me a little bit of pictures I've seen of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, but on a much smaller scale. Nevertheless, the whole thing was as tall as the building it was built against, probably three stories. There we waited around until we got into an English-speaking group for a Free Tour (like the one we took in Berlin). Our tour guide, an Aussie named Kylee (I could be spelling that completely wrong...), took us across the street and we stopped on the bridge over the Seine to look down at Notre Dame (which I will get to in my next post). We stopped on the other side of the bridge to admire the bullet holes in the concrete front of the Palais de Justice. Once upon a time the royal family had lived here, but they moved and eventually it became the police headquarters. During WWII the Nazis used it as their headquarters - the bullet holes are from the French coming back and re-taking the building.

This little island in the Seine is home to some of the oldest bits of Paris and the streets here are still a bit of a maze. Most of Paris was once like this, but then there were all these revolutions and something had to be done about it. So Napoleon III's chief architect, Hausmman, razed buildings here and there and turned the mazes into boulevards and plazas. See, the people knew their little mazes well, but the soldiers might not and so it was easy for just a few revolutionaries to defend their streets and blockade the narrow ways. The boulevards and plazas gave the advantage to the soldier who could see people coming from farther off and they could block off sections from each other from the plazas. It seems to have been relatively effective as no full-scale revolutions have happened since.

About Henry IV

We crossed to the other side of the bridge and down some stairs to walk along the Seine. Kylee gave us the fastest overview of Parisian history ever - from the Celtic Gauls to the Bourbons to Revolutions to Napoleons. I was very pleased at how much of it I remembered from AP European History in high school. A little further along the river we stopped at this bridge:

Kylee called it the Facebook bridge. The story: King Henry IV (reign: 1589-1610) was getting tired of the wooden bridges burning down all the time, so he told his minions to get a move on and make him a stone bridge. The courtiers scoffed and tittered and the lords from out-of-town shook theirs heads at his foolishness. But architects conferred and construction began. Under skeptical eyes the construction continued until at last a bridge of stone spanned the Seine from one side, to the island, and on to the other side. Henry was quite pleased with how it had turned out and, being a generally friendly guy, fond of parties, he invited all his friends who had been skeptical and had a Grand Opening party for the bridge. Just for kicks, he made it a masquerade. Everyone got terribly drunk, as toffs often do at such functions. Henry was having a great time laughing at his drunk friends and just to get back at them for laughing at him when he asked for a stone bridge, he had some artists come make sketches of all his ridiculous-looking friends. Not long after, the bridge was suddenly decorated with their masked faces like a horde of underage gargoyles caught sloshed and lined up for police photos. Everyone had a good laugh, after they got over being offended. The end (of this part).

That's King Henry IV in the blue glowing box in the picture. It's a lovely statue of him on a trotting horse. The reason he was in a blue glowing box and had a blue lightsaber (or so it appeared) was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death on the previous Friday (14 May). Almost everyone loved Henry IV, but some did not. Hence 25 assassination attempts and one successful assassination. He was stuck in a traffic jam in his carriage when all of a sudden some dude hops on and stabs him. 'Is that all you've got?!' Henry demands of him, jaded from the previous 25 attempts. So the attacker stabs him again. Henry dies. The mobs are furious and so prior to the murder's actual execution, extensive torture is performed to the enjoyment of screaming crowds. Please do not read the rest of the paragraph if you are squeamish. They did the following: poured molten lead and sulfur on him, pulled his skin off with tweezers, took out his non-essential organs and burned them in front of him. They put tar on him. Then he was executed the next day by being drawn and quartered. It is said that nothing was left of him but bones because the crowd descended upon his remains and had a barbecue.

Just why might Henry be loved by so many, but hated by some? Well, he was involved in the Religious Wars before becoming king and though he was raised Protestant (Calvinist, to be exact), he converted to Catholicism (the majority religion in France, especially Paris) when he became king. But he didn't let this change his attitude towards the Protestants. He did his best to be good to everyone and in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes which guaranteed religious freedom. Things worked out fairly well and the warring pretty much was ended, but obviously a lot of people on either side would still be pretty mad at him.

The End.

Onward on the tour! The Bridge of Love is wooden and lovers take a padlock and lock it onto the fence of the bridge, then throw the key in the river to symbolize their everlasting love. Only they clear off all the locks about every seven years. And a few of the locks were combination ones... At one end of the bridge is the building where the Immortals work, protecting the French language by making up new French words when other languages start creeping in (like 'computer' and 'internet'). Next up: a stop in the Louvre's courtyard with the glass pyramids. It also used to be a palace - a King Charles moved here from the Palais de Justice and every king after him added to it. The pyramids were the winner of a design contest for the space and they were supposed to be entirely clear and non-reflective so as to be sort of invisible and thus only minimally interfere with the view. But, after inventing this glass and trying to build with it, the architect realized it wouldn't support itself, so he had to add all the metal supports. There is still debate as to whether or not people like and whether they should keep it or tear it down.

Next up was a stop in front of the Palais Royal, right across from the Louvre, where Louis XIV grew up. It is right in the center of a bustling city, so eventually Louis decided to move out of the city and thus we have Versailles (tomorrow's trip!). In the courtyard was some modern art by Daniel Buren, a.k.a. The Stripes Guy. There was also some of the garden still intact. The palace itself is now partially shops with apartments and partially museum or something, I think. From there, we passed a square from which we could see the Opera House (Phantom of the Opera!) and stopped in front of a Starbucks and a French sandwich shop for some lunch.

From there, we went to the Jardin de Tuileries (don't ask me to pronounce it - I had a terrible time figuring out how to spell it!). Once upon a time there was Catherine d'Medici's palace there, but it was burned down in a revolution. Interesting note: Catherine d'Medici introduced ballet to the French (and Louis XIV made it a wonderful spectacle) and was supposedly the first to wear high heels to her wedding. She also forbid the waists of her courtiers to be greater than 40 centimeters (I'm not sure if that was really a rule or just a guideline, but either way.... it has had quite an effect). We strolled down the wide main avenue in the garden (wider than some of the roads, even) that led basically from the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (dedicated to Napoleon's victories) through the garden to the Obelisk and then it turns into an actual road - Champs Élysées and goes on to the Arc de Triomphe (also built for Napoleon, but now dedicated to the Unknown Soldier of WWI buried there and all the unidentified soldiers of that war) and then on to an arc in the business district. This is what we call the axis of Paris. The only thing is that the Louvre is a little bit off, but they make them a straight line on the maps anyway. We paused towards the Champs Élysées end of the Jardin to check out the Orangier, an art museum with Monet's huge water lilies painting and other modern things and look out over the city to see the dome of Sacré Coeur, a church built in 1872 in recognition of France surviving (note: not winning) the Franco-Prussian war. The dome is a beautiful white mound rising on a hill from the neighborhood of Montmarte, home of the Moulin Rouge and absinthe parties.

Next we stopped at the Obelisk which is on a wide strip in between two roads running perpendicular to the axis. From there we could also see the Eiffel Tower, built in 1881. Built for the Worlds Fair, it was only supposed to have 20 year lease, but they stuck a radio tower on top to ensure that they would not want to take it down. It takes 60 tons of paint in three slightly different shades of gray to paint it about every seven years (one gray for the lower part to stand out from buildings, the midsection from the trees and the top from the sky). An American woman legally married the Eiffel Tower. It is said that she also consummated the marriage. The Obelisk, on the other hand, is still a bachelor and has been since its creation 3,300 years ago. It's the oldest thing in Paris and was stolen from Egypt (obviously). The Egyptian government asks for it back on a regular basis, but the French just kind of pretend they don't. The plaza surrounding the Obelisk was once said to be 'stained red' with the blood from the excessive guillotine action of the revolution. There are a couple of fountains there as well in a sort of Egyptian/Roman/Baroque style, one of which is the one featured in Devil Wears Prada.

We walked down the Champs Élysées almost to the Arc de Triomphe, but turned off to end the tour in between the Grand and Petit Palaises built as exhibition halls for the 1900 Worlds' Fair. Oh, by the way, if you plan to drive in Paris either avoid the Arc de Triomphe traffic circle entirely or check to make sure your insurance cover it because some will cover you anywhere in the world EXCEPT around the Arc. The German commander in Paris deliberately exploded the Grand Palais (the heated glass of the exhibition hall made a huge explosion) so as to convince Hitler that Paris was burning to the ground as he kept screaming something along the lines of, 'If I can't have Paris, then no one can! Let Paris burn! Burn it all down!' Thank goodness someone showed some independent thought or Paris really would have been burned to the ground.

Grace and I returned back the way we came and went to the Louvre after tipping our tour guide and taking a few minutes to just lay in the grass in the sun and listen to the metro rumbling beneath us. I used my UCC student ID and Grace her Grenoble ID to pretend to be European Union students and thus we got into the Louvre for free. Best. Art. Trip. Ever. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing the Louvre is. Especially when you get to spend about 5 hours in there for free. I only looked at the ancient sections and the medieval foundations of the building, but I saw everything in them and I loved it all. Believe me, the Mona Lisa is overrated and I don't mind skipping her for the Code of Hammurabi! (And anyway, the Juniper Lady in the National Gallery in D.C. is better than the Mona Lisa. The only reason she's that famous is because she got stolen. Look it up.) I suppose I shan't bore you with art history ramblings as you have already trudged through all kinds of random Parisian history and are probably pretty tired of learning. So all you need to know was that I loved it and bought too many postcards of art. Grace and I talked at a table outside the over-priced café for at least a half an hour of our time there, just catching up until we realized we should probably get out before they closed and get some dinner before everything else closed (it was after 9pm). On the way out, we found the inverted glass triangle which I think was featured in a Dan Brown book, if you care for that sort of thing.

We wandered back across the Seine heading towards home (I tend to call wherever I am sleeping on a given night 'home') and picked an Italian place on the corner near the Font de Sant Michel. We got a rose wine to go with our pizza (me) and calzone (Grace). I enjoyed my pizza, but I'm afraid Grace found her calzone rather lacking. The wine was good, though!