Wednesday, September 12. No class today so I work on French homework. I'm hoping to have dinner tonight with Paulette and Donna, friends from S&G, who are spending a few days in Paris before embarking on a cruise down the Rhone River. They call at about noon, they're off to see Versailles, and will call when they get back.
Les Halles. I decide to take a walk around another part of the quarter towards St Eustache, one of my most favorite places in Paris. Of course, this means that I have to walk through Les Halles, one of my least favorite places in Paris, now a trashy underground mall (one of Paris's few mistakes) that replaced the beautiful Baltard 19th century pavillions built of iron girders and skylight roofs. (I will be eternally grateful that I got to see the old marketplace before it was moved to Rungis outside the city proper in 1969, and it's why I will never throw out my oldest Michelin guide to Paris.) I have been in the underground mall, Forum des Halles, exactly once and have no plans to go back.
The above-ground space is pedestrian-friendly, however, with pathways replacing the former streets (but with the same names: rue de Baltard etc) and lots of little gardens tucked into every corner. I pass three young boys playing a very vigorous game of soccer at an intersection of several walkways. As I'm approaching, one of them sends the ball careering my way, so I kick it back. "Merci, Madame," they say. I stop just beyond them to take a picture of St Eustache, and one of them tells the others to stop their game while I'm taking the picture! I wish now that I had asked them to be in the photo. Quelle dommage. C'est un petit regret que j'aurai toujours.
Saint Eustache. An imposing Gothic church modeled after Notre Dame but with Renaissance decoration. There is a wonderful early Rubens, The Pilgrims at Emmaus, in one of the chapels. Of course, one has to climb the steps to the chapel and peer over the shoulder-high iron railing, while simultaneously hanging onto it and craning one's neck, in order to have even a poor view of the painting which hangs on one of the side walls of the chapel. Ah, what we do for art.
Since this used to be the parish church at the center of everything going on in Paris, close to the Louvre and the Palais Royal, it became a focal point of public ceremony. Louis XIV had his first communion here; the future Cardinal Richelieu, Moliere, and Madame de Pompadour were baptized here; the funerals of La Fontaine, Mirabeau and Mozart's mother were held here. The church also has an amazing musical tradition (more on that later).
There are two installations of contemporary art in the church. One, une installation monumentale of the Dutch artist Kees Visser, is in the nave until the end of September. 320 thin aluminum pillars, with intermittent spots of paint, it stands at the feet of the organ (above) at the back of the nave. The other is installed in one of the chapels and is called Le Depart des Halles (The Departure of the Fruit and Vegetable Market from the Heart of Paris), by Raymond Mason. It's filled with la nostalgie for what was here before. I tried to take pictures of them so will post it later. I love how the French have no fear of combining the old with the new, the traditional with the contemporary (like the pyramid in front of the Louvre).
On leaving Saint Eustache, I barely notice a beggar tucked into the corner next to the door, with his hand slightly extended at waist height.
Passage du Grand Cerf. Turn the corner onto r. du Jour and around to r. Montorgueil, a busy market street, to r. Tiquetonne which leads to one of the passages that I love: the elegant covered passageways lined with shops and little restaurants that can be found throughout Paris. One might say they were the first malls, but what a difference.
Continue down r. St Denis past the church of Saint-Leu, Saint-Gilles. Gilles was a Provencal hermit (more on that), and the church is a quiet sanctuary on what is an edgy street with lots of "adult" video shops, tattoo and piercing shops, and a very interesting crowd of people. I pass by, for the second time today, La Fontaine des Innocents, a Renaissance masterpiece, and then cross over to continue down the r. Saint Martin, a more sedate setting.
Noted on walk:
1. Arche shoe store at Place du Bellay;
3. Sometimes next to the green plastic-bag poubelles are yellow plastic-bag poubelles for recycling;
4. Au Pied de Cochon. I'd love to know the history here as there used to be a restaurant by this name during the time of the market. it looks way too touristy now to be the original.
The Metro. Paulette calls and we decide to go to a crepe restaurant near their hotel. So I ride the Metro for the first time since arriving last week. I walk to the Cite stop (via La Marche aux Fleurs) and head towards Porte de la Chappelle. The Cite entrance is one of the few remaining Art Nouveau entrances in Paris. Get off at Montparnasse-Bienvenue and walk 12 miles (Ok maybe not quite) to reach the sortie closest to their hotel, which is also the sortie for La Gare Montparnasse and La Tour Montparnasse. It's a vast underground network all its own complete with moving sidewalks. (When I return, I notice that they are building a new moving sidewalk which will go very fast (9 km/hour, I think it said) next to the "comfortable" 3 km/hr one that's there now. So you will have a choice depending upon how presse you are. ) There's a great display with lots of information about the Metro system itself on the walls that you can read as you are riding by!
I'm always amazed that Paris never stops improving the Metro. Even though already it has the best one in the world (a mon avis!), they seem to be able to find ways to make it better. Now there are digital signs on each quai that tell you the time of day and how long it will be until the next train. Very thoughtful. However, again I'm grateful that I had a chance to ride the "old" Metro cars with the graceful wooden benches.
Le Joslin. I'm so excited to see Paulette and Donna as well as Paulette's friends Christy and Rita. We chat for awhile in their hotel room and then walk to Le Joslin, rue du Montparnasse. It's very crowded as usual but, because there are 5 of us, we are seated immediately at a table for 6 (actually 3 little tables) in the back. Of course, we practically have to pick up one of the tables so that Donna and I can squeeze onto the bench behind the tables, everything is packed so closely together. This tiny restaurant serves only les crepes - salees et sucrees. You order one salee for your main course and then one sucree for desert. I have one of the Specialites, le Maneac (pronounced something like "maniac"!) which has spinach and goat cheese. For dessert, I have le Mont-Blanc which has creme de marrons (a chestnut puree, my favorite) with creme fraiche. Everyone else has something chocolate! The group treats me to dinner which is an unexpected surprise. C'est tres gentil! Thank you, Paulette, Donna, Christy and Rita. I hope the rest of your trip goes well.
La Tour Eiffel Scintillant. I walk with them back to their hotel and they show me an intersection, Place de Catalogne, about a block away from which one can see virtually the entire Eiffel Tower. As it is only a few minutes before 10 p.m., we wait to see the twinkling lights that are on display for 10 minutes every hour. A perfect end to a lovely evening. I take the Metro back to Cite and walk home. If you think I'm exaggerating about the distances in the Montparnasse Metro station, the pedometer reading for today is: 12,482 (and only 4,361 of that was my walk earlier today).
Things that weren't included elsewhere:
- Paulette tells me that yesterday the French planted an oak tree in le Jardin de Luxembourg in memory of those who died on 9/11.
-there is another Paul's in the Gare Montparnasse!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment