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Some thoughts on Paris
Feb. 7th, 2005 03:34 amToday was my day at the Louvre. As I’m getting used to the city, and figuring out how far distances are on the super-handy map Rick lent me, I’ve been doing more walking, and so I walked down to the Louvre today. I wanted to get there at 9, because 1) that’s when it opened and 2) today is a free admission day (the first Sunday of every month), so I expected a line (which there was, but much later – I have pictures!). At first I went down the wrong street, but I soon corrected myself and had quite an enjoyable stroll down to Les Halles, past the Eglise Ste-Eustache (which is a very impressive-looking church from the outside). And as I walked I thought: Paris is kind of boring.
Well, it’s not so much that it’s boring, but it’s just that every section I’ve walked through has basically been the same: beautiful old seven, eight, and nine story buildings with narrow, tall windows with ironwork over the bottom sections. The ground levels are shops: bakeries, butchers, luggage places, motorcycle dealerships, etc. The sidewalks range from wide enough for a very skinny person to wide enough for several skinny people; sometimes they are crowded and sometimes they’re deserted. But one very good thing about the way that Paris is laid out is that every section has people living in it. As you go down the street, there are giant doors in between the shops, some with keypads, some with buzzers. These lead into courtyards, which lead to apartments (like the one I’m staying in). So, even though there are parts of the street where there aren’t very many stores, there are still people living in the neighbourhood. There are small parks all around (very important especially for the many Parisian who have dogs – in fact, today I saw a St. Bernard, and how that dog could ever fit into an apartment like mine I have no idea), groceries and other good stores on every street, and cars jammed in however they can fit, wherever they are allowed (right up to the street corner, in most cases).
The Louvre itself is a mighty big place. When I visited before I was mostly interested in their copy of the 1700 portrait of Louis XIV by court painter Hyacinthe Rigaut (I wonder if he got teased a lot, with that first name). However, today the 18th- and 19th-century French paintings were closed, so I couldn’t make a return visit. Instead I checked out the 17th-century French sculpture (as well as some doleful-looking earlier stuff), Grecian sculpture (including the Venus de Milo & the Winged Victory of Samothrace), the Napoleon III apartments (the most fuschia I’ve ever seen in home decorating), the Code of Hammurabi, the Monna Lisa (that’s how the Louvre spells it, and who am I to argue) – oh, and a bunch of other French objects d’art (including Louis XV’s crown jewels). That took about four and a half hours. Some of it, like the Venus and the Monna Lisa, you simply couldn’t stop and look at: you could only join the parade of people and pass by it. I think maybe, if you came right at 9 am, and made a beeline straight for one of them, you might actually be able to have a few moments to really see it; otherwise, you just have to hope that some of the art rubs off on you as you rush by.
By the time I was finished I was tired and hungry, but I had made up my mind to try tea at the “Mariage Frères”, supposedly the best tea-shop in Paris according to the Lonely Planet. When I got there, though, I was mightly surprised: they were serving brunch for anywhere between 35 to 40 euros (and I had thought the Louvre was expensive at 8.40 euros for a sandwich, drinks and some chips!). The tea-room was wicked busy, and I didn’t feel like exercising my French asking for this and that, so I nipped across the street to their tea shop, where I bought some loose tea to try. Then I sauntered around the corner and had a croque-monsieur (a sandwich with cheese & ham, broiled) and a drink, for much less than 35 euros! Then, tired and footsore, I trundled home along the rue des Archives (passing right past the Archives Nationales, although I don’t think I saw a door). I managed to make it home well before sunset, which meant that I could open the window shades and see my apartment in natural light, which made for a very nice change.
A bientôt!
Well, it’s not so much that it’s boring, but it’s just that every section I’ve walked through has basically been the same: beautiful old seven, eight, and nine story buildings with narrow, tall windows with ironwork over the bottom sections. The ground levels are shops: bakeries, butchers, luggage places, motorcycle dealerships, etc. The sidewalks range from wide enough for a very skinny person to wide enough for several skinny people; sometimes they are crowded and sometimes they’re deserted. But one very good thing about the way that Paris is laid out is that every section has people living in it. As you go down the street, there are giant doors in between the shops, some with keypads, some with buzzers. These lead into courtyards, which lead to apartments (like the one I’m staying in). So, even though there are parts of the street where there aren’t very many stores, there are still people living in the neighbourhood. There are small parks all around (very important especially for the many Parisian who have dogs – in fact, today I saw a St. Bernard, and how that dog could ever fit into an apartment like mine I have no idea), groceries and other good stores on every street, and cars jammed in however they can fit, wherever they are allowed (right up to the street corner, in most cases).
The Louvre itself is a mighty big place. When I visited before I was mostly interested in their copy of the 1700 portrait of Louis XIV by court painter Hyacinthe Rigaut (I wonder if he got teased a lot, with that first name). However, today the 18th- and 19th-century French paintings were closed, so I couldn’t make a return visit. Instead I checked out the 17th-century French sculpture (as well as some doleful-looking earlier stuff), Grecian sculpture (including the Venus de Milo & the Winged Victory of Samothrace), the Napoleon III apartments (the most fuschia I’ve ever seen in home decorating), the Code of Hammurabi, the Monna Lisa (that’s how the Louvre spells it, and who am I to argue) – oh, and a bunch of other French objects d’art (including Louis XV’s crown jewels). That took about four and a half hours. Some of it, like the Venus and the Monna Lisa, you simply couldn’t stop and look at: you could only join the parade of people and pass by it. I think maybe, if you came right at 9 am, and made a beeline straight for one of them, you might actually be able to have a few moments to really see it; otherwise, you just have to hope that some of the art rubs off on you as you rush by.
By the time I was finished I was tired and hungry, but I had made up my mind to try tea at the “Mariage Frères”, supposedly the best tea-shop in Paris according to the Lonely Planet. When I got there, though, I was mightly surprised: they were serving brunch for anywhere between 35 to 40 euros (and I had thought the Louvre was expensive at 8.40 euros for a sandwich, drinks and some chips!). The tea-room was wicked busy, and I didn’t feel like exercising my French asking for this and that, so I nipped across the street to their tea shop, where I bought some loose tea to try. Then I sauntered around the corner and had a croque-monsieur (a sandwich with cheese & ham, broiled) and a drink, for much less than 35 euros! Then, tired and footsore, I trundled home along the rue des Archives (passing right past the Archives Nationales, although I don’t think I saw a door). I managed to make it home well before sunset, which meant that I could open the window shades and see my apartment in natural light, which made for a very nice change.
A bientôt!
