Paris, Monday September 29

CAUTION - This post contains material that might not be suitable for all ages! The French are earthy people.

That having been said, welcome to our Monday morning walking tour of the Ile de la Cité. But first, a plug for the tour company that offered this tour, our earlier one about the WW II Occupation and Resistance, and many others. Very informative, very worthwhile. They appear to be conducted by British expats with quite a long history of living in Paris and a very complete knowledge of their subject. Each tour is priced at €12 per adult. Here’s a link to their website. Thanks to Aimée for sending us this information.

The tour covered pretty much all of the Ile de la Cité, which is of course in the middle of the Seine, between the Right Bank (north side) and the Left Bank. Its history goes way, way back to the early days of the Celts, the Romans, and the like. Its location makes it somewhat naturally fortified, which was a handy thing in those days.

We learned lots of other interesting factoids on the tour, but we’ll skip ahead to the most interesting and picturesque part, Notre Dame Cathedral. The tour didn’t go inside, but since we had both been there before, it didn’t seem to be appropriate use of our time to stand in the long line and see it again after the tour wrapped up. Here’s one view of the the line of tourists waiting to get in at the front of the cathedral. We suspect that the Buddhist? monks must have been there to scope out the competition.

 

A quick lesson in cathedral geography. As is often the case, with apologies to Sue Anne, Karin, Sarah, Noelle, and any other left handed relatives and friends, left (sinistre) is bad, and right (droite) is good. And directions are always expressed in reference to what would be seen by the priest, standing at the altar and facing the congregation. So these people are all coming in the bad side, but the experience while inside will purify them and they will exit via the good side. The same theme holds true for all the sculpture, good to the right and bad to the left, as we shall see below.

And now Sue Anne’s drawing of the line itself. It was a fascinating opportunity for people watching, which we did indeed do while sitting down and eating our lunchtime sandwiches.

Here’s what learned about the multitude of sculptures that cover the front of the building. Again, right (as seen by the priest standing at the altar) is good, and left is bad. Or, when looking at the photos, right is left and left is right. When the cathedral was built, most of the populace was illiterate. They relied on the clergy to explain things to them, with visual aid from the sculpture. Monks would stand out front and deliver lessons in goodness and morality, illustrated by what was depicted up above them in sculpture. 

Here we have the Judgement Day. It’s for everybody, the living (seen standing at the bottom of the picture) and the dead, whose heads can be seen at the very bottom, arising from their graves. The devil and some holy figure are holding the scale of justice (and the devil has his hand on it to help sway the judgement in his direction). Those deemed bad join the chain gang headed to hell, escorted by a pair of the devil’s associates. It does appear that the baby on the scale was among the good and would soon progress to the line of good people shown in the next picture.

And here are the good guys, eagerly heading off to their heavenly reward.

On the hell side are depictions of what one might expect upon arrival there. The sculpture below is probably the most grotesque and was explained in detail by our guide. It’s the X-rated piece of the blog. A she devil is sitting atop representatives of the three orders of people—commoners, clergy (a bishop), and royalty (a king). The idea is to assure the peasants that the upper class that they hold many grudges against will still get their just punishment if they failed to live a good life.

The anatomically correct she devil is in the process of relieving herself, as indicated by the little rivulets running down from below the king's head. And the pained expression on the faces of the bishop and the king are the result of the unnatural act that the bishop has been forced to perform upon the king. Neither of them appears to have been too keen on this event.

So, people, watch your step on the pathway through life or you too might get sent to the sinistre side of the cathedral.

 

On to nicer scenes. We enjoy views down long passageways, and here's one of the 19th century spire. The figure standing on the roof looking up is that of the patron saint of architects, surveying his work. It was placed there by the architect of the 19th century renovations, Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Since nobody knows what the saint’s face actually looked like, Viollet-le-Duc substituted his own.

He was also the architect hired to design the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty but died before the work was completed.

 A couple of fascinating views of the gargoyles and the flying buttress structure at the back of the cathedral.

 

 

And also at the back of the cathedral are some of the early bells, recently replaced with a magnificent set of new ones of extra special metallurgy that produces marvelous, resonant tones.

Just down the street there was a singer with a marvelous voice, there to enthrall the crowd and collect donations. We originally thought that she was actually singing with an unamplified voice, assisted by her strategically placed location between a set of buildings that provided reinforcing echoes. But skipping ahead to the next day’s blog, we saw her again in a different location and were able to spot a very inconspicuous sound system on the wall behind her. Nonetheless, she sure has a powerful voice!

Much of Paris was ‘modernized’ by the architect Georges-Eugène Haussmann under the direction of Napoleon III. His methods were quite brutal (think urban renewal), reaction was mixed, and he was ultimately dismissed. Very little of the original layout of the island survived his work, but a few of the streets and buildings remain. Here’s a typical street scene from that original era, just wide enough for a rather skinny carriage. You can see the patch at the lower right where some of them didn’t quite make it around the corner.

The small green sign below the street sign marks the high water point of a flood that happened during the last century.

And now a bit of contemporary information about the area. There’s a highway down close to water level along the Right Bank, built at the direction of the Prime Minister Georges Pompidou in the 1960s. He thought that Paris should become more friendly to automobiles. Opinions have now changed. Couple this with the fact that Paris becomes quite deserted during an 8 week period in the summer as the ‘Julyers’ and the ‘Augusters’ depart for their annual retreats to the south of France, and the people left in town have few opportunities for summer recreation. This led to the creation of the Paris Beaches. The highway (and one on the Left Bank) are closed, sand (donated by a concrete company) is spread out, umbrellas and cooling sprays are erected, sports equipment is available for free loan, and a good time is had by all. The only difference between this and the real beach is that nudity is not allowed. Nor is swimming. The Seine isn’t safe enough. There’s a €38 fine if you’re caught in the water, even if you’re there by accident.

And here’s another modern innovation, a program of rental bikes scattered all around the city, available at a very reasonable price but time restricted so that they can only be used for short rides and not a day out in the countryside. The whole checkout and payment system is really well thought out and very capable. Here’s our guide Chris explaining the setup to us.

One more Monday morning item and we’ll move on. We bought our first load of Euros at the airport in Dublin, but succeeded  in working our way through them. We discovered to our disappointment that French ATMs appear to have totally switched to the type of card with the chip in it, which is just barely starting to show up in the US. So we went to a typical change shop of the variety that we remember from so many years ago. They accepted our striped card, but hit us with a large fee. Very large.

And that’s how we spent Monday morning. The afternoon will go more quickly.

Aimée had asked us to check out a very special bead store she had visited on an earlier trip to Paris, and provided us with a shopping list. It turned out to be quite close to our apartment and made for a pleasant walk in the nice weather. We were successful in locating it and fulfilling the shopping list.

Then we rewarded ourselves at a gelato store. Voilà the artistic creation! Chocolate, banana, and raspberry.

It’s the official gelato of the angels!

We found a nice bench in the nearby Place des Vosges, ate our gelati, and enjoyed this scene.

Monday in Paris!

Paris, Sunday September 28

Today - Less text, more pictures.

We both had a good night’s sleep and appear to have snapped into the timezone with no appreciable jet lag. We had procured enough supplies for a light breakfast here in our apartment, complete with hearty French coffee, that provided a good start on the day.

Bruce began work on the blog, and Sue Anne commandeered the loft as her atelier and began drawing the scene out the window.

Note the handy drawing equipment she learned about from an artist friend. The brush works like a fountain pen, with its own supply of water in the handle. Squeeze once and it's ready to go. Wipe it off on a cloth cuff on your other wrist (made from an old sock) and you’re ready for the next color. In her right hand is quite a large set of pigments in their own plastic box that also includes a color mixing area and (not shown, but you can see it in use farther down in the blog) an extension that attaches at the left to provide more space for color mixing. And there’s a ring on the back to help you hold on.

And as an alternative to traditional water color technique, you can draw with water soluble colored pencils, and then use the brush to smear the color around as required.  (I’m sure there’s a more official artistic term for this technique.)

Highly portable. Clever! And here’s the result.

She then went out on a brief reconnaissance walk around the neighborhood while Bruce wrapped things up on the computer. Gorgeous day today, with bright sun and warm temperature. Everybody is out and about. The locale of yesterday’s art market had transformed itself into a massive street market featuring food, clothing, souvenirs, and the like. It became our destination for lunch and early afternoon walking and shopping. Boeuf Bourguignon for Bruce and anchovy pizza for Sue Anne.

 

Fish

 Les poissons

 Fruit and vegetables

Légumes, légumes! Achetez vos légumes ici!

Art in progress

L’art fini

Market fini

Blind woman playing one-stringed instrument. The song always sounded the same.

We returned home well loaded with more yummy food, a lovely wrap sweater, and other good stuff. And just up the street from our apartment was a very nice women’s clothing store selling anything you could grab from the racks at a mere €10 per kilo, pro rated. Sue Anne’s scarf barely tipped the scale.

Then a brief rest for Bruce and another recon mission for Sue Anne. Supper included leftovers from yesterday and some of today’s purchases from the market. Note that lovely sunlight streaming in from the window.

Then we were off for a twilight and early evening walk down to the Seine and its islands. It started at the end of our block, which becomes a real happening place. Lots of restaurants, bars, takeouts, and other action. One thing that always interests us when we return to a place we visited long ago is to see what’s still the same and what has changed. Lots has changed in French eating habits! Here are a few illustrations of scenes we saw along the way.

And a bit of mobile graffiti along the way, for variety.

Remember the report from yesterday about how the center strip on Boulevard Richard Lenoir used to be a canal?  Well, the canal is still there, running through the local area in a tunnel and coming up at both ends!  Lots of nice boats were anchored in the final stretch before it opened up to the river.

 

Looking back to where the canal comes out of the tunnel. There’s a road over the top of it, and the lighted set of windows below the road is a subway station. The impressive building in the background is the opera house.

  

One of the many boats anchored there.

Looking down the canal toward the Seine

Then to the Seine for a nice walk along the riverbank. Lots of tour boats. Many couples sitting along the way enjoying the Paris evening with a snack and a bottle of wine. And a roaming wine salesman was there to help if any of them ran out prematurely.

Out for a stroll with their cat - on a leash

Then we crossed a bridge to the Ile St Louis and wandered the streets. There were so many interesting shops and restaurants to look at that I just kept on taking pictures. Here are some of them, generally uncaptioned and in no particular order. Just immerse yourself in the scene.

Then back to our apartment via the action scene at the end of the block.

 And that was Sunday in Paris!

The trip to Paris, Friday and Saturday September 26–27

We’re here! But only some of us. And there’s a new name for the blog. So we’ll start with that part of the story, and then move on.

Just a few days before we were all due to leave, Steve (Sue Anne's sister Aimée’s husband) became quite ill. A series of tentative diagnoses followed, each sounding progressively less severe, until the doctors settled on a relatively benign one. But one that carried with it a restriction on major travel. Silver lining is that the people at Untours responded immediately with all the appropriate changes to the arrangements, plus a partial refund. And Steve and Aimée now get to go to a 9-day ‘fermentation festival’ back home in Wisconsin that they had missed in previous years. It features all sorts of good stuff that arises from processes that involve fermentation—kraut, coffee, chocolate, kefir, kombucha, plus the usual suspects and probably others even less heard of.

That left their son Nate, who was going to be the first one to arrive in Paris due to an earlier flight schedule than Sue Anne and Bruce’s. First trip to Europe and a complicated set of local travel arrangements to get to our AirBnB apartment, but he’s an adventurous sort of guy and up to the challenge. But then an arsonist struck at the air traffic control facility near Chicago. While Nate’s travel plans didn’t involve Chicago, airline routing is so intertwined that the loss of the Chicago activity disrupted other flights through the entire midwest. At first it looked as if he would only lose a day, but that didn’t work out either. Ultimately his participation in the adventure just became infeasible. 

As reported on CNN, the loss of this facility “ . . . has the potential to trigger a line of falling air-traffic dominoes that will ruin travel plans for countless would-be passengers.”

So Sue Anne and Bruce are doing it solo. A few quick emails and we straightened out the arrangements with the AirBnB host, and we were off to Boston to begin the adventure.

New London is nicely served by bus service to Boston every couple of hours, most likely the result of our being directly on the route from Hanover (home of Dartmouth College) and having Colby-Sawyer College in our own town, thereby guaranteeing a good stream of passengers needing to get to/from the big city. WiFi on the bus, which helped in the final sorting out of arrangements. So that got us to the airport, and it also offered a great view of the onset of a beautiful New England autumn. We hear that it’s reached peak in the North Country, but in our part of the state it was still in the transitional phase, offering a joyous mix of colors. We do hope that some remain when we get back home. Usually we prefer to fly from the much more convenient airport in Manchester, but sometimes the arrangements don’t work out, especially for the major routings.

There was crazy rush hour traffic as we approached Boston, but the driver was very skillful and there was plenty of slack in our schedule. 

Easy check-in with Aer Lingus, the Irish national airline. It’s our first experience with them, but that’s where the bargain fare ended up being. They code shared the flight with United, so we added to our ever increasing stock of frequent flier miles (which we began to amass when we used that credit card to pay the kids’ college bills).

Delicious meal at the eponymous Earl of Sandwich outlet at the airport, a pastrami Reuben for Bruce and Jamaican jerk chicken for Sue Anne. Wide body (2-4-2) Airbus A330 with a pretty large and attentive cabin crew. Meal scheduling kind of awkward just due to the timing (depart 9PM, arrive Dublin before breakfast) and no free wine, but all was OK.

Nice views as we flew across Ireland to the airport, which is on the east coast. Yes, Ireland is green. This was the first time either of us had been there. We won’t say ‘set foot in’ because we never left the airport and hence our feet didn’t touch dirt which is what makes it really official, but we did enter Ireland on our Visited Countries map (see link over at the right of the page) despite that minor ethical breach.

Sue Anne’s impression of the green of Ireland, drawn quickly from inside a rather fancy restaurant in expectation of being spotted and thrown out for not being a paying customer. On-location drawing is like that sometimes. And for a major distraction from the scene, she was continuously tempted by a display of chocolate treats passing before her on a moving belt.

[Technical details regarding the drawing: This is the first outing for our little Pandigital portable hand-held wand scanner. You just slide it over the drawing and you’ve captured it, ready to load into the computer. We tested it out at home on last month’s posting of Sue Anne’s art blog, and it did a great job. Its resolution is actually a bit higher than the setting we normally use on our regular flatbed scanner. The scan does of course require cropping and perhaps a bit of color adjustment, but that’s an easy job with our regular software tools.]

Very large international transit area at the airport, with multiple offerings of food and shopping. Breakfast began with a wee sample at the Jameson’s whiskey location, followed by a more traditional repast of coffee and pastry. Then a wander through a large shop of Irish souvenirs, curios, and practical items. Here’s one of the displays of practical items.

Then a two hour flight to Charles De Gaulle airport, north of Paris. Lots of agricultural country down below us, much apparently planted for winter crops. Big airport. Our first encounter with moving walkways that actually went uphill and downhill, in addition to the customary flat. Hold on to the handrail! Some were made of rubber and felt delightfully squishy.

Immigration and customs formalities were barely noticeable, and then it was up to us (and the helpful guy at the information booth) to figure out how to get to the right place in the city. There was good signage too, pretty much all now at least bilingual or even more. France didn’t used to be like that. High speed subway took us directly to Gare du Nord, and then two quick rides on the Métro got us to the neighborhood of our AirBnB apartment, near Place de la Bastille. The steps up from the subway brought us to the wide center strip of the Boulevard Richard Lenoir, originally occupied by a canal and that day hosting a large, weekly art market. A very brief walk and we were at the door to our building.

It did, however, take a bit of mutual coaxing for us to believe that it was our door. It seemed more like the door to a warehouse or an old industrial facility—large, shabby, painted red, made of metal, big enough to drive through. No names, no numbers, but the numbering on some of the nearby buildings seemed to confirm that it could be #16. Then we spotted a brass panel of push buttons next to the door, and the host had armed us with the entry codes. Voilà!  A similar panel led us to the spiral stairway, where we lugged our suitcases up to the 4th floor, at about 20 steps per floor. each step buffed smooth and rounded by the passage of countless shoes over the course of time. And remember, Europeans count floors starting at zero (ground floor).

The building was clearly quite old and had gone through many phases of updating. There were ornate, cast iron panels on each floor that once held the doorbell buttons for the entire floor, and also a communal toilet. We rather suspect that most of the apartments have been upgraded to include their own facilities as has ours, but the toilets in the hallway were fully functional and there are probably still some apartments that rely upon them.

The apartment manager was supposed to meet us at 2:30, but wasn’t able to arrive till 3. We tried to call but couldn’t get our phone to work. It had tested out OK at home, but there was apparently some setup problem with the service here that will require further investigation. But all worked out fine after the knowledgeable and friendly guy appeared.

The apartment is small, but fully functional and pretty much up to date. Bedroom, bathroom with shower, small but well equipped kitchen area, larger living/dining area, and a sleeping loft upstairs. The back wall exposes the building’s actual construction stone, apparently stripped of any previous smooth covering and restored pretty much to original appearance.

A bit of time to rest up and get organized, and then we were off via Métro to a location on the Left Bank for a walking tour of places associated with the WW II occupation of Paris and the French Resistance that we learned about from a list that Aimée had sent us. The major German military presence was on the Right Bank, operating out of commandeered hotels and the like, so the Resistance tended to operate from the other side of the Seine.

The tour lasted from 5 to 7 and entailed a lot of walking, but we were up to it and it probably helped us snap into the new time zone much better than simply racking out at the apartment. The sights along the way were pretty much the normal sights of a very nice part of Paris. Most of the information on the tour came from the narration of what happened at this, that, or the other place along the way, often commemorated with a plaque on the wall. So we haven’t included a lot of pictures of what we saw, but here are a few representative ones.

The tour started in this neighborhood.

Lots of graffiti, much of it well done. This cat also showed up inside a Métro station

Monument to students who participated in the Resistance, some in their early teens.

When one falls, another appears.

Life expectancy in the Resistance was six months.

 We love the ironwork all over the city. 

Good eats too!

 The tour ended with this view of Notre Dame.

It was starting to get dark by the time the tour ended. We stopped for a delightful sandwich meal at a sidewalk place in the area. Love that bread! Then a bit of wandering along the Seine to find the Métro station, and back to the apartment. View of the illuminated column at Place de la Bastille out the window.

Checked email and Facebook, learned that Nate wouldn’t be joining us, and off to bed. Weather had been warm and beautiful, all Paris was out and about, there was a lot of sound coming up from the street, but shutting the window was all it took to create a nice, quiet environment for a good night’s sleep. We’re sure we’ll still exhibit a bit of weariness as the days go on, but we expect that we’ve now surmounted the timezone problem and snapped into the groove.