How it all begins - another take on Paris 3-23-15

One of the things that Deb and I concluded, separately but with the same result is that Paris is far too big and complex to really be able to do a compendium of all it's charms, warts, and secrets.  Duh!   So we've devised a little plan to get more depth out of the firehose from which we will drink.  It does put some focus into our flaneuring, but it's still allows for lots of aimless wandering about.  I've mentioned the book "Angels of Paris" by Rosemary Flannery before, but we also have other sources as well.   They are "Quiet Corners of Paris" by Jean-Christophe Napias, three books by Thirza Vallois, titled, "Around and About Paris", and a series of cards called "City Walks, Paris" donated by Sunny and Mary Schreiner, and finally "One Thousand Buildings of Paris" by Kathy Borrus.  But I digress.

The notion is to pick an arrondisement and spend a week exploring it.  We identify things like museums, interesting sites, building (like La Ruche), and gardens then craft a day around one or two of them.  Of course we're like cats in that as soon as something interesting moves in the peripheral vision we're off to investigate, still we manage to meander through.


Very satisfying indeed

Our focus for the next few days will be the 6th Arr. because it has so many interesting things, both hidden and not, that are worth seeing.   We started out last week with part of a walk that passed through a 200+ year old series of courtyards called the 'Cour de Rohan'  at one end is the oldest coffee house in Paris, La Procoupe, where in 1776 Benjamin Franklin composed the agreement between the U.S. and France leading to the recognition of the U.S. as a soverign state.  It's also where many of the revolutionaries of the French Revolution used to meet to discuss how to change their society, i.e. remove the head of state.





  But today was the Musee Delacroix, the last home and studio of Eugene Delacroix.  It's only a couple blocks from St. Germain de Pre, but a world away in hustle and bustle.  It is on a serene and quiet place, sitting in one corner away from the busier street just outside of the square.  Delacroix was a 19th century romantic painter whose pieces contrast sharply from those of Gericault a classicist.  However this museum is very small and mostly focuses on the intimate portraits that Delacroix painted for family and friends.  It also has one of the hidden gardens in the rear of the building which is where Deb and I sat and had a bit of lunch.  As you'll notice I lost my head over having lunch in this little space.  I need to work on my photo composition I think.