Venturing out 11-15-15

Yesterday the 14th I did not go out.  I think understandably I was hesitant because if some one were to holler gun, I'd be the only who didn't understand and would turn around and say "Pardon?" as others were running away.  The myth of terrorism hitting the only tourist areas has been shattered because they hit where everyday Paris lives.




Today I was determined to get out and get a little shopping done.  I've been eating down the rations that Deb and I bought before she left and I needed to replenish some things.   It was quieter on the street foot traffic wise but people were out and the smaller shops were open for business.  It's Sunday and I only saw two cafe/brasseries open with outdoor seating but to my embarrassment I haven't noticed them open on Sunday before so I don't know if it's a new phenomenon.

I guess I'm in a bit of shock because I find myself thinking catastrophic situation thoughts and how I might react.  I'm also looking for ways out of shops or places to shelter, perhaps normal since the events are still so recent.  But I'm going to focus on some positives and post a few pictures of the beautiful and good Paris with which I'm more familiar.

Devastated 11-13-15

I had prepared another post for this day, but in deference to what just happened here in Paris I will perhaps post it later.   We have at least 128 dead and another 99 in critical condition, they attacked several places, one of which Deb and I pass almost every time we take our bus home.  My heart is heavy for France and the Parisians.  Stay vigilant because there are many who will rejoice at this development.

I was completely unaware of what happened until Deb actually called the apartment sometime after mid-night.  There were sirens going by towards one of the major hospitals, that is located nearby, every few minutes for the rest of the night.  Things will be very different from now until the end of our visit in February.

Running around 11-12-15

Today I got an early start because I wanted to try a couple of brocante markets and be home early to have a chance to talk with Deb.   I got on the Metro by around 8:10 and got down to the first one by about 8:45 as this market runs most days and shuts down by 1:30.  So when I got there I was actually early and they were still setting up.  There were only about 5 dealers that were fully setup while the rest were still setting stuff out.  So I went to the ones that were setup and then cycled through the ones setting up to see what new things were coming out.  I did that for perhaps an hour and then decided to go to the other sale, which ran from 8:00 to 4:00.  
It took a couple buses to get there but I was hoping to see as many as 45 dealers offering things.  The reality was that only about 20 showed up, the day started foggy and cool, and I got through them in very little time.  I saw one interesting thing but they wanted too much money, so I passed on it.  At that point it was just after noon so I decided to take another little jaunt to an area that we have not been to before, the area around Place Nation, in the eastern part of the 11th arr.  I caught a bus that was going right to it and in about 20 minutes I was out and walking around the place.   It is very large, maybe as large as the circle around the Arch de Triumph, but it doesn't have a large monument like that.  What it does have is a large circular park in the middle with a lovely bronze sculpture by Dalou, called the "Triomphe de la Republique" in the center.  At the eastern end it also has a couple columns that marked the edge of Paris around the time of Louis XIV.  It was called the Place du Trone originally because it is where Louis XIV was crowned after his wedding to Maria Therese of Spain.  It was also the spot of the most active guillotine during the French Revolution.

After my little wander of the area I walked back to Place Bastille and caught the Metro but since it was still fairly early I took it out to the end of the subway line.  One of the stops is called "Eglise de Pantin" and I wanted to see if there was really a church there or not, so I got out.  As soon as I came out of the subway there was the church, it's not terribly large and quite poor I think.  It is a designated national historic building, but it is very much in need of repair (note the buttressing on the column at the right). It dates back to the 17th century and is pretty but very modest.  I did go on out to the end and walked around a bit then took the Metro back to the apartment in order to catch Deb early in her day.

Ya Know, Paris Really Isn't That Large 11/11/15

It really isn't,  I had another pretty nice day sunny in the morning and then turning cloudy in the afternoon.   I wanted to see more of the Cite Universitaire International de Paris, so I caught the metro and the RER (train) down to the Cite Universitaire station, it takes about 30 minutes give or take and lets you out right across the street.
As I mentioned in an earlier post each country choosing to participate built a "dormitory" type building for students of their country that wanted to study in Paris.  This was during the 20's and 30's and it has been functioning ever since.  It sits just inside the Peripherique, the ring road which delineates the boundary of Paris proper, in the south center of the city.  What I like about the buildings are that there was an attempt to impart a bit of the vernacular architecture of the country in the buildings, so the Greek building has a temple front and the Japanese building looks a bit like Edo castle, etc.
 The Spanish building looks right out of Franco but to soften it up a bit they installed four beautiful outdoor sculptures, and it also has a restaurant in the basement.   I did manage to get some clear pictures of the parrots that are in the area, we saw fleeting glimpses last time but this time they stayed around for me.
Alas it must be a holiday of some sort here because many things were closed both in the campus and across the city.  So I wandered through and when I was finished I walked back across the street to the Parc Montsouris.
We never fully explored the park when Deb and I were here before so I took the time to go to the other corners. I found another disused bit of the Petite Ceinture railway which was a revelation.  I also discovered that they have an art installation in the lake which is pretty cool.  I sat by the lake and had lunch while I watched the birds in the lake, gulls, mallards, black swans, exotic geese, and some other littler duck type birds too.  Very enjoyable.
After lunch, on a whim I decided to walk back to the apartment.  As you likely know our apartment is in the extreme northeast part of Paris almost at the Peripherique so essentially my goal was to walk all the way across Paris from South to North.  I wanted to follow part of the pilgrim road through Paris that began at the what is now the Tour St. Jacque and ended in Santiago de Compostella in Spain.  The street is still Rue St. Jacque and Rue Faubourg St. Jacque but I'm a little hazy as to where it went from there, no matter.  I began on a street that almost directly connects to rue Faubourg St. Jacque so it could very well have been part of the original way.  What was so interesting to me is that there are so many Parisian landmarks along or very close to the road.   The first thing was the Observatory of Paris at the bottom of the Luxembourg Gardens, the apartment that Sunny and Mary Schreiner stayed in was only a block away, that was followed by Val de Grace, the French Oceanographic Institute supported by Prince Albert of Monaco, even the apartment that we considered renting before settling on this one was only a half block away.  It goes right through the middle of the University of Paris, which was setup to counter the growing power of the Sorbonne.  The Pantheon is only a block away from the street, and when you get down to the Seine you are at the front of the parvis for Notre Dame, I tell ya this street's got everything.  It ends at the east side of the Tour St. Jacque on the Rue de Rivoli.

Since it dead ends about a block later I switched over to the Boulevard Sebastopol which would take me up to Gare de l'Est but I only followed that up to the Grand Boulevards where I was directly between two of the old city tax gates, the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin.  I switched over to the Rue Faubourg St. Martin and continued north, it passes right next to Gare de l'Est and then veers off a little to the east. As I walked by the station I saw a cafe where there were chess players gathered and competing.  I followed Faubourg St. Martin up to where it intersected Rue La Fayette and then followed that up to where it turns into Avenue Jean Jaures which is the main drag for our neighborhood.  I followed Jean Jaures up to Rue des Ardennes which is at the end of our block.
 I saw these last two cuties as I was almost home, they were gathering leaves, just like the little kids, they were very gracious to let me take their picture.  The entire trip took me about 3 hours, including some stops to do some shopping and take pictures, Paris is really not that large!

Solo in Paris for now 11-10-15

I sent Deb off to Denver today to help with our dear friend, she'll be gone for two weeks.  I got her out to the airport around 8:30 for her 10:45 flight.  We were both a little surprised that the Metro was not more crowded, not complaining mind you just surprised.   She flies directly to Salt Lake on Delta and then back to Denver, but it's a long flight.  I was out until 6;00pm today and she still had around 4 hours to get to Salt Lake, so long flight for her.
After I dropped her off, I went back into town and got off close to Notre Dame where it appeared to have been raining earlier, streets and sidewalks pretty damp but no active rain.   I walked down to the Musee d'Orsay and spent the day seeing several new exhibits and some old ones as well.  The first is an exploration of prostitution in the art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   So names like Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Forain, Courbet but many others less known like Felicien Rops and Theophile Steinlen.  An interesting but quite controversial exhibition due to some of it's graphic presentations, two sections are over 18 yrs with very early "dirty" movies.

attendant let's me know

Detail of banned picture

I didn't know that there were no photos allowed but when I took one the attendant let me know.   Heh, heh, heh, wanta buy some dirty pictures?  But actually it was quite interesting because they helped show how what look to us today like very normal subjects were quite scandalous at the time they were produced.   How if a model had lifted the hem of her skirt it was a clear sign that she was available.  Also it dealt with how many in sheer numbers of women were forced into prostitution due to low wages and few prospects to better their lot.

Parc Buttes des Chaumont 1860 plan

Another interesting thing I uncovered was the rear stairway up to the top floor, on each landing it has an aspect of the world industrial and agricultural expositions held in Paris several times in the late 1800's very informative.





The sun was getting low in the sky when I left but I took a few pics of Paris in the late afternoon light that were fun.

While the Weather Holds, Be Outside 11-9-15

Another beautiful day so we grabbed the opportunity to be outside, Deb had expressed interest in seeing the garden associated with the Hotel de Sully.  The building was built during the 1600's and belonged to Duc de Sully, who was a finance minister to Henri IV during that time.  It houses the Center for National Monuments now and preserved as a national historic building.  It has a front courtyard then at the back of the main wing the garden.  The garden also has a backdoor that opens into Place des Vosges, the first planned square in Paris.  
On the way down we stopped for lunch at a little bistro that sits behind Place des Vosges and had a very pleasant lunch of mushroom soup and for me a small filet of fish and for Deb a salad of shrimp, avocado, and tomato.  After lunch we walked a block over to Place des Vosges and sat for a half an hour in the sun and watched all the people enjoying themselves in the park.  During the summer there were people all over the grass sitting, playing and eating, but now there is a gardien who walks around shooing people off the grass to let it rest for the winter, or so the signs say.  She also chased out a young woman with an even younger pup that could not contain his excitement, a very proper park indeed.
A little later we walked over to the southwest corner of the place and through the door into the garden of the Hotel de Sully.  It is a small very formal French garden, small hedges set with geometrical precision filling the space, the east wall of the garden is overgrown with Ivy and various creepers that cover the blank spaces.  It would have been very secluded in its time and likely very quiet.
The only anarchists in the garden were the sparrows who were darting in and out of the small hedges and into the surrounding ivy.  We spent a nice bit of time in the garden and then headed down Rue de Rivoli in the direction of the Louvre, passing the Hotel de Ville before coming to the Tour St. Jacques.
The Tour St. Jacques is the beginning of the pilgrims trail from Paris to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.   Uncountable numbers of pilgrims took up the staff and shell of St. James in the middle ages, usually for at least couple years roundtrip and remission of all their sins, if they survived. It was getting late in the daylight when we arrived but we were able to sit for perhaps 45 minutes and just enjoy the peace of the garden, even though Rue de Rivoli is right next to it and Chatelet sits just off one of the corners.
We had a very low-key day, which was what Deb really wanted since she leaves for two weeks in Denver, helping a dear friend going through a life transition tomorrow.  A quiet evening at the apartment and off to the airport tomorrow.

Lazy Sunday 11-8-15

Today dawned cloudy and cool but by 11:00 the sun was out and it warmed up nicely.  Around 3:30 we decided to take a short walk along the basin.
So when we got out it was pretty obvious that everyone in this arrondissement had the same idea. The walkers were out in force along with the cyclists.  People were on the outdoor patios of restaurants and brasseries all along the way.  People were playing boules, and a game where a thick stick is thrown at numbered pegs, children were overrunning the playground, everywhere people were just soaking up the November sun.

The canal tour boats are still running and they were plying the basin too.  A lazy Sunday indeed.