We left Greece and flew to Paris on the auspicious day of July 14 -- Bastille Day! This meant a little bit of chaos trying to navigate the airport, find our shuttle and get to our apartment. But first, we had to get out of the airport! Sounds easy? Non, non, non! Not at Charles De Gualle airport! We literally spent 30 minutes going up and down a bunch of different elevators before we finally figured out how to exit the building. Once that was settled, we were on our way. My first impressions of Paris were beautiful iron balustrades, flower-filled window boxes, clean and uncharacteristically quiet streets because of the holiday, and a lovely temperature. After 6 weeks in the Mediterranean heat, we were ready for the respite. We got settled into our charming flat that was tiny but brilliantly designed to maximize the space. We wandered the neighborhood a bit, did some shopping and a TON of laundry, eventually exploring over the Seine river to wander around Norte Dame. We finished off our first day in France with street-food crepes. Oo, la, la!
Montmartre
Braving the complicated Metro system, we traveled to the Montmartre area in the morning. First stop, Sacre Couer. This Basilica is actually relatively new, only built in the last 150 years as a guilty response to France's period of Prussian siege of 1870. Catholics were convinced they were being punished for the country's sins and built the church as a form of penance. Located at the highest natural point of Paris, the gypsum it's built fromt gets whiter as it ages. It stands out from every direction. The highlights of the church really are the views from below looking up and from the Basilica looking down to the greater city below.
After the church, we took a city walk of bohemian, Montmartre. We wandered through street artists, portrait vendors, and shoulder to shoulder tourists. At the nearby Church of St. Pierre we learned the miracle of St. Denis, a martyr who picked up his recently decapitated head and walked to the top of this "mont" to his desired resting place. We made pilgrimages and took pictures of many cafes and homes of the famous artists, musicians, and authors who met here to discuss the ways they were going to change the world of the arts. The meeting spots of the likes of Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh. And of course we found the final 2 remaining windmills (moulin) that once powered the whole neighborhood -- Moulin de la Galette and Moulin Rouge. We finished up the walk with delicious croissants, pastries, and baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie.
In the evening, we relaxed on a Seine River Cruise from Pont Neuf to the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful evening and a relaxing way to get acquainted to the major sights. Until Anna noticed some spiders crawling on the window next to us. Then it was game-over good times for her. Luckily, her arachnophobia only kicked in at the end of the cruise, so she only suffered for about 5 minutes.
The following morning, we made the 5 minute walk to church...so nice to be so close. Because there are so many tourists here (at least as many English-speakers as ward members) they have a separate room for tourists to meet for Sacrament Meeting where they can watch a monitor of the meeting and listen to a piped in translation. We stayed for the English Sunday School class taught by sister missionaries. My favorite part of the meeting was Relief Society which was also translated for English speakers. The teacher did a great job with the lesson from President Hinckley's manual. At the end of her lesson, the woman conducting thanked her for what she said was her first lesson, as this woman had only been baptized quite recently! President Hinckley would be glad to know that in Paris they follow his counsel to make sure every member has a calling. In the evening we went for a little walk to the Tuileries Garden and relaxed.
The next day we went on a walking tour of the Left Bank and discovered this hot-spot of counterculture sleeps in. At 10 a.m. we pretty much had the streets to ourselves. Still, we peeked into art displays and cafes. We learned about Voltaire, George Sand and Chopin, Delacroix and others. Most notably, we found the shabby hotel where Oscar Wilde died and learned that some of his last words were, "Either this wallpaper goes, or I go." A wit to the end.
One of the highlights of the Left Bank is the Cathedral of St. Suplice. A series of murals painted by Delacroix near the end of his life hang here and are exquisite...most famous is his "Jacob Wrestling the Angel." We followed the church with a little windowshopping, tried some Macarons, more baguette and more crepes for lunch.
In the evening, we headed to the Eiffel Tower for our 8:00 rendezvous! My experience was that it seemed much larger in person, but some of the family didn't seem to feel that way. They were more mentally prepared for the mass I guess. We got in quickly with our passes and took the glass elevator on an unnerving ascent to the top. It's so profoundly high up there that it's difficult to make out all of the monuments below. It's no wonder the world was astounded at the 1889 World's Fair. After some time squinting at the world from the top, we descended to the mid-level for more spectacular views and finally landed down on the spacious first level. The "clear" sidewalks on this level give you a thrilling "open air" visual of how high you are even 1/3 of the way up. We literally ran down the stairs so as not to miss the 10:00 5 minute sparkling light display and just managed to get down in time to look up from the Champs de Mars. Our daytime views were capped off by the night-time City of Light.
Chartres
We left the city the next morning for a day excursion to the nearby town of Chartres. Finding our train was once again confusing, but by the time we leave Paris, I'm sure we'll have the transportation all figured out. The highlight of this mid-size, story-book town is the cathedral. An important stop on the early Pilgrim journey, it is unique in how quickly it was built..in just one generation. Compared to other Gothic cathedrals, this is remarkable and unheard of. The highlight of the building is the gorgeous stained glass. It tells in colorful pictures the entire story of the Bible ... scripture for the illiterate masses. The floor is decorated with a "labyrinth" mosaic that pilgrims traveled on their knees as a symbolic gesture of finding their way to God. The sculpture surrounding the choir is exquisite, one side lined with stories from the life of Mary, then picking up with the life of Christ. Outside the church is decorated with fascinating, symbolic sculpture including a donkey playing the hurdy-gurdy (haven't quite figured out the symbolism of that yet). This cathedral was saved from much of the looting and destruction other French Cathedrals succumbed to during the Revolution and two world wars. Far enough from Paris, it was out of the way of some things, and during the 2nd world war, the community removed and buried the windows and statues in their yards to protect them from the Nazis. Outside is also a classic view of flying buttresses; it's like all the boring history lessons from my high school days suddenly are making sense on this trip.
After the cathedral, we strolled the medieval town that looks like the inspiration for the village in "Beauty and the Beast." We visited a couple more churches...the cathedral was only for the pilgrims, the locals had to worship elsewhere. We happened upon picturesque stream-side scenes where you could just picture the old water-wheels of earlier days before catching a train home.
Historic Paris Walk
We decided to conquer the historic core of the city the next day. We started early at St. Chapelle to aoid the crowds as we'd been advised. Ha! We were there with like 6 other people. The stained glass in this small, royal chapel is probably the best in the world. We took in all the colorful glory and then played a game of "I Spy" trying to find familiar Biblical stories. The royal family had this chapel built mostly as a place to display the sacred relic "crown of thorns" purportedly to be the one the Savior was forced to wear. The total cost of the chapel and windows was dwarfed by the amount the French king was willing to shell out to obtain the relic. He then mounted it above the altar above a locked staircase for his own private access.
We left the Cathedral and walked a short way to the Conciergerie -- the prison that housed all the prisoners doomed for a date with Madame Guillotine. Even the queen Marie Antoinette spent her last days here. The French Royal Family in its prime only lasted 100 years and 3 kings...Louis IV-Louis VI. After spending some time with the decadence and division that existed between the wealthy and the common at this period, it's not hard to understand the imminence of Revolution.
We next visited Notre Dame Cathedral, yet another glorious Gothic church for us to gawk at. Some highlights of our visit included listening to the echoing, reverberating music of a rehearsing choir. I love Cathedral acoustics...everything sounds better. There were some diagrams and displays about how the Medieval peasants were able to construct and engineer the church, and of course everyone loved the iconic gargoyles surveying the landscape below from every angle. We waited an hour to climb the tower before giving up and deciding to come back later.
We crossed to the Left Bank and explored some quiet, hidden park squares, lively streets and famous bridges and statues. We even found decent gyros for lunch. The kids were feeling a bit of Greek food withdrawal.
After resting up and eating dinner at home, we tackled the Louvre. It stays open late once a week. Of course everyone understands it's overwhelming and massive, but we did our best to narrow in on the main masterpieces. This included the Venus de Milo; Femme Voilee by Corradini (my favorite sculpture); Napoleon's Coronation by David; Gericault and the beginning of Romanticism, including his "The Raft of the Medusa;" works by Delacroix; and of course the famous lady Mona Lisa along with several other masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci. It's a staggering and wonderful museum, but to be honest, I find that I prefer The Prado in Spain. While the Louvre felt like a marvelous collection of art interspersed with masterpieces, the Prado feels like a marvelous collection of masterpieces interspersed with art.
Marathon Day
Armed with 4 day Paris Museum Passes purchased the day before, we felt obligated to make the most of the next day. We figured out the convoluted, inefficient system for getting tickets to climb the Notre Dame tower, so got a reservation time then walked in the opposite direction to visit D'Orsay. This collection picks up essentially where the Louvre leaves off, and I loved this museum! It's home to the Realists and the Impressionists. Highlights included the evolution of Manet's work that inevitably led to the Impressionist movement. We saw the brilliant and famous works by Degas, Monet, and Renoir -- including his "Moulin de la Galette" a copy of which hung in my home growing up and was my earliest introduction to Impressionism. We learned more about Cezanne's geometric techniques that came from this movement and served as Picasso's cubism springboard. They have a marvelous collection of Van Goghs that the kids especially enjoyed. Renoir continues to be my favorite. He is such a "cheerful artist" who defies the stereotypical "tortured genius." I love his philosophy of adding beauty to a world that has plenty of ugliness already.
We ate a delicious cafe lunch and then hit L'Orangerie, a small art collection built specifically to house Monet's massive water lily paintings, housed in the Tuileries gardens. It was surprisingly emotional to view the 8 canvases wrapped around the rounded walls of two rooms. Painted at the end of Monet's life, the work is on giant scale to accommodate his failing eyesight and cataracts. The rooms designed to display them have giant skylights and it's a serene and beautiful feeling to spend time there. In the basement is a collection of collector and patron, Paul Guillaume including many more of Impressionist masterpieces followed by the up and coming Picasso generation. A small but impressive collection.
We next backtracked to Notre Dame for our assigned climbing time. It was hectic and confusing, but we did finally manage to get in. It was worth it to see the views from above, converse with the gargoyles at eye level, and "hunch our backs" under the bells in the tower.
This left us a short break for dinner before hopping a Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. We got there just in time to watch the daily evening military ceremony of lighting the flame on the tomb of the unknown soldier. Very cool. Then we climbed even more stairs to the top of the arc. (So much of this trip seems to be climbing up stairs to the tops of monuments natural or created by man. Luckily, we're all in pretty good shape.) After visiting the ancient triumphal arches of Rome this was based from, we were amazed by how much more enormous Napoleon's arc is. I guess we shouldn't be so surprised by anything done by a man who crowned himself Emperor.
We walked from the Arc all the way down the Champs Elysees, exploring chic stores, pricy boutiques and cafes, and monuments along the way finally landing at the Place de Concorde. This vast plaza was the gathering and execution point of the Revolution. From here, we had only a stroll through the Tuileries and past the Louvre to return home. In all, including a 5 mile run that morning, we covered 20 miles in one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment