Arriving into the
center of Paris after a week in the quiet, pristine Dordogne Valley, requires a dramatic
shift in perspective and stamina. At first you resist the teeming life around you. Then, as
you get your bearings, you begin to feel like you can manage. Then find
yourself embracing all things Parisian.
That is how it happened for us.
Arriving at Gare de
Austerlitz along with crowds of others, we found a taxi. In
afternoon rush hour gridlock, we inched across the River Seine, finally walking the last block down Rue de Verrerie where the car could not go. Dodging pedestrians we found #65
and rang the bell at a two story high wooden red door. We entered into a dark courtyard –
cool and quiet and came to a second door, an entrance to a very old building. Hanging on to a rod iron banister, we climbed (with suitcases) up 3 flights of narrow winding
worn down steps. This became daily
exercise to and from a flat that was our home for 10 days in the heart of Marais.
65 Rue de Verrerie in Marais
I have vague memories of visiting
Paris i 50 years ago and then 20 years later but now nothing
seemed familiar. In order to get
our bearings, we did what we often do in an unfamiliar city – we bought a ticket on a
double-decker sightseeing bus to get oriented. Riding through Paris on the top of
a bus you see tree lined boulevards, outdoor cafes, bridges that cross the
Seine, graceful bateaux mouches smoothly gliding up and
down the river, stone carved buildings, rod iron balconies in front of floor to
ceiling windows, statues of war heroes, steeples of medieval Gothic and
Romanesque churches, and green expansive parks. Embedded in almost every view of Paris you catch a glimpse of
the iconic Eiffel Tower.
I think of Paris as a city rich in
sounds from the impatient drivers who toot horns constantly to
the constant wailing of police cars and EMT vehicles, the crunching of gravel
when walking across wide expanses such as in the Tuilleries Gardens, the sound
of tires running across cobblestone streets, the underlying hum of crowds of
people in outdoor cafes, strolling pedestrians speaking foreign languages, and
the bird songs of the many species that inhabit a city full of greenery.
Walking Parisian streets can easily bring to mind Gershwin’s “American in
Paris” echoing Parisian sounds in musical symphony.
In a day, we let go of any fears when we headed io the metro station at Hotel de Ville,
where we inquired in basic French about buying tickets, and were given a map a map. Realizing we could not get many places we
wanted to go, without traveling on the metro we simply did it! It worked beautifully, of course! The Parisian underground system is one
of the most efficient metros I have been on anywhere in the world. By the time we left to come home, we
had been everywhere by metro, and learned the RER commuter train system. We even got
ourselves to Charles de Gaulle Airport at 6 a.m. the day we were leaving via subway and
train with luggage, feeling triumphant that we had bypassed the pricier airport
shuttle services.
Tuilleries Metro station
When
we weren’t touring Notre Dame Cathedral, Saint Chapelle, the Orsay Museum, the
Rodin Museum, the Orangery in the Tuilleries Gardens, the Pompidou Museum, the
Jacquesmart Andre Museum, the Fondation Louis Vuitton (the newest museum in
Paris designed by Frank Gehry) and Giverny, Monet’s home and gardens an hour
from Paris – we were exploring on foot.
From the side streets and squares in old Marais (originally the Jewish
quarter of Paris) to strolling along the Seine river in the evenings eating
crepes and browsing booths selling old prints and maps of Paris we began to
feel more in sync with this city.
Spending a Sunday morning in the Bastille market admiring lush
fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and pastries for sale, I looked for remnants of the
infamous Bastille prison but it is no longer there. On a Saturday evening we
went to Notre Dame Cathedral for an exquisite organ concert, imagining people from centuries past who had
worshiped and been spiritually uplifted by this magnificent church. Another morning we travelled down the
Seine River on a bateaux mouche (ferry
boat), and learned that there are 22 bridges just within Paris.
Gardens at Giverny
Notre Dame Cathedral
Rodin Museum Gardens
The Tuilleries Gardens
***
“Come
for lunch in Saint Germain en Laye,” my new friend Julie had said to us when we
left Beaulieu-Sur-Dordogne to set off on our Inntravel hike.
Arriving
in Paris, I had an email from her, “When can you come?” We agreed on a day and went via metro and
RER train to spend the day in “suburbia”, pleased to have a different French
experience. Julie and her golden retriever Bela,
met us at the train station after a half hour journey and gave us a “walking
tour” of St. Germaine-en-Laye which is no ordinary suburb. In fact, it is one of the more affluent
towns west of Paris that once was the home of numerous French monarchs. It is
known for being the birthplace of Louis XIV.
Julie
and her French husband Alain, live in a tall three story yellow house with a
high front gate and long narrow walled garden in the back. A terrace overlooks an expanse of
perfectly kept green lawn and rose bushes. It is private and quiet behind the high walls. (Two days
prior to our arrival, Julie and Alain had hosted a garden party for 75 people.)
Julie and Alains garden
Julie told the story during lunch on the
terrace that she had walked past this house many times when they first moved to
St. Germain-en-Laye and had decided it was not only her favorite but the
one she was going to live in someday. When the time came to move to a bigger
house, she decided she had to have this one. One day she stopped, and rang the doorbell and asked to speak
to the owner. A woman came to the
door and Julie asked her in French, if she would consider selling her house. The woman, taken aback, replied that
the house was not for sale and would she please leave. Undaunted, Julie persisted. A short time later Alain went with her to ask again if the woman wouldn’t consider selling. When Alain pulled out a piece of paper
and wrote a figure on it as to what he would be willing to pay, the woman
agreed to sell. When Julie and
Alain and their two children moved in, they began extensive renovations before
moving to Dubai to live for 8 years and renting the house out. Today they live
in Julie’s dream house which is a combination of old and new – beautiful
moldings and high ceilings with shiny marble floors, a wide winding staircase
which goes up to a third floor of guest rooms. All the rooms have tall graceful windows that let in much
natural light, and there is a gourmet kitchen worthy of being photographed for
a glossy home decor magazine.
After
lunch, Julie, an enthusiastic guide, took us on a walk to the St.
Germaine-en-Laye Chateau gardens and the famous 1.5 mile long stone terrace
built in the 1600’s. The terrace
provides a stunning view over the valley of the Seine and in the distance you
can see Paris. Then we walked to the train station to catch a late afternoon,
double-decker, commuter train into Paris. We were back in Marais in 40 minutes,
having caught a glimpse of another side of life in the Paris.
1.5 stone terrace overlooking Paris
“What is
it that makes Paris so special?” I
kept asking myself, as we set out each day to see something new. So much of the
city looked familiar as I compared it to Buenos Aires, where I grew up. It was in the early 1900s that the
land wealth of Argentina turned to building a Parisian style capital city.
Sections of Buenos Aires are carbon copies of Paris with wide, shady,
tree-lined boulevards and blocks of early nineteenth century stone carved
buildings. There are statues and
monuments, numerous parks, and European opera houses. The European cafés, the
literate population and sophistication of the porteños (people of Buenos Aires)
mirrors the stylishness of Parisians. Buenos Aires has often been called the “Paris of South
America”. Yet, it has no graceful
Seine River running through it – only a big industrial port on the Tigre River with an
outlet to the sea.
Revisiting
Paris, was another travel adventure, but one that also brought back memories of my childhood. Being in Paris left me with a renewed sense of awe remembering how important this
city has been to the evolution of Western civilization. So many painters, sculptors, writers, philosophers,
musicians, architects, and politicians have been drawn to Paris over centuries.
Their presence is still felt and seen everywhere.
Home of Victor Hugo
Walking along the Seine River
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