Final Paris post from the Toussaint trip. Paris is best done on foot, and I was poor, so I was avoiding the metros. Luckily I did have a few half days of decent weather. This post is those random other places I visited, usually after wandering around.

Paris: Walking Around

Palais Garnier

Napoleon monument.

It was amazing how many things I saw this time around which I’d missed first time. And I’d thought I’d pretty much seen everything. I suppose last time I was dead-sick of monuments and churches, which meant I would’ve skipped places like La Madeleine (below).

La Madeleine

Inside La Madeleine

La Madeleine is much more like Italian basilicas than French eglises. I could’ve been back in Rome.

Random church near La Madeleine - I have no idea of its name.

La Madeleine is much like a roundabout, and down one of the streets I could spy an interesting looking church. It was crammed between two streets at an intersection, clearly not on the usual tourist path. I thought it looked ridiculously French and perhaps a little more recent (!) than some of the other Parisien eglises. I did find out the name – it was something like ‘St. Jean Paul’ or similar; let me know if anyone does know.

Interior of unknown church.

It was very Roman Catholic inside, basilica-esque like La Madeleine, but seemed to be made of more modern materials (?) I could be totally wrong. There was a lot of art-noveau style embellishment.

Fixtures in mystery church.

Crepe baby.

I did have my first savoury crepe – check it out, I was so hungry I took a chomp before I took the photo. It’s wicked to see these guys making these.

Promenade Plante.

A new site I’d not heard of before was the Promenade Plante. It’s a mile long linear garden – thats three stories in the air. Built on what appears to be an old railway bridge or aqueduct, the promenade was tourist free, and lovely for lunch. Kids on rollerskates, business people on smoko, couriers on bike – they all hiked it up the steps to commute amongst the flowers and garden.

Place de Vosges

Another site I’d seen on tv, and was glad I stumbled upon, was a square bordered by identical symmetrical townhouses (one of which was the home of Victor Hugo), hidden near Bastille. It’s the Place des Vosges, and isn’t well known to tourists, but is well loved by Parisiens. It is somewhat bizarre in there, as the buildings are identical and symmetrical on all four sides; as is the garden. It’s difficult to show the effect in 2D photos.

Monument of the Bastille.

Nothings left of the Bastille now except a really big roundabout. In its place is a monument, which looks remarkably like every other monument in Europe – green with a gold angel of some sort on the top. What is marvellous, though, about all this gold is that it shines even when the sky is as grey and purple as you can see above. It absolutely shines. In Lille, I always notice how luminescent the gold of the beffroi in the old town no matter how shitty the weather.

On my way to Pere Lachaise I cut through the gardens of the national natural history museum, and was really taken by this sculpture:

L'oiseau (1994) Vincent Barre.

It was one of a serious of sculptures with an endangered animal theme – but I immediately spotted that this represented the near extinction of whales and I thought the juxtaposition of harpoon and orca tail was clever. Around the base was the phrase:

Le bonheur n’est pas departi equalement a tous les etres sensibles … BUFFON.

Which I (very) tentatively translate as ‘happiness is not distributed equally amongst all intelligent/sensitive beings’ (please correct me, French speakers). Buffon was a natural scientist, I believe, who played a role in the founding of the museum. I feel strongly about whale hunting, as most Australians do, so this sculpture really stood out.

Paris: Near Eiffel Tour

Eiffel at night.

I spent way too many cold nights sitting in the gardens trying to do time lapse of the Eiffel tour. But seriously, it looks so cool all blue and shiny. Check out the strobe at the top. Once again, I declined to climb it – too poor, too tired and most importantly, it was too fucking cold.

Eiffel at night 2.

Eiffel with Sparkles.

I waited for half an hour in 3 degrees for the above shot. Feel the pain, my friend.

Hows this for doors.

The Sandeman free tour I went on took us past the Petite Palais, an exhibition hall (which is directly across from it’s sibling, surprise surprise, the Grand Palais) built for the same world expo which showcased the Eiffel tour. Of course it was ridiculously gorgeous, but the doors took the cake. Check out the little girl in comparison to the height. Not sure if they’re real gold, but wouldn’t be surprised.

Speaking of gold …

Invalides.

While heading towards the Eiffel tour, I did see Invalides again, or, in particular, the chapel at the back. Beneath that wonderfully golden dome, Napoleon lies in a massive red marble coffin. It seemed no matter where I was in the city, if I could see far, I could see this bright luminescent gold dome – from Montmatre, and especially from the towers of Notre Dame (see pic below).

Paris: Near the Louvre

I didn’t go to the Louvre this time around, though the Sunday I was there, it was free. I was exhausted even thinking about trudging around that behemoth. I did trudge – through mud – around it, though.

Gardens of the Palais Royale

Bird shit, weird art and storm clouds in the Tuileries.

Tuileries is the garden which links the Louvre with Place de la Concorde.

Random tour near the Louvre.

I spotted this tower when I was rushing to the Palais Garnier for my tour. I’d never noticed it before, even though last time I stayed right near here. It was gorgeous. From memory, it is the tour of the jesuits or something similar.

Painter on the pedestrian bridge near the Louvre.

Shakespeare and Company.

The famous Shakespeare and Co bookshop – I’d heard a lot of things about it, but had never managed to find it. It’s in the Latin quarter near St. Michel (so not strictly near the Louvre, but anyway). Is this the actual shop? Is there ‘branches’ (that seems against the spirit of the place, but, you know …) It’s all English books – I did have a good look for a second hand book to read but the cheapest I found was 6euros, and that was out of my impoverished budget. However, they had pretty much every decent English book ever put out for sale – it’s a booklover’s paradise, an anal-retentive’s nightmare: stacks and shelves of randomly tottering books, hairy hippys running about and snobby professor-types. If I need a book next time I’m in Paris, I’d probably go to one of the cheap chain stores near St. Michel.

My last site of Free Day was l’Orangerie, an impressionist museum housed in an old greenhouse (hence the name). I wouldn’t pay to go, but it was worth visiting when I didn’t have to. I’m not terribly educated about art, but I do sort of get impressionism (though I don’t like it so much). I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by the l’Orangeries main fare – a set of Monet’s Waterlilly paintings – but I really was swept away by it.

L'Orangerie.

Basically, this set represents two scenes from Monet’s Giverny garden, which are then presented three times each – day, night and dusk – in a continuous series of panels around two custom built oval shaped rooms. The paintings were made for the building, rather than the other way round. There’s also another floor of other impressionist artists, but I wasn’t too interested in those. The Monets were truly lovely: you really did get the ‘impression’ of the light and colour in a beautiful French garden, even though the shapes are blurry and coarsely painted. Of course, it doesn’t photograph well, as individual sections outside the context of their entire panels just don’t convey the same feeling.

Layout of the Waterlillies paintings.

Waterlillies.

Waterlillies section.

Waterlillies section.

Paris: Île de la Cité

Beside the Seine - with the Pont Neuf in view.

The Ile de la Cite is the island which is the heart of Paris – it’s where the first settlers here set down, it holds Notre Dame and the Concierge and my favourite church, Sainte Chappelle.

Bird poo anyone?

Night looking towards the Ile de la Cite

Notre Dame night.

Last time I’d been far too churched out to appreciate Notre Dame. She’s lovely. I visited several times this trip; mostly because she is wonderfully free.

Notre Dame night 2.

Notre Dame day.

Notre Dame interior.

This was the frist time I’d made it to Notre Dame in the morning, on a sunny day. The interior was lit up with colour, as much Sainte Chappelle. Last time I’d been so disappointed, so this visit was a pleasant surprise. I also hadn’t realised how old she was – she was built in the 1100s, making her a good deal older than most other French churches of her type.

One of the famous Notre Dame rosettes.

Behind the altar was the best light shows.

Cieling behind the altar. How deliciously medieval.

Notre Dame gargoyle looks towards Eiffel Tour and Invalides.

Thanks to free day I climbed the Notre Dame tours (I recommend lining up from 9-9:30 if you’re going on Free day to do the tours, as I had to wait an hour and a half (on a six degree day!), and I arrived at 9:45 (it opens at 10); 15 minutes earlier I’d gone past and seen only six people waiting. It’s the best view in Paris besides Sacre Couer, because you can see all the landmarks as well as the gargoyles. In the above pick, the gold dimple to the left of the Eiffel tour is the gold dome of Invalides where Napoleon is entombed. Told you it stands out against the grey sky.

Just as old, but infinitely more beautiful is Sainte Chappelle. It’s my favourite church in the world – so much so, it is the header image of this blog (see the top of the page, duh). Due to free day (national monuments in Paris are free on the first Sunday of the month), I was very happy to return there. I ran into a couple of American women from San Diego – they’d heard there was a ‘pretty church’, and joined the long line without really knowing what it was about. Their jaws hit the floor when they entered. It really is lovely. What makes it so surprising, I think, is how normal it seems from the outside: the Paris government buildings (Palais de la Cite) has been built up around it, and Sainte Chappelle is only accessed by entering the courtyard of the government buildings. It is one of the oldest churches in Paris – 1200’s – and was built for use by palace personnel. It’s tiny and private; unlike other churches, it has two levels – one for the common nobility, and a magnificient upper level for royalty.

Vaulted cieling, similar to Notre Dame, in lower levels.

Sainte Chappelle, upper level.

Sainte Chappelle, upper level.

Sainte Chappelle, upper level.

Paris: Note to self …

Next time you travel to Paris, Karen, don’t book this train:

Yes, I took the L A S T train to leave Gare du Nord. Somehow I had mixed up the departure time with the arrival time: what in gods name was I thinking? Besides the fact that I had to sneakily camp out at my hostel until 10pm, hoping they wouldn’t notice I wasn’t staying there anymore (because it was far too cold to hang out at Gare du Nord), the train gets in after the last metro train has left (three minutes after, to be exact). It’s so wonderful walking 5km home at 1am in 3 degree rainy weather with my heavy daypack and a bag of groceries, and wearing nothing much more than a hoodie, jeans and soggy boots. Luckily, where it had been rainy and miserable in Paris, it was clear and pleasant in Lille (take that, Bienevue Chez des Ch’tis, the weather was better in Lille during Toussaint than in West France). But, hey, at least I wasn’t the only one: many people started running from the train, and when they missed the last metro, we all headed towards our respective homes together. Meanwhile, Hellemmes is lovely at 1am, very peaceful.