A Saturday morning stroll near Republique

We were headed north, towards République, when we noticed that in Rue Perée there were several electric cars plugged in and charging, awaiting hire. Rental could easily be effected by entering your details electronically on a nearby pole.
When we reached Rue du Temple, there were police motor cycles leading a Falun Gong protest. Those guys could certainly teach Australians a thing or two about demonstrations - brass band in blue and white, ladies in traditional costume twirling lotus flowers.
After enjoying this spectacle we explored the Marché Couvert Saint Michel, and passed through a triumphal arch in honour of "Louis the Great" (Louis XIV b.1638, reigned 72 years, called roi soleil) before returning home via République.

Left Bank

Today we ventured over to the left bank for the first time this trip. As we walked around some of the streets, we noted that items we had seen elsewhere were considerably more expensive here. There are some interesting shops so window shopping is worthwhile.
When we first crossed the river we encountered a large building called the National Language Institute. It is the Académie Française where it is decided which words may be admitted to the French language. If this body doesn't allow it, then it is not a French word! It is a suitably imposing building across the river from the Louvre.
We passed the statue of Voltaire and continued until we sat down at a restaurant that has been continuously functioning for 110 years and looks the same as it did then. Unfortunately, we were ignored so we didn't hang around for coffee but eventually found ourselves at a restaurant with a singing waiter - much more satisfactory!
The main aim of our walk today was to go to the Luxemberg Gardens. The palace attached (now the Senate) and the gardens were built by Marie de Medici to remind her of Italy. The gardens, now public, are full of beautiful garden beds, tree lined avenues and a very Italianate pool. Apart from wandering around there are many other activities catered for. There are chess sets, tennis courts, children's activities and many seats simply for enjoying the view.
We came back via a restaurant called Nanashi which is just around the corner from our apartment and had a very late lunch there. We both agreed, that in terms of vegetable content and production it was much better than the vaunted place we went last night. Our Fooding 2013 App says "what a health food heaven! Amongst crates of organic vegetables, rice sacks, soy source and natural cereals, Kaori Endo prepares a daily fish, meat, or vegie bento."

Macéo restaurant

Having spent a large part of the day looking at Braque paintings, on Thursday evening we went to Macéo, a restaurant that looked quite interesting to us. What caught our attention was that it emphasised the use of vegetables, something that seems quite unusual in France. We arrived for our 8pm booking and were greeted in friendly style. The room is panelled with bevelled mirrors and has a Palm Court art deco ambience, quiet and with capacity to sustain conversation.
The waiter who produced the menus spoke perfect English and I have to admit, somewhat sheepishly that it was a relief. It really made the evening. We had already decided on a 3 course a menu formule, as are going for another meal next week which promises to be very interesting.
Having said all that we found the meal well presented, interesting but not too out of the ordinary in Australian terms but in French terms probably quite unusual.
We also felt that the courses came a bit too quickly. We were out of the restaurant in an hour and a half following a three course meal and a bottle of wine - La Soula 2007 made from Carignan, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. It comes from the Côtes de Catalan region of France near the Pyrenées and is grown in granite soil possibly similar to that of the Heathcote area of Victoria. Like a growing number of European wines it is organic.
It has been a warm day but this evening is humid, warm and generally unpleasant. It rained while we were in the restaurant and as I write this it is raining again so we got home just in time.
Our stroll back to the station led us down rue Molière and past a statue of same.

Georges Braque at the Grand Palais

Last night I looked out the window and decided I liked the view across the road with its eerie lighting so I took a photo just for fun. Note the ceiling beams visible through one window.
Today we went to the Braque exhibition, which started in Paris Grand Palais in September, a retrospective to commemorate 50 years since his death.

We didn't realise what an epic journey it would be. We arrived at the Grand Palais around 11am or a bit before expecting a queue which would move reasonably fast as they do in Melbourne. That's not what happened. There were two queues, one for those who had bought tickets on line and one for the other unfortunates yet to purchase same - that was us. So we stood in the queue, and stood, and stood watching batches of the ticketed being allowed in until we thought that this may be a practical joke at the expense of us or that the ticket office only opens après midi. Then a few people from our queue were let in and it seemed there was some chance of seeing the exhibition today. So we stood some more. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the ticket office. Those without tickets are definitely second class citizens! Having bought tickets we went upstairs (two levels). And finally found the entrance to the exhibition.

And what an exhibition....there are more than 250 works, probably most of the works he ever did. We noted that paintings had been brought from all over Europe, the US and UK but none, that we noted at least, from Australia.
There were also photos of him and videos of him as well as his sketches and cartoons, and special editions of books - among the last an amazing series of illustrations he did for an edition of an Ancient Greek epic about creation (see a pic below) - and of some of his works prepared for or executed in the Louvre, particularly the birds that are painted in the ceiling in one of the rooms in The Louvre. In the mid 20th century he was the only living artist with works in the Louvre. It would be interesting to know whether this peculiar honour has now been bestowed on others.

It is a terrific exhibition and well worth the queuing. We particularly enjoyed the cubist period which he and Picasso developed together. They were very good friends and lived in close proximity in Monmartre for several years.

We arrived back to our district at around 3pm and had a beer and chips for lunch in preparation for a restaurant event tonight.

Monarchs of France

Today we made our third attempt to do a guided tour of the Basilica of St Denis which houses the tombs or funerary sculptures of every French king since Dagobert in the 7th century. Many of the exhibits were moved here from other places but that doesn't detract from the importance of this amazing church and its exhibition.
The basilica is named for Denis, who in turn had been named for an obscure Greek- Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in passing in the New Testament. Denis is said to have been sent to convert the Parisians in the 3rd century, and peremptorily decapitated by the Romans ( hence his headless statues in Paris associated with a legend of him picking up his head and walking).
The basilica, now maintained by the Government as a national monument, is outside the walls of (ancient) Paris but its royal record of coronation, burial and memorial of kings and many queens is unsurpassed in the western world. Much of the credit for its position in French monarchical history is down to one man, Abbé Suger, around the early 12th century, who made it his business to increase the importance of this church. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbot_Suger

No doubt there are many strange stories attached to events surrounding the exhibits but the strangest would have to be regarding the heart of Louis XVII, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The child died of an illness soon after being proclaimed king following the events surrounding the deaths of his parents. The attending doctor, when performing a post mortem stole a piece of the boy's heart. That piece of heart eventually turned up and was lost again until the 20th century when it was handed to the person in charge of French treasures in the 1970's. Its provenance was eventually verified by DNA testing skin and hair from Marie Antoinette and DNA from descendants of same. In 2004 there was a formal funeral and the heart was placed in a crystal urn and placed on show in the chapel of the Bourbons beneath an 18th century relief of Louis XVII. Here is the technical detail, possibly more than you want to know unless you are into forensics:
http://louis17.chez.com/english.htm

For any Paris visitor this is an exhibition well worth making an effort to see, and it is a pity that the big name tourist books don't give more prominence. For us it is the highlight of a Paris visit and we see in it nearly 1200 years of French life (650- 1820) directed by the central ideas of the resurrection of Jesus (symbolised in a variety of subtle ways now obscure but formerly obvious), and the authority of governing royalty.

Do have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St_Denis

Tour Eiffel revisited

The last time either either of us were near Tour Eiffel was 1973 so perhaps it was time to return. We can report that the tower still stands and dominates its surrounds; the queues to ride the cable lift on the North pylon are still long and those to mount the stairs on the South are still very short.
We started our visit from a stroll up the swanky Avenue Paul Doumer from Place de la Muette. You could lighten a heavy bank account by getting a fur or three in that boulevard. The Palais de Chaillot provides perhaps the best vantage point to survey the Eiffel landscape.
The Champs de Mars then becomes an easy stroll. Walking north east towards the Musée de L'Armée we came upon Rue Cler, mentioned in several guide books as a street to come to grips with typical Parisian food shopping punctuated by a coffee. Far be it for us to challenge this estimate or the habits of apartment dwellers nearby, but it did seem to us that the Mouffetard, Montorfgueil, and Marché des Enfants Rouges and surrounding de Bretagne, all have more attraction than Cler for variety of choice and eye appeal.
We crossed the Seine again at Alexander III and after negotiating the huge traffic standstill at Concorde and took the Metro to home base for lunch via a large supermarket at Republique.

After a suitable break we sallied forth to obtain the long and eagerly awaited ice-cream Berthillon on Ile Saint Louis. A double cone at €4.50 is good value for intensity of flavour that is unsurpassed. A little personal shopping on Rue Saint Croix de la Brettonerie was also attended to.

Monday everything is shut!

Monday in Paris is like Sunday in many other places. All the museums are shut and so are many of the small and more interesting shops. So today was another day of wandering around looking at places some of which we've seen before and others we have not. We wandered on to the Ile St Louis, looked longingly at the Berthillon ice cream and decided that having a felafel later was more important. We headed along a linear park on the banks of the Seine past the Institut du Monde Arabe to the Jardin des Plantes where we spent a happy hour wandering amongst the flower beds. Some of the plants in the beds surprised us slightly - lantana, plectranthus, cannas, not to mention Morning glory in various colours. It was interesting to see how others appeared brighter and more vibrant in the French environment than they do in Aus. We would have gone into the tropical glasshouse but that required payment as would the zoo part of the garden. We did however see some rather sad looking wallabies before we left for the rue des Rosiers and the much awaited falafel. I have probably mentioned before that these would have to be the best in the world -of the three principal vendors we buy ours from Vi Va Mi- and their price has only increased by .50c since our last one two years ago.
They were so good that after consuming them in a park we retired to our apartment to celebrate with a half bottle of champagne!
In the afternoon we strolled down to the Pompidou Centre, a place where there are always exhibitions of modern art. It isn't for us. We didn't hang around but continued on. The area exhibits a sea of humanity at different levels of self respect, poverty and activity. As we walked we listened to a woman playing the didgeridoo, while a few minutes later we saw a young man showing off his soccer skills.
As we walked home we were struck by the vibrant nature of the Marais and the eclectic nature of the shops, especially the designer clothes and jewellery, even though many of them were closed. It is the best place in Paris to go shopping. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.....