Walking Paris

Anyone who's fallen for Paris knows the Metros are a great way to get around, but walking is the best way to see and feel the city. So on the breezy 75 degree days we've been off to places both familiar and new. Paul's NY cousins' friends gave us a set of walking tours they had just published, and we think they're great - to get us down little streets previously passed by or to view old sights from new directions.

First was a walk from Metro Cadet in the 9th e. through five glass and steel roofed "passages" with lovely tiled floors, built in the 1800's to make shopping more convenient in Paris' rainy winters. Lined with old specialty shops and restaurants, they were very cozy and inviting. But too early for lunch, we pressed on past 17th century churches, a Place with Louis XIV statue (Louis really spent the people's money to leave his marks all over France), for a lovely outdoor lunch on Rue Leopold Bellan built in the 15th century. Then to the Rue Montorgueil, limited traffic and a highly touted food street. We couldn't resist a cherry tart, saving it for a later coffee stop. Onward to St. Eustache church and Les Halles, the park that replaced the Fruit and Vegetable vendors (too big, too much odor, garbage, rats, it was moved to a suburb in 1969.) This led us to the beautiful and familiar Palais Royale, then on to Place Madeline and a Metro ride home.

Next walk was to satisfy our love for Paris' parks, so to an old favorite, Parc Monceau in the 17th. We began at the Arc de Triumph, and zig-zaged past an Art Nouveau Ceramic Hotel, a lovely 1912 department store with stained glass ceiling (now an electronics store), and an 1862 Byzantine inspired Russian Cathedral.

Finally through the elegant gates to Parc Monceau, where Proust did a lot of contemplation. It's a beautiful, not very large park in the style of English gardens with Greek columns just for the fun of viewing them and of course a small lake. As usual, it was filled with playful children with their parents and the elder generation. Everything in Paris is well maintained, providing lots of jobs and peaceful enjoyment.

I was disappointed to see no bridal parties in full regalia as witnessed on earlier visits, but perhaps less likely on Thursday evening. This area of Paris is still the place for the Bourgeoisie with large houses and mansions. We had a pleasant outdoor dinner, then walked back down toward Paris center, viewing from the rear a huge St. Augustin Cathedral in the final light of day. We need to return to see that in the setting sun light. We approached Place Madeline from the north too, a familiar land mark from a view we'd never before seen.

Another walk was inspired by our friend Annabel who mentioned walking along the Canal St. Martin, which we had enjoyed 3 years ago at Patrick's suggestion. This time we started further south, near Place de la Republique, and it was a sunny Sunday. It seemed all the young adults of Paris sit along the canal in the shade of the many trees, to talk, picnic, drink beers, read, write etc. We aimed for the Parc de la Villette in the 19th e., a big well designed park with Cite de Artes and Science, Cité de la Musique, sculptures and open spaces where we heard a really good African rock band, sat on the grass ate ice cream, watched the families and kids, and found out about the free outdoor cinema. The catch is that it starts when it's totally dark, around 11:00 PM.

Oldenburg bike tire and follie in Parc Villette - Taken on previous trip

So we took the Metro part way home and walked the last stretch of the canal to find a good spot for dinner. We did, and had a really nice meal... enhanced by a friendly woman from Finland sitting next to us who helped us decipher the stranger than usual menu. She teaches English, speaks great French, plus Swedish and Finnish. Her traveling companion creates comic books and graphic novels, so Paul had a lively discussion with him. One wonders what the Finns do during those long dark winters. They told a story of summer there, when riding their bikes home from dinner at midnight, they decided it best to wear sun glasses. It had been a beautiful day, great walk, great park, fun meal, and time to take the Metro home and to bed.

Our fourth neighborhood walk, Tuesday, started in the southern part of the 5th e. at Rue Moffetard, a big market street. We proceeded north to Place de la Contrscarpe, a former hang out for drunkards. Down Cardinal Lemoine is one of the buildings where Ernest Hemingway lived with his wife in the early 1920's. A wall plaque with a quote from A Moveable Feast translates as, "This is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."

Further along we visited the church of St. Etienne du Mont, which is dedicated to St. Genevieve. Her claim to fame seems to be that when Attila and 700,000 Huns were at the gates of Paris in 451, she went to his camp and persuaded him to sack Orleans instead. Doesn't sound so saintly to me, but apparently she also had visions and other miracles to put her into the canonized cult.

Then to the Pantheon, a beautiful temple but not religious, it's a burial site for France's great heroes. The dome is 220 feet high; in 1851, Foucault suspended a pendulum from the dome to perform a sensational demonstration, proving to Napoleon III and the Parisian elite that the Earth revolved around its axis. Scientists already knew this, but this was the first visible demonstration. It's fun to watch.

After lunch we thought we'd head home to our apartment and fan, seeking refuge from the forecast 90 degree heat; but first a long awaited stop on Ille St. Louis for Berthollin's ice cream. Crossing the Pont St. Louis we were astounded to see a familiar looking guy making big energetic gestures at us. Turns out it was our friends from LA, David Musicant followed by Catherine, Alex, Josh and Natalie. We hugged all around and marveled at the coincidence of it, and determined it must'a been the ice cream that had drawn us all to this spot on the globe; they had just finished theirs. What great fun to be in Paris and run into dear old friends! We hugged all around again and set off in our opposite directions - to meet again, most likely, when we convene for our annual Christmas gathering.

The hot Metro was too much to face, so we chose instead a British thriller at the Bastille called, "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", a well put together distraction that kept us cool. (Paul's aside: this is the kind of stuff he finds interesting: the title role in Alice is the same woman, Gemma Arterton http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2605345/ , who played the title role in the other movie we saw, "Tamara Drewe", a romantic comedy; two quite different roles. This is the kind of stuff Danice has to put up with.) After the movie we walked home to a neighborhood bar for Beers with a slight breeze, then to our relatively cool apartment where Paul read the online news and fixed a great meal while I started this posting. Rain is promised Wednesday, a welcome cooler and a chance to test our new 3.8E umbrellas.

BTW - how many spotted the double colons? Any gastroenterologists out there?