Paris and the Heart of France
Day 3 Paris - "Let them eat cake!"
After another wonderful breakfast buffet with several fresh warm chocolate croissants, our group took the Metro to Châtelet, to meet our exceptional local guide Elisabeth. We started by looking at one of the Metro entrances with the original Art Nouveau glass roof. We then visited the oldest monumental public fountain in Paris, c1550, walked through Les Halles Forum, toured the inside of Église Saint-Eustache, and then walked along the trendy Rue Montergueil.
We stopped to enjoy a platter of cheese and fresh fruit. It was exceptional cheese and I've never eaten a better strawberry. We had a bit of free time to wander and to buy something from one of the local bakeries or cafes, since that is the polite thing to do in Paris, when you want to use their restroom.
One of my personal highlights was visiting Patissiere Stohrer (51 Rue Montorgueil, 75002 Paris, France). Founded by Nicolas Stohrer in 1730, it is the oldest patisserie in Paris. Nicolas had an impeccable resumé as he was the actual pastry chef to King Louis XV. The shop has an absolutely amazing 18th century interior, which is a treat in itself, but the real reason to enter is the choice of pastries and desserts that are fit for a king. We had a chocolate éclair, which in France is filled with an exquisite chocolate mousse and topped with chocolate fondant. Absolutely amazing, and probably the best éclair we had in France! To which I say, let them eat cake, I'll have another chocolate éclair!
"Let them eat cake!" While this phrase is famously attributed to Marie Antoinette, the original phrase was really, "Let them eat brioche!" Brioche was the rich man's version of bread, which was out of reach of peasants who spent some 50% of their income on basic bread.
The callous and rather indignant phrase, likely predates Marie Antoinette by more than 100 years, and was probably spoken by Marie-Therese, the Spanish princess who married Louis XIV in 1660.
The first published account of the phrase (1782) was written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (prior to 1769) who simply attributed it to a "great princess." Historians note that not only was it uncharacteristic of Marie-Antoinette's view of humanity, but she was barely a teenager when the story was written, and she did not arrive in France from Austria until 1770.
Elisabeth continued to take us through her favorite neighborhood, where we window shopped all sorts of interesting and esoteric things, from fine art to stuffed tigers. We also walked through the beautiful Gallerie Vivienne, a glass roofed indoor mall of shops and restaurants. We walked to the beautiful column-lined Jardin de Palais Royale, where walked by some amazing antique stores and the historic and very pricey restaurant, Le Grand Vefour, which was founded in 1784. We stopped in the park to sample various flavored macaroons, a french delicacy, that our guide bought for us.
Artist Daniel Buren's installation of black and white striped columns is in the adjacent courtyard of the Palais Royal. France seems to revel in placing controversial art (or architectural) installations in traditional locations. Our guide explained that while most Parisians initially resist them, eventually they grow to love them, and don't want them removed. Examples include the glass pyramid at the Louvre, the Pompidou Centre, and even the Eiffel Tower. Shortly before we arrived, two gold painted tractor tires, were installed as ornaments on the stairway of the Garnier Opera Palace. I hope for France's sake that those are just temporary.
We ended our guided tour at the entrance of the Louvre, where our guide suggested a route through the Louvre to see the highlights, and avoid the crowds.
With our afternoon free, we headed back into the Louvre to see some of the things that we were just too tired to visit the previous day. Our guide had encouraged us to see the museum underneath the museum. The Louvre itself sits on top of some pretty impressive walls and other now excavated structures. We went and saw more highlights of the museum, the winged figure of Afrodities, Venus de Milo, and then the Egyptian, Babylonian/Persia exhibits to see Hammurabi's code, one of the earliest examples of a written code of law.
My wife asked me to take her picture next to some giant stone figures from the Babylonian empire who she said looked just like the ones she had see as a child in Chicago. I had to laugh when I read the museum card. It seemed ironic that there we were, half-way around the world, in Paris, in the Louvre, taking pictures next to a reproduction of something on display in Chicago!
Artisans Copying Chicago’s Assyrian Bull for Louvre Exhibit
CHICAGO (AP) _ Take 4 pounds of potatoes, the head of a man, the body of a bull and the wings of an eagle; add plaster of Paris; mix, and out comes a copy of a 40-ton Assyrian winged bull - or so French artisans hope.... read more
After a quick lunch, we headed for a walk through the Tuilleries Gardens. We stopped to take pictures of the Arc de Triomphe at the Carousel where Napolean had placed the 4th century b.c. bronze horses he had plundered from Venice's St. Mark's Cathedral. Those original horses were returned to Venice after Napolean lost the Battle of Waterloo.
When you walk on the center path of the Tuilleries Gardens, you are able to see the Obelisk at the Place de Concorde, and look all the way up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
We were determined to use our museum pass as much as possible, so we headed to the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lilies. Wow, two oval shaped rooms hold some 300 linear feet of paintings, that show the gardens in the full range of light from sunrise to sunset. Pictures don't do it justice. The museum has an impressive collection of other artists including Cézanne, Matisse, Renoir and Picasso on the lower floor.
After that we walked over towards the Place de Concorde, which was blocked off and covered with bleachers and sports courts to garner enthusiasm for the upcoming 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. C'est la vie. So we caught the metro to our next stop.
The Centre Pompidou is an enormous museum of modern and contemporary art. All of the greats are represented including master works of Kandinsky, Mondrian, Matisse, Miró, Allbers, Johns, Rothko and Warhol, as well as some photography. The museum offers spectacular views of of Paris from its roof-top sculpture gardens and outside walkways. The building itself is a work of art, with its normally hid infrastructure on full display on the outside and color-coded at that.
Schedule
We grabbed a quick bite to eat before walking to our next stop, The Musée des Arts et Métiers. The Métiers museum showcases French ingenuity and innovation with some 2400 inventions. If you love technology and engineering, this is one museum you will want to visit.
I wanted to go to this museum as it houses some of the earliest and rarest cameras in existence. The collection features Louis Daguerre's original camera from around 1835, and an extremely rare first production camera, made by Alfonse Giroux dating from 1839. The display includes some early Dubroni cameras, a camera with a glass/liquid body, and a stereo version of the first all metal camera by Compaigne Photosphere. Leica aficionados will be disappointed that the Model I(A) camera serial number (#12711) labeled 1926, really dates from late 1928.
I had to snicker at the "bat" airplane design, especially with its feathered propellers. I'm pretty sure it is now higher above the ground in the museum than it ever was in real life. Other important inventions on display include Focault's original pendulum that helped prove the rotation of the earth, and Blaise Pascal's adding machines (dating from 1642) which added up to 6 or 8 digit figures. Pascal was a mechanical and computing genius. He invented his mechanical calculator when he was only 19 years old.