Old Crumbly Places

Cha and I both had an unexpected break from our first week of class/orientation and decided to put it to good use. We started out the day by heading to a restaurant supply store so that Cha could get the proper shoes for his cooking classes. This didn't take long and when we left the store we realized we were near the historic Les Halles, once the central wholesale marketplace for Paris. It has since been demolished and replaced with an unsightly shopping mall and the market activity relocated to Rungis (a suburb south of Paris). It is now the largest wholesale food market in the world.

We wandered through the mall for a bit and I was excited to discover that it housed the Bibliothèque du Cinéma François Truffaut. Other than that, it looked like any other mall I have been to... except everything was in French. Unimpressed, we headed above ground to check out the former grounds of what was once the biggest outdoor grocery store but only found skeletal remnants of it.

Behind the mall structure we could see a pretty church, so we headed that way to find out more.

As we approached we read on a sign that it was called Église Saint-Eustache.

This place is said to be a masterpiece in gothic architecture.

A modern sculpture sits in front of the church.

This place was huge and dark and gorgeous. I liked it even more than Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur because it actually looked old. It smelled dusty like a used book store. Many of the carvings were faded and worn. It looked exactly like you would expect a building to look if it had been built between 1532 and 1632. It felt delicate and mortal. And despite its state it is still used for masses. There was one happening in a small side chapel while we were there.

Apparently, Mozart liked this place so much that he had his mother's funeral here.

Saint-Eustache is said to house the largest organ in France

It is comprised of some 8000 pipes and is still used for occasional concerts.

Don't ask me how it works.

Le End.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the Old Crumbly Series: Old Crumbly People.

Little fuzzy cute things

I had heard from Sabrina and various sources on the internet that there are several animal markets that take place around Paris where you can buy pets. The most intriguing aspect of this for me was the fact that you can buy a pet chipmunk! Not that I'm in the market for a pet to further cramp our 300 square-foot apartment, but I was curious just to look. I love animals.

However, I failed miserably at actually finding the market with the chipmunks - perhaps it wasn't operating the day that I looked. At any rate, we found a strip of pet shops on Quai de la Mégisserie along the Seine where I was able to fawn over the kittens, puppies and other little creatures. I didn't take any pictures of them because once you've seen one adorable kitten you've seen them all. Anyway, it was forbidden in several of the shops.

Along with pets, there were also many plants and garden accessories for sale, so we were able to photograph what Charlie described as his worst nightmare:

Across Pont au Change, we also had a great view of Palais de la Justice de Paris (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned prior to being executed). And, not far beyond it, lies Sainte-Chapelle.

I swear, every time you turn around in the city you find yourself at the foot of some important monument. We declined to enter either of them, however.

Instead, we crossed the street to visit a little kiosk filled with antique books. We were too poor to buy any of them, much to Charlie's dismay, but he was content just to look for a while.

We were getting hungry so we wandered toward Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris.

I gotta say, this must have been some damn fine construction because this baby still looks new to me.

After some zigzagging through the neighborhood trying to find a place that wasn't filled with tourists (which was no easy task so close to the Louvre). We eventually found a nice little cafe on a street corner and sat down for our first proper restaurant meal together.

We decided to be brave and order a couple of typical French dishes. I had roasted rabbit over tagliatelle pasta with a tomato sauce:

Yummy bunny

Charlie decided to be really REALLY brave and ordered the andouillette, a tripe sausage known for its distinct fecal odor. Even the waiter tried to dissuade him from this one. But it is said to be delicious, so he went for it.

He managed to eat 2/3 of it. I could smell it from across the table and opted not to try it.

For dessert we had tarte fine aux pommes with caramel ice cream and a couple of espressos. Mmmmmmmmm...

This was our last day of true freedom before classes/orientation started, so future blog entries may be few and far between.

I'll leave you with a picture of the resident chef in his new uniform.

Touristic Hedonism

Neither of us were really in the mood to go schlepping about large monuments among other gawkers today (and Charlie just really wanted to smoke), so we headed to Jardin du Luxembourg. It was conveniently located just around the corner from Alliance Française so I could just hang out calmly for a while before dragging my feet down the block to the torture that is French class.

The place was really nice. My only complaint was that there were kilometers of wide gravelly walkways that would have been more aesthetically pleasing and easier to enjoy if they were covered with grass or plants or something - anything but gravel.

Tree-lined paths

Large walkways wind through sculpted gardens

More grass, please.

Luxembourg Palace, the seat of the French Senate - We did not go in.

Les fleurs

Ducks! This was one of my favorite things.

A large pond in the middle where kids played with model boats

I wanted one

This was what we stared at for most of the afternoon.

And now for your enjoyment, an interview with the resident cigar aficcionado:

... but everything is tall compared to me.

On Wednesday, Charlie and I decided to get up early and see the big monuments: The Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Considering what a zoo these sites already were when we got to them around 9:00 AM, I would not advise visiting them any later in the day.

The only way I could get a picture of the whole thing was by standing across the street from it.

There was the biggest flag I have ever seen in the middle.

Hubba hubba

We walked down Avenue de Champs-Élysées for a while and found that Charlie had his very own building.

I was already whining about my feet at this point, which were hurting from our previous day's outing, so we headed back to the metro and made our way over to the Eiffel Tower.

Looking up her skirt

We decided not to go up the tower because it was expensive and there was already a two-hour wait to do it, even at that early hour. Instead we walked under her and onto a large grassy area adjacent to the site in order to get a few pictures. 

We didn't stay long because we were being hit up by swarms of people selling souvenirs or just pan-handling. As we wandered around in search of food, I happened upon these colorful scooters:

We found a cafe nearby to have breakfast and coffee. It was, of course, ridiculously overpriced because it was so close to a popular tourist destination, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

Tartines - essentially a baguette with pizza toppings. Yummy!

My foot was so done by this point that we just headed back home where I relaxed all afternoon instead of going to French class.

F. U.

Up next: Botanical gardens, birds, boats and bunnies.

Good Old-Fashioned Catholic Fun

Sorry for the delay in updating. A certain someone has been neglecting his duty of completing the final chapter of his trip to the south of France and I have been waiting for him to do so before posting again. But we have had an activity-filled week and if I wait any longer I'll never get to it, so here's a photographic summary.

Monday, August 23, 2010: Notre Dame de Paris. I never realized how old this cathedral was, but according to Wikipedia, what currently stands was completed in 1345. If you want more history than that, you'll have to look it up yourself.

The exterior (front):

Side:

Rear:

Miscellaneous interior:

A chandelier, at least a foot taller than me, sitting on the floor for some reason.

As far as I could tell, this is an exaggerated podium upon which to rest one's Bible.

Stained glass:

Loads of bread: These people are definitely French.

Candles:

This is a seed that fell from a tree behind the cathedral:

We got home just in time for the rain to start pouring:

Tuesday, August 24 - Basilique du Sacré-Coeur and the Dali Museum. This was a WONDERFUL outing. We had a great time doing the following:

One day this week while walking up rue Martyrs two blocks from our house, I noticed a domed building off in the distance. It looked something like this.

I found out that this was Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in the Montmartre neighborhood and that it is only about a 30-minute walk from our house. We had not yet explored Montmartre so we decided to take that walk, rather than riding the metro, to see what it was all about. It is uphill all the way, and the church is located on butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city.

Getting closer...

Almost there...

Just a few more steps!

We went inside and it was beautiful, as one would expect. Photography was not allowed and there were people standing around to actually monitor that this rule was adhered to out of respect for the several people actively worshipping in the church rather than just being tourists.

I couldn't help myself. As we walked behind the main alter, I looked up and saw Jesus peek-a-booing on the ceiling. It had to be captured:

It didn't take long to see the inside of the building, and as we were leaving I remembered reading that one could actually ascend the highest dome of the church. We followed the perplexing signs simultaneously guiding people to the crypt AND the dome (turns out they originate in the same place) but the crypt was closed. We paid a little machine a few euros each and entered into the spiral stairwell by means of a metro-type turnstile.

And thus began the huffing and puffing up 300 claustrophobic steps.

Steep and narrow

Another spiral staircase leading up to one of the secondary domes

About half way up the route detours out of doors, offering a refreshing break from the stifling stairwell.

We made it!

There was graffiti everywhere (unfortunately). And yes, even at the top of the highest building in Paris it still smells like piss. One cannot escape it. But it was well worth the view:

Going back down was not as easy as you think. In some areas the stairs are barely wide and long enough to accommodate both feet, and the tight spiral combined with the darkness and stale air make you dizzy.

We made it in and out of Sacre-Coeur just as the tourist rush was beginning and headed around the corner to a recently installed permanent Dali exhibition. This particular exhibition features Dali's sculptures and his complete collection of etchings, rather than the surrealist paintings that he is most famous for. It was refreshing to discover a new-found appreciation for the work of this artist who I already admire. They didn't seem to care at all whether pictures were taken, so I helped myself.

Alice in Wonderland:

Advice from a Caterpillar

Who Stole the Tarts?

The Old Testament (Name that bible story!):

The New Testament:

Others:

The Vision of the Angel

I don't know the name of the following work, but it was a horizontal piece of art that looked like a large moth and had a reflective cylinder placed so as to create a face.

At the end of the exhibition, Charlie and I discovered and enjoyed the Dali-themed photo booth.

Funny thing is, I kind of look like him. I always wanted a mustache like that.

Charlie blissfully melts into infinity.

Okay, I'm not going to do the whole week in one entry. There is just too much. I'll follow up soon with more (and so will a certain someone).