Paris Perspectives
From the top of the Arc de Triomphe to the base of Sacré-Coeur, from riding a Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus to cruising on the Seine River, we saw Paris from many different angles. Its commemorative monuments reminded me of those in Washington DC; Luxembourg Gardens recalled the multi-purpose uses of Central Park. But it was in observing people’s actions and in sharing experiences with Paris native Guy LePechon and his family and relative newcomer Florentine Friedrich that we came to know Paris better on this, a sixth visit for Steve and me, a third for Lllli, and a first for Violet.
I’ll start small on the street where we stayed. I was the first to arrive on Tuesday, July 5 at 1:30 pm. Celeste, the owner of our Air B and B at 36 Rue Madame let me leave my bag, but cleaning was in progress until 3:00. While I waited for Lilli and Violet, the owners of Le 27 Madame restaurant across the street, let me sit at one of their shady tables and even brought me water, no charge. As I sat there, I got a feel for the neighborhood–joyous sounds of children at play at the nearby school, mouth-watering aromas from the bakery on the corner, lots of bikes, few bike helmets. We had a delicious dinner at Le 27 Madame that night and again on Saturday.
Wednesday morning, Lilli and Violet left breakfast at Café Madame early to see Violet’s top priority, the Eiffel Tower, which Steve and I had visited in 2016. Savoring a delicious croissant, I saw an elderly woman fall down on the sidewalk across the street. Immediately, a man at the next table went to her aid, brought her a chair from the café, and, joined by a passing Priest, stayed with her until an ambulance came. Seeing spontaneous kindness in action was an auspicious start.
The weather was close to perfect; we walked many miles each day. Close by were the vast and beautiful Luxembourg Gardens (photo album here), and Saint Sulpice Church, the second largest Gothic cathedral in the city. From what I saw in store windows and the way people were dressed, the neighborhood seemed quite prosperous.
After Steve arrived on Wednesday evening, we spent Thursday and Friday seeing art museums–five in all for Lilli and me. My love of art history began when my mother subscribed to monthly packets of prints from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It continued when I walked from Rice to the Museum of Fine Art in Houston. In my junior year, I took a wonderful course in art history from Dr. James Chillman, who had been my freshman advisor. When we moved to Washington in 1968, I began frequent visits to the National Gallery of Art, often bringing my family along. Seeing both old and new artists in Paris Museums was a sheer delight. I have edited my photos and put them into separate albums you can view by clicking on a link for each one.
First the Musée de Cluny, which deserves its own special post. Next the Louvre:
Above, you see the three main wings of the Louvre–Denon, Sully and Richelieu, and below, you see a view of the crowds on July 7, 2022 and how we coped. Lilli had wisely found a person who would meet us at a certain statue in the courtyard and guide us through the Carrousel Shopping Center where the lines were much shorter. Another family named Smith from Atlanta had also reserved a place with this guide. He didn’t accompany us into the Louvre, but he told us what to look for and saved us a lot of time in line.
After surviving the long line to see the Mona Lisa in the Denon Wing, we continued to the Sully and Richelieu Wings, where we found fewer visitors and many treasures, such as the Venus de Milo. Here is my album of 41 photos I took at the Louvre and the l’Orangerie, where Monet’s Waterlilies are not to be missed.
After a lovely outdoor lunch, Steve and Violet returned to Rue Madame, while Lilli and I went to the Centre Pompidou, an art museum we had last visited in 1986. We ascended to the Fifth Floor on glass-enclosed escalators that provided constant changes of perspective. What blew my mind at this museum was a 1962 creation by Arman entitled “Chopin’s Waterloo.” My musician friends were horrified when they saw this on Facebook:
From horror to delight: Thursday night we walked to Restaurant Georgette, and met Florentine Friedrich, daughter of our 1979 exchange student Beatrice. Florentine is finishing her Masters in Economics at the University of Paris and will move to Zurich October 1 for a “pre doc.” It was a wonderful restaurant and catching up with her for the first time in eight years was an all-out pleasure.
On Friday we all visited Sainte Chapelle and walked from there to the Musée d/Orsay (Click here for 41 photos) and its special exhibit on Gaudi (click here). D’Orsay, where French Impressionists fill room after room, rivals all other museums I’ve ever seen. Four paintings by Renoir brought tears of joy to my eyes: Young Girls at the Piano, City Dance, Country Dance, and Dance at the Moulin de la Galette. Prints of the first three hung in my piano studio; the latter was a puzzle I worked one hot July in Florida.
After lunch Steve, who had golfed in England almost non-stop for the previous two weeks. opted for a nap. Lilli, Violet and I took a ride on a Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus. Our feet got some rest as we viewed many famous landmarks from above the crowds on the street. At the Arc de Triomphe we got off and climbed all the way to the top for marvelous views.
Friday night we walked to Brasserie Balzar for dinner with our old friends Edith and Guy LePechon, their son Marc, their daughter Francine, her husband Pierre-Yves, and five more–fourteen of us in all, a joyous occasion.
Lilli’s prowess as a tour leader was remarkable. On Saturday morning she guided us by subway to Montmartre, where, with hundreds of others, we looked up at a cathedral and out at the sprawling city. Montmartre, the “Mount of Martyrs,” has a long history you can read here. Sacré-Coeur was erected at the end of the 19th century. Truthfully, with motorcycles roaring by, I felt more human bustle than the “sacred heart of God,” but we had an excellent lunch at an Italian café and saw Paris from yet another perspective.
Steve opted for quiet time after lunch, but Lilli, Violet and I boarded a large boat and cruised the Seine River, circling around the Île de la Cité and Île St. Louis, viewing landmarks and people from the water.
Inspired by the curiosity, energy, and stamina of Lilli and Violet, we saw a lot of Paris in just five days. France’s glorious empire has long nourished artists, chefs, and preservationists. Now it is home for friends with careers in international property law (Francine), information technology (Pierre-Yves), and economics (Florentine). After Sunday mass at Saint Sulpice, Steve and I joined L & V for a train ride to Sceaux, an excursion you can read about in Familie LePechon. On Monday morning, July 11, we departed for Amsterdam from Gare du Nord train station. On a public piano there, I played my grandmother’s favorite,”Maple Leaf Rag!” From all the perspectives I saw, Paris is a great city!
In Admiring the Trees of Paris, August 9, 2022 New York Times, Vivian Song writes that “the city’s trees — from the dramatic weeping willows and their trailing fronds along the Seine to the military rows of London plane trees that line the Champs-Élysées — play an under-appreciated supporting role in Paris’s inimitable elegance and grandeur.” She reminded me of beauties I had seen in Paris and Sceaux.
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