I'm back home now, but I'm going to add a few more posts to cover some more highlights of my stay in Paris. (One of the lowlights was the transit strike [la greve!] which started, of course, the night before my departure. Both train (RER) service and taxi service were greatly reduced. But my heroic landlady, Claire, drove me to an Air France shuttle stop so I could get to the airport.)
The very first picture on this blog (my selfie) was taken in the Marais, one of my (and probably many other people's) favorite areas of Paris. It's on the right bank, in the 3rd and 4th arrondisements*, and is said to be the oldest neighborhood in Paris. Much of it did not undergo the modernization directed by Baron Haussmann in the mid-1800's, so it still has a few narrow streets like this one (and many more not quite as narrow):
Many of the sights I've shown and discussed earlier on the blog were in the Marais; for example, the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), the Carnavalet Museum, St Paul's Church (the beginning of our nighttime bus ride), and the residual Bastille stones. It is a great neighborhood just for walking around and seeing interesting things...
like this statue of the poet Rimbaud, leaning on his ankles (that's the full moon in the background):
or these fancy salts and peppers in a shop window:
or this origami cat head:
Below is the Forney Library; I was standing in its garden when I took the first-blog-photo mentioned above. It was not always a library--but then, there is no reason all libraries should not look like this.
Update: I'm adding this detail shot:
The houses below, on Rue Francois Miron, are considered, by some sources, to be the oldest residences in Paris, though there are one or two other buildings in the area that also make this claim. According to the marker nearby, the age of these buildings is documented to the early 16th century, but they could date back to the 14th century. (The claim is to the oldest residence, not the oldest building; there are clearly some much older buildings in Paris--the Roman baths at the Cluny, for instance--or Notre Dame!)
My sisters and I had a great time walking around in this neighborhood. I also walked there with my friend Marilynd, and we were attracted by this colorful painted egg within a courtyard:
If memory serves, this was a gift to France from another EU country, or perhaps the EU as a whole (the twelve stars in a circle are the flag of the EU). The rooster, of course, is a symbol of France.
The little sign on the door, easy to miss, said that the garden was open. As we were wondering about this, two women came along and told us in French that it was a lovely garden and we should go in! We followed them in, past a young woman working inside who just went about her business, and back around into this garden:
There was even a public restroom, clean and well supplied! Not to put too fine a point upon it, but this is a valuable find in Paris.**
I believe this courtyard was off of the Rue des Francs Bourgeois. Just a little ways to the east is the Place des Vosges, a very popular gathering spot. Sitting on the lawn is allowed! And it is surrounded by beautiful apartments and, on the ground level, several restaurants and a number of interesting galleries. In one corner is Victor Hugo's apartment, which is now a museum. I visited at a later date, and while I didn't find it a great source for learning about Hugo's life and work, the rooms were interesting. Hugo was creative in areas beyond poetry and literature, as evidenced by this table he designed, which folds up against the wall. (The first shot is a photo of a photo of the table in its deployed state; it was exhibited folded against the wall, as in the second photo.) (Some wallpaper, too...)
*I double checked this information in my wonderful map book, which was my constant companion during my travels around Paris--so I want to put in a plug for "The Paris Mapguide", by Michael Middleditch, which I bought at Powell's in Portland. It doesn't include some of the outer regions, so I had a separate city map to cover those, but it covers most of the city in great detail, with many useful notes.
**A survival tip: Don't be afraid of the free public toilets ("Sanisettes", I think is the official name). I observed other people coming out of them unscathed, but I admit I didn't use one myself until I was in the company of my sister (so I could scream for help if I got trapped!). But eventually I was using them on my own. They go through a wash cycle after each use, and the first use can be a little mystifying, but they work. The only one that was a bit unpleasant was near the Arc du Triomphe, so maybe being near a major tourist site is a hazard, but I survived even that one. You can get an app on your smartphone that locates them for you, and that came in handy as well.
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