A week in Paris and a family reunion October 4, 2012
Posted by freda in Birmingham, Michigan.1 comment so far
Don and I left Detroit Friday night, June 23rd, arriving in Paris Saturday morning, June 24th. After picking up our luggage, we made our way to the terminal where my sister was arriving, met up with Kate, then went to the rental car area. After securing our vehicle, we drove into the city to pick up my mother, who had arrived a few days earlier than us. The three of us took turns showering, then we all went out for lunch at a little spot mom had discovered down the street.
Slightly revived after coffee and lunch, we were on the road for a two hour drive to the town of Villeneuve L’Archeveque for a family reunion weekend. Our accomodation was gorgeous:
Auberge des Vieux
another view
back of the building
and beautiful yard
After checking in, we napped! And then it was time to party! Saturday evening we had a BBQ for the cousins, 35 of us in attendance. Sunday was to celebrate my aunt’s 90th birthday. She is the last living sibling of my father (there were 14 of them, including my father) and her 90th birthday was a great excuse to organzie a family reunion. Fifty-five of us gathered to celebrate, and it was SO wonderful to see them all, some I hadn’t ever met, some I hadn’t seen in years, and just a few seen more recently. My aunt was radiant and I was so happy to see her again!
Celebrating her 90th, Tante Plony arrives
most of the group
We had a long, beautiful lunch, with speeches and singing and lots of toasting. It was a perfect day.
On Monday, after breakfast, we packed up and said goodbye to the family who had stayed, like us, at the inn.
my mom from her bedroom window
cousin Annelien, with her mother Tante Tuut
Then, the four of us headed back to Paris for five lovely days. We stayed in a small hotel at the edge of the Bastille district, close to the Marais:
our hotel for five days
We spent lots of time walking, and visited places we hadn’t been before. One of our first stops, Monday evening, was the Shakespeare and Company book store!! The story of this book store is legend. Their motto: Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.
Shakespeare and Company book store
George Whitman’s presence is felt
Kate browses…
Mom browses…
I browse…
and Don, outside the store, checks his blackberry… 😛
On my and my mother’s ‘wish list’ of sites, was Le Pere Lachaise cemetery, within walking distance of our hotel. Off we went Tuesday morning. According to the tour book, the cemetery is the largest in Paris, and the most visited in the world, mostly due to the fact Jim Morrison is buried there. I was more excited to see the grave of French author, Colette, whom I started reading in my early teens.
entrance to Le Pere Lachaise
consulting the map is a necessity in the 105 acre site
It’s a beautiful cemetery…
with interesting statues…
and beautiful flowers…
The oldest ‘inhabitants’ of the cemetery are Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Heloise (1101-1164). Their star-crossed, tragic love affair is legendary, though perhaps details are open to interpretation because I have read several different versions of their story. Suffice to say, they were lovers, their correspondance survived and their remains may (or may not) be resting in Le Pere Lachaise. Regardess, they have a lovely gravesite:
Abelard and Heloise
the gravesite of Colette
Chopin
Jim Morrison
lots of graffiti at the Jim Morrison site
Marcel Marceau
Oscar Wilde – so many people ‘marked’ the monument (with words and kisses) that plexiglass was put up all around
Oscar Wilde graffiti…
…and kisses
Gertrude Stein – Alice B. Toklas is with her here
Edith Piaf and family
and lots more beautiful flowers
On Kate’s ‘wish list’ was Versailles, and as we had never been, we agreed. We pre-booked tickets for Wednesday. Mom had decided she wouldn’t go, which was a good decision because of how much walking we did, and the heat. We took the 1/2 hour train trip, and upon arriving, stood in a 1/2 hour line just to get through security. Once inside, we managed to move along well, despite the summer crowds.
Versailles was converted from a hunting lodge to the extravagant chateau by Louis XIV in the 1660’s. There are 2300 rooms (luckily we only see a few!), and everything is painted and gilded to the extreme. As one guide book says, “It was here that French royalty lived a life so decadent in a time of widespread poverty that their excesses spurred a revolution.”
Louis XIV at the entrance
entrance gate detail
the famous Hall of Mirrors
Hall of Mirrors detail
As you exit the palace, the view of the extensive grounds is stunning:
first view of the Gardens of Versaille
the Latona Basin – Apollo as a child, with sister and mother, Latona
the gardens are beautiful
garden
From the Rick Steves’ guide book: “The fountains of Versailles were its most famous attraction, and The Apollo Basin, of the sun god, was the centerpiece. Apollo, in his sunny chariot, starts his journey across the sky. The horses are half-submerged, giving the impression, when the fountains play, of the sun rising out of the mists of dawn.”
Our only disappointment was that the fountains were not flowing.
the Apollo Basin
Apollo detail
me and Kate
Grand Trianon – a summer get-away from palace life (!) Louis XIV built this for his mistress
all over the world there are Asians with umbrellas. I love this picture that Don took, maybe for the Shanghai nostalgia
idyll
At the far end of the property is Marie Antoniette’s Estate, made up of the Petit Trianon (small palace), Queen’s Gardens and The Hamlet. From Frommer’s Guide: “Marie Antoinette is famed for her desire to flee the pomp of the Versailles court, and her retreat was this estate. Nobody could visit here without her permission.” Rick Steves adds: “Marie Antoinette longed for the simple life of a peasant – not the labour of real peasants, who sweated and starved around her – but the fairytale world of simple country pleasures. This was an actual working farm with a dairy, a water mill, a pigeon coop, and a menagerie where her servants kept cows, goats and chickens. The Queen’s House – two buildings connected by a wooden skywalk – was like any typical peasant farmhouse, with a billiard room, library, dining hall, and two living rooms.” Hmm, perhaps not “typical!” 😀
a home in The Hamlet
another home in The Hamlet
in the Hamlet
in the Hamlet – picturesque and peaceful
one last fountain – they were everywhere
On Thursday we walked and walked and walked on the hottest day of the week…. First to Sainte-Chapelle. “The Gothic masterpiece, built by Louis IX (1214-70) as a shrine for his holy relics of the passion and completed in 1248, is considered the most beautiful church in Paris, not least for its 15 stained-glass windows soaring 15 m (50 ft) to a star-covered vaulted roof. The church was damaged during the Revolution but restored in the mid-19th century. The relics collected by Louis IX now reside in Notre Dame.”
Sainte-Chapelle detail
detail
The stained-glass windows are truly spectacular! “Fifteen separate panels cover 6500 square feet, 2/3 of it 13th-century original. There are over 1000 different scenes, mostly from the Bible, that tell the entire Christian history of the world, from the Creation in Genesis, to the coming of Christ, to the end of the world.”
soaring stained-glass windows
stained glass detail
rose window
From Sainte-Chapelle, on Ile de la Cite, we walked to Jardin du Luxembourg…
Pan, at the entrance to the garden
mom in Jardin du Luxembourg
in front of the fountain of Jardin du Luxembourg
Time for lunch. We headed to Les Deux Magots, famous literary haunt of the 1920s, where Hemingway spent many hours. Most expensive beer of the week!
Kate and I heading to Les Deux Magots
the rival Cafe de Flore across the street from Les Deux Magots
Cafe de Flore has gorgeous window boxes (and you know how much I love photographing windows!)
So here are some more windows…. 😀
lots of wrought iron in Paris
After lunch we wandered back across the river, past the Louvre, and to Jardin des Tuileries…
back of the Louvre
front of the Louvre
at the pond in the centre of Jardin des Tuileries
you can rent a sailboat for 1/2 hour from here…
colourful sailboats
Don’s telephoto lens captured this little sailor..
sailor at work
Back towards the hotel…
the back of Notre Dame
a barge on the Seine reminds me of Shanghai
We came upon a film shoot of some kind, and I was surprised to see I recognized the star!!
James Denton
During our 5-day stay we went to some great restaurants, all but one poorly-chosen night. The most amazing, decor-wise, was Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon. The Gare de Lyon station was built as part of the major building program for the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and the station Buffet may be the “most striking manifestation of the Belle Epoque era.” Check it out here: www.le-train-bleu.com Here’s one of our pictures of the ceiling, which is amazing, but the food is excellent too!
ceiling detail
A friend recommended Brasserie Balzar, on the Left Bank, and she did not steer us wrong. Check it out here: www.brasseriebalzar.com
On our last morning, we followed a neighbourhood walk through the Marais district, as suggested by the Frommer’s guide book, and Rick Steves’ Pocket Paris.
Places des Vosges behind us
Place des Vosges is Paris’s oldest square, commissioned by Henri IV, originally built for silk workers, later occupied by Cardinal Richelieu, Moliere and Victor Hugo, among others.
Hotel de Bethune Sully was designed in 1625 as the residence of the family of Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully, Henri IV’s famous minister of finance.
Hotel de Bethune Sully
Hotel de Bethune Sully detail
About our next location, Rue des Rosiers, Frommer’s says: “Perhaps the most colourful and typical street remaining from the time when this was the city’s Jerish quarter, rue des Rosiers (Street of the Rose-bushes) meanders among the old buildings with nary a rose to be seen. It is jam-packed with falafel cafes and shops, though…”
Rue des Rosiers – flowers, but no roses
in the heart of rue des Rosiers
Around the corner from rue des Rosiers, on Vielle-du-Temple, are “the most remarkable doors in all the Marais.” They are what’s called ‘carriage’ doors – wide enough for a carriage to pass through, and decorated with “an expressive and somewhat frightening head of Medusa.” (The quotes are from a memoir both mom and I read called A Corner in the Marais by Alex Karmel.)
oak carriage doors
Medusa head detail
Paris is full of beautiful little parks, lovely spots for local residents to pause, and this one was noted in one of the guide books because of the clock on the wall that has just one hand (!?) …
Square Georges Cain
yes this could be anywhere, but who doesn’t love a beautiful flower shop?!?
After returning mom to the hotel, we went back to walking the streets for the last time… First, a return visit to Shakespeare & Company…
such a great book store!
book seller on the Left Bank
across the Pont Neuf
and to see the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), which is a stunning building
Hotel de Ville
For our last evening, we returned to the local restaurant we’d been to once before, and loved, Le Petit Italien, in the Marais district, and highly recommendable. The Eyewitness guide said it is one of Paris’s best Italian restaurants, and we agreed. I couldn’t find an official website, but this one has a great little video that shows the restaurant and the food: http://www.restovisio.com/restaurant/le-petit-italien-936.htm#presentation
last supper starts with Prosecco ^_^
Au revoir and a bientot, gay Paree!!
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