Voltaire

5 March 2011
Walked to the left bank to take a photo of  Geoffrey with Voltaire which proved far too difficult for me as you can see.









Voltaire
French writer (1694-1778)
Square Honoré Champion, 6th arrondissement
The State commissioned Léon Drivier to make this statue of Voltaire to replace Caillé’s statue which was melted down during World War II. The new stone statue was supposed to fit the old statue’s pedestal located on Quai Malaquais. But its reduced scale, its more modern style, and certain academicians’ desire to clear the area around their Institut resulted in a controversial removal of the great man to one of the recently created small squares behind the Institut. Intense debates on the aesthetics and politics of such a drastic move dragged on for so long that Drivier’s piece, created right after the war, didn’t take its rightful place in the greenery until 1962, well after the sculptor’s death.

Statue of Henri IV on le Pont Neuf

On the way back home we saw the Highlander Pub and the Arsenal vs Sunderland game for 16h00 was going to be shown, so we went back for the kick-off.

The Highlander Pub is on the left bank, opposite the Pont Neuf.
THE HIGHLANDER is THE Scottish pub in Paris.


à bientôt

Place de la Rébublique

The walk to la Place de la République 
23 March 2011

We walked to la Place de la Rébublique which was named to commemorate the First, Second and Third French Republics.

A republic is a form of government, is not hereditary, in which the governors are appointed by the election of the people, or part thereof.
The term republic opposed to those of kingship or empire.


At the center of the Place de la République is a 10m high statue called République set on top of a monument to the history of the formation of the Republic. This statue dates from 1883 and was made by Dalou. Place de la République forms the junction of 3 arrondissements (districts) of Paris, the 3e, 11e and 12e.

Then we walked to Canal Saint-Martin and as we stood on a footbridge at the end of Boulevard Jules Ferry, down the canal, you could see a boat coming towards us in the distance and waiting to begin  to come through the locks and down into a tunnel under the footbridge where we standing, down under la Place de la Bastille and into the open at Port de l"Arsenal, and then into la Seine.

We continued to walk along the side of the Canal to rue du Terrage. We had considered renting an apartment in that area. In retrospect, we are pleased we chose to live where we are. It is like a rough dormitory section with few services any we did not see any suitable butchers or greengrocers etc. This area is near la gare de l'Est which has a large under cover shopping centre attached. At la Gare de l'Est, Boulevard du Strasbourg ends there. Boulevard du Strasbourg is a continuation of Boulevard Sebastopol.

à bientôt

Place de la Bastille

Sometimes, before we go out walking to a particular area, we refer to the book Paris Walks by Fiona Duncan and Leonie Glass. Geoffrey used to borrow it from the Melbourne City Library, however, we have now bought a copy and I highly recommend it. The aerial-view-isometric-mapping used to illustrate the walks make it very easy to follow.

I get a bit behind with the "blog". This particular walk was on Monday 7 March.

It was a day of following your nose and seeing where you end up, although we knew where we wanted to end up. From our place, we walked along back streets that run parallel with rue de Rivoli and close to the Seine.
We were in the Marais district. Le marais - marsh. I like this area of Paris. It is crammed with ancient buildings, beautiful mansions.You can take a side step and find yourself in a narrow laneway or in a courtyard. In rue François-Miron, you pass two medieval, narrow, crooked half timbered houses.






Along rue Saint-Antoine, past  l'Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis and through the narrow cobbled passage de St-Paul and into rue Saint-Paul.

Geoffrey and Penelope

We never go anywhere without revisiting a bookshop that Geoffrey already knows about and frequents.
The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore is in 22 rue Saint-Paul. This is him with  Penelope, the owner of the shop. 










Then, down rue des Jardins St Paul, through a courtyard, you find yourself on the far side of a school playground, enclosed by a 70m stretch of ancient wall, the most substantial relic of Philip Augustus' 1190 fortifications. In the background is l'Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis

part of the Roman wall

Went into Village Saint-Paul, a series of interconnecting cobbled courtyards surrounded by workshops, galleries, antique and craft shops.

We then reached the Seine at the narrow point of Île Saint-Louis, square Barye at Pont de Sully and Boulevarde Henri IV. Pont de Sully is a bridge across the River Seine. In reality, two separate bridges meeting on the eastern tip of Île Saint Louis, it links the 4e and 5e arrondissements along the line of the Boulevard Henri IV and connects to the eastern end of Boulevard Saint-Germain.


We continued along Quai Henri IV.

a sit down in the sun along Quai Henri IV

Then to Pont Morland which is a bridge  located between the 4e and the 12e arrondissiments of Paris. The bridge crosses at the lock of of the Arsenal at the confluence of the Port de Plaisance de l'Arsenal and de la Seine, between the Boulevard Morland in the 4e arrondissiment and the Quai de Rappée in the 5e arrondissiment.

on Pont Morland with Quai Henri IV in the background

on Pont Morland with Pont de Sully in the background

Then when you go to the other side of the bridge,
you are looking at Port de Plaisance de l'Arsenal
(Port of Pleasure),with La Colonne de Juillet à la Place de la Bastille in the background.

This is at the confluence of the Port de Plaisance de l'Arsenal and de la Seine.

If you take a canal boat trip from le Musée d' Orsay, this is where you come from la Seine, under the Pont Morland, via the lock of the Arsenal.





La Colonne de Juillet à la Place de la Bastille
Le Port de Plaisance de l'Arsenal leads to la Colonne de Juillet à la Place de la Bastille.

The Column of July is in commemoration of des "Trois Glorieuses". These "Three Days" of the revolution of the 27, 28, 29 July 1830 led to the fall of Charles X and the absolute monarchy and the establishment of the constitutional monarchy with the reign of Louis-Philippe 1er, duc d'Orléans, became King of the French (July Monarchy).
The shaft of the column bears the names of the victims of the revolutionary days of July 1830. At the summit is the ball which flies le"Genié de la Liberté", (Genius of Liberty).  A sculpture in gilded bronze of Auguste Dumont. He is naked, left foot on the sphere, lifted right leg, wings, a star on the front. The left hand supports the broken chains of depotism, while his right hand brandishes the torch of civilisation.

The Bastille, or more exactly, the Bastille Saint-Antoine, was a fortress at the location of the current Place de la Bastille. It was completely destroyed after the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.





la Colonne de Juillet à la Place de la Bastille
Revolutionaries from the uprising of 1830 are buried underneath.

 
 L' Opéra Bastille is located in the 12e arrondissiment à la place de la Bastille.

We continued our walk into la Place des Vosges and then meandered home.

la place des Vosges in front of statue of  Louis XIII

à bientôt


Footnote from Le Copilote

I have had a quick look over what Elizabeth has said about today. Yes, that is pretty much as it happened. There are a few pictures of me too.  One as part of a wall and the others puzzling over what the word confluence means.

The picture with the caption "a sit down in the sun along Quai Henri IV" is special to me because Henry IV was the one who said  "A kingdom is worth a Mass" and because he was murdered just here on the street in front of our appartment by a catholic person.

Leaves are starting to appear on trees.  The types of flowers that come up from bulbs are starting to appear.  It seems that Paris will soon be prettier than Melbourne can ever be.  The changes in the gardens force me to understand that we  don't really have seasons in our part of Australia. Not like European ones anyway. 

Twechar

I was born in the house behind me

On Monday, we returned from 4 days in Twechar, Scotland. I was born in Twechar. We stayed with my cousin Catherine. Most of the time, we were with Catherine and her sisters Bridget and Mary and Bridget's daughter, Ann. My second cousin Francis picked us up at the Glasgow International Airport. Catherine B McC and Elizabeth drove us around everywhere. In Glasgow, we went to the birthday party of Amy, the granddaughter of my cousin Jack. Jack's son, Joseph, who is my second cousin and his family, Karen and Amy visited us in Paris. Joe is the one who sent us the Scottish biscuits. Jack gave Geoffrey a bottle of 'aged malt' that Geoffrey left under a chair at the party......and I have not mentioned all the other members of the

behind our house my mother used to plant potatoes on this patch of green

family and their husbands and wives and partners and of course all their  beautiful children.  In Scotland, the Haughey family is rather big. We had a wonderful time.
At Amy's party, we were in a large room in a sport's club and they had the Celtic vs Rangers game on the large screen, so everyone was happy.

walking through the Glen behind our house

the view from the back of our house

Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris

The fire service in France is known as "sapeurs-pompiers" and provide fire and rescue services.
The Paris fire brigade is a unit of the French Army's Engineering Arm. Technically, they are part of the armed forces. During the annual Bastille Day Parade, they march in uniform with rifles.
Pompier - firefighter,comes from the concept of pumping water and refers to the manual pumps that were originally used.
Sapeur - means sapper and refers to the first official unit created by Napoleon 1 which was part of the military engineering arm.
The members of the Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris are between 18-25 years old and part of their mission is "emergency ambulance".
 

Geoffrey and I are both well, however,
on Saturday, on our way to buy fish for
tea, on rue Montorgueil, we had just

the  fire truck

crossed rue Etienne Marcel and behind me I heard Geoffrey say, to wait, he had done something to his back. Had he tripped? - no. The pain had apparently just suddenly started. He was in pain and leaning against a lamp post. He managed to get himself into a nearby building and people quickly came to help. None of them could speak English and my French had gone out of my head again.  One of the men, Adissi, called for a doctor. Can you imagine what we thought when the fire brigade turned up. I really thought there was a fire somewhere, but no, the fire engine and the 8 attendants were for Geoffrey. Eight of them, young strapping, handsome men. Drissi had also called his Australian friend who turned up and helped with  translation.  A fire truck ambulance was called and off we went, including Drissi's Australian friend, to the hospital,  the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, with the siren blaring. The hospital is on Ile de la Cité next to la Cathédrale Notre-Dame.




The pain Geoffrey had, stopped  as suddenly as it had started. He was discharged with medication and a referral to a radiologist. We walked home.

Of course, I am sure you will all be interested in what Geoffrey is going to give Adissi. Yes, a Collingwood 2010 Premiership cap. He deserved it.

Les biscuits écossais

Geoffrey was whinging about not being able to get good dry biscuits in Paris. Next thing there is a parcel in the post from Joe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to Church

This is me at la PlaceVendôme. Originally called la Place des Conquêtes (Square of Conquests).  It is probably Paris' most expensive place. An octagonal square facing the west entrance to the Tuilerie Gardens. In 1796 Napoleon  married Josephine in a building here. The 43.5 metre bronze-and-stone column commemorates Napoleon's battle at Austerlitz.

and me at la statue de Joanne d'Arc at la Place des Pyramides
on Rue de Rivoli

We went to le Jardin des Plantes and strolled through the gardens
We feel at home here. Yesterday we went to du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle en Jardin des Plantes. The gardens are of course beautiful, lots of plants and scenic paths for strolling. Geoffrey took my photo alongside a tree that was planted in
1734. We had gone there to buy a book on les dinosaures for Liam and we found ourselves in the main botanical garden of France and we did not visit la "Grande Galerie de l'Evolution" du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Wednesday is not a school day and there were about 30 adults and children in the queue.  Of course, the gardens is a place we will need to visit again, just about like everything else. However, I must say that every other day we are crossing la Seine at Pont Neuf, a few minutes from where we live, or Pont d'Arcole, my favourite bridge, and past la Cathédrale Notre Dame.
We are taking nothing forgranted.
It is all wonderful.

The weather for the last 4 days has been really good. The days are sunny and
around 7 to 8 degrees, but through the night, the temperature drops to zero,
minus 1 or minus 2. The next 4 days it is going to continue to be sunny and
temperatures 4 - 12 degrees. We are quite happy with the weather.

We went to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur a few days ago. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the hill of Montmarte which is visible from many parts of the city. On our last trip to Paris, we did not go there.
Work began on the church in 1875 and was completed in 1912 and consecrated in 1919.

We took le Métro to the Anvers station, meandered up rue de Steinkerque, passed Carrousel Venitien at la Place Saint-Pierre and boarded the Funiculaire de Montmarte which takes you to just below the church. At this time of year, there was no queue to board the funicular.
The day was sunny and 10 degrees, a bit misty and hazy. We could still enjoy the fantastic, panoramic views of Paris and could see la Tour Eiffel. You can see up to 30km on a clear day.

On the steps just before entering the church. people were sitting there and enjoying the winter sun and a man was playing a harp. The church  was magnificent. The stained glass windows, the mosaics, the dome, everything was breathtaking, I even touched the well rubbed "worn out" foot on la statue de Saint-Pierre. When we go to Rome, in June, I will go to Saint Peter's Basilica and touch the foot of the original statue de Saint-Pierre.
All the time in the church I was listening to the organ and the beautiful singing of the nuns.

they let me in

they let me out

the view was a bit hazy but still magnificent

Located on the north side of Sacré-Coeur is L'Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre on the highest point in Paris, It is one of the oldest churches in Paris, consecrated in 1147. It was built on the site of a Roman temple. It is from this temple that the hill gets its name (Latin Mons Martis).
The site is traditionally associated with the beheading of the city's patron, Saint Denis around 250AD.After his head was chopped off, he picked it up and walked 10 kilometres preaching a sermon the entire way. The site where he stopped preaching and actually died is now the site of the Saint Denis Basilica.











Behind the Sacré-Coeur is la Place du Tertre, the main square of the original village. Even at this time of year, there were many artists painting in the square and tourists posing for a quick portrait.

We then meandered down and along Montmartre's narrow, winding streets. Had a beer and our first French  crèpe in one of the cafés.
 
à bientôt

Une douzaine d’escargots

At the moment, my second cousin, Joe, his soon to be two, wife, Karen and their beautiful soon to be two, daughter, Amy, are on a flight back to Glasgow after having spent 4 days with us here in our apartment in Paris. Like us, they soon fell into step and became les flâneurs à Paris, the same way as they have done all over the world, including Australia. They have seen more of Australia than I have. 

We had a wonderful time, like going to a market that was not open on that day, my fault of course, so we took the scenic route from there, à pied, to la Tour Eiffel and what a highlight of my trip so far; and to share it with Joe, Karen and Amy and of course Geoffrey was also very special. 

Joe, Amy and Geoffrey walking towards la Tour Eiffel

On the way to la Tour Eiffel we had a rather delicious déjeuner traditionnel français  at Carmine Café on l'Avenue Suffren, shouted by my cousin Jack and Catherine, Joe’s Mum and Dad.

La Tour Eiffel with Amy

La Tour Eiffel with Amy

To stand exactly under la Tour Eiffel and look up through the centre of it, I felt stunned and remarkably lucky to be there and I can go back any time I want to for the next three months and yes, we have already been here for a month.

under La Tour Eiffel

Karen, Joe and Amy

We wandered along the right bank of the Seine à la Place de la Concorde with the 3,300 year old Luxor obelisk which arrived in the 19th century, along with the fountains and statues. Close by stood the guillotine where, during the Revolution,  1,119 people lost their heads, including Louis XVI  and Marie Antoinette. 

à Pont de la Concorde

We looked down l’Avenue des Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe.

Passed La Grande Roue de Paris, the giant Ferris wheel et au Jardin des Tuileries flanked on our left by le Musée de l’ Orangerie which houses  Monet's enormous Nymphéas (Waterlilies) and on our right, Galerie du Jeu de Paume (originally a real tennis court) which displays contemporary art exhibitions.

We then walked on to la rue de Rivoli.

We eventually got to the Marché Grenelle on the right day. Geoffrey and I have become quite comfortable being there and queing up the French way to be served. It is another highlight of my trip for me to go there and to ask for fresh produce and trying to ask in French.

In Melbourne and living a few minutes  de le Marché Queen Victoria de Melbourne , my favourite déjeuner is une douzaine des huîtres fraîchement décoquillées.

In Paris and living near so many community markets, my favourite déjeuner is une douzaine d’escargots cooked with secret herbs and spices by Geoffrey, a selection du fromage, including roquetfort de Papillon, which is about half the price that we pay at the le Marché Queen Victoria,  et peut être du fromage Morbier and finishing off with une tarte aux abricots ou un flan aux cerises. Ou peut être un éclair de vanille.

Joe is a bit of a pack horse, so I decided that to visit le Jardin de Luxembourg, we would use le Métro, which is only a few stations ride from where we live. We rushed to get on to a train that we soon realised, after 20 minutes, it was going nowhere because of electrical problems. Eventually....with Joe taking over the directions.... we reached le Jardin de Luxembourg and on the way visited l’ Église Saint-Sulpice.   

Parisiens

Au Jardin de Luxembourg, Amy, Joe and Karen 

went into the children’s play area and had a play and Geoffrey and I had a bit of a wander around le jardin and then sat with the other Parisiens in the sun on the metal chairs, which are strategically placed around the outside of the playground area. There were lots of children and parents in the play area and lots of parents sitting around the outside area. 

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Karen had une crêpe de chocolat from a small stall in the gardens and I had a can of drink.

 

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Palais du Luxembourg

We meandered home along the left bank of the Seine past the stalls of the 'les bouquinistes'. and crossed the river on Pont au Double to the chiming of the bells from la Cathédrale Notre Dame.

sur le Pont d'Arcole

In the background is Pont St-Louis and Pont Louis Philippe.


 













At la Place de l’Hôtel de Ville Joe and Amy had a ride on the Carrousel (a carrousel is a horse parade) and people were skating on the outdoor ice-skating rink.

Joe and Amy

This evening, we are again on our own. We are having a special bottle of French wine given to us by Joe and Karen and Amy  and notre entrée est d'escargots et des vol-eau-vents aux escargots, herbes et épices secrètes.

Bon Appétit et á bientôt

Footnote from Le Copilote

I think that this must be Paris at its least piqarest. Not a leaf!  So we are taking plenty of photos of parks and so on now, so that we can contrast them with photos in the Spring.  Elizabeth took this photo of a tree.  You can see what I mean.  The weather has been dull rather than bitter and has not yet stopped us getting out.  The rain we have had has been more like mist.  Sometimes we've had blue skies, and sometimes we've been able to see the sun (in the South!), but not often.  In some ways I prefer Paris weather.  At least here there is no need for both a sun hat and a rain coat like you need in Melbourne most of the time.  And as far as the temperature goes you can always put on another jumper but there is a limit to how many you can take off.

Elizabeth took this photo of some trees.  Not a leaf!

These boats are amazing. They seem to be very old and heavy and basic but they sail beautifully.  The kids with the sticks nudge them out into the wind and off they go, keeled over more or less, and never a capsize.  Who needs digital technology?  I'd like to return sometime and get some movies.

Kids sailing boats

After watching the boats for a while we wandered back home through some gardens where I took this photo of Elizabeth and a nymph.  The nymph is the one at the back.

Elizabeth went to a lot of trouble taking photos of me outside bookshops.  This is one of the better shops with both English and French language sections. Note the typical sky.

 

A number of people have asked how my foot is.  It is much better thank you.

Oarvware (Goodbye.)
Le Copilote.