Sunday with Napoleon and Rodin

Sunday, we took it a bit easy.  I went to church, and then met Debbie and Shauna at Invalides.  Again, we thought we would get a free pass to the museum for the first Sunday of the month - not at Invalides!  We bought our tickets at went to see Napoleon's Tomb - always an impressive sight in it's Eglise du Dome resting place.  To me, the crypt for General Foch is the most understated and moving, with it's black marble soldiers from WWI.  We spent time in the gardens next to the dome, and in Eglise St Louis next door, then went into the Musee de l'Armee (just took in the section covering WWI and WWII) - I figure I'll return to this when Chase visits.  It wasn't too interesting to the girls!

After Invalides, we walked next door to Rodin Museum - one of my favorite places.  We even got to go in free!  Yahoo.  Unfortunately, it started raining pretty hard just as we got into the garden.  There was a long line waiting to enter the museum, and it was time to feed ourselves - so we headed to the cafeteria next to the garden.  We lucked out and scored a table under an umbrella, and had a lovely jambon and formage baguette, and cafe for me.  Even though it was rainy, the temperature was mild.  It was great.  We wandered the garden once the rain let up.  Debbie and Shauna provided captions for the various statues - what they were saying / thinking.  Spent some time just looking at the details on many of them.  After the garden, we enjoyed a special exhibit of marble pieces next to the gift shop.  Very nice.

Saturday at Montmartre

Hello all - it's been a fairly quiet week.  None of my colleagues from the UK have been in the office this week.  But, we did have a couple evenings out.  Tuesday we invited some French friends from my time here in 2009 to join us for dinner.  We went to Schwartz's New York Deli for hamburgers.  They were all happy to try it, and found the burgers too big to finish (same as us on our first visit).  Debbie an I learned our lesson and split one between us - perfect!  We also met our friends the Davis's from Tucson at Le Petite Marche on Thursday.  This was one of our favorite restaurants from our previous visit, and it is still good!  A couple fun evenings on the town with friends!

Thursday, Debbie's sister Shauna arrived.  She is visiting for a little over a week.  Deb took the Air France bus from Arc de Triomphe to Charles De Gaule to meet Shauna.  It all went smoothly, but the web information about the bus was a bit off - it cost more, it left every half hour (as opposed to every 15 minutes), and it didn't stop at terminal 2A (you had to walk from 2B).  Debbie managed it!  We've noticed that the info you can get on the web is not always so accurate! They made it back without any issues.  That evening, we walked down to the Trocadero so Shauna could see the Eiffel Tower.  On Friday, Debbie and Shauna took one of the hop-on / hop-off buses to see sights around the town.

Saturday we took the #2 metro up to Montmartre and spent the day wandering from Moulin Rouge to Sacre Coeur, and back to Abbesse.  It was a fine day for a stroll through the city. We started with a picture in front of Moulin Rouge, and then walked up rue Lepic.  We saw Theo van Gogh's apartment (where brother Vincent spent a couple years). We avoided the long flight of steps up to Sacre Coeur by taking rue Lepic, recommended unless you are trying to get in shape!

We passed the open air dance hall Moulin de la Galette, immortalized by Renoir (doesn't look like that today, by the way).  We passed an interesting sculpture of a man passing through a wall, based on the short story "Le Passe-Muralille" by Marcel Ayme (who lived next door).  There was a very cool cabaret "Au Lapin Agile" (the agile rabbit) right across from a small vineyard right in the heart of Montmartre.  The vineyard Clos Montmartre has been in operation since since 1933.  We passed Musee de Montmartre, which is the oldest building in the area (decided not to go in). 

We finished up at Basillica Sacre Coeur, walked through the church, and then spent time on the front steps watching the crowd.  Shauna went down to watch a mime.  The crowd was fun to watch.  After a bit, we wound our way down through place du Tertre (and its masses of people and artists) and to Bateau Lavoir (the Laundry Boat), an old piano factory that was used as a studio by Picasso and others.  We stopped for lunch at a cafe in the area, then home.

Saturday evening, we piled back into the metro to St. Germain de Pres for dinner at Bistro d'Henri.  It was a fun little place, with friendly staff (and English menus).  Beef Bourguignon for Shauna, lamb shank cooked with cinnamon and prunes for me - very French.  A successful day!

Des Egouts de Paris

The Sewer Tour - today we took a walking tour with a guide through Paris's Sewer Museum.  Yes - you go down into the top level of the sewers.  And, yes - it is stinky.  But I have wanted to do it for a while, and going with the guide was nice to hear all about it.  We started above ground near the Seine and discussed how the river originally was the sewer.  How it was used for various commercial ventures such as washing and tanning.  How it was so polluted during medieval times.  And how it was also the source of drinking water for Parisians!

It all changed with Napoleon III and Haussmann.  They not only developed the large boulevards above the surface, but also the network of sewers below - about 600 kilometers by 1878.  Our guide told us how Paris's celebrated sewers became such a showplace that they hosted visitors in small barges to view the works.  We learned how the person actually responsible for creating the network, Eugene Belgrand, took advantage of the natural slope of Paris and gravity to drain to the Northwest.  He also determined how to use oval shaped viaducts for maximum flow.  Our guide, Chris, told us of the roll the sewers played in literature and history - they had important rolls during the revolution and wars as passages and also means of communication.  Noblemen with swords would ditch them in a sewer if they encountered revolutionary police, and then try to recover them later from the sewer workers.  Nowadays, if you loose your keys down a sewer, the French have a special group that will retrieve them for you within 1/2 hour (so Chris says - don't think I'll test it).

Chris explained how separate channels can be used for heavy rainfall run-off, separate from actual sewage.  And, he indicated that there is a 4 year waiting list to become a sewer worker - who works 6 hours/day for a premium wage and is eligible to retire after 20 years with a 60% pension  Today, the Seine is once again fairly pristine.  It is monitored constantly, and even salmon have once again appeared in the river.  A portion of the city gets its drinking water from the Seine today.  All in all, pretty interesting.  But, unlike the Louvre and D'Orsay, I don't think I'll need to visit des Egouts Museum again!

Cheers.

Saturday in Chartres

Bonjour - Debbie and I took the train from Gare Montparnasse to Chartres on Saturday to visit the medieval Cathedral of our Lady of Chartres.  It was about a 1hour train ride to the south west, stopping at maybe 5 or 6 places along the way.  Once there, it was a short walk from the train station to the cathedral - which you can easily see from anywhere in town.

The cathedral is renown for a number of reasons - it was rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire in 1194.  The rebuilding took a relatively short 30 years, which resulted in uniformity and architectural consistency not usually found - a great example of Gothic architecture.  It is also famous for its 172 large stained glass windows, and especially for the rich blues (known as Chartres Blue) - most all are 13th century originals.  The use of flying buttresses allows for the large number of windows, which in turn provides more light inside.  Many of the windows have been refurbished and have brilliant colors. 

Also famous is the Chartres Labyrinth - which provides a 260 meter walk toward enlightenment.  Unfortunately, it was covered with chairs!  We learned that Friday is the only day that you can actually walk the labyrinth.  Still a cool thing to see. 

There are also many statues and stone carvings - the entrances and choir area has many intricate figures.  While we found it all great, our timing could have been better.  The choir area and entire east end of the cathedral was closed off for restoration - we could see a single person high on scaffolding doing some work.  (It's gonna take a long time!)  We also were unable to get into the chapel at that end of the church.  Finally, all the guide books mention the sainte voile (holy veil of Mary, from Constantinople imperial treasury to Chartres in 876AD) - guess what, it's in the east end, and not available for viewing.  Regardless, we had a great time.  I thought that it was better than Notre Dame in Paris since 1) it was not at all crowded and 2) it wasn't nearly as dim inside.  In fact, the refurbished parts are bright.  Very nice.

We finished off our cathedral experience by climbing the 300 steps in the north bell tower (the newer tower).  The New tower is the more elaborate Gothic tower, as opposed to the south, plain Romanesque tower.  We had great views of both the church and surrounding town and country.  Well worth the steps!

After seeing the church, we wandered around the old section of the town.  There were lovely narrow streets and medieval buildings.  We had a nice lunch at a small restaurant called Le Pichet (complete with a pot of cider).  The town had lots of charm - very clean, easy to get around, many picturesque gardens and buildings.  All in all, highly recommended.

We made our way back to the train station and Debbie bought a pair of shoes at a flea market - all in all an excellent day!

Chateau de Malmaison

It's been a pleasant weekend - mostly sunny skies and no rain!  Temperatures are cool (when I went for my run Saturday morning, the iPhone said it was 55⁰ F!).  As the day progressed, it warmed up to around 70, which felt fine in the sun.  Sort of like San Diego...

Our plan for the day was to meet our friends Pawel and Isabella at La Defense and take a bus to Chateau de Malmaison which is about 12K outside Paris (in other words, in the suburbs).  The Chateau was built by Napoleon for Josephine, and was her residence after they divorced.  Debbie and I decided to walk from our apartment to La Defense instead of taking the metro - just to see the area between.  We walked up Av Raymond Poincare past Foch to Av de la Grande Armee' (which is the continuation of Champs Elysee's), and followed it directly to La Defense.  We won't need to make that walk again - nothing special between Porte Maillot and Port d' Neuilly.  We did stop in Neuilly at a boulangerie I remembered and bought sandwiches and orangina for later.  We met Pawel and Isabella on the back side of the CNIT building - they bought some small bottles of wine and snacks at the Monoprix in CNIT.  We had a pamphlet with directions to the Chateau - take the 258 bus from La Defense to "Le Chateau" stop.  We found it without any problem.  This was really our first ride on a Paris bus - actually very nice.  It wasn't too crowded.  The bus was in very good condition.  The route and each stop were clearly shown as you approached them - so you knew exactly where you were and when to get off.  There were a few other foreigners also going to the Chateau, so we all got off at the same place.

The chateau is really more of a mansion - not really the equivalent of others we've seen in Loire (which were more like castles).  But it was still interesting - I learned a lot about Josephine.  Napoleon was her second husband.  Her first husband was Count Beauharnais, with whom she had 2 children (Eugene and Hortense).  The Count was introduced to Madam Guillotine during the Revolution.  Josephine survived with her children and married Napoleon in 1796.  They separated in 1809 because Josephine (who was 6 years older) was unable to provide an heir. 

After the separation, Josephine moved into the chateau full time, where she remained until her death in 1814.  Her daughter Hortense ended up marrying the King of Holland, and her descendants are found throughout European royal families.  One of Josephine's passions was roses, so there were various rose gardens.

After looking around, we had a little picnic with our sandwiches and wine.  There was a nearby park, but it didn't really have any nice spots for a picnic.  We ended up just sitting on some benches outside the chateau grounds.  It was fine - we drank all the wine so we wouldn't have to carry any bottles home with us.  Then walked back to the bus stop, took the 258 back to La Defense, and caught the metro home.  All in all, a very pleasant afternoon.

Hamburger in Paris

Hi - it's been a quiet week for us.  No colleagues from England coming into town, so no big evenings out.  Debbie and I did have an evening out on Wednesday.  Previously we noticed a very popular restaurant on the way to Trocadero.  It's called Schwartz's, and is patterned after a NYC deli / dinner.  The main feature is hamburger (also pastrami, but we didn't try that yet).  For 13 € you can get humongous burger and fries or salad.  We determined that we should order one burger and salad, and the other person get a side of fries or onion rings.  That would be plenty to split between 2 people.  It was very good - best burger I've had in France.  Just had a hard time eating the whole thing! 

The place opens at 7:30 for dinner, and we arrived right at that time - had no trouble getting a seat (I doubt there are reservations).  By the time we left an hour later, there was a line waiting.  The waiters all speak English, and the place seems to strive for an "American" feel (all the way down to the larger-than-you-can-eat portions).  Additionally, when you are done, they bring the bill straight away - very unlike the norm in Paris where you can sit as long as you like without getting the bill.  It's a small place, so I think they really do try to turn the tables over.  Also, it doesn't expand into the sidewalk, so seating is limited.  They also specialize in cheesecake (real NY type cheesecake, too).  You can get the normal selection of wines, but if you want a beer, you can choose from Samuel Adams, Budweiser, "Bud" (not sure what the difference is there), Corona or Carlsberg (not sure how that one slipped in).  All in all, a successful experience for us (and many French people wanting that good American dinning experience!).

Eiffel Tower Fireworks

Bonjour - a quck post today. We were a bit tired today after 2 late nights in a row. We stayed up late last night to see fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. Had a couple of co-workers over for eggplant Parmesean (also known as aubergine, I have learned). Afterwards we had a short walk to Av d'Eylau where we had a straight view of the tower. It got a bit crowded, but not completely jammed. Great fireworks! Maybe the best I've seen, and lasted about half an hour. Home again after midnight.

Sunday was a bit subdued. We went to church and met friends from Tucson. The Elliotts are visiting France, and are in Paris this week. We had fun visiting, first at our apartment and then nearby at Le Pain Quotidien ("Daily Bread") - a fun place Debbie and I had been before. We all walked up to Champs Elysees where we left them to window shop their way back to downtown. Very fun!