le 23 Septembre
Oh dear, I've missed yesterday!
Somehow it was easier writing the account of the London trip - probably because we didn't have much of a nightlife there.
Il Barbieri di Siviglia on Monday was terrific. We left our room at 7:00pm - got a taxi almost immediately but just made curtain - arriving at about 7:25. Luckily it was easy to find our seats, which although quite high up we were pretty much in the centre. The building - the Opéra Bastille, was very modern but beautifully designed for watching and listening to opera. Afterward we got another taxi back to our neighbourhood and ended up having a late bite near the hotel and then strolled home. I had a great sleep and we got up yesterday at about 9:30. We took the métro to Gambetta where we got off and toured Pere La Chaise cemetery. It was a a beautiful and serene place full of picturesquely decrepit family vaults. Somehow I expected more funeral art on the tombs, but there were some very beautiful marbles in various stages of extravagant mourning, head in hands.
The light was especially beautiful as we stood at Edith Piaf's grave. The sun warmed the granite and illuminated the profusion of flowers left by those who had visited before us.
Jim Morrison's marker was kind of tucked away behind a jumble of memorials and was actually fairly nondescript and somewhat anticlimactic.
Chopin's grave was most remarkable, a profusion of flowers spilled out onto the walkway before it and memorial candles flickered in the feeble sun of midday. The sorrowing muse atop the grave was a fitting accent to mark the resting place of such a sensitive, artistic soul.
After lunch (croque monsieur, café creme, eau ordinaire) we were off to the Ile de la Cité and the wonders of Notre Dame. Aside from the rose windows, the church itself I found to be unremarkable compared to the wondrous Westminster Abbey. However, having said that, the wait in the line to go up to the towers (at least 2 hours) was definitely worth it. I actually left Reyn in line by himself twice - once to go into the cathedral which he had no interest in doing, and once to find 'kilometre zéro' in the parvis. I had a very kind Spanish man snap a picture of me there and then I returned the favour for him and his girlfriend.
The view from the towers was terrific, the day being much clearer than Monday when we were atop Montmartre at Sacre Coeur. We got many great pics of the gargoyles and the rest of Paris was laid out before us in all her astonishing fabulousness.
From Notre Dame we went on the Monument de la Déportation, which is a monument to the French victims of the Holocaust. It is a beautifully designed and realized space that memorializes the ugliest and most brutal of crimes against humanity. Standing before the long allée of quartz pebbles set into the wall, each one marking the snuffing out of one French life, I felt very sombre and reverent. And then I just felt very sad as I viewed the numerous triangle-shaped niches that contain ashes and soil from each of the Nazi death camps.
Exiting the memorial, we walked to the other end of the island and had a plate of ham, camembert, and cornichons at the Taverne Henri IV. Red wine was also consumed and savoured and on the way out we got ice cream to enjoy as we made our way to the park at the very tip of the island, the Square de Vert Galant. We watched the cruise boats amble by and enjoyed the sun as it started to slowly descend.
Onward to Sainte Chapelle where we were lucky enough to find a concert of Vivaldi, Bach and Pachelbel was just about to begin. We purchased tickets and were treated to a stellar and masterful performance of several works for strings and harpsichord. One piece - the first movement of a viola concerto - moved me to tears. The setting, Ste. Chapelle, was like a jewel box made of stained glass with a ceiling painted with stars. Anyone with an ounce of poetry in their soul could not help but be torn between closing one's eyes to concentrate on the glorious music, opening one's eyes to take in the breathtaking, lit from behind stained glass, or trying to do both. It was total sensory overload!
If that wasn't enough for one day, we then had a glass of wine at a café opposite the Palais de Justice, and then hopped on the métro to the Champs de Mars for the 10:00 'show' of the Eiffel Tower all lit up and twinkling. Took the métro home, had a bath, slathered on peppermint foot creme, and collapsed into bed. Slept for one hour, then tossed for three.
Up at 8:15.
Today the first item up for bids was the Musée Nissim du Camondo, an Hotel Particulier filled with 18th and 19th century treasures. The art, china, silver, and furniture were absolutely stunning; it was hard to grasp that this was all in the collection of a single family. Very sad also to see that the family tree stops abruptly in 1944.
On to the Louvre!
The sculptures and the Boticelli frescoes were the highlights for me. Only explored the Denon wing as the sunshine made it too hard to be indoors being jostled by the throngs. Went for lunch nearby and then sat and enjoyed the Jardin du Palais Royal. Once in a while a slight breeze carried a scent of the lovely roses still in bloom in the off-limits and fenced-off lawns. The original plan had been to return to the Louvre after lunch but the day was just too beautiful. We decided to walk through the Tuileries (where we took another break by another fountain) and on to the Place de la Concorde for the guillotine site photo op.
By the time this was completed we really had to hoof it to get back to the other side of the Louvre to make it to the wine tasting. This was a lot of fun and very informative. Among other things, we now know that the beaujolais nouveau "is sheet". We had just enough time to get the métro back to the hotel and quickly freshen up before joining Philip, Mark and a number of other La Bio people for dinner at 8:00 pm.
Dinner was fan frickin tastic! Duck breast with cherry sauce, gratin of potatoes and poached apple. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Then we strolled to a bar\eatery called Bound, where I drank a so-so mojito and soaked up the uber cool ambience.
It's now 1:30 am and we have another jam-packed day tomorrow. Sadly, it's already going to be Thursday and our time here is beginning to diminish. I love it here - surrounded by such beauty and culture and love of all the finer things. I really think I was born French and somehow got switched at birth or something. It would explain a lot!
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