A Walk in the Park

Monday, May 10, 2010

Day 12

I can't believe we're on day 12 already! It feels both like I've just arrived and like I've been here forever! Being a Monday we had our weekly class meeting to discuss announcements etc. etc. and to celebrate birthdays and un-birthdays (as a rule we're going to celebrate everyone's birthday while we're in France).

After class I went with Andrea, Meredith and Sarah B. to do the Place de la Concorde Walk. It was a really nice walk because we were able to see a lot of the official residences and offices of the French government and foreign embassies etc. We began the walk on the Champs Elysees, which is the street of a little monument I like to call the Arc de Triomphe, you may have heard of it. We did not, however, go visit the lovely arch, but rather our walk took us onto Avenue de Marigny, where we saw the Palais de l'Elysee and the Theatre Marigny. This theater was designed in 1853 by Garnier (not the hair product), the future architect of the famous Opera. Perhaps less important in terms of history, but nonetheless an interesting fact, we also saw many high-end boutiques with such names as oh, PRADA, Louis Vuitton, and Cartier, to name a few. Quite exciting. Too bad an ugly PRADA suitcase costs 80,000 euros. I wonder what a cute one would cost?! Anyways, that was just an aside. The points of interest on the walk included seeing the residence of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, which was quite grand and beautiful from what I could see from across the street through the gate--too bad that was next to nil since the whole street is blocked by a cement wall and the gates reach just as high and are surrounded by security. The security look a lot like the British guard the way they stand still and frown. The only difference is I think the frown is natural on the French--they're not the most smiley of people. Although please do not mistake my meaning, I do not mean to say that they are an unhappy, unwelcoming, meanspirited bunch, but merely that they do not express themselves in the same way Americans do.

For example, if you were to say, ride the metro for half and hour, you would hard-pressed to find a smile or friendly face while sitting and making occasional eye contact with those who share your car. It is also likely that you will be sitting in silence, unless you happen to bring along a friend with whom you can annoy the rest of the car with your obnoxious American habits of speaking and laughing boisterously. This is because the French are in general a more quiet and reserved people, at least when it comes to riding a metro and walking down the street. When I rode the train this morning to meet my class I was surprised when I heard a couple chatting and laughing behind me. They were speaking French I think but perhaps they were foreigners, because I remember looking at my roommate sitting across from me and commenting on the unusual scene. "Look Marissa!" Said I, "They are people on the metro who are actually talking!...And they're smiling too. I think they actually like each other!" It was quite funny and we shared a subdued chuckle (in order to maintain our facade as veritable French students, instead of giving ourselves away as noisy American tourists pretending to study in their spare time). But I digress...

As we continued on our walk we saw the two most exclusive hotels in Paris--Hotel Faubourg and, the most exclusive and expensive, Hotel de Crillon, which was originally the residence of four noblemen. I don't remember the exact prices but the simplest available room was offered at around $700 per night but it went up and up from there. In addition to its pomp, the hotel is notable as one of the original constructions on the square and as the place where Benjamin Franklin signed a treaty with Louis XVI in 1778. The hotel is located at the Place de la Concorde where a huge Egyptian obelisk stands tall in the middle of the circular intersection. Construction first began on the square in 1757 to honor Louis XV, by the royal architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel. Originally there was a moat around the square with only four entrances over the four bridges, one on each of the main axes. It took twenty years to build and was originally named Place Louis XV. Later the name was changed to Place de la Revolution and the guillotine was placed in the middle of the square where over a thousand lives, including that of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as well as Danton and Robespierre. The obelisk, which is over 3,000 years old, comes from the ruins of Luxor, an ancient city along the Nile, and was a gift from Mohammed Ali, the Egyptian governor, to Charles X in 1829. It now stands in the square where the guillotine once did. It's an interesting melange of old and older, albeit a common theme throughout Paris. What struck me most was the combination and proximity of several different types of buildings and structures, including the prestigious Hotel de Crillon, the American embassy and consulate, other foreign embassies and residences, the Champs-Elysee, the Tuileries Garden, a palace-converted-into-museum-Louvre all encircling a square that was the center of Robespierre's Reign of Terror, and where the man himself met the same fate as his thousands of victims, which is marked by a striking 3,000 year old Egyptian obelisk. But I guess that's France for you.

We walked around the Place de la Concorde, which also features a big fountain that you might recognize from the movie The Devil Wears Prada from the scene at the end when Anne Hathaway throws her phone away into a fountain--yes, that is the same fountain. Anyways, after being touristy and taking pictures of the famous movie fountain and Egyptian obelisk, we went through the Tuileries Garden which rests in front of the Musee du Louvre. The name "Tuileries" means "tile works" because of the local clay used to make tuiles (tiles). The gardens have been part of the Palais du Louvre and the Palais des Tuileries since around 1564. In 1762 Louis XIV and his family fled through the gardens to escape the revolutionaries. The park is really pretty, and I especially like the statues that are placed throughout. It gives the whole place a very romantic feel, and it gives me the urge to put on an old-fashioned dress and walk around with a parasol in one hand and a classic in the other. But then again, I always want to dress up, so maybe that's not so indicative of the park's overall evocations.

As we were walking past the Louvre I saw down one of its long halls a couple who were getting their wedding pictures taken. It was really beautiful so of course I had to take a picture of them. And I have to say they looked really good. Kudos to them for picking such a prime venue for taking their marriage photos. I wonder if they actually got married at the Louvre. Can you do that? I guess if you had money you could. Another reason to add to my list of why I want to marry rich...in order to take wedding pictures at the Louvre. Done.

From the Louvre we took the metro to boulevard Raspail to begin our second walk of the day, "Time Travel, Tricks, And Treats Around Saint-Sulpice." Sounds exciting huh? Well, this walk consisted of a lot of general architecture as well as the Saint-Sulpice church which is actually the second largest church in Paris after Notre Dame. The architecture was fairly interesting, although its really just the stories behind it that capture attention. The first thing of note on the walk was the Hotel Lutetia, a four-star hotel that was built in 1910 and housed famous guests including Picasso, Matisse, Andre Gide, and Josephine Baker. Charles de Gaulle (the president of France during WWII) also chose the Lutetia for his honeymoon. The nicest suite costs 2,500 euros per night!

As we continued along we walked by various historical buildings, which is basically inevitable as everything in Paris is historic, including some apartments that dated back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The thing that is cool about seeing all these buildings is not just how old they are, but how Paris has grown up and around them to such a degree that its sometimes difficult to see where one piece of history ends and another begins. Several different centuries of architecture and history can be represented down just one street. Who knows how many famous people in history have walked down these same cobble stoned streets?

Another fun part of the walk was seeing the most famous boulangerie in Paris called Poilane. Its breads are works of art! We didn't go in because everything was tres expensive, but from the window we could see all the different varieties and designs and it was quite impressive. In addition to seeing Poilane's we also went into Paris' famous patisserie, Pierre Herme, which has some beautiful displays of chocolates, tartes and pastries. I bought a simple almond bread..thing...that was basically just light sweet bread with almonds on top. It was good, but when we ran in Giles later I tried his chocolate passionfruit macaron from there and it was DIVINE. It was so good! You take a bite and taste chocolate, which in and of itself is quite deliciously satisfying. But THEN it hits you and your mouth is awakened by the surprising tang of the sweet passionfruit, and you are hooked. The combination of chocolate and passionfruit flavors was surprisingly appealing and one that I look forward to experiencing again in the near future...and I didn't even think I liked macarons! But I was young and naive then...

After ogling at the amazing display of equal part food and art , we then went and visited the Saint-Sulpice Church. The outside wasn't as impressive as I know it usually must be because half of it was covered by construction (they're currently restoring it) but the inside was magnificent! I really liked the domes and arches that helped to both soften and lighten the feel of the church. Another thing I was impressed with was the artwork displayed there. There were some amazing frescoes, paintings and sculptures along the walls and in the little chapel alcoves that dated back centuries, but still maintained their poignant beauty. Another detail I loved about Saint-Sulpice was the different verses carved into the walls at each chapel. The verses themselves were beautiful but they were also written in French, of course, and for some reason French just makes everything sound eloquent and lovely. It really is one of the most beautiful languages in the world, and I don't mean that in a biased way. It just is. One verse I particularly liked was from Isaiah: "Vraiment c'etait nos souffrances qu'il portait et nos douleurs dont il s'etait charge." The translation in the KJV is Isaiah 53:5 "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows..." And while I like it in KJV I think it is in some ways more poignant in the French version.

After spending some time in Saint-Sulpice we then proceeded to get a bit turned around and we ended up walking in a circle--twice--until we finally found the little garden park we were looking for (where we ran into Giles, Anne, Ashley and Caitlin....I think that was everyone...). After talking for a bit about our adventures that day, and trying Giles' amazing macaron from heaven, also known as Herme's, we took the metro back to the institute building where we waited for La Soiree Familiale (or Family Home Evening). While we were waiting we met a boy whose name I can't pronounce and therefore can't spell (although it sounded a bit like a French pronunciation of Algernon) who was very nice and talked with us in French for a while. Then we went to FHE where there was a large group of us (perhaps around 30 or so) and had a lesson taught by the Italian missionary, who I am in love with and will someday marry, and then a hand slapping game we also play in America. The best part? It was all in French and I understood! Yay! Now if only I could speak back, and therein lies the rub.

After mingling and eating afterwards (see, the church really is true!) we headed home in the rain (ick!). I got back around 10pm and was so tired that I went to bed pretty soon after that, hence the late blog entry. But we just move on to bigger and better things the next day!