Parading Through Paris

Hi, again!

I realize that these Paris posts will be full of familiar places, but be on the look out for those more obscure locations.  In fact, I like to think that these "regular" places make travelling and blog-reading worth doing.  But first for the familiar.

Shakespeare and Company

Our first whole day in Paris was full of walking.  We walked from the Ile de la Cite, along the Siene, until we finally made it to the Eiffel Tower.  I've already told you about Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame, so our next stop is a tiny place that is best known by word of mouth: Shakespeare and Company.  It is not a playhouse, but rather two bookstores under one name.  The one on the left is the biggest attraction for visitors, even though it occupies the least square footage, because it houses the store's rare and valuable book collection.  The space is so small, in fact, that only 5 patrons are allowed inside at the same time.  The store on the right hand side is a larger space and sells many of the popular books you'd find at a Barnes & Noble or a Waterstones (British equivalent).  But, if you do buy a book, the cashier will stamp  the inside front cover with the official Shakespeare and Company crest.  The second floor of this side is a very quiet reading room with small nooks and crannies and newspaper clippings on every available wall space (areas not covered by bookshelves).  All the books up there are for reading only (not for purchase).

Assemblée Nationale

Grand Palais on the Siene

As we continued along the Siene, we saw lots of street artists, one of whom told us all about the layout of buildings along the river as he painted a vibrant watercolor.  His broken English was, well, very broken, but he was quite enthusiastic and determined to tell us about his hometown.  It was at this point that I realized that the picture that he was working on was of the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly) building, located just around the corner from where we were; he knew the city so well that he could paint all the details from his head!  And the one he had just finished was of the Grand Palais (no translation necessary here, I hope), even further down the Siene, and another of Invalides, a beautiful church by the Musée Rodin.  I was very impressed.  We had a number of encounters like this, but I wanted to tell you about this man because of how genuine he seemed.

It seems very tourist-y to say, and perhaps I should keep this to myself, but once I saw the National Assembly building with the French flag flapping in the wind, all I could think about was the French Revolution.  (And, just as an aside, I LOVE studying about the French Revolution because even though it happened in 1789, it has shaped France and the French people in a fundamental way that it still affects the current French national sentiment!).  And when that happens, I can't seem to get that song from Les Miserables out of my head.  You know, the one that goes "do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again ..."

Invalides

Well, now I know which song will be stuck in my head for the remainder of this post.

And since I am on this tangent, I might as well keep going.  Last winter Boston was buried under feet of snow, which meant cancelled classes and lots of students between the ages 18 and 22 with cabin fever.  Solution? A snowball fight, of course!  In any case, I was studying for a postponed exam when I hear a bunch of people outside my window singing the aforementioned song.  When I peeked out the window to see what was going on, I saw that there were two groups of people on either side of the street, each having made their own snow fort.  Atop the fort across the street was a large French flag!! I offer no explanation, but will say that that was probably the best laugh I had all semester.

"Dancing" Eiffel Tower

Anyway ... back to Paris: our last stop on this grand tour along the Siene was, of course, the Eiffel Tower.  Unlike my reaction to Notre Dame, I could not get over how HUMUNGOUS the Eiffel Tower was; I practically had to lay on the ground to get this shot (you're welcome)!  It is approapriate that this was next after the National Assembly because the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution (you see?! My tangents aren't for nothing!).  The architect, you guessed it, was monsiuer Gustave Eiffel.  The original plan was to dismantle it a few years after the Fair, but I guess people really liked it.  To be honest, I am surprised that it survived the First and Second World Wars, not only because of the bombings, but also because that is a whole lot of iron just waiting to be melted down and made into munitions.  It may have happened had Paris not been taken so soon after the start of those wars, but, then again, may be not.  Either way, I think the Eiffel Tower is really quite beautiful, though there are many who disagree.  The really spectacular thing about it during the holiday season is the way it lights up on the top of the hour (after the sun goes down).  It almost looks like the Tower is dancing - it looks as if thousands of camera flashes are going off one after another ... and it lasts for 4 or 5 minutes!  Sigh ... it was so pretty!

Arc de Triomphe

The last landmark I want to mention is the Arc de Triomphe.  It was built to celebrate and commemorate those who fought and/or died in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.  This is an interesting comparison to London's many arches dedicated to Arthur, Duke of Wellington, defeater of Napoleon Bonaparte.  Just below the Arch is France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI.  The Arch is really really big (50 meters / 164 feet to the top) and sits in the middle of probably the largest round-about / traffic circle in Paris, and perhaps all of France.




Look out for my next post about our trip to opulent palace of Versailles.  Thanks for reading!