Yesterday,our host,Eric was to take us on a secret journey to the Louvre.The apartment is in an area close to major attractions in Paris.
We headed off and he told us stories about some of the small shops and boutiques we passed on the way .
Nothing opens here until at least 10.00 or 10.30.
We visited 10 of these historic shopping arcades and we did not see any tourists!.
The website for information re-Les Plus Beaux Passages de Paris is as follows:
http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/passages.htm
We had a wonderful time as we were totally immersed in the atmosphere and ambience and Eric filled us in on the peripheral detail.
The passages were developed to enable women ,especially ,to travel to the boutiques in their large hooped skirts,and finery,and not get wet or damp,not step in dog faeces,and be able to travel undercover by horse and carriage and to be away from lower class clients who could not afford to shop in these areas.
There is an overall air of snobbery as you pass through these areas.It is wonderful!There were also passages where gentlemen went to have dalliances with ladies and vice verca,and in Le Passage Jouffroy there is L 'Hotel Chopin where Chopin stayed to have his dalliances and also compose several concertos .You can stay there for as little as 99€ per night! It is a very small intimate abode .These areas were so quiet and sedate,it was a wonderful experience.
The route of these passages took us to The Louvre where Eric showed us where we could find the shortest queue.
As the time was getting on,nearly lunch time when everything closes we decided to actually visit the Louvre on Wednesday,as it is closed on Tuesday and instead go to the Tuileries Gardens and walk down The Champs Élysées to The Arc de Triomphe.
The Jardin des Tuileries are 28 hectares of formal gardens where Parisians paraded their finery in the 17th century.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the paths ,ponds and merry go round make it an attractive place for a stroll,especially for tourists.
The gardens were a delight and we grabbed one of the green chairs and sat and people watched,my goodness you could write a book!
The beautiful gardens ,manicured hedges and pruned plane and chestnut trees are a sight to behold.The sculptures were amazing and very understated in the sedate serene environment.
Rodin and de Kooning to name a few.
We headed towards the Arc de Triomphe .Pomp and grandeur reign: Baron Haussmann famously re shaped the Parisian cityscape around the Arc de Triomphe ,from which 12 avenues
radiate like spokes of a wheel.
This is the most celebrated area,and the neighbourhood's
splendour extends to its haute cuisine restaurants and haute couture fashion houses.
If anything rivals the Eiffel Tower as the symbol of Paris,it's the magnificent 1836. - built monument to Napoleon's 1805 victory at Austerlitz,which he commissioned the following year. The intricately sculpted triumphal arch stands sentinel in the centre of the Etoile( star), the world's largest roundabout.
The architecture was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus,architect Jean-Francois Challgrin gave the Arc de Triomphe it's imposing stature through its outsized dimensions: a proud:50m high,45 m long and 22 m wide.
This is a wonderful 3 km. walk .No trip to Paris is complete without strolling this broad ,tree shaded avenue with luxury shops.Named for the Elysian Fields,( heaven ) in Greek mythology, the Champs - Élysées is the final stretch of the Tour de France and is where Paris turns out for organised and impromptu celebrations .
From here we head over to the Eiffel Tower.I hasten to add that we are doing this on foot. We are exploring Paris on foot!
No one could imagine Paris today without its signature spire,we can see it from our studio apartment.
Gustave Eiffel constructed this tower,the world's tallest at 320m,until it was eclipsed by Manhattan's Chrysler Building some four decades later - only as a temporary exhibit for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World Fair). Luckily, the tower's popularity assured its survival beyond the fair and it's elegant art nouveau webbed -metal design has become the defining fixture of the city's skyline.
We walked underneath and around and neither of us had any desire to join the throng of tourists heading for the lifts and stairs.
Each night we watch the light show from our studio.
From here we ventured back to the Seine and hopped on a bateau and headed for the Jardins de Plants.
This is a botanical garden and we really enjoyed the serenity and quietness .
From here we walked back to the bateau and headed back to L'Hotel de Ville and headed back to the studio .
Another very long wonderful day. I think it was 7.30 when we arrived back and had to climb the 180 or so steps up into our secret entrance.
Today we set out to venture around Montmartre and to visit Sacre-Coeur.We were very keen to look at the Montmartre Area after reading so much about it and attending the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition in Canberra.
Montmartre's slinking streets,lined with crooked ivy clad buildings,retain a fairy tale charm,despite the areas popularity .Crowned by the Sacre -Coeur basilica ,Montmartre is the city's steepest quarter,( mont means hill ; the martyr was St Denis,beheaded here in about AD 250);the lofty views,wine producing vines and hidden village squares have lured painters since the 19th century.
This is a seedy area with cheap tourist tat and clothing.Sex shops abound along with bars clubs and shops selling sex toys and paraphernalia .Moulin Rouge is in the heart of the area.
We headed up to Sacre- Coeur .
This is visible from across the city,it is a striking white set of domes crowning the 130 m .high Butte de Montmartre,(Montmartre Hill)
The basilica's travertine stone exudes calcite,ensuring that it remains white despite weathering and pollution,while it's lofty vantage point offers wonderful Parisian vistas from its steep surrounding streets,steps and its main dome.
For centuries Montmartre was a bucolic country village filled with moulins( mills) that supplied Paris with flour.But after it was incorporated into the capital in 1860 its picturesque charm and low rents attracted painters including,Manet,Degas,Renoir,Van Gogh,Toulouse Lautrec,Dufy,Picasso,Utrillo,Modigliani and Dali in its late 19th and early 20tH century heyday.
We walked to the basilica and we walked the streets past the focal points such as Moulin Rouge and Vincent Van Gogh's home,and we wandered through the cemetery where Degas,Offenbach,Vaslav Nijinski and Jim Morrison, singer. songwriter,author , poet,lead singer of The Doors and Alexandre Dumas,Edith Piaf,Marcel Proust,Gertrude Stein,Francois Truffaut and Jean Valjean along with Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt,and Maria Callas and Chopin are all buried.This was an amazing experience.
We had had a very full day.
We wandered back to our studio and removed our shoes and enjoyed a well earned beverage.
Tomorrow is another day.
We are heading to the Louvre!