23. Saturday in Paris

Dear travellers

You know when you’ve had one of those days where everything went just right? Today was one. Started with leftovers for breakfast of pâté de foie gras on baguette. What a treat!

I noticed a beautiful detail inside the apartment fireplace today. The back of it seems to be made of pressed tin. Isn’t it wonderful? Don’t you love beautiful things that hide themselves, like diamonds on the soles of your shoes?

And don’t you love the rubbish bin area inside the entrance to the building?

Today we didn’t allow our itinerary to get in the way of exploring side streets, taking photos, just gawking about or going into shops.

Come stroll with me. Let’s wander down the Boulevard St Germain until we hit Rue Danton, which will take us over the bridge to the Ile de la Cité. A bateau mouche was gliding by. What a beautiful day!

Look back at Notre Dame. The trees are just beginning to turn yellow.

Do you want an ice-cream at the Berthillon corner store? No sorry, you’ve just had breakfast! (I know. Spoilsport)

Past the Palais de Justice with its beautiful gates.

Let’s cross the Pont au Change over the Seine again, past the Fontaine du Palmier. See up at the top, the golden statue of the Goddess Victory on top of a tall palm trunk, a laurel wreath in each hand. Did you know it was built in 1806 to celebrate French victories in battle? No neither did I. I googled it. :-)

Isn’t Paris lovely?

We admired the Hotel de Ville and this pretty street.

What about this clever artwork on a wall? Three bathers under a shower of sparkling water.

Which way to go? Maybe the Carnavalet Museumin the Marais?

It was built in 1548 for the President of the Paris parliament, but named after a later owner. It’s one of the few remaining examples of Renaissance architecture in paris. The statue of Louis XIV in the courtyard is the only royal statue which survived the revolution.

Don’t you love the French style of manicured parterres? Maybe a bit too labour intensive for your own, but perfect here. See how they have left a bigger plant inside one parterre? Intrigued me why.

The Carnavalet is dedicated to the history of Paris. I enjoyed the section on the revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their removal from Versailles and their imprisonment first in the Tuileries, and then after a failed escape attempt, their captivity in the tower of the Temple.

Louis' farewell to his family, and then his execution. Can you imagine, no matter how bad the man?

and his ascent to the guillotine

The poor little dauphin who became (unrecognised except for loyalists of course) Louis XVII on the death of his father. He was very badly beaten in captivity, reputedly not fed properly, and died after two years, so young - his death certificate recorded a lymphatic disease.

We enjoyed some of the more modern paintings as well - can you pick Marie Antoinette out of the ones below? :-)

Do you like the style of the modern painter Romaine Brooks?

Isn't this a great capture of a personality. What about his hair? He was a journalist and politician and was painted by Alfred Roll in 1904. Great eyes aren't they?

A silk shoe from about the time of the revolution.

This photo I took of an attendant at the museum. It could almost be a modern painting couldn’t it?

Off we went to the Place des Vosges, searching for a jewellery shop Cally wanted to see, Cécile Jeanne. Loved her work.