A lot of riding the rails today. We plan to cross a big chunk of Europe to get to Paris by tonight. First, a four hour train ride from Munich to Strasbourg. Although the TGV goes direct to Paris, we decided to stop off the train in Strasbourg for four hours of scavenges. I had been in Strasbourg before, but my visit was nothing like this. We had four hours to scavenge around. One of the highlights was to “visit the European Parliament – and get in”. The Parliament building is imposing, with an armed gate. We had gone by taxi and had the driver tell the guard that we just wanted to take a quick photo. As we approached the façade for a closer view, a group of students on a field trip were passing into the entrance. We joined the crowd and got led into the inner courtyard, and on into an anteroom where a host greeted the group and addressed them as they began the process of passing their bags through the electronic security gates. At that point, we turned back and left.
Our 6:00 PM train got us to Paris by 9:00 PM. There were a few evening scavenges we could and did do after we dropped off our suitcases at the hotel. We found Aux Trois Mailletz, the “jazz” club in St. Michel area, where the musicians played classical music and the vocalist sang opera. Next, we did the still-really-overpriced and still-really-disappointing Moulin Rouge. We went to the 11:00 PM show. The large nightclub’s hall was almost full. I am mystified as to how they manage to lure enough people to fill the house to see that thing three times every night. The dancing looked like a Rockette-type show, with the dancing girls dressed in elaborate costumes, some with poles holding up headdresses, wings, and curtains of swinging chains of beads. They changed costumes every scene. As the show progressed, the costumes morphed from gauzy veils and suggestive peeks at the dancers’ bodies, to bare chests and thongs. The choreography was lame. Mostly, it consisted of wiggling their hips and thrusting their chests forward. There was a loose theme of exotic Asia. Having just come from exotic Asia, the costumes and scenery looked hokey. Interspersed between the nudie scenes was a series where a man and some feathered puppets shrieked stupid jokes in three languages in a slapstick routine. This was woven throughout the show, presumably to fill the time while the dancing girls were backstage, getting progressively undressed. A third act was also woven through the show in several scenes. It was a magician who was actually outstanding. He pulled multiple doves and finally, a duck, out of scarves and even out of thin air. He was great. Time for bed.
Probing into Paris
We scoured Paris over the course of our sixteen-hour day. Our hotel is in Montparnasse, which is on the southwest edge of Paris. One of the scavenges was to find three graves in the Montparnasse cemetery. Two were easy because they are in the guidebooks and on the cemetery’s maps: Jean Paul Sartre and Serge Gainsbourg. The harder one was to find Susan Sontag’s grave. The cemetery custodian had to look up her location for us and then try to explain where it was located in the crowded and not well labeled cemetery. We found her grave – a simple one.
We then headed out to Versailles. Fortunately, Paris’s museums now offer a combination pass for 30 Euros for the day. We were able to buy the pass at Versailles. Otherwise, it would have been a sickening waste of money to zip in and out of museums for a quick look at a specific thing, and then on to the next. Next was the Louvre. We had to find four things. One of them was kind of tricky – not sure we got it right. The task was to find what famous lady resides in Apollo Gallery. The exhibits in the Apollo Gallery are glass cases containing royal jewels and tableware. The palace walls and ceilings are choked with decorative insets and paintings. Almost all of the subjects are men – except for a painting in the ceiling, of Diana on her doe-led chariot. I am curious whether that was right.
After the Louvre, we visited the stained glass windows in Sainte Chappelle. By then, we were very ready for the mandatory food scavenge of getting ice cream at the upscale Bertillon on Ile St. Louis. We had to try either the Peche de Vigne (red peach – which we did – and it was deliciously refreshing) or the Caramel Beurre Sale (which we had later that night, and it was a fab combination of caramel and salt – kind of like chocolate covered pretzels). There were a bunch more little scavenges to do. We took the elevator to the top of the Georges Pompidou Center and photographed the “Rites of Spring” Fountain from the top, which we had to figure out was really the Stravinsky fountain. He was the composer of the Rites of Spring. We found the “sister” statue of the statue of Liberty at the Place de la Republique. She is holding a torch, like the one in New York. We located the oldest covered market in Paris off Rue Charlot, buried in a neighborhood where people in the neighborhood seem not to know about it. We took an elevator to the 59th floor of the highest skyscraper in Paris (around the corner from our hotel).
We visited a fabulous new museum called Musee du Quai Branley, to locate some artifacts from Laos and Vietnam. The museum celebrates handcrafts of native people all over the world. There are scores of handmade textiles, masks, sculptures, etc. What is wonderful about it is that the core theme is ethnic people and the beauty of their creations and their lives. The building is quite exciting architecturally. The Eiffel Tower’s top is viewed around most corners. But the museum is chunky modules of browns and earthy colors in a park of reeds and tall grasses, with a jungle feel. One enters down a winding path, where the location of the front door is not at all obvious as you enter from the street. Like many times on this scavenger hunt, I regretted having to race out to get on to the next thing.
We found the Zouave de Pont d’Alma (an Arabic Warrior statue at the bottom of the bridge), and strolled a bit on Avenue Montaigne to see the designer clothing stores and elegant Parisians and elegant (not us!) visitors. We found the works we needed to find in Musee D’Orsay (except that Whistler’s mother is visiting San Francisco right now, so she wasn’t hanging on the wall at her usual home). We boarded the Vogueo boat at Gare d’Austerlitz. It is a commuter ferry that travels east of Paris. We were supposed to take it to the end, which we did. Since the day was winding down and the boat ride was so pleasant, we rode a round trip and enjoyed nearly one hour on the river with our feet up. On the way back to pick up more commuters in Paris, the boat was almost empty. We took the opportunity to chat with Aimad, the boat guy (the one who does everything except drive the boat). Friendly guy – and he was willing to make the silly video with me of teaching me a dance step. After the boat, we found the place called Batofar, a boat-restaurant tied up alongside the Seine. It’s a bar, restaurant and music club. We had a refreshing drink and refreshing bathroom (there were neither on the commuter boat). Next was the challenge to find the Arenes de Lutece, a very well hidden Roman vestige in Paris. It is a Roman forum/theater in the middle of a park in the middle of a residential neighborhood. After twirling around the area a few times, we finally found the entrance gate, just as a guard approached with a set of keys to lock it for the night. We slipped in for a quick look and photo. There is a dirt ring in the center and seats ringing the perimeter. It is in the midst of a small urban park, hidden inside the trees. Great neighborhood place.
Next was Montmartre. We did the silly tourist task of having an artist paint a portrait or cut out a silhouette of our team. We chose the silhouette. Actually, it was amazing. In less than ten minutes, the artist cut out paper in the shapes of our profiles. Great souvenir. The café life around Place du Tertre on Montmarte is like a caricature of Paris. Men really do stand around and play Jacques Brel-type tunes on the accordion. The last thing before leaving Place du Tertre was to find “one of the oddest sculptures you could ever hope to find”. We found it. Emerging out of a stone wall are pieces of part of a man. His head, hand and leg are sticking through the stone as though he is walking through the stone wall. Pretty cool.
We were just about done for the night. We went down the hill from Montmartre and found a wonderful restaurant in the St. Michel area to have some escargots. The white asparagus are in season and were served in a delicious vinaigrette. AND, the restaurant served the Caramel Beurre Sale ice cream. Yum Yum Yum. After a chat with some international students (a scavenge), we retreated to the hotel for bed. And that was the end of Europe.
Next stop: New York.