
Chapter Eight: Looking Carefully In Both Directions In Paris
December 30, 2024
Chapter Ten: A Paris Quickie, And Thank Heavens The Restaurant Is Pretty
January 29, 2025Mai Tai Tom Stays On Track Through Belgium, Paris and Strasbourg
Chapter Nine: Tours & Detours In Paris
Day Nine: Straight Out Of Greece, The Barefoot Contessa’s Favorite Breakfast, Emily In Paris Bed?, Neoclassical Splendor, Fantastic Audio Guide, Le Notre Strikes Again, Belle Epoque Beauty, Detour After Detour, Museum Not In The Bag, Selfie Capital Of Paris, Almost Dior, Dining With The Authors, Ugly Building and “Impressionistic Haze”
Outside of one event at Boutique Hôtel Mareuil (foreshadowing alert), our stay here was perfect. Great room, great bed and a powerful shower. Tracy and I awoke refreshed and got an early start on the day, while Kim and Mary got a little extra shuteye. Dodging the skateboarders who apparently never sleep, we safely made it to the Place de la République metro station, picked up our Navigo Pass, and headed toward our first stop.
Exiting the Place de la Concorde station, we saw that there was still a lot of work to do breaking down the stands and other remnants from the recent Olympics and Paralympics.
It had been quite some time since we last visited Église de la Madeleine, built between 1764 and 1842 and in the shape of a Greek temple. It doesn’t look like a church from the inside because Napoleon “wanted it to be a pantheon to the glory of the armies.”
It seems to have been spruced up since our last visit a decade earlier.
Famed French sculptor François Rude created the Baptism of Christ.
Nearby is the 19th-century Marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph.
There have been many weddings and funerals of famous people conducted here, including the funerals of Frederic Chopin and Edith Piaf. It took Carlo Marochetti 12 years to complete Mary Magdalene Exalted by Angels.
Above Mary in the dome is Jules-Claude Ziegler’s fresco, The History of Christianity. There are lots of famous figures in it, including Napoleon, who is in the red robe at the bottom. Underneath the fresco is Lamiere’s Mosaic in a neo-Byzantine style.
The gigantic organ dates to the mid-19th century.
Speaking of Mary Magdalene, we saw her relics here, too.
It was time to leave and grab a quick bite before hooking up with Kim and Mary at our appointed destination, Hôtel de la Marine, which is not a hotel and a building that some have called a “Mini Versailles.”
As we entered the Cour d’Honneur, we saw something that seemed out of place that we would find more about later.
Oddly, we hadn’t found anywhere in the area to grab a bite, but we spied Café Lapérouse Concorde sitting off the courtyard. Entering, we felt a little underdressed for such opulent decor.
That, of course, didn’t stop us. In a restaurant so chic, we dubbed ourselves shabby chic.
As I had a small case of the sniffles, I ordered fresh-squeed orange juice and we partook in the Barefoot Contessa’s favorite French breakfast, a piping hot baguette with jam.
Just as we finished, we saw Kim and Mary entering the Cour d’Honneur at Hôtel de la Marine, with its fascinating audio tour of this neoclassical palace built in the mid-1700s which just opened to the general public for the first time in 2021. The building has had many uses including the residence of the office that managed furnishing all the royal properties under Louis XV. After the French Revolution it was used as the Ministry of the Navy until 2015 when it underwent a six year renovation. We ascended the elegant staircase.
We visited the Appartments of the Intendants. Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville-d’Avray was Louis IV’s Intendant of the Garde-Meuble. Entering the anteroom there was a statue of Hebe (goddess of youth) and a Carrera marble and gilded water fountain entry to the apartment of the Intendant.
As we exited one room and entered another, the audioguide would switch from room to room dispensing interesting information regarding the building and the room’s past. We walked toward the Grand Cabinet.
The Grand Cabinet not only included those pieces made by the best cabinetmakers of the time …
… but also an interesting floor that almost seemed like 3D, and contained a spectacular chandelier.
It’s obviously a room for a person of high caliber.
Intendant Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville-d’Avray’s bedroom was our next stop …
… along with his bathroom. Tracy admired the wallpaper.
The Salle à manger was all set for dinner.
It almost seemed like Louis XV would make an appearance for a meal that was fit for, well, a king.
If you wanted to play some games, the Salon de Compagnie was the place.
The bedroom of Madame Thierry de Ville-d’Avray was quite a sight complete with a canopied bed.
Many, I’m sure, were green with envy.
We stepped outside to the multi-columned loggia. From here, it was touted was a wonderful view. Unfortunately, the Olympic’s grandstands made it not so wonderful.
It was from this balcony that people also had a view of Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette and 1,117 others would be guillotined on what was temporarily renamed Place de la Révolution. Interestingly, the first two people executed there were thieves who had stolen the royal crown diamonds from the Hotel de la Marine.
I have no idea what the Lieux à l’anglaise was, but it had some intriguing wallpaper.
Unlike Madame Thierry de Ville-d’Avray’s bedroom, Monsieur de Fontanieu’s chambre had people seeing red.
In the Cabinet des Glaces there were lots of decorative pieces.
We traveled through a beautiful corridor …
… to the building’s most spectacular rooms.
The Salon of the Admirals is the reason why people call this a “mini Versailles.” According to the website, the Salons of Honor “were a perfect setting for all the prestigious events organized by the State or the Ministers of the Navy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.”
The rooms were used by the French Navy Minister …
… and its walls are adorned with many decorative pieces, including portraits of renowned French admirals.
The salons are connected by the Golden Hallway where Napoleon once walked.
It truly was a really fantastic experience made all the better thanks to the immersive headphone experience that gives patrons a glimpse into the building’s history.
Outside in the courtyard we took another peak at an installation that Tracy said was straight out of Emily In Paris. This colorful four-poster bed was installed for Fashion Week, which was coming up soon.
Since rest is for the weary (obviously not us), we trudged on through Jardin des Champs-Élysées, running from Place de la Concorde to the Champs-Élysées roundabout.
The gardens dating to the 17th century, were designed in 1667 under the supervision of André Le Notre, the famed French landscape architect and principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. Among many others, Le Notre designed the gardens at the Palace of Versailles …
… and another of our favorites, the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte.
The current rendition of the garden is from the mid 1800s.
Our corgi Garbo would have loved these gardens.
The day was pleasant and made for a nice little stroll.
We’d considered going to the Grand Palais, but it is still under renovation.
Instead, we popped into the Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris across the street, a building in the dozen or so times we have visited Paris, we have never ventured inside. I don’t know why. The Petit Palais was constructed for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and features numerous pieces of art, sculptures and much, much more.
When I told my traveling companions I needed to go to the can, they were surprised that I meant this. We started out with this urban art piece from street artist D-Face.
More traditional sculptures followed.
According to the website, “La Défence of Paris pays tribute to the heroism of Parisians during the 1870-1871 war.”
That stood in start contrast to La divinité féminine by British mixed-media artist HUSH.
There were many contrasting and cool art pieces.
That’s because we were there …
… when the We Are Here exhibition of street art was showcased. There’s old Napoleon again.
You can’t go anywhere in Paris without at least one Monet.
Now back to that fun street art.
After all the traditional art we had seen on the trip, this was a refreshing change of pace.
Although not street art, Tracy’s candid photograph “Out Of Shape Tom” did get rave reviews.
It was time to down the up staircase.
There were many paintings and sculptures dedicated to France’s freedom from A Monument à la République …
… to yet another statue of Jeanne d’Arc.
The last painting we viewed was the striking Un Chant de Noël (A Christmas Carol).
Back outside Tracy spied a nearby garden with flowers that attracted her like a bee.
We also ran into Winston Churchill.
Our time at the Petit Palais came to an end. Kim and Mary dodged around various roadblocks on their way to the Musée d’Orsay, while we went to check out a museum that Tracy thought would be colorful to photograph. The usually short walk to La Galerie Dior was complicated by the many barricades still up for the Olympics, so we trudged this way and that and it seemed to take forever, especially for Out Of Shape Tom.
When I had looked online a few weeks previously, there were lots of timed tickets available for the museum. Since we had no idea when we were going to be there, I had assumed there would be tickets available at the door (especially after seeing so few patrons at Hôtel de la Marine and the Petit Palais). Well, you know what they say about assuming.
The line was long, and the ticket person at La Galerie Dior informed us the timed slots were all booked for the rest of the week. For walk-ups, we learned it would take at least an hour. We noted there were many young ladies who had outfits right out of the Emily in Paris playbook. I don’t think we’ve seen as many people taking selfies in one spot. We decided to try again on our next trip.
We returned to the Jardin des Tuileries in search of the giant Olympics balloon, but our bubbles were burst when we learned the Jardin was mostly closed because of all the Olympics debris. We searched for a place to grab a late lunch.
We spied a nearby cafe with an open table, the La Coup d’or. Not quite the Dior, but it’s hard to screw up a Croque Monsieur and a glass of wine.
As we walked, Tracy and I felt that faces were watching us.
Then we took a gander at the Palais Garnier, which seemed to be undergoing some exterior cosmetic changes.
We hopped on an early métro for dinner because we had later reservations to see “the best view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.” Our dinner spot: La Closerie des Lilas, where we would soon be dining at the same brasserie as the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Paul Cézanne, Oscar Wilde and Picasso, among others. Although this is where intellectuals hung out, we were somehow allowed in. Well, almost in. This is a restaurant/brassiere, and we were seated on the patio of the brassiere.
I did step into the brasserie, which is also a piano bar, and when I returned to the patio Kim asked me how it looked. I replied, “it’s nice, but there are lots of old people in there.” As soon as I said that I came to the sad realization that most of them were younger than me. When the hell did that happen? The brassiere opened in 1847 under another name and has evolved into a cool art deco space.
I also caught a glimpse of the elegant dining room.
I did enjoy my dinner of steak tartare …
… finished off by a Baba au rhum. No smoking should be allowed anywhere near this dessert.
The placemat was interesting as it was filled with signatures of the famous people who had dined and drank here. We were not offered a pen to add to the list.
On our way over to Tour Montparnasse, we passed by a lot of happening spots.
I had kept a file on this restaurant …
… while I was feeling sort of like this restaurant after that dinner and dessert.
It looked like Picasso might have stopped here and done some street art after downing a few at Closerie des Lilas.
We had 8 p.m. reservations to ride the elevator to the top for great views of Paris. I had timed our visit to coincide with the blue hour. Unfortunately, like happened often on this trip, the blue hour did not grace us with a visit due to the overcast skies.
Not to worry, we took in some good views, and with music blaring, people were really enjoying the evening.
We took the obligatory photos of the Eiffel Tower, which were good, notwithstanding the gray skies that made the Eiffel a little less photogenic.
Our tour guide back in 2006 told us he called it an “Impressionistic haze.”
By now, however, we were in the spirit of the evening (thanks to a couple of glasses of wine).
Even without the blue hour, it was fun.
The following day was a mixed bag. It started off well with breakfast on a famed market street, a visit to a church with a big head in front of it, and a nice stroll to check on how Notre Dame was coming along with those renovations. But in the early afternoon the previous day’s nine-mile walk caught up with us, and we needed a little respite (especially me).
We probably should have stayed in bed, because on this night we would have perhaps the worst meal we’ve ever had in Paris. On the plus side, the restaurant did have an over-the-top art deco interior.
Chapter Ten: A Paris Quickie And Thank Heavens The Restaurant Is Pretty
Day Ten: Zombies, Walking The Market At A Snail’s Pace, “Best Croissants In Paris”?, Staying A Head, The Oldest Clock In Paris, It’s Coming Along, Toucan Eat Here, Let’s Not Repeat 2014 and Tracy’s Worst Day/Night Of Dining In Europe