A Flâneur's Guide to Paris

Let's begin with a definition.  Flâner (verb) (french): to walk about with no other purpose than seeing the sights/experiencing one's location/admiring the beauty and activity around oneself.  Note: this is the only useful thing I have learned in conversation class so far - this verb.

I spent this past weekend in Paris (The City of Light, aka my favorite city).  I went with Caroline and Laura, some new friends from Vanderbilt.  Sara was also in the city with Karen (our friend from Duke).

Sara and I took the train (TGV) up on Friday and the split apart.  Our ride was pleasant except for ALL THE BABIES!!!!  They were four (possibly more) children under the age of 4 - aka they were all very loud and whiny.  But we were going to Paris so it was fine.  When we arrived, Sare went to find Karen and I met Laura and Caroline after their train.  Our first order of business was to go to our hostel.  It was located in Montmartre (my favorite part of Paris, famed for Sacré Coeur, the many street artists, its hills, and its grand presence in the film Amelie - it was the setting).  After checking in (and finding some surprises like the Book of Mormon down stairs in Spanish (!) and the interesting cheese/clorox beach aroma of our room) we sent of to flâne in Montmartre.  For those who haven't been to Montmartre first of all go - immediately - as in make that the centerpiece of your next vacation (you can thank me later).  Second, the two most important characteristics of Montmartre are stairs and artists.  Montmartre is a large hill in Paris with Sacré Coeur (a large white basilica with a dome - you can see the entire city from this point) so naturally you have to take lots of lots of lots of stairs to ge to the top.  It's like a major trip to the gym.  As for artists - this area not only has tons of street art (mostly graffiti) but also lots of artists.  While there we went to Sacré Coeur and walked around inside.  The inside of the dome had a gorgeous painted scene of Jesus and His Kingdom on earth.  We also went to the Dali museum - which I had done before, but greatly enjoyed this time.  Dali was quite prolific - he did bronze sculptures, sketches, water colors (light and dark), lithographs, collages, and he even made a few pieces of furniture.  He also illustrated many stories like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isuet, and the 12 tribes of Israel - I think I enjoyed his water color illustrations the best.  We flâned around Montmartre for a while.  We saw my second favorite church there - a small church with dark brown stones but blue glass mosaics everywhere.    For dinner we went to a gluten free restaurant (for Caroline) and had a pretty decent dinner.  My favorite part by far was the raspberry champagne (which was unfortunately spilled all over Caroline but then fortunately refilled).  then we went back to the Hostel - showered and slept.


The next day we got up pretty early and went to the Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries garden).  This is between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde - in central Paris.  It was so early that the gardens weren't that exciting - the only people we saw were runners.  But we were really only there to see the Musée de l’Orangerie (Orangerie Museum).  It houses most of Monet's waterlilies, some Renior, some Soutine, a few Cezannes and some others.  The Monets were breathtaking.  The canvases were huge - the were in a circular room and three took up an entire room.  For your next Paris trip go see the waterlilies.  There are also paintings by Soutine there - he painted the side of meat that Julia Robert's shows her snotty art history class in Mona Lisa Smile (the movie).  She does that to challenge her know-it-all students to redefine art.  Which is what Soutine does.  His portrait of his fiancée is a perfect example.  It is not at all flattering - but it pushes the envelop.  So I really respect his paintings now.

After the Orangerie museum (which quickly became my favorite), we went to the Rodin museum.  He is famous for The Kiss (a sculpture done in both broze and marble).  It was cool to see his sculptures but not my favorite part of the day.  After that we grabbed a quick lunch and went to Les Grands Magasins (the big stores - think France's Neiman Marcus or Saks).  We first went to Galleries Lafayettes and the Au Primtemps (literally In the Spring).  They were filled to the gills with luxury clothes, jewelry, make-up, purses, and tons tons tons of people.  Like the largest amount of people I saw in one place.  It was very overwhelming.  But still and fun shopping break.

After that we flâned over to Musée de Cluny which houses Medieval art in an old monastery in the middle of Paris.  I was in heaven.  The history geek in me was going crazy!  I loved the stained glass fragments from Saint Chapelle and the original pieces from the Notre Dame statues of the Judean Kings (on the door).  But my favorite was La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady with the Unicorn) a huge 6 part tapestry from the late 15th century.  This piece has long been a favorite of mine but with all magnificent pieces of art it was rapturous to see in person.  Pictures couldn't do it justice so I bought scads of postcards (my strategy with Monet's Waterlilies).  I also took tons of notes at this museum.  It was definitely the highlight of my day.  


After that I met with Karen and Sara for dinner.  We ate in Montmartre.  It was delightful - I had moules frites (mussels and fries), rosé, and crème brûlée.  Sara's friend met us and brought a french friend so the whole dinner was just absolutely delightful - albeit LONG and LATE.  We ate around 9 and finished around 11.  So not my ideal dining hours - but it was still a wonderful meal.

This morning Laura, Caroline and I went to 8:30 mass at Notre Dame.  It was in French but similar to what I used to (I was raised Episcopalian so I feel at home in traditional churches).  The sermon was very nice (what I could understand of it...)  But the main point was that communion was like when pigeons come to feed from people's hands - but we are the pigeons and God is the person.  I might not be explaining it well (I'm very tired as I write this) but the sentiment was very comforting.  It was strange to be in a service though when at all times scores of tourists are walking by and talking pictures though.  It was a slightly unsettling mix of reverence (attending worship in an ancient and famous and grand cathedral) and spectacle (for so many tourists Notre Dame is not a place of spirituality, it is just a landmark to photograph).  All in all I really enjoyed the service and was greatly moved by the whole thing (the sermon, the latin bits, the soloist, the church itself...).  After that we flâned some more and ended up at the Pantheon.  Again I learned all about its history but for this post's sake (sorry it's running so long) I'll skip the super cool facts I learned.  Basically the Pantheon is modeled after the original in Greece, is dedicated to Paris's patron saint, St. Genevieve, and holds the tombs of French luminaries (Victor Hugo, Dumas, the Curies....).  After that we went to one of my new favorite places in Paris Shakespeare & Company.  It's a book store like one out of the movies.  It's crammed with books.  Since I am out of words - refer to the pictures below.  Definitely add this to your places-I-MUST-visit-in-Paris list.  After 30 divine minutes we left to catch our train home.

This trip to Paris I:
- bought 30 euros worth of postcards (not a big deal...)
- found my new favorite museum (Cluny)
- found possibly the greatest book store on earth (Shakespeare and Co.)
- formed a blister the size of my thumb on the bottom of my foot (surprisingly it doesn't hurt!)
- had a gluten free meal
- took tons tons tons of pictures
- and still didn't get to visit all the places I wanted to

Guess I'll just have to go back...

Sacré Coeur

Me with Monet's Waterlilies

More Waterlilies

Stained Glass at the Cluny

Sara, Karen, Me at Notre Dame

Shakespeare and Company: bibliophile heaven