The past week has been quiet, with sticky days early on, but turning cool and more comfortable by week end. The change was much appreciated but it did give us an idea what a typical August must be like in the city. Susan's school has been OK and her desserts have been fantastic (more of that in a brief follow-on update). I've been exploring some of the smaller, more intimate cemeteries in the historic center of Paris. (You can find out more by clicking here for my blog or to see some of the new images I've posted online just click here). (photo: looking east from La Grande Arche; that's the Arc de Triomph in the far distance.)
Last Saturday (the 2nd) was probably one of the best days we’ve had since moving here. No, we didn’t see anything grandiose or spectacular. In fact we spent a leisurely morning – no school for Susan – and later in the day jumped on the Metro (line 7 to line 1) eventually ending up at “La Defénse” in western Paris.
La Defénse is named not after the French Defense Department or some other such inane military bureaucracy but in fact after the Communards’ heroic defense of the city during the terrible years of 1870-71. Dominated by La Grande Arche (photo below), which was built in 1989 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Revolution, today the area is in fact the very heart of Parisian and French capitalism with corporate offices of some of France's largest companies such as ELF, Total, Gan, and numerous banks all housed in fantastically designed skyscrapers.
The Grande Arche itself is the visual lynchpin for the entire space: it rather reminds one of a vast airplane hangar but without the doors. An even better image would be the old lighter-than-air hangars that used to house dirigibles -- I remember seeing some of the last LTA hangars near Santa Ana, in southern Califnornia many years ago. Huge. The Arche, which houses numerous government ministeries and international businesses, comes with it's own externally mounted glass-enclosed transparent lift shafts which one assumes must make for a very interesting ride to the top (€7.50, daily 10-8) and allegedly the view from the top is spectacular, which I can imagine. We have yet to see the view from the top -- I can't wait. Still, the view from the base alone is worth the trip. With a striking line of sight all the way to the Arc de Triomph and even the Louvre on a clear day. It has to be seen to be appreciated believe me. (photo: La Grande Arche.)
The area also houses the Dôme-Imax, the world’s largest movie theater screen, two enormous shopping complexes, one of which is the Quatre-Temps commercial center, reportedly the largest shopping complex in Europe.
As a counterweight to all that heavy commercialism -- and really it is not as obvious as it may sound -- amidst all of this fantastic design you will find some of the most bizarre and striking outdoor sculpture in the city: a huge "stabile" by Calder, works by Miro and Torricini and several others, all wrapped up in the imagination of a deconstructed architectural plan which baffles and yet amuses at the same time.
We got off at Esplanade du Charles de Gaulle, one short metro stop short of La Defénse, so we could get the full impact of the space as we walked toward La Grande Arche. If you ever get to Paris make this one of your first stops. Lots of food to refuel, lots of space to wander around in and things to buy if you must. But come and see it. (photo: I call this the Calder "Tarantula".)
Although we only had a little while to cruise La Defénse this is definitely on our short list for a return trip.
From La Defènse we jumped on the RER line A1 and headed out to Rueil Malmaison, about a 10-minute train ride into the Paris suburbs. We had been invited out to the home of Anna and Pietro to have dinner with their family. (Anna and Susan met during the basic intensive level at Le Cordon Bleu in August.) After having lunch with them a week or so earlier we knew that they knew an awful lot about Paris, and in particular Paris food, where to find it, how to get it and, most importantly, how to fix it. In fact, Pietro bowled us over by grilling out – and we hadn’t had home cooked grilled food since June at Dick and Dorothy’s and I haven’t grilled since last year!
Naturally we couldn’t turn the down the opportunity to have great home cooked food from these guys so we jumped at the chance. And we weren’t disappointed. Pietro picked us up at the station and in five minutes we were settled into their comfortable home, sipping champagne.
Although the evening was a bit iffy for rain we sat outside for appetizers in their wonderfully private and quiet green space while Pietro grilled: first “mergez”, a type of North African sausage (with just the right amount of cumin), thin, red and delicious. Then came the meat – a beautiful piece of beef that was cooked to perfection.
And for dessert Anna made an Italian cheesecake with mascarpone and cream cheese! Whoa! This was so light you could mistake it for a mousse! And it was worth every kilometer on the train to get there I might add.
What a wonderful evening spent in talking about travel, good food and the wine that goes with it – and lamenting those who have somehow missed that bus. So be it.
We caught a late train back to the city. Pietro dropped us off at the station, said ciao and he left for home. We strolled over to the turnstiles and had a brief moment of panic when we realized our return tickets were not valid for this far out of central Paris. And there was no way to buy tickets: the window was closed and the machines didn’t work (something to bear in mind for the future). The gods were kind to us that evening, though, and one of the turnstiles was ajar just enough to let us squeeze through and we were off on our way home. And mind you it only took us less than 40 minutes to cross the entire city.
What a day – and even better, what a night!
Wish you were here,
Steve
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