Our last Sunday in Paris

Sunday began overcast and pretty much remained that way all day -- but that was OK with us. We're just happy to be here, at least for the moment.

But we will not be for much longer.

The other day we began a short list of several things we wanted to see and do before we flew to the US on Wednesday. The list became rather long so we headed out mid-morning on Sunday to start to see Paris with the eyes of a tourist (again).

(photo: Juliette Recamier in the Carnavalet museum; for additional photos from that wonderful outing just click here.)

From our apartment just off of rue de Parmentier we walked down rue Chemin Vert to Boulevard Beaumarchais, turned down rue pas de la Mule, and through one of the porticoes of Place Vosges and on another block or two to the Carnavalet museum, the museum of the History of Paris.

Susie had never been here and we thought it was high time she went. One of the truly grand free attractions in the city, it's certainly worth the time for the art alone – and the grand thing is that the art is all designed to help once see through the eyes of the city’s artists how the city of Paris evolved from prehistoric and Gallo-Roman periods until today. All neatly arranged in period rooms of a mansion once owned by Madame Sevigne. (You'll see her name around the Place Vosges area a lot, and in fact she was born in one of the buildings next to the Hotel Sully facing the Place.)

We spent an hour or two strolling through Parisian history compliments of some truly fantastic art, and both of us remarked as to how wonderful it was to see how Paris has changed over time, at least through the eyes of so many painters and sculptors. (It was also helpful to see the many models of the city and some of the more famous buildings and how they have all changed over time.)

(I also discovered the local origina of the word "Samaritain." I thought it was just the name of one of Paris' most famous -- and now extinct -- department stores. In fact it was a much older building on the side of the Pont Neuf that would be close to where the department store would eventually be located.)

Oh, and I got a chance to see Juliette Recamier once again; well her image at any rate. Married at age 15 to a man 30 years her senior, her intellect and strength of character made her one of the leaders of literary and political world in early 19th century Paris. If you must know she's buried in Montmartre cemetery, and not easy to find . . . (photo below: museum garden)

After leaving the interior of the museum we found our way into two of the museum’s lovely connecting gardens, where we strolled for a few minutes before heading off a couple of streets over to rue des Rosiers and the Jewish quarter. (Rue des Rosiers was so-named after the rose bushes that grew up against the ancient city wall that once paralleled the street.)

Our objective here was simple: to sample what some claim to be the best falafel in the city. Our friend Diane first mentioned this place to us -- she ate there several times I believe -- and then I read Mark Bittman's praise of this sandwich in a column he devoted to the restaurant in the New York Times in 2006.

This being Sunday and many places in the city closed for lunch there was already a line queuing up at the counter window -- you can sit down but the interior space is cramped and was packed that day anyway. Several other sandwich shops nearby had queues as well. So as we were standing in line a guy comes by and takes our order. We pay him and he gives us our receipt. When we get to the window we hand the receipt to one of the half dozen guys in the kitchen. He asks if we want piccante sauce (harissa sauce) -- you bet we say – and he then goes off, fixes our sandwich and back he comes. He hands the sandwiches through the window and off we go!

We stroll down the street snacking on our salad-sandwich with forks we grabbed before leaving the window.

From the rue des Rosiers we work our way back to the Carnavalet and around the northern side head of the museum to Blvd Beaumarchais where we get the no. 8 Metro at Chemin Vert. At Strasbourg-St. Denis we change to the no. 4 and then to the no. 2 at Barbes-Rochechouart and get off at Anvers.

We are now back in Prime Tourist Country, as we make our way up rue Steinkerque toward Sacre Coeur, and find our way to the queue for the small cable car that will take us to the top. The place is of course packed with people from every part of the globe imaginable -- and some not imaginable I think. Leaving the front of the church we walk over to the Place du Tertre -- equally packed with artists and people trying to see the art and everyone trying to find a place to eat; all in the same place at the same time of course.


So we leave as quickly as possible, after skirting most of the artists on parade, and head down to rue des Abbesses where we take the no. 12 to the Place de la Concorde and the Jeu de Paume museum to see the Steichen photo exhibition.

Another short line, a quick check of my backpack by security (securite) and we're inside with tickets in hand. The exhibition is enormous, with as many people jammed together trying to see the photos, as there are photos to see. We are initially put off by the dark photos from Steichen's early phase of his career -- frankly I think a photographer taking such dark, out-of-focus images today would be shot trying to pass them off as "art." (Steiglitz, a colleague and friend of Steichen's of course used the same technique.) We work our way through his life and his life's work, year-by-year and phases-by-phase: after working as an army photographer in the First World War, he eventually became one of the hottest photographers on Madison Avenue and in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s.

During the Second World War, at the age of 60 he was a Navy photographer in the Pacific and took some of the most incredible images. I was reminded that I had his book on US Navy photos from WWII many years ago.

After leaving the Jeu de Paume we made our way back to the Metro and took the no. 12 to Sevres, where we got off and walked by St. Sulpice, presently undergoing major repair and renovation, to the Jardin du Luxembourg. What a sight to see! Families strolling, kids playing everywhere, tennis players on the courts, badminton players without a net, chess players:

Even amidst the crowds the people of Paris always seem to find time for intimate moments:

After strolling through the Jardin with much of the rest of Paris we walked down to the no. 10 Metro at Cluny La Sorbonne and got off at Jussieu. After returning to the surface we walked into the Jardin des Plantes and strolled through the gardens to the Gare Austerlitz and took the no. 5 to Breguet. From there we walked home.

Not a bad Sunday after all -- in fact it was a great Sunday and a truly wonderful way to spend a day in Paris.

Wish you had been there,

Steve