If this is Saturday, why are we in church?
We decided to have a leisurely Saturday morning, and rolled out of the hotel somewhat after 11. I had committed to getting a cab, so we stood around on the corner for awhile. In New York, any street with several hotels would have cabs periodically come through. Our street was dead. We decided to walk over to the Rue de Faubourg Montmarte, where we knew there was a cab stand. Of course, I was irritable, since I had looked forward to avoiding the Metro hike in the morning, and it was hot day, high about 87 degrees, and already over 80. We stood at the cab stand for about 45 minutes. Every cab that passed was full, or waved us off. I quickly realized that the latter were booked by phone, but I could not believe that we could not find one free taxi, so I resisted going back to our hotel. Finally, we went back, and I had the desk call us a cab. They start the meter at the garage, so we were down a couple of bucks by the time we were picked up, and the cars are small, and not very comfortable, but at least the cabbie let me ride in the front.
We went to the Musee D'Orsay, which is on the Left Bank, next to the Seine. It is an old train station that was converted into a museum about 25 years ago. There is a lot of Second Empire stuff on the ground floor, and academic stuff in the middle, but at the top, there is a magnificent collection of Impressionist and post- Impressionist paintings. Once again, the ventilation left something to be desired, and since it was a hot, humid day, I wondered if they had ever heard of climate control for paintings. Also, there were a few chairs here and there, but they easily filled up, and as I overheated, it was difficult to cool down.
Although the collection was very good, it was clear that many masterpieces had been acquired long ago by Americans. "Starry Night" is at the Museum of Modern Art, "Sunday at the Grande Jette" (Seurat) is at the Chicago Art Institute, and although the original casting of Degas's "Little Ballerina" is in Paris, the Baltimore Museum of Art has a contemporaneous casting. For people like my wife and me, who have seen tons of paintings by these artists, there was no great revelation, with the possible exception of the collection of Van Goghs, where it became clear to me the extent to which Van Gogh had influenced Matisse's color sense. In fact, since some of these very paintings had been loaned, I had seen some of them before. I saw a couple of the most famous Cezanne's at an exhibition in Washington and at the Philadelphia retrospective. I saw the Manet where a nude woman has a picnic with two well dressed men at the Origins of Impressionism show in NYC several years ago. I do not mean that it was not charming to see them again, but considering the heat, I had wished for more of an epiphany.
After about an hour and a half, we ate at a museum restaurant. Once again, a Diet Coke was over $3, and had little ice, and the carafe d'eau that one orders (for tap water) was lukewarm. Otherwise, it was a pleasant enough lunch. We got a cab, after a couple of tries at the cab stand by the museum, and headed for the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, on the Ile de la Cite, the larger of the two Seine islands.
Notre Dame was started in the twelfth century and completed in the 13th, and it underwent a major renovation in the 19th, largely as a result of Victor Hugo's novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". One typically imagines it in the center of the city, which is sort of true, in so far as the islands of the Seine are roughly in the center. It is at one end of the island, and a lot of the advantageous photos are shot from one or the other bank straight across to the island, for nothing blocks the back half. The facade is on a plaza, and is quite imposing. However, one imagines that things like the gargoyles will be highly visible and stimulate the imagination. I fact, one can barely make them out, without going up into the tower area. Much of the detail is lost in the sheer size of the place.
There was a long line, but fortunately it moved fast, and we soon were in the cathedral. The vaulted ceilings are quite impressive, of course. I was surprised by how narrow the main section of the church was, and somewhat by the sheer number of side chapels, although most were not deep, and were clearly used for Marian devotion rather than Mass. There were many votive candles lit to the Virgin. The stained glass work is magnificent, especially the Rose Windows, but disconcertingly, there were anachronistic 19th century replacements for some of the windows. There was a side room, where for a fee one could look at some ornate vestments, exquisite reliquaries, and other church treasures, but they were all Second Empire, so I was a bit disappointed. The main altar is lovely, and there is a very good Pieta in the church.
After the cathedral, we went careening down the riverfront roadways to catch a Seine River cruise, which was included in my package. The boat was very wide, and chairs covered almost all of it. There were earphones and channels for various languages. Occasionally, a live guide would interject something in French and English. A fellow went around selling soft drinks, but somehow never got to us. On the other hand, as soon as we started moving, the breeze was delicious.
We were shown various bridges, most notably the Pont Neuf, which is now the oldest bridge in Paris, dating back about 3 centuries. The pointed out the buildings visible from the river, many of which had been on the bus tour. I noticed that there was a limited amount of pedestrian space right along the river, but I also saw sunbathers somewhat disconcertingly laid out on concrete on one of the islands. The whole trip, which was fairly pleasant, took about an hour, discounting lines and such.
We then walked up concrete steps to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, more accurately, across the street from it. Although we had seen it already, it is quite imposing just to stand there, and we crossed the street and stared up, trying to figure out why anyone was walking the stairs, and how it felt to be in a tilted elevator, and where the fancy restaurant was. The crowd was huge, and the lines for the elevators formidable, so we grabbed a cab back to our hotel.
After a rest, we went down a couple of blocks to a sidewalk brasserie. (Brasserie means "beer tavern", although you are not obligated to drink beer, and they serve relatively simple dishes). We got an excellent price on a meal, and a Pouilly Fume for $15 dollars, which is what it used to go for in the States 15 years ago. Dinner was leisurely, as usually, and we had a brief chat with a lady who spoke English, who didn't realize we were Americans, and complimented us on our English, because she could understand us so well. Dusk came about 9:30, as we were finishing our coffee. Paris is actually as far north as Montreal, which is why it is relatively cool, and why, in August, it is not dark until about 10.
We thought about going back to the Eiffel Tower at night, but we were so mellow, and had done so much, we were afraid to blow it, and so we returned to our rooms.......... |
