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La parade des humbles (Petit Palais)
(maybe one of our personal-favorite paintings in Paris)
Grimaces et misère – Les Saltimbanques
Pelez, Fernand (Paris, 18–01–1848 – Paris, 07–08–1913), peintre
This WIDE painting contrasts young acrobats with old musicians and CLOWNS
Petit Palais Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris
This free museum has clean public restrooms in the basement
New Things, Not Favorite Things
We accumulate a list of our Favorite Things over the years and are tempted to build a comfortable cocoon of what our Paris Experience to be
But it is best to push ourselves to discover New Things. The beauty of Paris is that there is an endless reservoir of new experiences for us to tap
So we look for the next new hotel or street (rue) or restaurant or museum or park or monument . . .
If this is difficult, it is only because there are too many choices of New Things to add to our Paris Experience
Rodin Museum
Effel Tower Lunch
Madame Currie Museum
Massage (Hammam)
Picasso Musuem
Cimetière de Picpus
Delacroix Museum
Hôtel des 3 Collèges
Tête de veau
Une visite (a tour) of a museum or the cite on foot or, on bike, on boat, on bus, in car) or electric scooter
Although I am definitely inclined to be a “do-it-yourself-er”
Hôtel des 3 Collèges
Hôtel des 3 Collèges (website)
16, Rue Cujas, 5th arr., 75005 Paris, France
Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote No One Writes to the Colonel (his Nobel Prize winning novella)
at Hôtel des 3 Collèges in Paris (between 1956 and 1957)
(maybe you don’t want to stay in his room – he was a heavy smoker)
Made into Two Movies
-Only Death Comes for Sure (1993)
-No One Writes to the Colonel (1999)
* Which are the 3 Colleges?
(“Quels sont les trois collèges”)
– the Sorbonne (founded in 1254)
– the Collège de Cluny (1261)
– the Collège des Chôlets (1292)
Planning the Trip
As I am planning our trip to Paris this year, I look back to all the prior trips, what I remember and what I enjoy
RUNNING (I have adopted running as a way to stay fairly fit and “fit” into my pants)
Gardens of Versailles: Versailles is some 10 miles out of Paris on a special RER train. One of the main reasons that I allow this interruption from Paris, is so I can rise and be at the Gates of Versailles when they open at 8:00 and run out from the Palace, through the Gardens and Park alone in the dark. It is a grand and historic place and although I’ve never seen the Sun King (Louis XIV) or Marie Antoinette – I stretch my imagination. Dawn breaks, and as I return toward the Palace, the sun rises behind it, just a the daily mass of tourist begin to assemble.
Let’s Run Paris: a well established MeetUp Group of Parisians, runs every Saturday morning in several waves and paces. They run through the popular parks thoroughfares monuments and architecture. It is a morning which I will sacrifice, missing a morning in a great museum, but the time spent is the closest that I get to the pulse of the city.
Over time I have discovered good running routes from my hotel before breakfast: up the Seine to Notre Dame, down the boulevards and around the Eiffel Tower or down the Champs Ellise around the Arc de Triumphe to the Louvre.
PERFORMANCE ART
Opéra Comique
Theatre Mogidor
RESTAURANTS
Lunch in the Effel Tower (we have never been up into the tour Eiffel – this make be an efficient way to accomplish this)
Chez Denise
THE MUSEUMS (and specifically avoiding the lines)
Our philosophy is to be one of the first into a museum on the morning, which is not as easy as it sounds.
Ten years ago when we started our trips to Paris, The Paris Museum Pass was the solution. But Now, it seems the everyone has a Paris Museum Pass, and it is no longer an advantage.
During the da Vinci Exhibition several years ago, you would by a pass for a specific time. You can purchase those for the Louvre at a premium, but this is how we do it now.
Find Something New or Get Lost
Last trip to Paris, I was going out for a run on the day that I would depart – and run down to the Eiffel Tower. I took a wrong turn, actually I took several wrong turns, instead of running into the Paris, I was running out-of-Paris. Lost, in the Dark. I came upon this ivory white, brightly lit statute of Louis IX (Saint Louis) as what I remember as a extremely spiritual moment. A lasting memory and a better knowledge of the lay-of-the-land
This rare experience is slightly painful and maybe a little dangerous, but I hope that is a part of every trip to Paris
The New versus the Old
There are places, museums, routines which we are comfortable with while in Paris
But the list of New Things is infinite
merde
(“shit”)
Before there was plumbing and fresh water
(Paris now has some of the best Public Water in the World)
It was Bad
(although almost certainly, no worse than any other congested place at the time)
“Look Out Below” originated when chamber pots were poured out onto the streets below
Leather Umbrellas were used to protect yourself while walking the streets
Voiding One’s Bowels was not uncommon . . .
-in the Grande Gallerie of le Louvre (when artists resided there)
-in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles (apparently there were limited options)
Today, the main concern is “chien merde” (dog poop) which I’ve only heard of being a problem
(I have never slipped in poop when in Paris, and have rarely even seen a dog)
The Pissoirs (public urinals) provide another current solution on today’s Paris Streets
Bibliography
Le Louvre James Gardner
Dirt Bill Buford
Symbols and Emblems of the French Monarchy in 16th Century France
pouce et quatre doigts
Thumb & Four Fingers
A handful of Paris Ideas on certain Subjects
Where to Eat
Groceries and Food
Shopping
Best Bread
Exercise and Physical Activities
Running Routes
Favorite Hotels
Memorable Hotels
Cheeses
Museums
Arrondisements (Neighborhoods)
Cemeteries
Places we have missed
Best Views
Paris for the Holidays 