Day 46 - Deux walks (#9 and #20) and dinner with Valerie

Hanna, Mike, and I went on two walks today. The first was Walk #9 entitled Follow the Money: Palais Royal, Bourse, Covered Passages. It didn't take us very long and it was pretty interesting. We started off the walk by the outside of the Louvre. There was this guy making these huge bubbles! It was awesome.

Hanna and I decided that we are going to have to do this when we get back to Provo. It would be so much fun!

Our first stop: Le Louvre des antiquaires. It "houses the finest (and most expensive) antique shops in Paris. The items sold here are tightly regulated to assure their authenticity. This is where society's wealthy shop for antiques. While preparing to write this book, I saw none other than George Lucas shopping in one of the boutiques."

This is the southern facade of the Comedie-Francaise. "Even though it is sometimes called the Maison de Moliere, Moliere never performed here himself (he had a theatre nearby that has since been destroyed). the actors who perform here, however, are Moliere's direct descendants. After the death of Moliere in 1673, Louis XIV fused Moliere's troop with the actors from the Hotel de Bourgogne and called the new group the Comedie-Francaise. They had several homes until being permanently booked here in 1792." That was when our country was still a baby. Crazy.

"The Palais Royal, originally called the Palais Cardinal Richelieu, was built for Louis XIII's powerful prime minister Cardinal Richelieu, who gave the palace to the kind before he died. The apartments were primarily used to lodge members of the royal family and friends of the court. In the late 18th century, with the nobility in serious lack of money, the buildings on the three sides farthest from the Louvre were rebuilt with boutiques and cafes added on the bottom level in order to collect rent (you are seeing one of these sides in the picture). It was at this time that the Comedie-Francaise was constructed. In the 19th century, the Palais Royal was home to numerous gaming houses and other houses of ill repute. And Palais Royal became a symbol of the rampant consumerism that characterized the rise of the bourgeoisie following the French Revolution."

"The double colonnade that cuts across the center of the garden was built during the restoration (1815-30) and encloses the courtyard closest to the cardinal's original residence, where you will see the controversial black and white sculptures added by artist Daniel Buren in 1986." Very strange.

Good times :)

On the side of those weird sculptures, there were two of these fountains. They haven't been turned on yet because it is still pretty cold, but they look cool anyway. We noticed their great reflective quality and took some pictures of ourselves :)

I love it!

Then we crossed through the garden area with the rectangle trees.

This is another theatre, Theatre du Palais Royal, that was built in the 1780s and is still in use today.

This is the Bibliotheque nationale, if you didn't already guess that :) It is the French National Library. Most of the books were moved in 1998 to the new library, but this one still has some special collection items in it (manuscripts, photos, music, coins, etc).

Then off to the French Stock Market. Apparently this week is Fashion Week so we saw some models there. They were very tall and skinny and they were wearing outrageous clothing.

qHere is Hanna with her true love, Mads Mikkelsen.

She was imagining that this was Mads.

Then we went to one of the covered passages. It was really interesting to be in a covered passage because it is still outside, but you feel like you are inside of a mall. Pretty handy during bad weather and extreme sunshine, I would think. Here's some info about this particular one: "The passage des Panoramas, created in 1800, is among the oldest existing covered passages in Paris. Many of the clothing stores that were originally here moved onto les Grands Boulevards, when they were rebuilt in the final third of the 19th century. Today, the arcades are primarily lined with small boutiques that buy and sell stamps, old letters, and postcards."

We wanted to go into this wax museum, Musee Grevin, next. However, the discounted student rate was 17 euro so we didn't go in.

Here's a picture of the pictures that were taken of the real people by the wax figure. They did an amazing job!

Then we started Walk #20 entitled La Route Des Manifs: Canal Saint-Martin, Republique, Bastille, Viaduc des Arts. Some info, like always: "On this walk, you will follow a path that has been taken by French protesters since they tore down the Bastille in 1789. It is now mostly walked by workers' syndicates protesting government reforms or by minority groups trying to publicize their cause. Sometimes they begin at Republique, walk to Bastille, cross the river, go down to the Place d'Italie, and over to the Champ de Mars. Other times Republique is the ending point - party and concert included."

This is the canal Saint-Martin. It "was built between 1802 and 1822 in an effort to bring more fresh water into Paris. Today, it is a favorite walk of Parisians and may be toured by boat (though they move extremely slow through the canal's nine locks)."

One of the locks.

This road moves to the side in order to allow the boats to get through.

It took forever for the road to go back to the normal. I would hate to be one of the cars waiting (not pictured). I don't feel bad for the people down there, however, because they could cross the bridge to get to the other side.

This is the Place de la Republique. I love the sky!

"The statue at the center of the Place de la Republique was built in 1883 and symbolizes the French Republic, restored for a third time in 1870."

There are several reliefs at the bottom of the statue that depict significant historical events leading to the Third Republic.

"This boulevard is named after the medieval Templars (reminds me of National Treasure) who owned much of the land in this area until King Philippe the fair took it from them in 1307. The boulevard itself is built on the former enclosure of Charles V (built from 1676-1706). The first French theatre fixe (a permanent theatre that did not travel with the actors from village to village) was built on this boulevard but was torn down in the late-19th century."

This "was once the home of Gustave Flaubert, the 19th-century French novelist who wrote Madame Bovary."

"Place de la Bastille is named for the fortress turned prison that once stood on this site. It was stormed 14 July 1789 by revolutionaries seeking to free citizens imprisoned by the crown. The revolutionaries killed the prison guards and freed all seven of the prisoners. At the end of the year, Parisians returned to the prison and took it apart one brick at a time.

"The large column that now stands on the site was built in 1833 in honor of those who fought and died during the July Revolution of 1830. The remains of over 500 victims of the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 rest in the statue's base. The gilded bronze statue on the top of the column is called the Genie of Liberty."

"The massive glass building on Place de la Bastille is the newest of Paris's opera houses. It opened in 1989, two hundred years after the storming of the Bastille. The Opera Bastille stages huge spectacles, primarily operas and ballets." We are going to a ballet here in two weeks, I believe.

"The viaduct originally supported a railroad (built in 1859); however, in 1994, it was transformed into a planted walkway above and a series of artisan shops below."

And this ended our walk. We hopped onto the RER and I went to Hanna's place to use the internet a little bit. Then I went to Valerie Bajou's home, she is our art teacher, for a small dinner party. Dr Ricks, Dan, Bart, Richard, Angela, Chelsea, and I were there. It was really enjoyable and the food was great! First, we started off with some light snacks - cashews (brought by Angela) and these small, hard bread things. I don't know what they were. After that, we had some olive bread, along with grapefruit and avocado. Then the main dish, which was fish. I love fish :) Then we had a salad with cooked brocoli and green beans in it with a vinigarrete on it. That was good. Along with that, we had bread and cheese. I don't really like most French cheese, but I did try one kind that I really liked. She told me the name, but there was no way I was going to remember it. I should have had her write it down. It was super mild and creamy. I'll have to find it at a store once I know the name. Yum. Then we had some dessert, which was a dark chocolate mousse covered with a white chocolate mousse. It was really good. By the end, we were all stuffed! Here are some pictures of the group:

Valerie was right next to Dr Ricks in the last one, but she would not let me take a picture of her. I don't understand why people have an aversion to pictures. It's not a big deal. Oh well.

I really liked her window. I hope that she didn't think it was too weird that I took a picture of it.

Anyway, it was a good day. Full, but good. And I am discovering that my internet works best at 3 am... Not exactly the time I would prefer haha