Luxembourg Garden

Another day took us back across the river to Luxembourg Garden, one of Paris' larger interior  green spaces, a place for recreation as well as heritage and beauty. We'd taken grand-daughter Penelope there a couple times, for boating and pony rides, when she was much younger.

Checking out the scales at the park's entrance; alas,
doesn't work unless you pay 20 centimes

Statues everywhere, this one a take on the boca veritas
in Rome

George Sand

Solar-powered pigeon

Stendhal

Sculpture celebrating France's intellectual role
in ending slavery 

Beginning a series of statues of "illustrious women
of France"...all of them royalty...

The pond and beyond

Luxembourg's distinctive chairs, of which there are hundreds,
perhaps thousands

Luxembourg Palais, Marie de Medici's official residence while
serving as Regent until her son, Louis XIII, became king; now
the meeting place of the French Senate

More illustrious women

Sailboat rentals

Pond and palais

Avast! Turner would have loved it; Penelope did

Among the several immense lawns; treading upon the grass is
interdicted; and strictly enforced, too, as we know

Leaves in the trees beginning to change, but matching the fall
flowers, which are still going strong; more illustrious women
looking on

The one lawn where sitting is permitted

Marie de Medici herself

Pony corral; tourist families are gone, schools are

in session; the ponies are probably getting a little 

worried about the glue factory

Sword-fighting instruction in the park; Luxembourg has probably
seen its share of real duels

Samaritaine...Bofinger

We'd walked past the old Samartaine department store many times, between Rivoli and the Seine, a beautiful Belle Epoche construction, several years closed and disused, wondering when and if it might ever be renovated and re-opened. In 2005 it was bought by the LVMH group (Louis Vuitton, Moet/Chandon, and Hennessy) and proceeded, through many disputes and lawsuits, to a reopening only a few weeks ago. Just what the world needs, you might think: another Paris department store for the crazy rich. And not mistakenly. But most of it has been lovingly re-done, and the current re-opening is paying much marketing attention to the store's long history and prestige in Paris. It's so ironic...department stores initially brought mass-produced goods to the masses. Now they mostly bring mass-produced goods to the crazy rich. Oh well. We visited Samaritaine one morning recently. Interestingly, there were more people with cameras, like us, than actual customers. About the same time we visited, this interesting article appeared in Bloomberg. Part of Samaritaine's deal with the city is to have some 96 public housing apartments atop the building. Ninety-six public housing apartments in perhaps Paris' most prestigious locale. Where can we apply?!

A history of the Samaritaine greets you at the
entrance; nicely done, too; I like the attention
to history; but then I'm not a buyer...

Riding up to the top

Retro TVs playing old Samaritaine ads

Nice champagne display

In the ladies' shoes department, looking out the window to the
church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois...true artseau-fartseau

More of the gorgeously restored department store

More champagne...not even Moet Chandon...to personalize

The adjacent, Rivoli building, not as successfully
restored...Parisians refer to it as the "shower curtain"

But it has a nice atrium

And patisserie

The revolving cake automaton; certainly a big deal in 1895

Our next stop was the BHV, the Bazaar de Hotel de Ville, our
favorite among the grands magasins (big stores); above, en route,
is the Hotel de Ville (city hall), with a huge white tent, just visible
on the left, for COVID tests and vaccinations; our visit to the BHV
was of a practical nature, no pix, and too much of it devoted to 
searching for my lost transit pass card, which turned out to be
waiting for me at the store's objet trouve (lost and found)

We proceed on, through more difficulties, but ended finally
with a pleasant late lunch at Bofinger, near the Place de la
Bastille, familiar ground, and a great Art Nouveau restaurant

Her squab and potatoes

My moules et frites; last time I had this many moules, it did 
not end well; but I had been in training in London, and it was
fine

At Bofinger, reminding me of a Dali parody on Las Meninas,
a portrait of Gala originally designed to use 1,000 mirrors

Basilica of Saint-Denis: The Royal Necropolis

Forty-two kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses, and 10 great men [sic] were buried at Saint-Denis. Limitations of space...[hails of derisive laughter]...prevent me from posting pix of each and every one of the their tombs, cenotaphs, memorials, etc. And so I have labored once more to reduce a vast number of photos down to the few that are of the utterly greatest interest and importance. Vicki, who actually looks at all the tombs, memorials, and what have you, reads all the descriptions, knows a bit about funereal art, and even asks questions of the docents, says definitely no more than a dozen. 

PS. In the Revolution, all the tombs were broken into, plundered, the royal remains all put in a mass grave, and all the monuments were taken apart and removed for display in museums. Pretty soon, the Revolution was over, Napoleon was gone, and another Bourbon king was back, briefly, and everything was put back together, as you see it today. Except the bones. But we're sure DNA analysis eventually will get everybody's bones back where they belong.

Helpful map of who's monument is where

Everything you need to know about funeral art at Saint-Denis

Can't tell the players unless you know their dynasties

Unfortunately I ran out of film after the third dynasty

King Saint Louis, in the 12th, ordered that recumbent statues be
made for 16 of his predecessors; here are some of the 14 that
remain

Including biggies like Clovis, Childebert, Carloman, Pepin le
Bref, Philip le Bold, Frederique le Phinque, et al. 

Personal favorite: Francois Premier; note upper and lower
depictions

Artsy-fartsy shot of his feet

Henry II and Catherine de Medici

Vicki asking a question by the tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Bretagne;
again, note the figures on top of the tomb; these are Louis and Anne in
majesty, so to speak; resurrected

Peering in at Louis and Anne; the custom in those days,
for certain people (kings and queens, for example) was
to depict them up high in majesty, resurrected, etc., in all
their finery, worshipping, groveling, whatever; and then
below in their mortal (dead) state; the Italians took
this pretty far, the mortal state being pretty emaciated,
if not merely a skeleton; the French thought the Italian
approach was demeaning to the royalty, so sculpted
them in pretty good shape, although dead; so here are
Louis and Anne, dead; clear enough now? 

Down in the crypt: Louis XIV and Marie de Medici

The Bourbon crypt: final resting place for Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette; also Louis XVIII, last king to be buried here

Spare parts

Back upstairs: statues of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,
ordered by Louis XVIII in 1816

PPS. Entry to the church was free, as is the case in all French churches; entry to the collection of funereal things required a modest admission fee. Just FYI.

PPS. The cathedral fronts on a large pretty square, presided over by the local Hotel de Ville and hordes of skate-boarders and futbol enthusiasts. Beyond that is a huge outdoor market (Sunday; everything), and beyond that a huge indoor market (daily; food). The markets were closing and folding up as we got out of the church, but we may go back to the Saint-Denis market some future Sunday.