Plus randonnée divers

So after Saint-Denis and lunch at a creperie, we Metro'd to the Champs de Mars to begin reconnoitering a bus tour for future visitors...#69, which runs from the 7th to the 11th along the river mostly, passes by many of the best-known sights, and ends up a few blocks from our apartment.

Shell game; authentique

La grosse vilaine chose

Closer up

Vicki, née McCoy, poses before an epicerie Americaine in the 7th

Paris scènes, cinq: Basilique de Saint-Denis

Our set is complete! Over the past several years we have visited virtually all of the great French Gothic cathedrals. And then some. But, despite its great historic importance, we had been saving Saint-Denis for a visit to Paris--it is in the outskirts. And now we are here, and, with Norm and Marie in tow, we made our final pilgrimage, finally. Saint-Denis is generally recognized as the birthplace of what came to be known as Gothic. (It was also the burial place of French royalty, until they discontinued the royalty thing.) Saint-Denis is a bit of a hodge-podge, Suger's original narthex and chancel, a 13th-14th century nave (with glazed triforium!), and windows that are pretty much all modern. But it's Suger's 12th century innovation--combining elements mostly in existence already in the Romanesque, here and there--that attracts and rewards. Great height and light, glass, incredibly thin walls, pointy arches, buttressing. No one else had yet strung all those pearls together.

Facade; scaffolding; earlier, there were two non-symmetrical
tours; the north one dismantled for safety reasons...

Sculpture on the left tympanum; the others covered up for the preservation work

What's visible of the narthex

Nave elevation; glazed triforia! a big innovation in the 13th century

Nave view

Chancel, the oldest part

Choir, from a Normandy chateau...the originals no doubt burned in the Revolution

Some of the royal burial stuff; the custom then was to depict the depictee in
life (gloriously) above and in death below

Royal marble morgue

North rose window

Spare parts

Exterior elevation

Ambulatory

Chancel view

Play of light

Paris scènes, quatre: Montmartre

Marie and Norm arrived Saturday night, and on Sunday we were off again, briefly visiting Pere Lachaise and then longer at Montmartre. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it seemed all of Paris was out to enjoy the weather and the sites.

At Pere Lachaise: "Hi-Yo, Silver!"

At Pere Lachaise, another curiosity

Moving right along Metro Line #2

Best gelato ever, so far, seriously: Amorino's, in Montmartre

Pistachio, we have been told, is the flavor that separates the
great gelatos from the merely good; Amorino's pistachio was
the best ever, by far; the mango and coconut great, the
raspberry intense

Van Gogh lived here, 1886-88; with his brother, Theo

Les Invalides from afar

Super-size me!

Street scene

One of my least favorite churches

But the views are nice...city scene, Pompidou

Notre Dame de Paris; and more

Us

The four of us, taken by a kind stranger

Planning ahead for Penelope

Street scene

À la place de la Bastille ! Et sur le marché aux puces !

Our days of setting up housekeeping, exploring, shopping, continued...we'll get to sight-seeing once visitors arrive....

On a walk down Rue de Charonne, just off which we live, toward
Place de la Bastille, to check out Septime and Le Bistrot de Peintre

Looking into La Chaiserie de Faubourg

Not making this up; the faubourg is St. Antoine, of 1789 fame

Peering into a hidden alley off Charonne

Opportunities to practice your dendrochronology everywhere

On the Rue de Faubourg St. Antoine, a new entry into the Burgeoning Burger
Biz; not sure the Frogs are going to like this, despite the "genuinely good
burgers" and "frogbeer"

Orange is the new...wait...wasn't that 2011? Or perhaps this
is the Auburn/University of Florida collection?

The July Column in the Place de la Bastille; the old castle/
prison is, alas, long-gone; my mind is busy replaying scenes
from the 1935 Ronald Colman Tale of Two Cities, regarded
by some as Selznick's warm-up for Gone With The Wind

The "new" Opera sits on the old ground

Leave your chopsticks at the door...at a Thai restaurant in our neighborhood

Another day we Metro'd out to Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, the big flea market at 
Porte de Clingnancourt; although we spent most of our time at the antiques 
market here pictured

It's a big affair

Few of the furniture dealers permitted pix, so I don't have many; but we were
really impressed with the art deco stuff that seemed to be everywhere (not
pictured here)

In the key-chain store

Alley scene