Les églises du Marais

The churches of the Marais don't get a lot of attention. There are too many other things of note in this district. I had a return to make at the BHV ("eternal return" is not a myth), and most of the other things I had hoped to see in the area didn't pan out. So, I visited a few of the churches I had noticed on previous visits.

Nave of the church of St. Gervais

Elevation...Gothic on the inside

Not at all Gothic on the facade; actually we
saw this a bit in the Cistercian churches in
Portugal...austere Gothic on the inside, over-
the-top Baroque on the outside

We had walked past and noted Hector Guimard's Rue Pavee
Synagogue previously; I read later that, although it is
generally closed, if one knocked at the door and asked
politely, the caretaker might permit a look around--Guimard
did all the interior ornamentation as well as the exterior

I asked, but the attendant rather curtly
said "no visit!"; the latest Gaza war is going
on, quite a few Jewish businesses have been
vandalized in Muslim protests around Paris,
and I might have known it was not going to
work; I understand; maybe next time; the
Germans dynamited this synagogue and six
others in Paris on Yom Kippur in 1941;
the French rebuilt and restored it, opening
it finally in 1989 as a "national monument"

St. Paul's, on Rue Rivoli; famous for its
namesake Metro stop (?)

If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it

Later that evening Kim and Dave took us out for dinner at
Chez Rene--the company was so entertaining I forgot to
take pix--but we walked past the Orient Express exhibit/
restaurant on Boulevard St. Germain

Thus; at the Arab Institute

And enjoyed a gorgeous view of Notre Dame from the Pont
de Sully on the way back home

Hector Guimard

Guimard is not to Paris as Mucha is to Prague or Gaudi to Barcelona. But close. And if you know a bit of Art Nouveau and Belle Epoche, etc., you know his name and look for his structures here. We've seen many and wanted to see a few more while we were here. The first is the Metro entrance at Porte Dauphine, one of two remaining full-scale entrances, c. 1900. The second was Guimard's own home, the Hotel Guimard, at 122 Avenue Mozart in the 16th, done in 1908. A bonus was the Villa Flore across the street, one of his last works, done in about 1924, well after Art Nouveau was over.

PS: Getting from Porte Dauphine to 122 Avenue Mozart allowed us to walk nearly the length of the Bois de Boulogne, which we'd been wanting to revisit. I'll post a few pix in the next out-takes. Although there is much to like in the B de B, it's still pretty seedy, in parts, by day as well as by night.

PPS: I'm not counting, but Google is...this is my 2,000th blog post on The Road Goes Ever On.

Built on a triangular corner lot--a weird  building

The signature is barely readable and the whole place seems approaching disrepair

Art Nouveau downspout

Unmistakable Guimard graphic

He was doing some form of Art Deco by 1924

Still Guimard

Rive Gauche

Missoula friends Kim and Dave arrived Sunday and Monday we accompanied them to Notre Dame and then the Left Bank. They carried on, incredibly, walking first to the Eiffel Tower, climbing the first stage, and then on to the Arc de Tromphe. They're a good bit younger than we. Vicki and I tied up some loose ends on the Left Bank, had a nice lunch, and worked diligently at seeing a few more of the things we wanted to see.

Us in front of the cathedral

Left Bank view

Revisiting goofy St. Severin, with its glazed
triforium on the north side

And open triforium, almost a gallery, on the
south

I think this is maybe not the main entrance

One of the remnants of Phillippe Auguste's
12th century city wall

Inside the Roman arena of Lutetia, 3rd century

Incredible 360 degree panoramic view of the arena

Discovered in the late 19th, restored 1947-48

One of our favorite places--complex of places--on the Left
Bank is Au Vieux Campeur (the old camper), and we spent a
couple of hours exploring the now 30 Au Vieux Campeur
stores clustered around Boulevard St. Germain, Rue des
Ecoles, and Rue Saint-Jacques

This is the kiddie store (of course we got something for P)

At the travel accesories store, one of two
displays of money belts, hidden wallets, etc.

The other; one of the things we like is the
enormous selection; the French are really
big on gadgetry, and it is largely in stores
like this that you can see all of what is new

Store #31 about to open; it is quite a different
experience, unlike Decathlon or REI; you get
your hiking boots at one store; your compass
at another; your backpack at another; your
hat at another; we wondered how many of
the stores you'd have to visit in order to
completely outfit yourself for, say, the Tour
du Mont Blanc; probably only 12-15, I
suppose, but then you'd have the best of gear
and a great shopping experience too

Pantheon, 2

Continuing my tour of the Pantheon...

The largest of the heroic sculptures is placed where the altar
would be in the church...the National Convention, where
things really got rolling in 1792

More heroic sculpture...and St. Genevieve paintings

Finally, you descend to the crypt, where
Voltaire welcomes you...

And Rousseau

A Resistance fighter of note; and a writer and
minister of cultural affairs of note...the man
responsible for so much preservation of
French architecture, culture, etc.

Thus; will someone please explain to me the significance
of the cat?

Pierre and Marie Curie

Hugo and Dumas

Zola

Thus

Louis Braille...yes, the little yellow strip is en Braille

Jaures

In the crypt

Back on the main floor, looking up to the main cupola--alas,
Foucault's Pendulum (replica) has been taken down for the
period of renovation

What it would normally look like