Paris by night is always a treat, and we've gone out a couple times just to see the lights.
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| Across Pont-Notre- Dame to the Hotel de Ville |
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| Notre Dame de Paris |
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| From the Rive Gauche |
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| Conciergerie, Palais de Justice, on the Ile de la Cite |
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| D'Orsay on the left |
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| Up river from the Pont de la Concorde (I think) |
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| From the Place de Varsovie |
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| Trocadero |
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| Us, there |
We spent our Thursday mostly walking over to the Saint-Lazaire area and having lunch at Mollard, one of the better known Art Nouveau restaurants. After a lengthy and wonderful lunch, we crossed over to the station, attempted some photos, and then walked back along the Grands Boulevards. It was enough for a day off.
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| A little background |
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| My entree |
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| Oops, forgot to take pix of her steak/frites, best steak we've had in France (she shared a bite) |
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| Opening day news coverage |
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| We'll be back Sunday for our final restaurant meal in Paris for this campaign |
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| Across the street |
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| At the great old Saint-Lazaire station |
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| I'd hoped to get a shot to rival Monet's from 1877 |
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| Best I could do |
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| On the walk back, we ran into a line of production trucks that told us a movie or TV series was being shot nearby; it's amazing how many people it takes to do just a 30 second piece |
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| Grip #2 truck |
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| When I asked the photo-bomber here if they were shooting Emily in Paris, he said oh, no, they'd wrapped that three months ago, and that the third season of shooting was already scheduled; this was some other Americain film or series |
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| Sights on the walk back: the old headquarters of Le Figaro, the great French newspaper |
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| Every block has a beautiful Belle Epoque; or two, or three |
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| A Belgian frites shop of which we've become quite fond |
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| Peering into a chocolate fabricant near our apartment |
Wagner's years in Paris, in the early1840s, as a struggling young composer, and in the early 1860s, when a new production of Tannhauser caused a scandal and a riot in the streets, were neither happy nor successful. His public gloating over France's defeat in the the Franco-Prussian war did not improve matters. But his works continued to be performed here, despite the two more wars with Germany, as much as any of the other greatest opera composers. And Wednesday night, October 6th, he triumphed again, with a symphonic program by the Orchestra de Paris, featuring selections from The Meistersingers of Nuremburg and Tristan and Isolde, and the entire first act of The Valkyrie, performed in oratorio fashion. And I was there for one of the most memorable performances I have heard. Vicki had found me a seat in the first row of the balcony behind the orchestra, where I could literally read the scores over the musicians' shoulders. It was a magical experience, the setting, the music, the performance, and, not least, the reaction of a genuinely enthusiastic and appreciative audience. Five curtain calls!
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| Wide view of the Salle Pierre Boulez (the late composer and conductor); a hall in the modern orchestra-in-the-round shape, with moveable balconies, clouds, and other acoustic features that render amplification unnecessary; none of the 2,400 seats are more than 32 meters from the conductor; double-walled; see this article for much more on the hall |
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| Knowing the music as well as I do, and being acquainted with a variety of performances and recordings, certainly enhanced my experience |
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| As a former oboist, my eyes and ears were on his parts, here, as customary, tuning the entire orchestra to A440 |
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| The conductor, Jaap van Zweden...not too distracting as current conductors go...seemed very popular with both musicians and audience |
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| At the intermission, the principal oboist places his reed in a reed-case (ask me sometime about oboe reeds) |
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| Tuning up again |
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| After the glorious coda with Sigmund and Sieglinde and during the applause and bravos and repeated curtain calls, the conductor recognizes different soloists and sections of the orchestra: here the six harpists required for The Valkyrie |
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| A glorious evening: thank you for encouraging me, Vicki! |
We visited the Museum of Paris, the Carnavalet, earlier in our stay here, but made it only so far as the Revolution. The Carnavalet is a huge and priceless collection, housed in buildings of fitting age and stature. Our second visit was nearly as overwhelming. We finished, but only because the great museum peters out as the history winds down to the present.
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| David's sketch for The Tennis Court Oath, 2 June, 1789, when members of the National Assembly vowed not to leave Versailles until they had drafted a constitution; widely regarded as the beginning of the Revolution |
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| Hubert Robert's The Bastille in the Early Days of Its Demolition (a symbol of the monarchy, it had to go) |
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| Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, famous French inventor |
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| Louis XVI's last few steps...21 January, 1793 |
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| Marie Antoinette's |
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| New sheriff in town |
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| But it lasted little more than a decade...Lefevre's portrait of Napoleon as a colonel of the Imperial Guard cavalry |
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| Gerard's portrait of Madame Recamier, not quite as famous as David's in the Louvre; but finished; David and the sitter did not get along... |
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| Beautiful furniture of the period |
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| Beautiful, huge scale models in many of the rooms |
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| That storm passed (there would be others) and Paris resumed its place as the capital of European culture...above, Lehmann's 1839 portrait of composer Franz Liszt |
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| Paris as the world now knows it is born: Napoleon III commissions Baron Haussmann to redesign and rebuild the city |
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| Whole neighborhoods of Medieval warrens were torn down to make way for the wide new boulevards; here in the opera district |
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| And the 1890s arrive |
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| Walls of paintings of La Belle Ville |
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| The great exhibition of 1900 |
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| Poster advertising one of Sara Bernhardt's plays... by Alfons Mucha, his first success as a commercial artist |
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| Proust's boudoir, where the masterpieces were written |
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| Perhaps the highlight for us, Fouquet's fin de siecle jewelry store, decor by Mucha |
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| An age of great beauty |
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| From Gertrude Stein's salon |
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| The art deco Rex theater, just a few blocks from us, now being renovated |
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| 1940s |
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| The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in the 1950s |
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| The Pont-Neuf, wrapped by Christo in 1980 |
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| An ending in sadness but solidarity |
