Tag Archives: Paris monuments

What do Madame de Sévigné, Victor Hugo, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and Colette have in common?

03 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in Paris photos, Paris sidetrips, Paris travel, Paris Walks, Paris Wandering

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

vosges

Answer: they all lived here at Place Vosges, in my opinion, the prettiest square in Paris. It is ringed with 36 redbrick-and-stone houses—nine on each side, a salute to early urban planning. To love it is to know it’s history. Definitely a place to bring your sandwich (it’s okay to sit on the lawn), take in the sunshine and feel very far away from the traffic on nearby rue de Rivoli.

Four centuries ago this was the site of the Palais des Tournelles, home to King Henry II and Queen Catherine de Medici. The couple staged regular jousting tournaments, and Henry was fatally lanced in the eye during one of them in 1559. Catherine fled to the Louvre, abandoning her palace and ordered it destroyed. In 1612 the square became Place Royale on the occasion of Louis XIII’s engagement to Anne of Austria. Napoléon renamed it Place des Vosges to honor the northeast region of Vosges, the first in the country to pony up taxes to the Revolutionary government.

vosges2

Place des Vosges is structured around two pavilions, that of the Queen at the north part of the square, and that of the King at the south part both built deliberately higher. They are not open to the public; however, you can still visit the house of Victor Hugo, author of “Les Misérables”, which is now a municipal museum. It is free and open daily from 9am to 6pm every day except Monday. To preserve this unity, the place has been protected since the 1960s by the “plan for the preservation and enhancement of the Marais” and no intervention, especially on the façades, can be made without the architect’s agreement.

vosges22

Chic restaurants, boutiques and art galleries fill the arcade surrounding the park. A small private door, open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., will give you access to the garden of the stately Hotel de Sully, headquarters of the Center for National Monuments. Be sure to visit their well stocked bookstore. Unfortunately they don’t carry No Worries Paris, but you, of course, hopefully already purchased it before your trip to Paris. Place Vosges and all there is to do and see in the area starts on page 93 and is marked on the walking map.

NoWorriesParis_Christmas

Hungry?  Here are some recommended restaurants

Au Bourguignon Du Marais, 52 Rue François Miron, 75004. Regional dishes from Burgundy.

La Tartine, 24 Rue de Rivoli, 75004

Chez Janou, 2 Rue Roger Verlomme, 75003

Les Cotelettes, Cafe Martini, Cafe Hugo

Advertisements

Off limits at Hôtel de Ville, Paris

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Paris travel, Paris Walks

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Hotel de Ville ParisNormally admission to the Hotel de Ville is by guided tour only.  But, once a year, Paris’s mayor opens the doors to the public on Heritage Days. This year I was lucky enough to spend three hours at City Hall wandering the halls dazzled by the crystal chandeliers, stained glass, sculptures, paintings, elaborate ceilings framed in gold, adorned with pink cherubs, winged horses, historic insignias, French portraits.

hoteldevilleParis2No Worries Paris

hotel de ville paris

The library and council room were open for inspection. Many works from the collections of the Municipal Contemporary Art Fund added a visual twist in many of the salons and governmental offices. In the back of my mind was the fact that the inside of the building was totally destroyed by fire during the 1871 revolution. It took 19 years to reconstruct and furnish this treasure.  Make it to next year’s open house or schedule a guided tour.

hotel de ville paris

 

hoteldevilleruins

The Protocol Department organizes free visits of the Hôtel de Ville‘s Reception Rooms, with commentary, from Monday to Friday.

For groups contact the department at 00 33 (1) 42 76 54 04. Book approximately two months in advance – but late-comers can also try their luck! Languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian Duration: 1 hour

For individuals a weekly visit is available in French (two weekly in summer). Groups can accommodate 30 people max. The dates and times are fixed on the Thursday preceding the visit.

Register at the Hospitality Suite, 29 Rue de Rivoli (4th arr) from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm. or call 00 33 (1) 42 76 43 43 (Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm).
Or call the Protocol Department: 00 33 (1) 42 76 50 49 or 00 33 (1) 42 76 54 04

Access for visits is at 5 Rue Lobau (4th), at the back of the building.
Metro: Hôtel de Ville.

Tour Eiffel: the world’s most viewed attraction

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by in Paris guide, Paris photos, Paris tips

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

The sane approach is with the No Worries Paris guide.

tour eiffel no worries paris

Perhaps the world’s most beloved and recognized structure, the Tour Eiffel was not received warmly by most Parisians when it was built as part of Exposition Universalle in 1889. Some 300 artists and civic leaders signed a petition of protest. Later, novelist Guy de Maupassant used to lunch on top, since it was “the only place in Paris where I don’t have to see it.” Colleague Alexandre Dumas called the “hollow candlestick” a “work of uselessness.” Gustave Eiffel, who also designed the framework for the Statue of Liberty, won a contest among engineers to build a tower of 1,000 feet, which was nearly twice as high as the Washington Monument, then the world’s tallest.

A communications tower on top brings today’s height to 1,063 feet, the tallest structure in Paris. It was scheduled to be torn down and scrapped after 20 years, but meteorologists and communications scientists won a plea to let it stand. Find a spot amid digital shutterbugs directly underneath the tower and look up to behold the stats: Under Eiffel’s direction, some 300 workers labored for two years (incurring zero fatal accidents) to assemble 18,000 pieces of prefabricated iron lattice weighing a total of 10,000 tons with more than 2.5 million rivets. The project came in under budget and a week early. It is the world’s most-viewed attraction with nearly 300 million visitors, coming these days at a rate of ten million per year. The first level is at 187 feet, the second at 377 feet (these two reachable via stairs), and the top is lofted at 899 feet—where wind sways the structure up to five feet.

TIPS FOR VISITING TOUR EIFFEL: Given the essential sights on the remainder of this walk, you’ll probably want to save an ascent for another day. To avoid lines and save time, arrive a little before it opens, normally at 9:30. It’s cheaper and faster, given the lines, to walk the first two levels, which takes about 15 minutes. If you want to go to the top, you can buy an elevator ticket in addition to the stairway ticket (at the south tower). To ride all the way to the top (you have to get out at the second level anyway), use the east tower ticket booth. Don’t miss the cinema and museum on the first level. The second level is ringed by two viewing decks, and the height is just right to check out the sights of the city, laid out like a 3D model. Since Paris has a seven-story height limit on buildings, the well-known monuments are plainly visible. Many people will want to reach the top as a matter of principle, but the airborne view is less intimate. At night, on the hour, Tour Eiffel turns into a light show. Closing time can be as late as midnight, varying with the season.

Jerry and Janine Sprout. No Worries Paris (Kindle Locations 354-370). Diamond Valley Company, Publishers.

The Panthéon: go for the view

12 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by in Paris guide, Paris photos

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

pantheonparis

Start at the top for one of Paris’s most dramatic dioramas. Then descend the colonnade stairs and walk to the central dome to find physicist Léon Foucault’s 1851 pendulum demonstrating the rotation of the earth.

Pantheon Paris Colonnade

pantheonJanineSprout

pantheonNoWorriesParis1Go one step deeper to the crypt where some of Frances’s most famous heroes are interred:

Victor Hugo, Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Voltaire, Marie Curie (the only woman),Jean Moulin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexandre Dumas, Émile Zola,André Malraux, Jean Jaurès, Pierre Curie, Louis Braille, Jean Monnet,Victor Schœlcher, Félix Éboué, Léon Gambetta, Gaspard Monge, René Cassin, Marie François Sadi Carnot, Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, Lazare Carnot, Jean Lannes, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Henri Grégoire, Paul Langevin, Jean Baptiste Perrin, Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis, Joseph-Marie Vien, Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand, Pierre Jean George Cabanis, François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, Jean-Nicolas Démeunier, Paul Painlevé, Jan Willem de Winter, Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, Justin Bonaventure Morard de Galles, Giovanni Battista Caprara, Jean Reynier, Théophile Corret de la Tour d’Auvergne,Jean Baptiste Treilhard, Nicolas-Marie Songis des Courbons, Alexandre-Antoine Hureau de Sénarmont, Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire.

In 2002, in an elaborate but solemn procession, six Republican Guards carried the coffin of Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), the author of The Three Musketeers to the Panthéon. Draped in a blue-velvet cloth inscribed with the Musketeers’ motto: “Un pour tous, tous pour un” (“One for all, all for one,”) the remains had been transported from their original internment site in Aisne, France. In his speech, President Jacques Chirac stated that an injustice was being corrected with the proper honoring of one of France’s greatest authors.

Storming the Bastille

23 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by in Paris guide, Paris photos, Paris tips, Paris Wanderings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Bastille

A lively sidewalk scene is guaranteed at Place de la Bastille, but the only reminder of the infamous prison is a 160-foot bronze column, the Colonne de Juilliet. The spire was erected 31 years after the Revolution, to commemorate the Revolution of 1830—when the reign of Charles X ended and the advent of France’s “citizen-king” Louis-Philippe began. Names of the some 500 people who died in the revolution are etched in the bronze. Atop the column is a 16-foot gilded figure, “The Spirit of Freedom,” looking sprite, balanced on one foot, winged, and holding a torch. Hundreds of people are buried beneath the column, from the 1830 revolution and from yet another uprising in 1848. Mostly traffic storms it now. Watch it crossing on bicycle or on foot.

John the Paranoid and the oldest latrine in Paris

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Paris Wanderings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tour Jean Sans Peur, paris

Tour Jean Sans Peur (John the Fearless) is the ironic name for the Duke of Burgundy, who in 1409 built this defensive tower at his compound along the old city wall. As part of the Hundred Years War, he had killed the brother of the king, an act that earned him his own assassination. The stairs that spiral upward through several floors of the tour reveal interesting details of the times (the latrine for instance – the oldest in Paris). Unlike those of previous periods, they did not lead to the outside but had a duct in the wall thickness resulting in a pit below ground. They were heated by the other side of the fireplace in the room. Don’t expect a view from the top of this historic fortification. An admission is charged. Complete walking directions in your No Worries Paris guidebook.

20 rue Étienne Marcel, 75002 Paris
Métro : ligne 4, station Étienne Marcel
Bus : ligne 29, arrêt Turbigo / Étienne Marcel
http://www.tourjeansanspeur.com

A day at l’Opera Charles Garnier

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Paris Wanderings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Worth the 9 euro entrance fee. A rainy haily All Saints’ Day in the gilded and marbled stairways and halls. Costumes, set designs from days gone by, red velvet chairs, cherubs, a gallery of paintings of ballerinas, singers and proud “Carmen” by Durst, opulence times ten. The Marc Chagall ceiling, the cherry on top. Butter my toast.

Hotel de Sens and the notorious Queen Margot

30 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Paris Wanderings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Hotel de Sens is one of the city’s two remaining Gothic residences complete with watchtower and dungeon (the other being Hotel Cluny on the Left Bank that is now an acclaimed museum for the Middle Ages). Critics complain about the authenticity of renovations made after the city purchased the building in 1911, but the end results have captured the vision of what a storybook castle should look like.Much of the original archecture remains. It is now a reference library for the decorative fine arts—with a reading room open to the public.

Hotel de Sens had a long lists of tenants after being built for Tristan de Salazar, the Archbishop of Sens. The most notorious was Queen Margot—La Reine Margot, or Marguerite de Valois. The daughter of Henry II, she became the ex-wife of Henry IV and took up residence here in 1605 to live out her last ten years. She was romantically voracious, taking on lovers well into her 50s, and, since she was balding, was said to make wigs from her paramours’ hair.

In 1606, a spurned flame killed a new lover, and then the queen watched from a window as the second lover, the Count of Vermont, was beheaded in the street. Even with all that, Queen Margot is best known as a key figure in the religious-political machinations of the time. Her memoirs, published posthumously, were the basis of an 1845 novel by Alexandre Dumas, and two movies, the last highly acclaimed in 1995, Queen Margot, starring Isabelle Adjani. Find out more in Walking Tour Seven, page 103 in your No Worries Paris guidebook.