A Carnival and A Hill
- Teeny weeny drugs for Reester
- Musee Carnavalet
- Montmartre
Things you need to know about Ree's drug habit
Like any relatively educated gal who raises a family, has a job and vibrant social circle, Annemarie is very good at hiding her addiction.
You seldom see her irritably searching the back of cupboards or fridges, seldom see her hopping into the car for a quick dash to her supplier, and seldom see her dark side, should her supply run out for any reason.
This has been quite a problem as we travel Europe as many places, in particular Greece, Croatia and Italy tend toward ........hard to even say it.....tend toward Pepsi eschewing the drink of champions, Diet Coke.
A Ree with low blood levels of Diet Coke can be a creature requiring gentle touch and caring disposition but like Siegfried (or was it Roy), handling such a dangerous beast can end in you getting your head bitten off. Unlike those two tall, thin and neat Germans, this kind of jugular focused attack may not be a rare occurrence for those in the know.
Imagine our delight then, as we exited the Bastille subway stop this fine Parisian morning to stumble on the "Dream Of Ree" aka gloriously wonderful employees of the company, giving away small cans of Diet Coke. To reiterate - giving away and diet coke. To also reiterate - small.
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| Shakes gone, mood lifted, we are ready to move on |
We strolled along. Passed the road to Victor Hugo's house, past Place De Voges and headed toward the museum of Paris which is also the museum of the French Revolution. We are seriously lacking in French history (I do remember Napoleon was supposed to have an eidetic memory). Actually I remember reading (when I was reading aboout Denim jeans actually) that he was born in Corsica not France - even more interesting that it was only just before he was born that Corsica was sold to France by Genoa. He could have been Italian!
As an aside, Denim Jeans are called what they are due to postage! The cotton fabric was originally made in the French town of Nimes (de Nime = Denim). Its not the cotton thats unique its the double twill with blue one way and white the other. Pants made from the fabric were first produced in Genoa (In French = Génes). Cool huh.
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| The road to VictorHugo's house |
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| Ripe for takeover I say |
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| Where Zoe got her haircut |
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| Eek - A Weeping Angel? |
Musée Carnavalet
We wanted to learn more about the French Revolution. There isnt a museum of the revolution - there is a museum of "Weaponary". We decided to go to the museum of the history of Paris as it has a floor devoted to the revolution.
It is located in two old "hotels" right in / near the Marais.
We loved this museum. The reviews are mostly quite scathing in that it is quite disordered, poorly signed and mostly / all in French. All these things are true. We forked out for English audioguides and were thoroughly taken in by the charm of each room and its detail.
Not surprisingly (think Casserta), when we got to the second floor which housed the Revolution artifacts it was closed for the day. I asked the information people why and they just shrugged. It seems as though they don't have enough staff to monitor everything so they close exhibits willy nilly. Rats.
The museum courtyard is quite drab but could be quite beautiful. The central statue is surrounded by windows and sculptures which are all covered in netting with no construction or reconstruction obviously underway.
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| Courtyard Carnavalet |
Inside, each room is a depiction of a room or area of Paris at a certain time. The room in the picture below is that of a jewellery store from (recollection) the late 19th century. It was actually designed by Alfons Mucha, Czech artist of the Art Nuveau, the French LOVED him. It was quite beautiful and intricate and real in the way that genuine decor differs from period piece interior design. A lot of the work in there (from frescos to entire suites) was lifted from its original premises, sometimes stone by stone or square foot by square foot, and relaid in the museum.
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| Check out the floor and the stained glass windows. A bit different to Greg's discount pharmacy stores |
Other rooms were period pieces of a time gone by. Ree loved the little tea sets - all just so and real China but not made in China. The picture below is a recreation of a private suite at Cafe du Paris in the same time period - even down to having the carpet recreated for this room.
This was a room in the style of Louis 15th. The entire audioguide description was of the little table in the front. It was intricately designed with multiple compartments (all with a singular purpose) and a removabletray top for tea to be served upon. It's usually not my thing at all, but each piece seemed so cared for and revered that all the museum visitors seemed a bit awestruck by it all. Standing in front of the exhibit in a room painted and decorated exactly like it would have been 300 years ago, i got the feeling that I was also three hundred years back but then I took out my iPhone to take a picture.
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| Room in style of Louis XV |
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| Description of every item in the room |
This room had 8 gargoyles in it. There was no audioguide commentary so am at a loss to explain their significance except to say that they were cool or as the kids would say, "epic" or "awesome". Sometimes I really want to be like Inigo Montoya (OK all the time really) from "The Princess Bride" who endures hearing his gang member Vizzinzi say "inconceivable" constantly - every time something unexpected happens. Inigo, finally says to Vizzinzi "You keep on using that word but I do not think that word means what you think it means".
Everyone has their favourite line from the movie, "MLT", "Inconceivalbe", "To the Pain" , the classic "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" which out of my hearts goodness (and because I love it so) is linked here.
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| Bottom left - The man in the Iron Mask |
My favourite room contained two busts (as in statues of heads, not breasts -which would have been odd). They were of Voltaire and Rousseau. The commentary was about how much these two hated each other. They were both big names at the time.
To quote a letter Rousseau wrote to Voltaire, " Monsieur, I hate you". Succinct!
Rousseau was born in Geneva and a loner who didn't get on with people. He believed that man was born free and was destroyed / corrupted by society and social institutions. He didn't like the aristocracy as he thought they betrayed the natural order and lead to the decay of traditional values.
He thought that man should return to a natural life and go back to nature. He strongly believed taht everyone was equal and thought that mankind as a whole was the pinnacle but as a taciturn loner, wasn't sociable and had no mates.
Its all very Swiss farmer to me - but Rousseau was popular before the revolution and mega- popular after the revolution as the revolutionaries (aka everyone with a head) looked for reasons to justify their push to democracy.
Voltaire was a strong believer in education and a great wit of his age. He wrote plays an books including one of my all time faves "Candide" in which he "pokes fun" at the idea that things always turn out for the best" - an idea which continues to exist today as inane best sellers like "The Secret" attest to.
Voltaire was into tolerance and the right to express yourself. He was outspoken and earned himself exile in England for making fun of a nobleman. Lots more to write - but not for now.
The best bit of the audioguide was a letter Voltaire wrote after Rousseau had sent him a copy of his latest book "The Social Contract". The quote is below.
"I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it. Nor can I embark in search of the savages of Canada, because the maladies to which I am condemned render a European surgeon necessary to me; because war is going on in those regions; and because the example of our actions has made the savages nearly as bad as ourselves."
Montmartre
Beautiful, touristy. The French police website now advises tourists against going at night due to a "dangerous element". We went just before night- it gets dark at about 10 O'Clock at the moment.
Climbed the steps (Drew ran up the embankment), hung out at the view, checked out Sacre Coeur (ree and Zoe) and walked past artists doing charcoal portraits and souvenir shops doing what they do.
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| The "Abscess" subway stop.....or something like that |
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| And he (Andy?) is off and running |
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| Sacre bleu it's Sacre Coeur. Foreground is like the Spanish steps of Paris. |
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| Lovely sunset - colours not exactly captured by iPhone |
With Drew having a think about whether he would like a portrait of himself and with darkness upon us, we left the touristy, cluttered peak of Montmartre for the subway home.
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| Even the shoes are made of chocolate - not made for walking |
Enough
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