Rediscovering Paris

Hall of Mirrors March 2013

The last time I saw Paris, I have to say I was disappointed.  It was cold (March 2013), 4°C and overcast.  It was crowded, especially as you can see in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It was dirty and it seemed to have lost its style.  We had come from Berlin, which, although colder, is now very hot on the cool scale, so maybe it was just the comparison.

Ever since, I have held just a little sense of loss in the back of my mind.  I have been to Paris more than 25 times, and it is my favourite city.  So to feel disappointed with a visit was something to think about.

Today, I am back to normal.  We have been in Saint Michel for less than twenty four hours and I am enjoying every minute.  Perhaps it is because it is the holidays in France and everyone has left to catch skin cancer at the beach. Whatever it is, I have seen two places I have never visited before and just enjoyed the ambiance and the experience. 

Jardin du Luxembourg

I don’t know why, but I have never visited the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Some flowers from the Jardin

Marie Stuart

Today I had the time to wander around and look at the statues. I was at first surprised to see statue after statue of former Queens of France and other important women. I thought it must have been a project of the sixties feminists.  But no! It was put together as part of the expansion of the Palais du Luxembourg between 1843 and 1846 and comprises 20 sculptures of queens, saints and celebrities who have made their mark on the history of France.  The one depicted here is particularly interesting because with the name of Marie Stuart it appears that she was probably Scottish as well as Queen of France between 1542 and 1587.

Musée de Cluny

My second surprising first visit was to the Musée de Cluny, which houses objects from the Medieval World.  I am always taken by sculpture in stone which looks so flexible that it seems to be alive.  The hand of the Virgin Mary on a book turning a page is one such piece.  It is also interesting to see how the images of saints and the like are presented across the ages.  This particular VM is quite a fashionable Norman woman of the time with the high forehead and the rounded features so prized at the time. As you can see from the picture of Archangel Gabriel (not yet loaded), he seems to have taken on the guise of a young Norman man with similar features.

The museum is wonderful as it takes you back into the detail of the Middle Ages.  Probably its most important pieces are the damaged Heads of the Kings of Judah which originally graced Notre Dame but were damaged and buried during the revolution, not to be rediscovered until 1977.  Although damaged, they show particularly fine work with expressions and features seeming almost real. The original colouring applied in about 1220 still shows up in places and suggests how superb these pieces must have been when new, in spite of being above the portal of the church and not subject to close inspection.

And Lunch

I spend some time walking around St. Michel and even partook of the French national dish – Bifteck Frites – although perhaps not the finest exemplar.