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Morning at the Marais
Karol and I started out the day meeting a bike tour group at a designated spot at the fountain at Place Saint-Michel. Continuing our series of blunders with this booking we got there an hour early. Well at least we turned up. We had actually booked it for yesterday but meant it for today. They called yesterday looking for us and said we could do it today, no problem, because the tourists numbers where right down. Hmm maybe due to the crap this city has endured with terrorist attacks and major flooding over the last year.
The bike tour is called "Off The Beaten Track" and it takes in 2 really interesting parts of Paris, The Latin Quarter and the Marais. The Latin Quarter was the center of law making and home to the Sorbonne, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. The name comes from the fact all those educated types spoke latin. The other place, the Marais actually means swamp and it was kindly designated as the place of habitation for the jewish inhabitants.
Oh well, we had an hour to kill so of course it was coffee time. On the way I took a snap of a poster for a Baroque chamber performance that evening and while killing time we booked in. Luckily my ability to read French is not too shabby and I was able to navigate the lengthy online form...everything is so security conscious these days.
The bike tour was great and we saw some very cool out of the way places and got told about the literati with tid bits of French history thrown in. Negotiating cycling across busy streets was a little unnerving, especially for Karol but she hung in there despite a few wobbly bits. The Paris etiquette from cars to bikes is so much better than in Oz. Here they try gentle persuasion but always give you right of way. Back home they put the peddle to the meddle and swear at you on the way past.
The bike tour is called "Off The Beaten Track" and it takes in 2 really interesting parts of Paris, The Latin Quarter and the Marais. The Latin Quarter was the center of law making and home to the Sorbonne, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. The name comes from the fact all those educated types spoke latin. The other place, the Marais actually means swamp and it was kindly designated as the place of habitation for the jewish inhabitants.
Oh well, we had an hour to kill so of course it was coffee time. On the way I took a snap of a poster for a Baroque chamber performance that evening and while killing time we booked in. Luckily my ability to read French is not too shabby and I was able to navigate the lengthy online form...everything is so security conscious these days.
The bike tour was great and we saw some very cool out of the way places and got told about the literati with tid bits of French history thrown in. Negotiating cycling across busy streets was a little unnerving, especially for Karol but she hung in there despite a few wobbly bits. The Paris etiquette from cars to bikes is so much better than in Oz. Here they try gentle persuasion but always give you right of way. Back home they put the peddle to the meddle and swear at you on the way past.
Afternoon with Picasso
It's hard to describe the awe I felt seeing this work at the Musée Picasso which is a beautiful old white limestone palace in the Marais district. The work was spread over 3 floors and was mostly sculptures of infinite inventiveness. Always a child like pairing down and simplicity to find an essential note, a primal directness. There were even sculptures in folded metal that began as paper folds and cuts and pastes. They were even translated into huge monumental pieces in cast concrete while still looking flipant and innocent. Aye yae yae! Picasso, what planet where you from?
Evening at the Sorbonne
Earlier today I saw this poster on a wall while Karol and I where waiting to join our bike tour group for the morning. I got online and booked, going through are rather detailed form. The venue turned out to be at one of the original Sorbonne campuses. The Sorbonne is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world having seen such illuminati as Victor Hugo and Madame Curie.
We arrived at the gates of a beautiful historic building, got checked off on a list and the bagged checked by some heavy looking security dudes. The whole time in Paris we've seen small groups of military style dudes walking around with automatic rifles in their hands. I'll never forget when 3 of them got on the metro and stood near us. Karol was sitting down and one of the machine guns dangled within inches of her knee. We smiled at each other with wide eyes!
We were ushered across a beautiful old courtyard, past a sculpture of Victor Hugo and into an oak panelled lecture room set up like a small amphitheatre with tiered seating. Above the stage area was a massive oil painting depicting some mythical Grecian picnic. A small 4 piece group entered and we were treated to ethereal Baroque singing and playing. Here's a link to Group Callisto http://www.ensemblecalisto.com/
We arrived at the gates of a beautiful historic building, got checked off on a list and the bagged checked by some heavy looking security dudes. The whole time in Paris we've seen small groups of military style dudes walking around with automatic rifles in their hands. I'll never forget when 3 of them got on the metro and stood near us. Karol was sitting down and one of the machine guns dangled within inches of her knee. We smiled at each other with wide eyes!
We were ushered across a beautiful old courtyard, past a sculpture of Victor Hugo and into an oak panelled lecture room set up like a small amphitheatre with tiered seating. Above the stage area was a massive oil painting depicting some mythical Grecian picnic. A small 4 piece group entered and we were treated to ethereal Baroque singing and playing. Here's a link to Group Callisto http://www.ensemblecalisto.com/
