Paris–August 9
We traveled to the eastern edge of the Marais to attend “Eternal Mucha,” a show about the life and work of the early 20th designer whose posters are familiar icons of Art Nouveau. A cycling 40-minute slideshow was presented on a huge screen with surround-sound music intended to overwhelm the audience reclining on couch seats in a theatre housed in the modern opera house at the Place Bastille. But after the previous night’s experience in the Sainte Chappelle its effort to create a contemporary spiritual aesthetic experience fell flat.
After a tiring walk across the huge Place de Bastille, the site of the start of the Revolution in 1789, we recharged at a cafe with shots of espresso
and watched pigeons and pedestrians around the column that commemorates another Revolution, the one of 1830 that brought Citizen King Louis Phillipe to power.
We agreed to head for the Carnavalet, situated between Bastille and our hotel, the Cty museum we remembered from our last time in Paris during our 25th wedding anniversary visit during our 1992 six-month stay in England. We walked down busy Rue de Rivoli and crossed at the Rue de Sevigne in front of the Parish Church of St. Paul of St. Louis. Looking back, I was startled by its resemblance to the facade of the Church of St. Gervais a few blocks away, also built in 17th century.
The museum is housed in a former private mansion of Renaissance style erected 1548-60, acquired by the City of Paris in 1866, and renovated 2017-21.
Its 1632 map of Paris showed our present location on the lower right side.
A 16th century painting portraying the City’s Patron Saint, Genevieve, as a shepherdess with Paris in the background, appealed to my penchant for pastoral.
A 1640 painting of the Hotel de Ville depicted the same building we encountered two days earlier.
The display of historic street signs demonstrated 200 year old advertising design as well as racial attitudes:
The courtyard cafe offered an opportunity for grazing after gazing.
After lunch a short walk took us back to the Hotel de Marais for siesta.
Despite the enjoyment of unpredictable exploration we couldnt resist the draw of an evening boat ride on the Seine to view the most familiar of tourist attractions. We boarded a Bateau Mouche at the dock on the Isle de Cite.
Heading upstream at first, it passed under the bridge we’d stood upon the night before observing barges and dancers.
Then a view of Notre Dame from the water.
The boat circled the island and drove downstream to the Tour Eiffel.
and back upstream past the Louvre.
Hungry after the voyage, we walked along the quai and came upon a restaurant named “Maslow,” which, rare for Paris, was exclusively vegetarian. Their slogan, “Priority given to regenerative agriculture, agro-ecological practices and soil protection,” suited my diet and City Farm’s agricultural practice. Immediately recognizeable during the 1960’s and ’70’s as the author of “Toward a Psychology of Being” its name has been largely forgotten. Nevertheless our young waiter proudly confirmed the reference.
Another surprise discovery.