On my first trip to Europe, like many college students, my guide book was a new "Let's Go Britain" and a borrowed "Let's Go Europe."
Then, going to Australia, I brought Lonely Planet, which became my go-to for a while. I also liked the DK Eyewitness travel guides. I've also used some others.
In the last ten years or so, like an old guy would, I rely on the Rick Steves books after getting addicted to his TV show. I download his guidebooks on my Kindle app, spend a chunk of time perusing them to plan, and refer to them constantly while on the trip.
Now, for Asia I do some modest research, but we have a hard and fast rule -- if we are going to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, we're going by tour. There's no way we would go (except for a few days) to Asia with a tour guide and a group. I know it's not the most adventurous way to travel, but let others do the hard work of knowing where we are going/eating/doing -- that's not something I could parse out stress free.
One of the features of the Rick Steves' guidebooks is that he includes a lot of easy to follow walk that don't just hit the highlights, but also provide insights into some interesting sights and good local trivia.
After Notre Dame, we did the "Historic Paris Walk," to which we added the ice cream stop. So we really picked up the walk with the Deportation Memorial stop. After that, we crossed over to the Left Bank. Our first focus was on the famed booksellers along the bank of the Seine.
There are fewer of the big green metal stalls dedicated to books now than there used to be, as many of the booksellers ("bouquinistes" in French) also sell posters, postcards, and various Paris gewgaws out of several of their four stalls.
There is an eight-year waiting list to become a bouquinistes. The most coveted locations (i.e. "profitable") are awarded based on seniority. So a bouquiniste starts out in the equivalent of Class D minor league team, but move up the ranks if they stick with it. Game respects game. The stalls must be open at least four days a week, or they lose their spot.
Boquinistes: We didn't buy anything
but we could have if we wanted to.
Side view of Notre Dame gargoyles
hectoring the people below.
Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor.
View from the Left Bank of
a rose window at Notre-Dame.
Construction work is still on-going.
Good view of the Flying Buttresses,
which would be a cool name for
a rock band.
Next, we went back in time to Medieval Paris. We cut into Square Viviani, where we saw Paris' oldest living inhabitant, an acacia tree know as Robinier, named after the fellow who planted it in 1602, making it a sprawling 425 years old.
From there we went into the church of St. Julien-le-Pauvre is your typical Melkite Greek Catholic parish church. Like you, I've never heard of Melkite Greek Catholics. Growing up in Sparta, New Jersey, there were Italian Catholics and Irish Catholics and, well, I'm pretty sure that's it. You can satiate your interest about this Syrian-Turkish church by looking it up on Wikipedia.
The tree of Robinier,
just 423 years old.
A ramshackle medieval Paris
house on the Rue Galande.
This cross from the Melkite
Greek church is a bit
unorthodox.
A peak at Notre Dame
from Rue Galande.
Carol's interested peaked when she saw the back of St. Severin church. It took longer to build than Notre Dame despite being much smaller. It's in the Flamboyant "flame-like" Gothic style and the gargoyles are much closer to the ground than the Notre Dame gargoyles.
This probably doesn't surprised you, but the gargoyles from Notre Dame and St. Severin are each organized into their own gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. It's the rivalry has been made into a musical called "Left Side Story."
(Editor: Actually, it does surprise me, because I can't find mention of the gargoyles organizing into gangs suspiciously named after "West Side Story." Writer: Work with me here. Here's the three-step plan -- you and I write the musical, we cash the checks, and we retire to St. John. Editor: Let's start writing!
This gargoyle is on Team Jet.
Notre Dame gargoyles are on
Team Shark.
Look at the twisted Flamboyant
Gothic column, and the fan
vaulting.
The church's modern stained glass
dazzles in a way that nearly all
modern stained glass does not.
Some of the stained glass, such as
this one, were designed by Marc Chagall.
The weather has been so bad at home
that this is first picture of an eagle I
have taken this year!
I failed to get a satisfactory picture of the whole church itself.
We doubled back to the famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore and the green water fountain (1900), one of many in Paris donated by a Brit after the Franco-Prussian War to give people access to free clean water after the aqueducts were destroyed.
We didn't go into the bookstore, as there was a slow-moving line to go in. Instead we made a gametime decision to continue on.
The Green Fountain, with
the bookstore in the back.
One of the four nymphs on the
fountain. They represent sobriety,
simplicity, kindness, and charity.
This one also represents sore arms.
Back to Rue St. Severin, we came to #22, which is the skinniest house in Paris. How do I know that? Because Rick Steves says so.
In theory, the skinniest
house in Paris. Seems
plausible.
Further along we could see the remains of the medieval sewer system. The center of the street is downslope from the edges of the street. The middle features a central channel of bricks. Back in the day, "flushing" meant throwing it out the window. People on the upper floors would yell "Garde de l'eau!" ("Watch out for the water"). Pedestrians would show off their moves like Jagger, quickly moving to dodge the, uh, stuff being thrown out the windows.
Well, enough of that shit stuff. We crossed the famed Boulevard St. Michel, which is a main road for Paris cafes and the arts scene. Next was the Place St. Michel, with a statue of St. Michael killing a devil. Except we couldn't find it. There were a lot of empty booths (for a festival or street market), so maybe it was hidden, but we sure didn't see it.
We crossed back to the Ile de la Cite, went past Saint Chapelle, the Palais de Justice and the Concierge.
The gates to the
Palais de Justice
The 108 foot tall spire
on the top of Saint-Chapelle.
Most of the church is
obscured behind the walls
of other buildings.
Our walking tour ended at the Statue of Henry IV (1553-1610) -- grandfather of the infamous Louis XIV. Henry IV was influential in getting "new Paris" changing its medieval jumble -- building key buildings, bridges, and residences.
He's Henry the IVth he is,
Henry the IVth he is he is.
Heading back to the hotel, we walked over the Pont Neuf. Built during Henry IV's reign, the "New Bridge" is the oldest in Paris.
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