Dull grey skies greeted us but we stuck to our flanering plan, setting off to explore the area surrounding our apartment – Bastille, Opera, and the Marais. These areas used to be a bit seedy but now they’re trendy – the Brunswick of Paris. Starting out from Place de la Bastille and the Colonne de Juillet, which is a 50 metre high memorial to Parisians who died in the 1830 uprising, we followed our guidebook to Place des Vosges.  We walked down a narrow lane and under an arch, and suddenly found ourselves in a large residential square where 39 aristocratic houses surround manicured gardens.  The red brick and sandstone homes date from the early 17^th century, and no doubt are worth millions today.  Another small gate led us into the gardens of the Hotel de Sully.  We were discovering that Paris hides many secret places behind closed doors.  Where the streets are lined with shops and full of traffic, there’s a different world of elegant courtyards and gracious stone buildings, if you know where to look.

Place des Vosges

We stopped at the Hotel de Sens, one of the few medieval buildings in central Paris. King Henri IV’s wife, Marguerite de Valois, spent part of her debauched life here.  She is said to have had an ex-lover beheaded because he killed her current one.

Gargoyle at Hotel de Sens

Next we explored part of the Marais, the Jewish area of Paris.  Passing the impressive National Archives building and pausing briefly at the smallest Mobil service station I have ever seen, we saw the Cloitre des Billets, built in 1427 and the only remaining medieval cloister in Paris.

Le Flaneur

Our walk finished at the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), which is elaborately decorated with statues and stonework.  By now it was raining, forcing us to abandon our casual strolling and head indoors.  Les Halles, a shopping centre built on the site of a wholesale food market, was a disappointment.  We went there in the hope of finding somewhere to sit and regroup after spending the last couple of hours on our feet.  A complete absence of seats drove us on again, but now we took the Metro to a bakery, Helmut Newcake, which Ian will tell you about.  The rain looked set in for the day so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in the Louvre.

Patisserie at Hotel de Ville

The Tour St-Jacques was en route so we had a look, marvelling at the many gargoyles popping their comically ferocious heads out from all angles.  This was another of the many surprises of the day and my favourite of the many monuments we’d seen.  Finally we arrived at the Louvre, one of the must-do attractions in Paris.  Last time we’d spent less than an hour here, enough time to see only the most famous paintings and sculptures.  This time we wanted to linger, and have a good look at the history and architecture as well as the artwork.  And of course take the obligatory silly photos of each other “holding” the Pyramid!

Obligatory silly Pyramid photo at the Louvre

The Louvre has a long and fascinating history as a palace, prison, and museum.  We followed a themed “trail” which highlighted its time as a Royal Palace.  The lavishly painted ceilings and soaring columns provided a dramatic backdrop for classical Greek, Roman and Egyptian sculptures.  It was incredible to imagine the lives of the kings and queens who lived here, and the money all this stonemasonry and decoration must have cost.  Having timed our visit for evening, the worst of the crowds had gone and we were able to move around freely, and have a good look at the Mona Lisa.  Although much smaller than the other paintings in the gallery, I think it is quite beautiful, very simple, soft, and much more real than the other paintings of the time.  We emerged into the illuminated Pyramid, providing a brilliant contrast with the 16^th century architecture of the surrounding facades.

It was great fun following the walking maps which took us into mazes of narrow back streets, and navigating the metro train system. But by now our feet were killing us, we’d been on them for about 12 hours.  Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be refreshed and ready for FlanerO Day 2.  Debbie