 1 Friday 9 July, 2010 We started the day with a coffee at a cafe over the road from our hotel. The prices were a little less unreasonable than last night and only €9.70 ($14) for two small cups of mutilated froth. After this, we caught a train to the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute). |
 2 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Institut du Monde Arabe was established in 1980 when 18 Arab countries concluded an agreement with France to establish an institute to disseminate information about the Arab world. |
 3 Friday 9 July, 2010 The most amazing architectural feature of the building is the metallic screens that unfold with moving geometric motifs. The motifs are motor controlled apertures that open and close every hour to control the light entering the building. |
 4 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Institut du Monde Arabe building was constructed from 1981 to 1987 and has a floor space of nearly 7,000 m2. |
 5 Friday 9 July, 2010 Jean Nouvel won a 1981 design competition with a project that proposed unique solutions that, over the course of the years, have proven themselves viable. |
 6 Friday 9 July, 2010 On the ninth floor of the Institute are stunning views of Paris. We can see the rear (apse) of the Notre Dame on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité. The Île de la Cité is believed to be the island on which the first Parisians (a small Gallic tribe called the Parisii) settled and the rest of Paris expanded from here as the population grew. |
 7 Friday 9 July, 2010 The apse is the “east wall,” regardless of its location. In the past, church buildings were built so that a person who entered the church went from west to east to symbolise going from the evil of the present world to the glory of the New Jerusalem to come. The Pont de la Tournelle in the foreground was built in 1928 and, on the top of the pylon, is a statue of St. Geneviève the patron saint of Paris. |
 8 Friday 9 July, 2010 Directly in front of us is the southern part of the Pont de Sully. The bridge was constructed in 1876 as part of Haussmann's renovation of Paris. The Île Saint-Louis is in front of us; the second of the two islands in the Seine. |
 9 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Pont de Sully continues to the site of the Bastille, the storming of which in 14 July 1789 led to the successful French Revolution. The Bastille no longer exists but the Colonne de Juillet (July Column) visible in the background marks its spot. The column is engraved in gold with the names of Parisians who died during the revolution and, in the foundation, a columbarium was arranged to receive the remains of 615 victims of the July Revolution. |
 10 Friday 9 July, 2010 We leave the Institute and walk down rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard to Cardinal Lemoine station and catch a train to Varenne station where we alight to visit the Rodin museum. What a fabulous way to get around Paris. |
 11 Friday 9 July, 2010 Rodin's statue The Thinker is so famous that even I have heard of it. |
 12 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Thinker is a 1902 bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin and this is the first cast of many. It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle and the statue is often used to represent philosophy. |
 13 Friday 9 July, 2010 More than twenty monumental size bronze casts of the sculpture are in museums around the world. In addition there are sculptures of different sizes and plaster models in both monumental and study sizes. There are some newer castings that have been produced posthumously and are not considered part of the original production. |
 14 Friday 9 July, 2010 Rodin made the first small plaster version around 1880. The first large-scale bronze cast was finished in 1902 but not presented to the public until 1904. It became the property of the city of Paris – thanks to a subscription organized by Rodin admirers – and was put in front of the Panthéon in the Latin Quarter 1906. |
 15 Friday 9 July, 2010 In 1922, the statue was moved here to the Hôtel Biron, a hôtel particulier, which later became the Rodin Museum. Two posthumous castings exist in Australia; one at the The National Gallery of Victoria and the other at the Sydney Opera House. |
 16 Friday 9 July, 2010 In the French context, an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort. In French, an hôtel de ville or mairie is a town hall (and not a hotel). |
 17 Friday 9 July, 2010 This fascinating sculpture is on loan and is by a Belgian artist. |
 18 Friday 9 July, 2010 It is called Le Tour |
 19 Friday 9 July, 2010 The scupture is in the front garden and aligns with The Thinker and the Eiffel Tower. |
 20 Friday 9 July, 2010 We enter the museum and enter a section devoted to Rodin's sculptures. Other parts of the building contain works from his private collection by other artists. |
 21 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Kiss is an 1889 marble sculpture by Rodin and was originally titled Francesca da Rimini. It depicts the 13th-century Italian noblewoman in Dante's Inferno who falls in love with her husband's younger brother, Paolo. The couple is discovered and killed by Francesca's husband. In the sculpture, the lover's lips do not actually touch which suggests that they were interrupted and met their demise without their lips ever having met. |
 22 Friday 9 July, 2010 The eroticism in the sculpture made it controversial. A bronze version of The Kiss was sent for display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The sculpture was considered unsuitable (smut!) for general display and relegated to an inner chamber with admission only by personal application. |
 23 Friday 9 July, 2010 Before creating the marble version of The Kiss, Rodin produced several smaller sculptures in plaster, terracotta and bronze. |
 24 Friday 9 July, 2010 Various other sculptures in marble feature the female form. |
 25 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Gates of Hell is a monumental sculptural group work that depicts a scene from Dante's Inferno. Some of its original sculptures were enlarged and became works of art of their own such as The Thinker (located above the door panels) and The Kiss . Rodin removed the The Kiss because it seemed to contrast with the other suffering figures. |
 26 Friday 9 July, 2010 The roses in the bed in front are called Rodin Roses, which originate from an American rosebush that is flourishing in the USA, and 700 have been planted on the southern terrace. Anecdote: Rodin's companion, whom he married at the end of his life, was called Rose. |
 27 Friday 9 July, 2010 The gardens looking from the balcony of the Hôtel Biron. The Hôtel Biron is an hôtel particulier built by Jacques Gabriel in 1728-31 and it has housed the Musée Auguste Rodin since 1919. |
 28 Friday 9 July, 2010 In 1820 it was given to the Société du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus and dedicated to the education of young women. It was converted into a boarding school for girls from aristocratic families, stripped of all luxuries, mirrors and boiseries and a chapel added. |
 29 Friday 9 July, 2010 Under a 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State the school was forced to close. The house was subdivided into lodgings, and plans were made to demolish the mansion and replace it with a block of flats. August Rodin rented several rooms on the ground floor in which to store his sculptures. The rooms became his studio, where he worked and entertained friends. |
 30 Friday 9 July, 2010 Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures (along with paintings by van Gogh and Renoir that he had acquired) to the French State on the condition that they turn the building into a museum dedicated to his works. |
 31 Friday 9 July, 2010 There are many bronze statues scattered throughout the gardens. To think that this is a privately-owned garden in one of the world's major cities is amazing. |
 32 Friday 9 July, 2010 The rear terrace of the Hôtel Biron showing the 700 Rodin Roses planted there. We had quite a nice lunch in the cafe in the gardens on this side. There we learned that the museum is totally self-funded and does nor receive any financial support from the government. |
 33 Friday 9 July, 2010 Time to move on. Our next stop is to be the nearby Hôtel national des Invalides which is a Hôtel particulier. The Hôtel retains its early meaning of the word as a hospice for war wounded. |
 34 Friday 9 July, 2010 We walk down Boulevarde des Invalides and turn right at the next corner. |
 35 Friday 9 July, 2010 The National Residence of the Invalids is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France. The Invalides building (above) contains the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte. |
 36 Friday 9 July, 2010 The complex currently contains a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. |
 37 Friday 9 July, 2010 Louis XIV (the Sun King) initiated the project in 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers. |
 38 Friday 9 July, 2010 About Napoleon's tomb: Napoleon was initially interred on Saint Helena, but in 1840 King Louis-Philippe arranged for his remains to be brought to France. Napoléon's ashes were first buried in the Chapelle Saint-Jérôme in the Invalides until his final resting place, a tomb made of red quartzite and resting on a green granite base, was finished in 1861. |
 39 Friday 9 July, 2010 Behind Les Invalides is the Église Saint-Louis des Invalides chapel. The chapel was finished in 1679, three years after completing Les Invalides. Daily attendance by the veterans was required. |
 40 Friday 9 July, 2010 The buildings opposite are of the style made famous during Haussmann renovations of Paris that took place between 1852 and 1870. |
 41 Friday 9 July, 2010 The heat got to us so we returned to our hotel to rest. After a couple of hours recovering, we headed off again. A drunk sleeps peacefully, undisturbed, in the gutter. We catch a train to Cité Metro station on the Île de la Cité. |
 42 Friday 9 July, 2010 An appeal "To all the French" of August 1940 - a sign on the Boulevarde du Palais on the Île de la Cité France lost a battle, But France has not lost the war! The rulers have capitulated, giving way to panic, forgetting, honor, delivering their country to slavery. But nothing is lost! Nothing is lost because this war is global. In the free world, immense forces have not yet given. One day these forces will crush the enemy. Let France, that day, be present to win. Then she will regain its freedom and greatness. That is my goal, my only goal! That's why I invite all French people, wherever located, to join me in action, sacrifice and hope. Our country is in danger of death. Let us fight to save her. VIVE LA FRANCE! General de Gaulle |
 43 Friday 9 July, 2010 Union des Jeunes Avocats de Paris (Young Lawyers of Paris) is part of the Palais de Justice complex on the Île de la Cité. |
 44 Friday 9 July, 2010 We walk from the Cité Metro station to the Seine and turn left without crossing the bridge. The Pont Saint-Michel links the Place Saint-Michel on the left bank of the Seine to the Île de la Cité and it was named after the nearby chapel of Saint-Michel. The 62-metre-long bridge dates to 1857. |
 45 Friday 9 July, 2010 See all the police vehicles? This building is the headquarters of the Direction Régionale de Police Judiciaire de Paris (DRPJ Paris). It is often called the 36, because of its address at 36 Quai des Orfèvres. The Police judiciaire is the criminal investigation division of the Police nationale and its 2,200 policemen investigate about 15,000 crimes and offences a year. |
 46 Friday 9 July, 2010 We approach the west façade of the Notre Dame. There are three portals: The Portal of the Virgin (left), Portal of the last Judgement (centre) and Portal of Saint Anne. Each portal portrays scenes from Catholic scriptures. |
 47 Friday 9 July, 2010 In the courtyard of the cathedral, black musicans entertain the crowds. They're good. |
 48 Friday 9 July, 2010 At the centre of the west façade, a large rose measuring 9.60 m in diameter (created around 1225) forms a halo above a statue of the Virgin with Child between two angels. On the right and the left windows, there are statues of Adam and Eve, intended to remind us of original sin. |
 49 Friday 9 July, 2010 The statue of Adam is above the balustrade, between the two windows. Eve occupies a similar position on the right window. Under the balustrade is the Gallery of Kings, a row of twenty-eight statues that represents twenty-eight generations of the kings of Judah, the descendants of Jesse and the human ancestors of Mary and Jesus. Mary was descended from royalty? How odd. |
 50 Friday 9 July, 2010 These statues were added in the first third of the 13th century and shortly after, became representations of the kings of France instead of the kings of Judah. This is why, during the the Revolution, these statues were attacked and mutilated as symbols of royal despotism. |
 51 Friday 9 July, 2010 On each side of the two main doors, there are nine full-size statues. These statues are on the left: the Emperor Constantine (who took Rome into Christianity), an angel, Saint Denis holding his head, and another angel. On the right are Saint John the Baptist, Saint Stephen, Saint Genevieve and Pope Saint Sylvester. |
 52 Friday 9 July, 2010 This is the Portal of the Virgin situated on the left side of the west façade, built circa 1210-1220. It depicts the death of Mary, her ascension into Heaven and her coronation as Queen of the Heavens. On the lower lintel, there are three prophets on the left and three Old Testament kings on the right, holding parchments showing that God’s promise has been fulfilled, Jesus has come to save humanity. Just above that, Mary lies on her death bed, surrounded by Jesus and the twelve Apostles. There are two angels at Mary’s head and feet, lifting up her shroud and taking her to Heaven. At the centre of the tympanum, Mary is in Heaven, seated on the same throne as Jesus. She is being crowned by an angel while Jesus blesses her and gives her her sceptre. She is made Queen of Heaven, Regina Cæli, in front of the Heavenly Court made up of angels, patriarchs, kings and prophets on the four successive archivolts. |
 53 Friday 9 July, 2010 In 1792, revolutionaries destroyed the large statues of the 12 apostles but they were restored in the mid-19th century. These statues are from the left, Bartholomew, Simon, James the Less, Andrew, John and Peter. On the other side are Paul, James son of Zebedee, Thomas, Philip, Jude and Matthew. At the twelve apostles’ feet, there are medallions representing their virtues and their corresponding vices. |
 54 Friday 9 July, 2010 On the trumeau (the column between the two doors) of the Portal of the last Judgement, Christ is teaching, standing on a pedestal sculpted with the liberal arts. The Portal of the Last Judgement was built in the 1220s-1230s, just after the façade’s other two portals and it represents the Last Judgement as described in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. |
 55 Friday 9 July, 2010 Point zero is in the courtyard of the cathedral. All distances from Paris are measured from this point and it is considered to be the geogrpahical centre of Paris. |
 56 Friday 9 July, 2010 The cathedral suffered desecration during the French Revolution in the 1790s when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc returned the cathedral to an original gothic state. |
 57 Friday 9 July, 2010 The Notre Dame contains the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris. The cathedral treasury houses a reliquary with a purported Crown of Thorns, bought by Louis IX. Louis purchased the crown in 1239–41 from Emperor Baldwin II of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. |
 58 Friday 9 July, 2010 When we leave the cathedral, we walk across the Petit Pont. The bridge is notable for having been destroyed, at a minimum, thirteen times since its original inception during Gallo-Roman times to the mid-19th century. |
 59 Friday 9 July, 2010 On the left bank side of the Petite Pont is the Latin Quarter. Many of the streets and buildings in this area were modernised by Haussmann. |
 60 Friday 9 July, 2010 Because of the price of everything in Paris, we hadn't had a proper meal since we got here. It was unbelievably hot so we stopped for dinner at this Italian restaurant on the corner of Rue Dante and Rue Galande. |
 61 Friday 9 July, 2010 Jenni had a smoked salmon pizza and I had a lasagne washed down with 1½ litres of bubbly water. It was hot and we were dry. |
 62 Friday 9 July, 2010 After dinner, we walk up Rue Galande, cross over Rue St Jaques and enter Rue St Séverin, one of many pedestrian plazas in the latin quarter. It is alive with people. |
 63 Friday 9 July, 2010 The street is filled with unimaginable food stuffs, restaurants, bars, hotels and you name it. |
 64 Friday 9 July, 2010 We turn right into Rue de la Harpe. Here, cars fight with pedestrians again. I don't think I've ever been anywhere as unique as the Latin Corner. Outdoor cafes by the thousand, people everywhere and very much alive. |
 65 Friday 9 July, 2010 We walk up Rue de la Harpe to the end and turn left into Place St Michel. |
 66 Friday 9 July, 2010 Place St Michel is very, very crowded and very, very hot. We catch the Metro from Michel station and return to our hotel. I would like to spend a day wandering through the Latin Quarter in more normal circumstances. |
 67 Friday 9 July, 2010 A statue of Saint Michael the Archangel sits atop the fountain in the Place Saint-Michel. Two dragons spout water into the fountain and figures of the four classical cardinal virtues adorn the top of the structure. In Christian traditions there are 4 cardinal virtues: • Prudence - able to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time • Justice - proper moderation between self-interest and the rights and needs of others • Restraint or Temperance - practicing self-control, abstention, and moderation • Courage or Fortitude - forbearance, endurance, and ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation. |
 68 Friday 9 July, 2010 The metro takes us back to Cambronne station as the sun sinks slowly somewhere. It's about 10:00 at night and it's been an interesting day. By now I have decided that Parisians themselves aren't that rude but the noisy, hubristic unpleasant hordes from other countries are. Next stop: Our third day in Paris and travel back to Strasbourg |
