The Left Bank

Saturday in Paris and another beautiful sunny day. I woke up early to pick up baguettes for breakfast. The bakery on the corner wasn't open so I walked around the block, down to the Seine and up to Pont Nuef. I guess Parisians don't get up early on Saturday, because all of the streets were empty.

When I got back to the apartment, Kathy was up and had coffee made. We had some bread left from yesterday, along with some strawberry jam for breakfast, and set out, around 9:00 to see the Left Bank.

Our first stop was the Pont des Arts, the oldest pedestrian iron bridge across from the Louvre to the Academe Francaise. The iron grill-work of the bridge is filled with small padlocks. It's a tradition for lovers to come to Paris, write their names on a small lock, lock it to the bridge and throw the key in the Seine.

Walking around the Academe Francaise, there is a small park with a statue of Voltaire. Someone had thrown red paint all over him, (like with a water balloon).

Right next to the statue of Voltaire is the building housing Roger-Viollet, a huge archive of historical photographs. You can't buy them (or buy prints), but there are always some really interesting photos in the window. Inside you can see wall after wall of binders filled with historical photos.

A block down rue de Seine we turned off to see the hotel where Oscar Wilde died in 1900. His last words were, purportedly, "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do." We walked over and looked at the room prices; starting at 350 Euro, going on up to 950 Euro a night.

It seems like almost every other building has a plaque telling what famous person lived (or died) in that building. We passed the novelist George Sand's house and then stopped for a few minutes in a toy store that makes miniature tableaus of different European storybook and comic characters (Babar, Tintin, Asterix and so on). They're really amazing, (and pretty expensive).

Half-way down the rue de Seine we turned off on rue Jacob and saw the house where Richard Wagner wrote The Flying Dutchman (before he was famous). Today it's a bar with a small plaque.

Around the corner was Eugene Delacroix' house, studio and museum. We didn't go in (although we did see some Delacroix paintings at St. Sulpice later in the day.) Instead we turned left at the Abbey Mansion and headed down to the intersection of rue de Buci and rue de Seine to the "heart of the Left Bank".

We spent the next hour window shopping, people watching and eating gelato, meandering down rue de Buci to rue St. Andre-des-Arts. Turning left, we took a picture in front of Cafe le Procope, one of the world's oldest continuously operating restaurants. This was the place where coffee was first introduced to Europe in 1686. It was a favorite of Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon.

By this time, both of us were pretty tired, so we headed back to our apartment for a little rest. We got something to eat, Kathy changed her shoes (sandals can be really hard to walk with on the rough cobble-stone streets). By 3:00 we were ready to head back out to see the rest of the Left-Bank sights.

We started by heading directly to St. Germain-de-Pres, the oldest church in Paris, built in the 11th century. It stands atop an older church that goes back to the fall of Rome.

That church was destroyed by Vikings in 886. The day we were there the square in front of the church was filled with a huge book fair.

Across the street are two of the famous Paris cafes, Les Deux Magots and Le Cafe de Flore. (Despite the sound, Les Deux Magots actually means "The Two Chinamen"). These cafes where where Wilde, Picasso, Hemingway, Sartre, Camu, Simone de Beauvoir and even Jim Morrison hung out. Across the street is the Brasserie Lipp where Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms. Today, all are filled with tourists, as you'd expect.

Down rue des Cannettes we went looking for a recommended crêperie. We found it, but there was only one customer, and I didn't feel that comfortable eating there. (Our schedules are not quite on the French eating schedules. We're used to eating when we're hungry; in Paris, you eat when it is lunch-time,12-2, or dinner time, 7-9).

Instead of eating we headed on to our last Left Bank stop, the huge St. Sulpice church, modeled after St. Paul's in London. One of it's two towers has never been finished, which looks so strange.

Inside we saw three of Delacroix's famous murals, including Jacob Wrestling the Angel and The Archangel Micheal. We walked around the church and found the statue of Joan of Arc (very had to see as it was unlighted) and he Egyptian obelisk that figures into the Da Vinci Code.

Outside, we walked left two blocks to the Luxembourg Garden. There, we found a couple of chairs and just enjoyed the outdoors along with the rest of Paris. After a half-hour we were ready to head back home.

On the way we found a brasserie and had the plat du jour. Kathy had fish (good sauce, but a lot of bones), while I had beef and potatoes. Made it back to our apartment completely exhausted after our first full day.