Paris in the Snow

...is ridiculous. Parisians are very odd about snow. They lock up all the parks and the cemeteries. For all of 4cm, which was called “a dump”. It definitely creates limitations on adventuring. Brian posits that they are spending so much of their energies on traffic incidents that they don’t want to divert any effort to pull slip and fall victims out of parks. I have my suspicions about overhead tree branches falling. But either way, the closures seem excessive.

Pere Lachaise - Closed in the Snow

Brian, Rachel, & Lucy - Disappointed by the Vicissitudes

Rachel & Lucy Avec Neige

Rachel & Lucy, with the sun coming to melt it all

~Lucy

15 January 2024, Paris

We are ridiculously behind on blogging. Rather than look back at all the missed stories of the past few weeks, I will just relate what we did today. We’ve not really set ourselves a schedule or plan of attack for any given day. We have a list of things we’d like to see which we add to as we stumble across them in the city. Then cross off when we manage to see them. When we wake in the morning, Brian makes his coffee. I enjoy the fabulous fresh squeezed orange juice. We breakfast on pastries, or eggs, or both. I am trying to tag along with the "Yoga with Adriene 30 Day Journey," so I roll out the mat and do a little practice.

 

Today we hopped the bus up to the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet. We’ve walked past the building many times and were intrigued. The current exhibit – exposition – is the Tale of the Genji, an 11^thCentury piece of classical literature. Written by a woman, too! Having navigated that, we continued on through the Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, Siamese, Afghani, and Indian collections. It’s interesting to see the interactions of many religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity – and how the art reflects the interplay. 

 

When we were museumed out, we wandered west into the Passy and enjoyed the neighborhood. It has great views of the Eiffel Tower from all the pocket parks. But then we encountered mecca – La Grande Epicerie Paris. Three stories of the fanciest gourmet store I have ever been in. EVER. Now that I am home looking it up, I see it is owned by LVMH. That….explains a lot. It has everything. Walls of mustard. A cave of wine. A room of teas. What looked like a whole beef wellington in the prepared foods section. I assume the place was a zoo at Christmas. You could spend so much money in there. We managed to rein ourselves in, but it was a challenge.

 

Then we walked home across the Bir Hakeim Bridge, along the Seine, and stopped at a bistro to slake my desire for Normandy cidre. 

~Lucy

Plotting to poach the second level of the library (one of two libraries!) in the museum

Obligatory picture of the tower

Mecca

Wall of Mustard

I'm not sure why New Zealand honey is so expensive, but whew!

Everything in this circle is foie gras and Sauternes 

Even the pot holders are fancy

The Olympics Countdown Clock 

Cemeterie Passy

We spent our New Year’s Day walk in the fascinating Cemeterie Passy. Pere Lachaise gets all the press, and Monparnasse is a lovely stroll, but Passy is fascinating in its own right. Located in the 16^th, just northwest of the Trocadero in a fairly ritzy neighborhood, it is small and dense. It also happens to have a great view of the Eiffel Tour, which the hordes at the Trocadero were busily capturing. 
 
I’ve probably written here before about the European habit of “renting” a burial site. All over Spain graves and columbaria walls were plastered with notices that rent was due, and if not paid the residents would be ousted. Passy’s residents seem to be sufficiently well-heeled that the majority of the tombs were purchased “in perpetuity”. No looming eviction for these folks! But that does not guarantee upkeep, and many of the crypts were in poor shape.
 
Passy’s residents are a fascinating blend. Many Comtes, Princes, Barons and the like, even an Emperor. Also many members of various Legions of Honor, Institutes, and Academies. One grave marker had the fascinating notation that the family underneath were members of the Sons of the American Revolution. One imagines an ancestor who tagged along with Lafayette to the Colonies. Many nationalities are represented including Russians, Poles, Americans, Brits, Italians, Spaniards, Persians, Armenians, Vietnamese, and many more. We found recognizable names including Debussy, Guerlain, Givenchy, and so on. It appears that many of France’s aviation pioneers are buried here, with one headstone showing global flight paths and another celebrating the first Paris to New York flight.
 
The architecture and art of cemeteries always draws me in. There were some lovely pieces of stained glass and tile mosaics. One marble crypt with the name Talleyrand was a simple spiral staircase. A far larger crypt included two staircases, a mourning room with velvet-covered chairs, and seemed to sink a full two stories below the ground surface. Handy that this cemetery is located on an old hill, and is now behind massive retaining walls. 
 
The cemetery is home to living chestnut trees. After having walked past roasted chestnut sellers every day for weeks, it was amusing to find them in their natural form scattered about.

~Lucy

Mosaic Headstone

Allons Aviators!

Cemetery with a View

City of Lights

I’m very behind on blogging. The worst of my sleep woes have finally resolved so I am leaning in on getting some writing done. One of the reasons nothing has been posted is the woeful dearth of photos. We’ve been terrible about taking them. We’ll have to step that up.
 
Paris is jam packed with holiday crowds, and we’re hoping the number falls off a bit in January. The days are short and gray, with sprinkles of rain, and none of that matters. It’s still lovely to walk around and see all the sights. The holiday lights are up in the neighborhoods and grand boulevards. The Christmas markets are full of raclette and vin chaud and all kinds of bric-a-brac. 
 
But for all its reputation and moniker, Paris gets absolutely beat by the holiday lights we saw in Spain last year. The lights here are pretty and sparkly, but are not as numerous or creative as those in Madrid, Toledo, and Granada. We’ve mulled the reasons for that. Spain has a lot more renewable energy in the form of solar and wind power. It’s possible they simply have more to spare on the LEDs they have invested in? Paris has banned propane heaters in outdoor cafes as an energy saving measure. This may be more of the same. 
 

Nevertheless, it's so lovely.

~Lucy

Nougat in the Christmas Market

Melty, Delicious Raclette

Dior Did Not Stint on Lights

Nor Did the Eiffel Tower

Galleries Lafayette was Beautiful (But Ignore the Creepy Elf on the Side)

Festive, and a Moment to Rest the Feet

Off Saint Germain

So Sparkly