What a walk!

No word from Claire, yet, so yesterday I was free to meet a high-school classmate.

Sylvia Stein -- one of the names I really do remember from high school, but beyond that I can't really remember any classes we were in together or anything else. Like so many of the wonderful women I've met this past year on our class facebook group and email group, I'm so glad we've finally met. (The picture was in front of Notre Dame in the glaring light -- I look horrible!)

This is our route: (It should show up below, but if it doesn't then click the link.)

We met at the Madelaine church, which unfortunately is a neo-Greek temple and got Sylvia a bit confused at first, but we did meet up. I was no longer waiting in front as promised because that was the sunny side and at around 2:00 it was baking hot. I was in the shade on the other side of the street, but I managed to find Sylvia as she finished coming around the building and we headed down the Rue Royale towards the Place de la Concorde and then on to the Tuileries Gardens, where we stopped for lunch.

Maybe we were in gym class together. We both have such horrible memories of not being very good in P.E. That being said, we turned out to be good walkers. After lunch, we continued through the Tuileries Gardens towards the Louvre. We had a good view of the Carrousel Arc de Triumph in front of us, with the Pei pyramid entrance to the Louvre behind it, and looking back, we could see the Arc de Triumph at the end of the Champs Elysées and the buildings of La Défense behind it. There were thousands of people milling around the entrance to the Louvre, so we couldn't even think of trying to go in, so we ducked out of the sun by taking the stairs to the Carrousel shopping center and saw the Charles V wall (14th century) that included the Louvre in the city. (The previous wall, Philippe Auguste, 12th century, made the land the Louvre was built on outside the city.) We came out of the shopping center on to the rue de Rivoli, where I pointed out the Musée des Arts Décoratifs as nice place to visit with far fewer tourists than the Louvre.

We crossed the street in front of the Comédie Française, which was closed, so we couldn't take a peek. Behind the Comédie Française is the Palais Royal gardens. The Buren columns are under renovation, so we couldn't see them, but we strolled under the arcade. All of the shops were closed for vacation. After the arcade, we strolled in the shade of the trees -- have no idea what kind of trees they are, but they are already losing their leaves and looked pretty sickly -- and came out on the Rue des Petits Champs. Again, we ducked out of the sun by going into the Galérie Vivenne for a very short look. Paris is full of these galéries, early 19th century precursors to our shopping centers. I remember one of my first walks with Paul in Paris almost 40 years ago. It was in winter and we just kept going from one galerie into the next and crossed most of Paris, it seemed, from Opéra to Chatelet.

We progressed to the Place des Victoires, a Louis XIVth period circular place with a statue not of the king but of some general in the center and buildings designed by Mansart all around and then continued down Etienne Marcel to the Halles area. Les Halles used to be the central market that was replaced by an enormous transportation hub (RER and métro) and shopping center. The area all around has become pedestrian streets, chic shops and very touristy. On the rue Etienne Marcel, however, there are still some vestiges of the wholesale past -- lots of restaurant supply shops.

We must have been lost in conversation because when we cut from Etienne Marcel to rue Rambuteau we should have seen the Beaubourg museum (modern, contemporary art) out of the corner of our eyes, but we didn't and just continued on towards the marais. The Museum of Jewish Art and History (Paul was the head engineer for the city in the restoration of this building) the Picasso Museum and the Carnavalet Museum (history of the city) all branch off this route as Rue Rambuteau becomes the Rue des Franc Bourgeois (lots of very chic and expensive couture and jewelry shops -- not an inkling of the not-so-long-ago Jewish past) and leads to the Place des Vosges. Parched, we stopped for a citron pressée (fresh-squeezed lemonade) before walking unter the arcade of the Place des Vosges. We did a 3/4 tour and came out in the Hôtel de Sully Gardens which allowed us to cut straight through to the rue Saint Antoine. We continued down rue St. Paul with a stop at Thanksgiving so I could show Sylvia that there was a place I could spend a fortune at if I ever got desperately nostalgic for some American food products (a box of Cheerios, €12.00).

Oof, we reached the Seine and crossed over to Ile St. Louis. No one was walking along the quai; everyone was lined up at the many, many places selling Bertillon ice cream on the rue St. Louis-en-l'ile. Along the quai, we admired the many 17th century mansions. Then, we crossed over to Ile de la Cité and again walked into the older part of the island before coming up to Notre Dame. We had thought we'd go into the church, but the "in" line stretched all the way to the other end of the Parvis (the place in front of the cathedral). And at the end of the line was the entrance to the Crypte Archéologique, which I find very interesting -- the old roman Lutece which was discovered when they were building the parking lot under the Parvis. Unfortunately, it was getting late and they were not letting anyone in, so we continued on to the Sainte Chapelle, but it was too late, there, too.

Time for another citron presée, this time at the Place St. Michel. Theoretically this is in the Latin Quarter, but there nothing left of the Latin Quarter; it's all tourists. We walked along the rue St. Severin and on to Shakespeare & Co, but we didn't stop. I showed Sylvia the galérie Urubamba on rue de la Bûcherie (founded in 1976 - I was there; Paul was in charge of the building, then. I wonder if Roberta is still around.) We came up to Place Maubert and started climbing uphill along the rue de la Montagne Ste. Genviève to the Panthéon, which we just peeked at. We then took the rue Clovis down and stopped to look at the remains of the Philippe Auguste (12th century) city wall on our way to the Arènes de Lutece. By this time, we were pooped and sat for a while watching some guys kick around a soccer ball and then went off to find a restaurant for some dinner.

All in all, we walked and talked for more than 6 miles (10 km.)

A walk from Paris to Versailles

I'll get back to Troyes and Canada eventually, but since the walk to Versailles is still fresh in my mind, I'll do that first.

Wednesday was such a pleasant fall day - not too hot, not too cold, a bit overcast in the morning with sun in the afternoon - a great day for a hike. And for such a nice walk, there was just the right turnout; there were 17 of us, with Daniel in the lead.

As usual, it was a day of conversation. The day started out in the lead with Michael, then I started to lag and spent some time with Suzie, and continued to lag and met Joetta, and so on. But with all that talking, I still managed to see some of the scenery.

We left from the metro station Boulogne-Pont-de-Saint-Cloud and, after crossing the bridge, stopped briefly at the Saint Cloud church before heading for the Parc de Saint Cloud. One of the first things we saw as we started out was the Albert Kahn museum in Boulogne Billancourt, almost next to the metro station. There is a temporary exhibit (until March, 2008) called "Les Couleurs du Maghreb" and since Pierre and Gillette were looking for an outing, I called them to let them know. They went and told me that the exhibit was ok, but the highlight was the garden. I hope to visit, soon.

Paul and I used to go to the Parc de Saint Cloud all the time, almost every weekend, back in the early days of our marriage, with the Gavettis and the Maymous. I can't remember the last time. By the time Claire was born, we gravitated more to the Parc de Sceaux. This was the first time that I actually walked through the park. I think we entered from the Northeast corner and walked though a wooded area until we came out of the woods with a beautiful view of the fountains. There was also a belvedere somewhere nearby where we had a view of Paris before the fog lifted. It looked like the Eiffel Tower was still under construction. The trees still had leaves on them, just turning yellow and brown and with enough leaves gone so the sun came through.

We came out of the park in Sèvres on "avenue Gambetta", where we stopped first to admire a sculpture to the glory of Leon Gambetta. (I keep confusing him with an Italian hero.) I'm not much a fan of this kind of sculpture, but I noticed it was done by Bartholdi, who is famous for having sculpted the Statue of Liberty, so I pointed that out to the others. Next to the sculpture is Gambetta's house.

From there, we proceeded to Ville d'Avray for lunch at the ponds. The ponds (étangs) have always been fish ponds. The first one was created late in the Middle Ages and the second in the 17th century, I think. Corot painted the scene and it hasn't changed much. On the way to the ponds we saw some nice architecture from the 1960's - not the bland apartment buildings, but the clean-cut houses.

We crossed the Forêt de Fausses-Reposes; Ville d'Avray is really surrounded by woods. I found a map on the internet and tried to retrace our path, but I'm not sure I managed very well. But I do know that we "entered" this map in the upper right corner and "exited" in the lower left corner.

Actually, I think we came out on the main boulevard "des Etats-Unis", really at the corner of the map. We entered Versailles and made our way to the train station "Rive Droite". This is where I left the group. I was not alone. A couple from Saint Maur joined me for the ride home. The others either continued on to the other Versailles stations or stayed for a tour of the Hameau de la Reine.

Provins

Our first outing with the Ile de France walks (iledefrancewalks@yahoo.fr) was a day trip to Provins two weeks ago.

The e-mail said to meet Daniel at the Gare de l'Est before boarding the train to Provins so we caught the RER on one of the first really nice days of this summer. Shortly after we arrived we noticed a small group forming - a bunch of people about our age, with little backpacks. They looked just like us! And they were speaking a mix of French and English, so that confirmed the identification.

The trip to Provins was our first trip on the Viaduc de Nogent. We've lived in Nogent for almost 30 years. We've admired the bridge; we've read about the bridge; we've seen the bridge in paintings. (If you're ever in Nogent, visit the town museum: http://www.actep.fr/Musee-de-Nogent.html)

I just love meeting new people and spent the entire trip in conversation. Once we arrived in Provins, it took a little while for us to actually get started - just like kids. We were all more interested in our new friends than walking. But Daniel finally managed to herd us together and we strolled through the center of Provins to the other side of the town for lunch.

The first time we visited Provins was about 12 or 13 years ago, when it was the destination for one of the kids, who was learning to drive. It was cold, then. The town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 and I was afraid it might have turned into a real tourist trap.

After our picnic lunch just outside the wall, at the Porte de Jouy, the group split. The courageous half went off with Robert to hike in the countryside around Provins and we stayed with the others to explore the city.

We opted out of the visit to the underground galleries; we remembered it vaguely from the last time. This time, we went to the top of the Caesar Tower and visited the Tithe Barn, where they've set up scenes of the town's industry when it was a major stop on the trade fair route. We didn't take many pictures and they're not all that great. We got more involved with looking at the sites: farm buildings within the midieval walls - and it's still a working farm because we could see all the equipment in the yard; half-timbered construction (colombages, in French); the shops; and more.

Not working? Go for a hike

July 31st was the last day on the job. August 1st, I went for a hike.

If you are looking for hikes in the Paris area, then ask to be put onto the recipient list at iledefrancewalks@yahoo.fr. It's just an e-mail list, no website to see. Volunteers scout out a walk they'd like to do, get in touch with the list coordinator who sends out the invitation to the group and everyone meets a the announced departure point. It seems to be mostly anglophone residents, some long-time residents, some short-term expats, and a few French hikers, too.

For a first hike, it was, perhaps, a bit ambitious. It was a 16-km. walk from Villenes-sur-Seine to Mareil-sur-Mauldre. On this map, Villenes-sur-Seine is in the upper right hand corner and Mareil-sur-Mauldre is in the lower left. Our route was the GR1, which formed a rough half circle, along the the limits between Orgeval and Bures, then Morainvilliers.

On the way, we picked a few plums, stopped to find apples on the ground in an orchard, and ate a few blackberries, too. If we'd known we were going to find so much fruit, we might not have bothered loading ourselves down with lunch. We had a great little picnic near a pond on the edge of Orgeval. It was a hot and sunny day, but we were well protected in the woods most of the time.

It was a great day out, a perfect way to celebrate not working. There was always someone interesting to talk to. As we all kept changing pace, we kept moving from one conversation partner to another. The only thing missing was sites to see. Walking for walking's sake has its limits. I need some point of interest as an objective to keep my feet moving.