My blog has been sadly excitement free of late, what with one thing and another, but I woke up this morning, and it was a beautiful sunny day, and so I decided to go for a walk. I ended up going all over the place and having a really lovely Sunday afternoon.
My apartment is in a brilliant location in that we are exceptionally close to the Latin Quarter, and therefore close to pretty much everything. I don't start out with any particular destination in mind, I just meandered around for a bit appreciating how lovely Paris is in May.
Eventually I ended up on the banks of the Seine and literally right in front of a shop that I've been meaning to go to for ages.
Shakespeare & Co is an English language bookshop located at 37, Rue de la Bûcherie, and it's quite quirky.
The original Shakespeare and Company was founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach and was basically the centre of English Language Literature in Paris. Writers such as Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald spent loads of time there, and James Joyce basically used it as his office (in fact, Sylvia Beach published Joyce's Ulysses, a plaque as to which I found on my way home this afternoon...)
The original Shakespeare and Company closed in 1940, supposedly because Ms Beach didn't want to sell a Nazi Officer the last copy of Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It never reopened, even though...
"...Hemingway, as a major in the US army... at the liberation of Paris in 1945 drove his tank straight to the shuttered Shakespeare and Company and personally liberated Sylvia Beach."
Which I think is just brilliant.
The existing Shakespeare and Company was opened in 1951, but as Le Mistral. It was renamed Shakespeare and Company in 1964, and having spent a good while in there this afternoon, all I can say is that the atmosphere is brilliant and I could probably go back and read for hours if you'd let me.
As it is, I spent much more money in there than I should have done, and although I know I shouldn't have done it, and although I know I should have been much more frugal, I can't bring myself to regret it.
Sorry, not sorry.
Anyway, after this, I headed over the Pont Saint-Michel to Île de la Cité to look for the plaque indicating Kilometre Zero, whose existence I only learnt of about a fortnight ago, and which I failed to find even after phoning my brother back in England and asking him to tell me where it is. #fail
Giving up on finding the plaque, I went to Sainte-Chapelle, built between 1242 and 1248 by Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ. It's all very interesting, but if you want to know more about that, I'll tell you to Google it, because right now what I'm interested in is the architecture and the building itself.
The visitors leaflet describes it as "A gem of High Gothic Architecture", which it is. The following three photos are of the Lower Chapel - and they're all very lovely.
But calling Sainte-Chapelle a "gem of High Gothic architecture" is, quite frankly the most inane and rubbish description ever.
Why? Well, here's what I have to say on the matter.
I am a very lucky young woman, I know that. I've been to loads of places, very stunning places, and I've looked up at ornate ceilings, and to masterpieces of artwork and architecture, and down to mosaic flooring, and I've appreciated what I've seen and made the appropriate comments of, "Oh, isn't that beautiful."
But never, ever, before today have I been to a place that literally made me suck in a breath - an audible breath, no less - when I laid my eyes on it.
La Haute Chapelle, or the Upper Chapel at Sainte-Chapelle did exactly that.
I climbed up the narrow, winding stone staircase, I got to the top, I looked up, and my jaw dropped. I felt moved by its beauty.
It is quite possibly the most beautiful and stunning man made thing I have ever seen, and quite possibly ever will see. 1113 scenes are depicted in 15 stained glass windows of the like I have never seen before, telling the story of mankind from Creation to the Resurrection of Christ.
No words of mine will do it justice. No pictures of mine will do it justice - you'd need a much, much better camera than my puny iPhone and my pathetic efforts on instagram, and even then, I'm not sure you can truly appreciate how beautiful the upper chapel truly is unless you go to Paris yourself and look upon it with your own eyes.
If you ever do go to Paris, and find yourself with a spare hour, I cannot recommend enough that you make the effort to go over to Île de la Cité and go in to take a look for yourself - you absolutely will not regret it.
That said, I will now let you take a look at what I'm talking about.
The photos speak for themselves, even with an iPhone camera.
If you've even begun to see what I'm talking about, then I'm a happy woman, and you'll be adding it to your bucket lists as we speak.
Just next door to Sainte-Chapelle is la Conciergerie - both buildings are part of the current Palais de Justice. The Conciergerie began life as a royal residence, later became the administrative centre, if you like, of the French Royal family, and finally ended up as a prison, most notably during the French Revolution.
Between 1793 and 1794, thousands of people appeared before a tribunal at the Conciergerie charged with being an enemy of the Revolution, including Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was kept there up until the very morning of her death, when she was taken to Place de la Révolution, now Place de la Concorde, and, ironically, Robespierre, who had sent hundreds of people to be guillotined himself, during the Reign of Terror.
 |
| Marie-Antoinette's Cell |
 |
| La Cour des Femmes, or the Women's Courtyard. Condemned prisoners would wait in groups of twelve in the 'Corner of Last Goodbyes' for the cart that would take them away to be guillotined. |
 |
| Exterior of the Conciergerie |
Emerging into the sunshine, I crossed the Pont au Change onto the la rive droite (Right Bank) and headed down Rue Rivoli, passing the Hôtel de Ville ('City Hall') on my way and dipping into Starbucks for a Mocha Frappe, which went down very nicely, in case you were wondering :)
 |
| Hotel de Ville |
Le Marais is a district which spreads across the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris, and it's one that I've not really explored very much, except (kind of) at night. It's home to one of Paris' main Jewish communities and lots of little art galleries and boutiques.
Anyway, that was where I was headed, in particular, to Place des Vosges, which is, according to Wikipedia, the oldest planned square in the city. It's also very pretty, and at one time or another has been home to several famous français, including Cardinal Richelieu and Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Being a Sunday, and being a lovely warm day, it was predictably full to the brim with Parisians and tourists out to enjoy the weather :)
Anyway, after spending a little while sat on the grass, lapping up the sunshine, finishing my frappe and starting one of my new books, I headed home, sat out on the balcony for a while, and then decided to blog about my day before I forgot it all.
Speak soon!
Vicky xx
No comments:
Post a Comment