Saturday 29 May 1999. To get back to our coach after viewing Notre Dame cathedral we have to walk back along the River Seine, cross the river and pass before the scaffolded front doors then back along the river to where the coach is parked.
On the square in front of Notre Dame stands this statue of King Charlemagne (Charles I the Great, King of the Franks from 768 CE, King of the Lombards from 774 CE and Holy Roman Emperor from 800 CE). The Court of Charlemagne was said to hold high the principles of chivalry, as the mythical English Court of King Arthur is reputed to have done. He did like to spread his chivalry around and had a known ten wives or concubines with perhaps a few more unknown ones.
We bought an ice cream from a van, served by a broad French woman who, from the muscles of her arm, could have had a second job juggling oxen at the circus... She only gave me one and I had to reach back into my mind to school French lessons some thirty years previously; "Er... et un autre s'il vous plait," She eyed me for a moment, weighing up how far she could throw me down river then said, "le même?" which my mind surprised me by remembering it meant "the same?" - a phrase that would come in very handy later in this trip. Then we headed on across the bridge towards the place where the coach was due to pick us up. (Notre Dame being on an island, there are bridges to either side to cross the full width of the River Seine.) The ices were delicious and the temperature made them all the more welcome as it was around 30 degrees celcius.
La Place de la Concorde was completed in 1763. It contains statues representing the eight largest towns in France. At one end stands the French Houses of Parliament and in the centre is a 3,300-year-old obelisk from the Temple of Thebes, a gift to Paris from the Viceroy of Egypt in 1829. During the Revolution the guillotine stood on the Place. Louis XVI was executed here in January 1793. As the blade was raised he said calmly; "May my blood bring happiness to France." I'm not sure it did.
The Champs-Elysées with the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. There was nothing but marshland and bog here until 1616 when Marie de Médici built a carriageway. In 1814 the Russian occupying armies pulled down the trees for firewood. In the parks, people heard for the first time the sound of the saxophone, played by its inventor, Monsieur Sax. Of the arch, we shall hear later.
Les Invalides. Built by the war-loving Louis XIV to house retired soldiers in 1676, it was to become the source of the Revolutionaries' weapons for the storming of the Bastille. Napoleon's body lies beneath the dome in six coffins, Russian doll style. He wanted it to be on a low level so that future visitors to his tomb would have to bow their heads to gaze on it. Either that or he expected future archeologists to sit in a circle around it and open a coffin each time the music stopped... Yes, that is real gold on the domed roof.
The Ecole Militaire, or Military School on Place Joffre where, at the start of his career as a naval cadet, the instructors were much less respctful of Napoleon, thinking he may make Lieutenant if lucky.
La Conciergerie, looking for all the world like the medieval prison it was despite much building work to the facade in the 1900s. The 14th century clock tower contains Paris's original first public clock and the tower on the right is called 'Bon Bec', 'The Squealer' due to the numerous torture sessions that went on within it. 2,600 prisoners left La Concierge for the guillotine, including (and this shows how volatile the times were) Marie Antoinette, the Queen, followed some time later by her prosecutor, Danton, who was thoughtfully given the cell next door, and then in turn his accuser, Robespierre. One can only reflect that Robespierre's prosecutor should have legged it fast... Somewhere around 16,500 people overall were sent to the guillotine during the Revolution.
And whilst we ponder that, let's do so over a spot of lunch...
A glass of wine and something I can't remember for starters and mains, but I do remember the delicious crème brûlée that followed it! Mmmmm!
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