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Post by tod2 on Oct 30, 2014 7:02:08 GMT
Here we are at the corner and the famous Hotel Esmeralda, no.4-8 (named after the heroine in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) and also in the book 'Linnea in Monet's Garden' a children's story by Christina Bjork. I have stayed at the hotel Esmeralda many years ago, not because of it's fame but because it was one of the cheapest at the time. Our room on the first floor only had one thing going for it and that was the view. To get to our room we had to enter the badly maintained blue door under no.10.(there is another bright blue door further down) On the other side of the door is a passageway with an ancient wooden staircase. The two lower french windows in what seems to be the building next door, and above the green awning, is the room we occupied. This was our view across the street - the lovely garden of Square Viviani. And to the left, the two towers and river side of Notre-Dame. Walking on there is a small Salon de The` called The Tea Caddy. I remember it being there when we checked into the hotel - now even serving customers across the street. This used to be the stables of the building next door. Suddenly you are confronted by a grand entrance with massive wooden doors to number 14. On the stone pediment above them sits Themis the Greek Goddess of justice. She is represented as a dignified and commanding prophetess holding the scales of justice and surrounded by the olive branches of peace, while a cherub holds an hourglass. The symbolism of this sculpture was carefully chosen in the early 17thC when this entry was added to the official residence of Isaac de Laffemas, prefect of police of the Chatelet under Cardinal Richlieu. Below ground are three levels of cellars dating from the 14C. This were used as a prison at his time but were originally used to house monks from the church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauve, across the street. The house is now apartments. It's time to step inside the odd church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauve. From the outside you may notice a lopsided pediment crowning a flat improvised facade; the remains of a 13C pillar; an iron-caged well; and the huge stone in the corner dating back to Roman times in the 4th century. They transformed the dirt road into a paved one. These stones were found below the road's surface in 1926. Elephant remains have also turned, which gives you an appreciation of how the Romans thought big when constucting their wonderful roads. Inside, you can see the painted rood screen (iconastasis) with three door and six rows of icons in front of the alter. There is a simple explanation for these objects - In 1889 the unused church was given by the archdiocese of Paris to the Eastern Catholic community, the Melchites. Their service, sung in Greek, can be heard on Sunday mornings. There is a striking number of 12C columns, especially in such a small area. The capitals, like those in Notre-Dame, are decorated with leaf and fern patterns except for one on the right-hand side, nearest the screen. This one, four harpies - birdlike woman with wings peer down at you, warning perhaps of the wages of sin. To the left is a large arabesque iron music stand that faces the screen. The back of the church with a very simple 'rose' window. Outside once more we inspect the Roman stone and find it a handy seat to re-pack some gifts. About to turn another corner into rue Galande.
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Post by bjd on Oct 30, 2014 8:04:00 GMT
Did you also go into St Séverin church nearby? There are interesting pillars in there.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 30, 2014 8:13:04 GMT
No bjd, not this time. I have in the past, but on this day we were following a guided walk so did not leave the path.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 30, 2014 12:20:18 GMT
Standing on the corner ready to walk down rue Galande you see a very strange set of buildings tucked between existing walls. Actually as you turn the corner at Hotel Esmeralda they are the first thing that draws the eye. I've always thought of them as 'typical Paris' but up until now never knew number 75 is a rare wooden structure above the restaurant, and next door number 77 also has a restaurant beneath. This corner of rue Galande marks the beginning of the road that led to Lyons and Rome. In 1202 the street took the name Garlande, later Galande, after the name of the family who owned a large enclosure of land here. Immediately rounding the corner is the Jazz Club Caveau des Oubliettes - sorry I didn't take a photo. I would love to go there on our next trip if the cover charge isn't to steep. tinyurl.com/oo4bdfvLooking down rue Galand Cybele is a gallery and bookstore and archaeology treasure trove of authentic artifacts. Next door no.65 is a restored 16C building - it was occupied by the noble family of Chatillon. The restoration was undertaken by the city of Paris whilst the residents moved out but were given the option of moving back. The tenants have the right to pass their apartments on to their children. Above the doorway, a fairly recently discovered sixteenth-century frieze of a woman's head surrounded by garlands of oak leaves. This discovery happened in 1973 when a blackened piece of Plaster-of-Paris fell down at the authors feet while she was researching her first addition of Paris Walks. How cool is that! A pretty ancient looking door-bell? or what?. Another doorway at No. 59-61 had this lovely Art Nouveau woman's head revealing long flowing tresses, crowns the entrance. She is 300 years younger than the lady at no.65. I missed the 1910 stone engraving with the date of building of no.59 and together with 57 are examples of the brick construction that Paris used for low-cost houses. The author has gained entrance through this doorway and reveals that it has been lovingly restored - even using old wood from the South of France to reconstruct the brick and wooden stairs. The banister behind a wall that was reset dates from the time of Louis X111. There is tons and tons of history down this little road but it would be impossible to relate it all. I've just picked out a few bits that are easily seen. - Many deep dungeon-like basements and cellars, wells and courtyards are not able to be seen by the curious (like me)but I know what building they're in and behind who's door! We're halfway down the road now, and we come to the piece of remarkable 14C stone-work I most wanted to see. It relates to the sad story of Saint-Julian-le-Pauve. In a nutshell it depicts his act of remorse and kindness to all strangers by ferrying them across a large river. In the carving the central figure transforms from a hideous stranger who asked for help one night, into a radiant angel with a message for Julien. This river has been known to be the Seine and the place he helped strangers, the place of the church. You will find it if you look up when arriving at an old cinema at no.42. This brings us to the crossrods of rue Dante and rue Fouarre. On the corner a modern pizza parlour, and across the road a Japanese restaurant. We turn down rue Fouarre because we now want to have a rest in the lovely gardens of Square Viviani. They're next...
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Post by tod2 on Oct 31, 2014 8:17:55 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 31, 2014 14:58:20 GMT
This is the most wonderful report, Tod, so interestingly complete with historical, etymological, and personal nuggets plus charming photos of both details and "the big picture".
Those church interiors are glorious. I loved seeing the Robinia, aka black locust, which grows abundantly in the woods around my home town. That is one of my favorite scents.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 31, 2014 15:29:31 GMT
You're kidding me!!... there are these trees in abundance ....where is your home town again? (forgiveness asked for on bent knees) AND thanks for the alternate name - Black Locust....blimey! This make me wonder if there are any as old as this one???
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 31, 2014 15:46:19 GMT
Tod, my home town is St. Francisville, Louisiana. (There are two reports on it in the USA sub-board.) The black locust is native to that part of the world. Back in the '70s, I loved the fragrance Tatiana by Diane von Furstenberg because it reminded me of the scent of the black locust's beautiful white flowers. It's not on this list, but maybe there's something here you'd like to check out.
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Post by htmb on Oct 31, 2014 17:15:54 GMT
I'm so enjoying your wanderings, detailed notes, and lovely pictures, Tod.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 31, 2014 18:24:08 GMT
Just fabulous Tod. I have read through the report again from beginning to end this afternoon and there are so many photos that are superb and I enjoyed your insights, facts and little known places that you uncovered.
Do you know who owns the vineyard at La Defense and what they do with the grapes? I enjoyed the lone bird on the post in that photo. We too have had lunch at Le Petit Pont Café quite a few times. We had never encountered waiters enticing and encouraging people to their tables like we did there. You could see how they target the weary tourists and how the city residents ignored them. It is a very good spot to sit and people watch while enjoying a needed lunch break. We know it was overpriced but it was more about the location and atmosphere.
Eager to see more!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 1, 2014 4:49:35 GMT
Bixa - thanks for that information, So interesting. I wear Georgio Armani in the form of Georgio but will next try Sensi....just because of the tree Thanks Htmb & Mich64 - Mich, I am convinced that Kerouac will know or could find out who owns the vineyard! That man's knowledge about Paris is unlimited But until such time it's mine , mine, MINE!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2014 6:19:37 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Nov 1, 2014 6:33:00 GMT
Thank you Kerouac - I knew we could rely on your knowledge! I had to have it translated, so here it is for other non-french speakers. tinyurl.com/lkd65wp
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Post by bjd on Nov 1, 2014 9:24:42 GMT
Given that "chantecoq" means call of the rooster, I think they could have come up with a more urban name, "Clos d'Affaires" or "Clos de Ville".
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 3, 2014 1:36:13 GMT
This is an excellent trip report, Tod! You covered so much ground and discovered so many little-known gems and interesting details. I loved looking at the stonework, especially that neat little engraving of Saint Julian. And the garden with the view of Notre Dame is so charming and intimate.
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Post by mossie on Nov 3, 2014 19:46:39 GMT
Super, visiting parts not visited by me.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 5, 2014 14:10:04 GMT
I've never been there either. Has anyone, even a Paris taxi driver, actually been everywhere in Paris?
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Post by tod2 on Nov 6, 2014 12:31:24 GMT
It is surprising that not more tourists are seen in the vacinity of rue Galande as it is so very close to Notre-Dame. I think they are lured away to the other side of rue Saint Jacques where the supposedly 'bacteria alleys' of rue de la Huchette, de la Harpe and the little streets around Saint Severin. We did see several groups of people following a guide but what he told them seemed mainly about St-Julian-le-Pauve church and the student history. Now to our last sunny Saturday in Paris... We headed for Jardin du Luxembourg thinking we would quietly sit and stare into space - Ha! I never seen the gardens busier! We came via one of the entrances in rue Guynemer and were attracted to the old carousel. I have always wandered over to it when in the gardens because the children seem to love the challenge of impaling the hoops as they go around. The paint on some of the wooden horses is worn through and this tells me they are very old. Wouldn't mind betting - around 100 years or more. Today a gentleman artist is instructing the mommy's how to capture the carousel in paint not camera. He too is painting something... Here come the real horses or should I say ponies. I have wonderful memories of my son riding in the gardens just like this - only I took a photo with film. Now look how it's done! We find a shady bench under those wonderful trees, joining the dozens of mostly men watching and playing petanque/boule? These players were seriously good! Next: Sunday in Paris is always good....especially if you make an early start at the hospital
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Post by tod2 on Nov 6, 2014 14:51:12 GMT
Sunday morning - I awoke in pain and started having grave doubts about coping with the swift train change at Cologne scheduled for Tuesday. These concerns were very valid, as it turned out we had exactly 12 minutes to find the platform and the train to Frankfurt. Even the ticket inspector gave us incorrect information and on overhearing someone else looking for the same train, led us down esculators to the platform 6 below. With only 2 minutes to spare we dropped into our seats! I decided to seek medical help starting at a pharmacy near the hotel. They telephoned some doctors numbers and sent me back across rue Flandre to a building with the supposed doctor. We gained entry only by someone else coming through the locked doors, and then very helpfully taking us up in the elevator and waiting whilst we rang the bell at least 4 times with no answer, then took us back onto the street and waited with me until Mr Tod came back from the pharmacy once more. The suggestion was go to the hospital Lariboisiere next to Gare du Nord. So here I am waiting my turn with mostly young men. All I was asked for at the admittance counter was my passport or a copy (which is what I had). After they filled in a form I waited about 20 minutes before being ushered into that big room in the first photo. From there into a smaller cubicle and given a plastic bag and told to remove all my clothing - except they let me keep my underwear on Everything else went into the bag and put underneath my sort of trolley. I was given a disposible theatre gown which open down the back and told to lie down and wait for the doctor, but not before tagging me with a lovely white plastic bracelet. It seemed like hours before a very young man waltzed in dressed in theater garb. He spoke enough English to ask me dozens of questions - the answers were put into his laptop. Questions like: What medication am I on (luckily took it with me), and so on. One question stuck in my mind because I thought "What's that got to do with my bloody sore knee"!! It was, 'How much liquor (and what kind) do I drink'? I lied of course, cutting the amount of wine by half.... Then he made me sit up and listened to my chest while I breathed great gulps of air in and out. "Very good, very good", he said. Then the strangest thing happened- he said "Don't move your head, just look your eyes zees way and zat way" Oh god I thought, this guy is an imposter. One of those looney tunes who pretend to be what they ain't. "Good, good", he says. "Now blow your mouth like zees (he, demonstrating billowing cheeks of air passing through pursed lips) Oh fuck, this man is having a joke with me, but I do just what he says like a good little girl- but not before reminding him several times that actually my problem is this left knee.... down here see? Eventually he places his hands on my right thigh and starts rolling it like you work bread dough. After a few seconds of this he's all done. He suddenly announces he is off "to consult with my colleague". Eventually an elderly wise looking man - definitely a real doctor - came to tell me his findings and what they were going to do to me. Quick as flash another young man arrives with a tray of stuff and promptly ties a rubber hose around my arm pulling it in a way that makes me think 'boy has he done this a couple of times'! In goes the drip and I'm trollied away to join the other boys all lying down looking at their cellphones or sleeping. After another hour my drip is empty and they take me back to the cubicle where my nice white-coated doctor arrives with a nurse assistant and they proceed to unwrap some operating equipment from sterile pouches and place it over my knee. I didn't feel a thing but the doc says no fluid came out the knee joint when he put the needle in. So, what now?. He writes me a script for 1,000mg paracetamol tablets and some other pills, and I'm good to go. Boy, I was actually walking comfortably out of there! Oh, and there was no charge!! No time to waste now that I'm in no pain so we hightail it to Quai Bernard for one of the things I love to do in Paris - watch the tango dancing in the afternoon on Sunday. Alas this time we have no picnic with us. Now that's what I call relaxing! The dancing starts soon...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 15:24:55 GMT
Oh, I know that waiting lounge at Lariboisière all too well! I think that the ER interns are told to check lots of other things on the patients since so many of them are unable or unwilling to say what really happened. Someone who comes in with a twisted ankle might have twisted it while in the throes of a drug overdose, an epilectic seizure or one too many glasses of wine. And those kids probably win extra points every time they are able to diagnose some serious condition that wasn't even complained about, just like on Grey's Anatomy or House.
The few times my mother was taken there just because she had fallen down at the nursing home (the basic rule is to send them to be checked because they might have had a stroke or something), I was always annoyed by the obligatory undressing, but I do understand how it makes treatment much more practical -- once again, it allows the staff to discover hidden purulent sores, knife wounds, lice, needle tracks... Believe me, in all of the hours that I spent sitting in that waiting room, I usually felt that I needed to be decontaminated if anybody sat within three seats of me!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 17:18:56 GMT
Oh, so sorry, tod. But the youngster who asked you to move your eyes ad puff out your cheeks was just doing a basic neurological exam, which exactly follows what kerouac says.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 6, 2014 18:10:32 GMT
Ha Ha! Yes indeed. I have found that out from the nursing sister at my mother's care home. Was I relieved....I guess so. Something kept telling me it is impossible for this guy to be a fake But at the time I was in a strange place, an impersonal crew, and who knows what goes on where?? The puffing of the cheeks is something to do with a stroke?? Really can't remember at the moment. Did you notice my patient number? 7 million something. That's incredible.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 6, 2014 18:13:56 GMT
Rather harrowing to have to go to the hospital in a foreign country (not that it's a walk in the park in ones own), but our intrepid reporter actually took the opportunity to make this fabulous travelogue even more interesting! Yaaaay, Tod!
And speaking of walks in the park, your park photos are lovely and the video delightful.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 18:14:16 GMT
Yes, if you can't do it, or can't do it evenly, it indicates damage to the cranial nerve. Could be stroke, tumour, head trauma...
One of my previous jobs was being a practice patient for doctors-in-training. I have had every neurological test known to man run on me.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 6, 2014 18:25:17 GMT
You are too kind Bixa! Thanks! Lizzy - I am relieved to have your opinion also. Makes everything doubly sure. I must say that relating my experiences to friends either has them rolling in the ailes or mouths aghast. It's always nice to cause people to laugh! Even at my own expense
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 18:40:08 GMT
I don't think I have ever heard a foreign hospital story that was not funny, whether it was horribly bad or incredibly good. On my first trip to Vietnam, the friend with whom I was travelling fell down the stairs at the hotel (and alcohol was not even involved). When he couldn't walk the next day, he decided he we had to go to the ER of a hospital in Saigon. Now that was truly an amazing experience, but the two main points that I have remembered over the years was that 1) he was put ahead of all of the local patients, which we both found scandalous and 2) most of the hospital equipment looked like it was designed by Jules Verne. This was in 1996, so I am certain that everything has changed since then.
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Post by htmb on Nov 6, 2014 23:16:36 GMT
What an experience, Tod. I'm glad you can laugh about it after the fact, but I bet it didn't seem too funny at the time. It's great the doctors were able to help you get some relief from the pain.
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Post by lola on Nov 6, 2014 23:20:53 GMT
I'm glad this young man (who'd be either a med student or an intern/first year resident in US) did such a thorough exam. Heck of a health care deal, I'd say, from this side of the Atlantic. Glad that whatever it was worked. How miserable not to be able to walk in that walking city, and it's never fun to find yourself in an ER.
Cool park photos. I'm impressed at the assignment to paint a moving merry-go-round, and that the students could pull it off.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 7, 2014 0:21:19 GMT
Fantastic that they were able to provide immediate relief so you could continue on your holiday Tod. When you report "there was no charge" do you mean that it was all free or that they took all your insurance information and invoiced them the costs while you expected to have to pay something at the time of the visit?
I do stress a little about having to seek medical attention on holiday but we each have out of country health insurance through our employer's that when one policy does not cover 100% they other will cover the rest.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 7, 2014 2:29:17 GMT
What do they do if someone refuses to undress?
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