Well,
after quite a dry spell for posting blogs I have now written two in a short
period of time – truth be told – when reading my first blog posting for 2017, I
must admit it is rather boring, and thinking about it, I believe I really wrote
it for me – to see what I’ve done while I’ve lived here, to see if I’ve
accomplished my goals for moving here and I see the answer is both yes and no.
Hopefully
with this blog I’m back to my old self and that you will find it interesting,
educational and informative (is there a difference between educational and
informative?).
Shortly
after I moved here I found an app named “Secrets de Paris”. Each day it
provides an interesting tidbit about somewhere in Paris to visit. I’ve already
introduced some things from it in past blogs (rue Crémieux; oldest house). If you visit Paris and have already
seen all the tourist sites, I suggest you download this app and find some of
the “off the beaten path” quirky things that Paris has to offer. And for those
of you who haven’t been here and have no intention on coming – well, here’s to
you:
[note: 1) “eme” is an abbreviation for the word arrondissement, and 2) click on the photographs to enlarge them in
a separate window]
Square René Viviani
Oldest Tree: Square René Viviani (5eme)
The Square René Viviani is a city park located
slightly to the north of the Gothic church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, built at the same time as Notre-Dame Cathedral de Paris and
consequently is one of Paris' oldest churches. Disaffected during the
Revolution, in the 19th century the ruinous church was taken over by the city's
Greek Melchite Church and is today the center of that religious community in
Paris.
The
square is noted for being the site of the oldest planted tree in Paris. The robinia
pseudoacacia, a species commonly known as a locust tree, is believed to
have been planted by its namesake, Jean
Robin (1550–1620), in 1601; if so, it has now been standing on the rive gauche for over four hundred years.
It is supported by two concrete crutches. The tree lost its upper branches to a
shell during World War I, but it proves its continuing vitality by blooming
every year.
rue des Degrés
Shortest Street: le rue des Degrés (2eme)
At 3.3
metres (10.8 feet) wide and 5.5 metres (18 feet) long the rue des
Degrés has the distinction of being the shortest street in
Paris. It’s been here since the middle of the seventeenth-century.
The rue des Degrés, owing its name to its
inclination, is comprised of just fourteen steps linking the rue de Clery and the rue Beauregard. These two streets run
along the former line of the Charles V
wall, built from 1356 to 1383 and demolished in the seventeenth-century to make
way for the Grands Boulevards.
At the
corner of the rue des Degrés and rue Beauregard, a historic plaque
reminds us that at this place the Baron
de Batz attempted with some men to help Louis
XVI escape on the morning of January 21, 1793 – the day of the King's
execution on the Place de la Concorde.
passage du
Plateau
Narrowest Street: le passage du Plateau (19eme)
Located
south of the park of Buttes-Chaumont
it is one of the narrowest passageways in Paris. It measures between 1 and 1.5
meters (3.2 – 4.9 feet) wide. Besides its narrowness, this passageway is
remarkable because it contains beautiful ateliers.
That
is my friend in the photograph, Jacqui, demonstrating just how narrow the
street is – as she can touch the buildings on either side easily.
passage de
l’Ancre
Oldest Road: le passage de l’Ancre, 223
rue Saint-Martin (3eme)
passage de l’Ancre is a small unusual
private road that one shouldn’t miss while walking through the Marais and Beaubourg. Part way down the road is PEP’S, opened in the 1960’s,
specializing in the sale and reparation of umbrellas, parasols, and canes.
The
passage was named passage de
l’Ancre-Royale but during the French Revolution became passage de l’Ancre-Nationale and today it is simply the passage de l’Ancre.
This
is where in the 1640’s Monsieur Sauvage
set up the first taxi (fiacre)
service at his inn - Hôtel Saint-Fiacre.
A fiacre, known as a hackney carriage
in English, is a small horse-drawn carriage, with four wheels, formerly used
for hire like a taxi. Saint-Fiacre
became known as the patron saint for taxi drivers.
passage des Panoramas
Oldest Covered Passage: le passage des Panoramas, 11 boulevard Montmartre (2eme)
The passage des Panoramas is the oldest of
the covered passages of Paris. It is one of the earliest venues of the Parisian
philatelic (stamp collecting) trade, and it was one of the first covered
commercial passageways in Europe. Bazaars and souks in the Orient had roofed
commercial passageways centuries earlier but the passage de Panoramas innovated in having glazed roofing and, later
on, in 1817, gas lights for illumination. It was an ancestor of the city
gallerias of the 19th century and the covered suburban and city shopping malls
of the 20th century.
Built
in 1799, the passage was opened in 1800 on the site of the town residence of
the Marechal de Montmorency, Duke of
Luxembourg, which had been built in 1704. The doorway of the modern building,
of the house, which opened on rue
Saint-Marc, facing the rue des
Panoramas, was the gateway of the original mansion.
Its
name came from an attraction built on the site; two large rotundas where
panoramic paintings of Paris, Toulon, Rome, Jerusalem, and other famous cities
were displayed. They were a business venture of the American inventor Robert
Fulton, who had come to Paris to offer his latest inventions, the steamboat,
submarine, and torpedo, to Napoleon and the French Directory. While waiting for
an answer, Fulton earned money from his exhibition. Napoleon, who had little
interest in the navy, finally rejected Fulton's projects.
In
1800 Paris streets were narrow, dark, muddy and crowded, and very few had
sidewalks or lighting; they were very unpleasant for shopping. The first indoor
gallery, at the Palais Royal, had
opened in 1786, followed by the passage
Feydau in 1790-91, the passage du
Caire in 1799, and the passage des
Panoramas in 1800. The rotundas were destroyed in 1831.
In the
1830s, the architect Jean-Louis Victor
Grisart renovated the passage and created three additional galleries inside
the block of houses: the Saint-Marc
gallery parallel with the passage, the gallery of the Varietes which gives access to the entry of the artists of the
theatre of the Varietes, and the Feydeau galleries and Montmartre.
Stern
the famous engraver settled there in 1834, and then merchants of postcards and
postage stamps, and some restaurants moved in. The part of the passage close to
the boulevard Montmartre is richly
decorated, while the distant part is more modest.
The
passage, as it was in 1867, is described in chapter VII of Émile Zola's novel Nana.
Pont Neuf
Oldest Sidewalk: le Pont Neuf
The Pont Neuf (New Bridge) is the oldest
standing bridge across the river Seine.
Its name, which was given to distinguish it from older bridges that were lined
on both sides with houses, has remained after all of those were replaced. It
stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that was,
between 250 and 225 BC, the birthplace of Paris, then known as Lutetia, and during the medieval period,
the heart of the city.
As
early as 1550, Henry II was asked to
build a bridge there because the existing Pont
Notre-Dame was overloaded, but the expense was too much at the time.
In
February 1578 the decision to build the bridge was made by Henry III who laid its first stone in 1578, the year when the foundations
of four piers and one abutment were completed.
It was
decided to allow houses to be built on the bridge (though they never were).
That required the widening of the bridge. After a long delay beginning in 1588,
due to political unrest and to the Wars of Religion, construction was resumed
in 1599 under the reign of Henry IV.
The bridge was opened to traffic in 1604 and completed in July 1606. It was
inaugurated by Henri IV in 1607.
39 rue du Chateau d’Eau
Smallest Building: 39 rue du Chateau d’Eau (10eme)
The
building is only 1.10 meters wide (3.6 feet), 5 meters high (16.4 feet), and 3
meters (9.8 feet) deep and has both a ground and second floor. According to
legend, the building is perhaps the result of an inheritance dispute between
the two buildings on either side next door.
Originally
the gap between the two buildings was a narrow passageway, but following a
disagreement about ownership and access, one of the parties decided to end the
argument by filling the space with a new property.
The
property was officially recognized with its own number in the street, but was
never really more than a tiny shop unit at ground level (originally a
shoemaker) with a room above, which actually connects to the first-floor
property at number 41. A newspaper article at the end of the 19th century
describes the property, pointing out that the room was home to a baby, the cot
apparently taking up the entire space.
RATP/EDF Façade:
Three
buildings (below) unlike all others – Paris includes several buildings that are
not intended to be inhabited but whose façade
conceals the true function. These façades
are in all respects similar to those of the surrounding buildings and take up
the usual Parisian elements (windows, gates, balconies, etc.), but are, in a
way, trompe-l'œil. There are a total
of 12 such façades in the City.
RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports
Parisiens – public transportation):
44 rue d’Aboukir
44 rue d’Aboukir (2eme) – covers an
air vent for the Metro system.
145 rue Lafayette
145 rue Lafayette (10eme) – covers an
air vent for the Metro system.
EDF (Électricité de France – electric
utility company):
14 rue Duvergier
14 rue Duvergier (19eme) – covers a
power station
Prenez le temps
de trouver des choses dans la vie qui se trouvent hors des sentiers battus
