I’ve never been to a performance at the Moulin Rouge, and it is unlikely I ever will go. Nevertheless, on my recent trip to gay Paree, I took a guided tour through the area of Montmartre and this is where we started.
It threw me right back to late 19th century French painting, especially with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. How I do love his posters of this genre! Before I add some of them, please enjoy these candid shots taken on a cold December morning in 2018.
And now, the real thing(s):
Remember that Montmartre was once an area with many flour mills; there are only 2 left today. One is at the top of the street below:
On my food tour of Montmartre, we went to a fish shop and had fresh oysters while we perused other choices:
Next up, a butcher. Some of my pictures have a garish glow…the inside of the shop was weirdly lit.
After that, we went to a shop that has cooked foods, ready for take-out:
I never have. But, consider this:
On a hot August day in 1837, Queen Marie-Amélie—wife of the French King Louis-Philippe—two of her daughters, assorted ministers, and other dignitaries gathered at the newly built embarcadère de Tivoli, at the northern limits of Paris….[They boarded a train and] the train pulled away from the platform and out of Paris, soon speeding through the countryside on the 13 mile, 26 minute journey to Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
It was the maiden voyage of France’s first passenger railway line, the most visible sign that the Industrial Revolution had come to Paris. Those on board were fascinated by the experience.
Each of the travelers in the car in which we were sitting expressed his impressions in his own way.
One was surprised that, despite such speed, it was as easy to breathe as if we were walking slowly on the ground; another was in ecstasy at the idea that he sensed no movement and felt as though he were sitting in his bedroom; yet another noted that it was impossible to have the time to distinguish, from three feet, on the sand, an insect of the size of a bee, or to recognize the face of a friend; and finally another noted with glee the surprised attitude of the country people upon the passing of this column of smoke and this long succession of cars without horses, sliding along with a slight buzz, and disappearing in the distance almost immediately.
Others, more grave, declared that the good that would come of this invention was incalculable.
The first major intercity lines, from Paris to the city of Rouen, in Normandy, and to Orléans, south of Paris, were inaugurated on two successive days in May of1842.
Kirkland, Stephane. Paris Reborn, St. Martin’s Press. Kindle Edition.
Amethyst for February.
Audrey Hepburn wears an aubergine suit and hat by Givenchy, for French Elle magazine, 1962. Photo by Howell Conant.
So, I was lucky enough to take a guided tour through the old market streets of Montmartre. OMG. Hang on!
First stop: an artisan boulangerie:
Next stop, a cheese shop:
Then we chose a shop for dessert, a fruit tart:
There’s more to come, but we need to pace ourselves!
FÊTE DES ROIS
The official end of the Christmas season is the Fête des Rois, or the Three Kings’ Day (Epiphany), and is celebrated throughout France with the galette des rois, or king cake. It’s a flaky pastry generally filled with frangipan (an almond cream), and hidden inside is a fève (tiny baby figurine). Whoever gets the piece with the fève gets to be the king or queen for the day. Most bakeries sell the cakes with a paper crown.
A completely different approach! Befana and Epiphany parade: watch this space!
Le Mairie de Paris is full of fascinating things! I’ve already posted twice about Les Marais and there is still more to discuss.
One the 9 Rue du Grand Veneur is located another small, lovely garden: the Jardin Saint-Gilles-Grand-Veneur-Pauline-Roland. The name is a homage, in part, “ à Pauline Roland (1805-1852), une féministe socialiste française.”
Tucked away within a maze of narrow streets, far from the hustle and bustle of modern Paris, is this little known, rarely visited, but utterly charming haven of peace – the Jardin Saint-Gilles-Grand-Veneur, with its magnificent view of the façade of the Hôtel du Grand Veneur townhouse. Visitors come here is for some peace and quiet, or to settle down on the stone benches in the lovely rose arbor for some calm.
The mansion surrounding the small garden is the Hôtel du Grand Veneur, a prestigious 17th-century mansion in Le Marais. Listed in the Register of Historic Monuments since 1925, the building consists of three buildings forming a U around a large paved courtyard, in which is located the garden.
In 1733, Vincent Hennequin who was the captain who organized the king’s hunts, purchased the mansion. He had many hunt-related images carved and applied to the decorations of the Hôtel.
The hotel was confiscated during the French Revolution; it was then purchased in 1823 by the Franciscan ladies of St. Elisabeth who occupied it until 1901.
Late 19th century photo of exterior
As impressive as this mansion is, it was the garden that drew me in.
And, here it is! Remember it was a cold December morning I paid my visit, but the garden had its charms even then.
I wasn’t the only person drawn to this fine garden that day. I saw a fashion photography shoot happening in the courtyard.
As I mentioned in my last post on Le Marais, this area is also the most famous Jewish quarter in Paris and, in fact, in much of Europe, still maintaining strong traditions.
There have been Jews living in Paris on and off since the region was conquered by Rome in the first century BC.
The Rue Rosiers is a key street in the historical Jewish center of Paris; it is a charming pedestrian road and is known as the Pretzl or “little place” in Yiddish. The rue des Rosiers name refers to the “street of the rosebushes.”
Jews have a long history in France (full of prosperity as well as expulsions and persecution), but in Le Marais in particular. This area became the center of Jewish life in Paris in the 19th and early 20th centuries as Sephardic Jews came over from Eastern Europe.
And, while Paris has been a place of Jewish prosperity, scholarship, and greatness, it has also seen a lot of sorrow. For centuries, the Jewish community lived within France only at the sufferance of the king. Expulsions were common, and it was not until the French Revolution and then Napoleon Bonaparte that Jews finally had some measure of civil and religious freedom.
In Paris, in Le Marais, you will find kosher and Jewish style restaurants cheek by jowl with Jewish bookshops, small synagogues, prayer rooms, and kosher boulangeries and charcuteries. You will also see trendy shops, a sign of the increasingly gentrified nature of the neighborhood.
There’s an interesting pinkish building with “Hammam Saint Paul” written on it. Today the building houses a fashionable boutique, not a Turkish bathhouse.
The building dates to 1856 on the Rue des Rosiers and this bathhouse survived for 130 years, give or take. The hammam closed its doors in 1990. You can still see the painted name of the building in yellow on a blue background, dating from 1928, work by architects Boucheron and Jouhaud.
On the second floor are two sculptures on the piers, decorated with lion heads and stating the words Sauna and Pool. These date from 1901.
In an earlier post, I talked about 2 falafel restaurants; both are located on Rue des Rosiers: https://laurettadimmick.com/2018/12/29/a-little-friendly-competition/
And then we come to a lovely small park, known as the Jardin des Rosiers – Joseph-Migneret.
During World War II, Joseph Migneret was the principal of the elementary school of Hospitaliers St. Gervais, located nearby at 10 rue des Hospitalières-Saint-Gervais.
During the round-ups of 1942, 165 Jewish children from this school were deported, mostly of them to Auschwitz, and not a single one survived. The school now bears a plaque that reads “165 enfants juifs de cette école déportés en Allemagne durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale furent exterminés dans les camps nazis. N’oubliez pas!” (In English: 165 Jewish children of this school deported to Germany during WWII were exterminated in the Nazi camps. Do not forget!”)
After the loss of so many of his students–only 4 students returned to school on October 1, 1942–Joseph Migneret dedicated himself to the Resistance and to helping the Jewish families escape further round-ups and persecution. He hid many of them in his own home. He died shortly after the end of the war; it is said he died of sadness on account of everything his students endured.
Jardin des Rosiers
And, an equally heinous history is what happened to Jewish infants in the same city. There is a plaque imprinted with the names of 101 infants of the fourth arrondissement in Paris, who were arrested by French police of the Vichy Regime and handed over to the Nazis for extermination.
They were all too young to attend school. (If they had been old enough, their names would already have been placed on plaques at the schools they attended at the time of their arrest.)
The youngest was 27 days old.
The five lines at the top of the plaque set out their common fate:
“Arrested by the police of the Vichy government, accomplice of the Nazi occupation forces, more than 11,000 children were deported from France and murdered in Auschwitz because they were born Jewish. More than 500 of these children used to live in the fourth arrondissement. Among them, 101 were so young that they didn’t have a chance to go to school.
“These lines are followed by a message to passersby, who will pause to glimpse into the ugly past:
“Passerby, read their names. Your memory is their only tombstone. We must never forget them.”
Next up: Jardin Saint Gilles Grand-Veneur
The Grand-Veneur hotel was built in the 17th century for Hennequin d’Ecquevilly, captain general of the King’s Vénerie: he was in charge of organizing the court hunts of the king. This square occupies the garden of this mansion.
The garden, built in 1988, pays tribute since 2010 to Pauline Roland (1805-1852), close to Georges Sand, former teacher, initiated to Saint-Simonian ideas in his youth, feminist and socialist activist.
.
Along the rue de Rosiers, you’ll find the best Falafel in town and a few remaining orthodox eateries. The best falafel is apparently at L’as du Falafel. That said, I assure you, they’re all good.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2015/10/08/paris-to-unveil-memorial-for-infant-victims-of-the-holocaust/
Rare Film of Monet, Renoir, Rodin and Degas
Fine art enthusiasts will appreciate these fascinating 100-year-old film clips of four of the most celebrated artists in history; Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, and Edgar Degas. In 1915, with the newly innovated film camera, a young Russian-born, French actor named Sacha Guitry captured some of France’s greatest artists and authors.
get back, lauretta! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.