A Visit to the Jardin des Plantes & Other Pleasures

Fall continues to rapidly transform our world. Each day the colors change a bit more, the leaves begin to swirl in the breeze and the temperatures are unpredictable. Days become shorter and our rhythms shift.

This weekend we went to Paris to see the family. Sandwiched in between two days of very inclement weather, we had a glorious Sunny Sunday. Rick and I decided to take Quinn on an adventure to the Jardin des Plantes, the largest botanical garden in France. Originally called the Jardin du Roi, it was built for the royal family in the early 17th century, made for the cultivation of medicinal plant specimens. It is located on the left bank, right on the river, a few steps from the Gare d'Austerlitz, which is a straight metro ride from Emily's place. When built it was in the countryside, but now, of course, it is right in the middle of the city.

Besides the beautiful garden, which Quinn was much less interested in than we were, there are several museums. The buildings which house them are impressively grand and ancient. Quinn and I decided that they were built for giants. The Comparative Anatomy and Palaeontology Museum is located at the entrance where we came in.

When entering the first room. one is confronted with numerous skeletons as far as the eye can see. Quinn was quite competent in identifying what animal's bones he was looking at.

My favorites were the enormous whale skeletons.

The snake skeletons were also quite impressive.

On the upper level were dinosaur bones, which certainly tickled Quinn's fancy. He's learned a lot about dinos, as all young boys seem to do, and was able to recognize many of them.

The building is entirely open, allowing for wonderful views from above. We all found the place extremely interesting, just as good as the Museum of Natural History in Central Park. This was, at least, the consensus of Quinn and Rick who both hold very fond memories of that place. I've never been there.

After our museum visit we walked the full length of the park itself. It is such a delightful place to sit, especially on a day like that. There is a central core with plants labeled and arranged on grass borders, flanked on both sides by long alleys of trees. The benches along the way were mostly occupied.

The garden itself is very well maintained. We were surprised by how much is still in glorious bloom.

The fragrance of herbs filled the air. The bees busied themselves in gathering their last harvests.

Sun on colorful trees filled me with joy. I feel that poignant sense of impermanence each fall, which makes these sunlit days seem especially precious.

The Jardin des Plantes is a place one could certainly spend many days, and never see everything there is to see. We tipped our hats to the huge greenhouses as we went by. Hopefully someday we will be able to explore the exotic plants growing inside. But probably not with a three year old in tow.

When we reached the far end of the garden, we exited. I had it in mind to get to The Paris Mosque for lunch, one of my all time favorite places to take a meal. It happens to be right across the street.

We have eaten here many times before, but Quinn never had. I love the rich colors and ornate decoration.

Quinn was impressed with the mosaic designs and he especially enjoyed the little chickadees which flew in and out of the dining room.

Even the bathroom here is a visual feast.

Quinn was charmed to have his own little bench to sit on and for a table, a large golden tray.

Lunch itself was couscous and lamb kabobs. This is not an expensive place to eat, but the food is very good.

I love the clash of patten and color, It is a rich meal for the stomach and the eyes.

The pastry selection is quite fantastic. Quinn enjoyed choosing some treats for after lunch which we had packed up and took back to the park to eat. There was still the royal zoo to visit!

 

One of the favored activities in the zoo was actually sitting in the mouth of a stone hippopotamus.

The king's menagerie was transferred to the Jardin des Plantes not long after its construction. It is a very beautiful zoo with many attractive buildings.

The vivarium, filled with reptiles of every description was fascinating. Turtles, frogs, huge exotic lizards and a completely motionless alligator all caught Quinn's attention. He didn't like the snakes so much.

We had to drag Quinn away from the flamingos. I believe he could have sat and watched them all afternoon. Jos told us that these birds only stay bright orange if they are fed a diet of shrimp. If fed on other fish, they lose their color within a week and turn gray.

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This week we also had the pleasure of welcoming one of my past students to the Maison Conti. We hadn't seen one another since she was in fourth grade. Gabriella is now a junior at Wellesley where she studies psychology. She is taking a semester in Italy to improve her Italian language skills.

She only stayed with us for one night, but we had some relatively nice weather in which to show her around our village. It is always such fun for us to take the tour with old friends who have never been here before. It allows us to see our world with fresh eyes.

The countryside here is so pleasant, gentle and at this time of year, particularly charming. Gabriella is studying in Bologna, which is a very big city. She hasn't had the chance to explore the Italian countryside yet, so I think she appreciated a brief change in tempo, and a home cooked meal.

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I have begun to harvest my colorful carrots which I bought from Cubits. They're pretty and delicious!

Week 36: Paris Now & Then

By Marville. Paris before Haussmann's extensive renovation, 1860-70. From Paris, secret et insolite.

Ah beautiful and ancient Paris! Of course I haven't seen every city in the world, but I still recklessly proclaim that Paris must be the most exquisite of them all. How could there be another to compete? I never grow tired of its winding streets and layers of history. Rick and I are currently reading a book together entitled  Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb. It is the story of the city told through the true tales of some of its famous historical inhabitants. We were fascinated to hear about one of the first professional photographers in the city, Charles Marville, born in Paris in 1813. He was hired by the government to document the old Paris streets before Haussmann, during the Second Empire, rebuilt and modernized Paris. The wide boulevards and typical Haussmann grand and uniform buildings certainly changed the face of Paris.

If you want to get a flavor of more ancient Paris, you can wander around the Marais of course, an outlying immigrant neighborhood in Haussmann's day, which did not receive his attention. Another corner of the city that was slated to be demolished and rebuilt was just across from the Place Saint Michel where the rue St André des Arts commences. Napoleon III and his minister, Baron Haussmann, were ousted before they had the chance to begin this phase of work.

After reading about this, Rick and I were motivated to take a closer look, since the rue St. André des Arts is probably one of the streets in Paris I know better than any other. Emily and I spent a summer living in an adorable fifth floor walk-up not far from here and I got to know the neighborhood very well indeed. Here's the photo Marville took in 1865:

Here's mine taken a few days ago:

Not much has changed. There is a side entrance to Metro St. Michel right on the Place. I had never discovered that before.

We had a very pleasant day in Paris while Quinn was at his nanny's. Emily left us in charge for a few days while she visited Jos in London, where he was directing a comedy routine for a slapstick festival.
We strolled around and took advantage of the opportunity to do some errands in the city.

We chose a good day for exploring, with only a sprinkling of tourists to contend with. The sky alternated between gray and blue, the temperature was cold but not frigid. We traced a wide arc from the edge of the Latin corner through St Germain des Prés, over the river to the right bank, through the Tuileries Garden, then back across to the left bank, where we stopped in at Sennelier, my favorite Paris art store. Along the way we enjoyed the views.

I love the jumble of architectural styles in this left bank neighborhood of Paris.

At the intersection of the 5th and 6th arrondissements.

My favorite way to get from St Germain des Prés to the right bank, is down the rue St. André des Arts, turning right on the rue de Seine, which takes you past many art galleries. I love looking in the windows. You also pass La Palette, a typical Parisian café where the food is simple but good and the waiters sufficiently rude to make you feel you've had an authentic experience. At the end of the street you walk through a little passage that leads to the quai and the large Place in front of the Academie-Francaise.

 

The pedestrian-only Pont des Arts, has my favorite view of Paris looking up and down the river. Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame in one direction and La Tour Eiffel in the other. Here, again, you get the sense of the ancientness of the city, as the architecture of many centuries comes together to create this contemporary view.

At the other end of the bridge, on the right bank, is the Louvre Palace. We had loosely planned to spend a couple of hours in the museum but forgot that it is closed on Tuesdays, so instead we enjoyed a tour through the grounds and a visit to the underground mall where you can also view the ancient foundation walls of the modern Louvre.

The bare winter trees reveal the Musée d'Orsay on the opposite bank. We walked along the quai and crossed back over the Pont Royal.

We decided to have lunch at Mariage Frères, the famous tea purveyor. Upstairs is a charming restaurant which was practically empty. Generally you can hardly get a seat, but this time of year is the ideal moment to visit. We hadn't been here in several years.

Because the kitchen wasn't busy, they allowed me to order high tea, with attractive and delicious tea sandwiches, even though the menu indicated it wasn't officially available before 3PM.

We had a pleasant leisurely meal in their sunny dining room. Rick ordered dessert. He was allowed to choose between several delectable kinds on their sweet cart. He settled on the house specialty, a crème brûlée raspberry cake.

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Quinn turned two on Thursday. Mama arrived home in the afternoon and we had a celebration. Balloons are always a hit.

Since Christmas Quinn definitely understands the concept of packages and unwrapping.

He was able to blow out his two candles. When you ask him how old he is, he will tell you "two" but making his hand hold up two fingers instead of one or five is going to take some practice.