Christmas Eve in Paris (Part 1): St. Germaine-des-Pres
The neighborhood directly south of my hotel is called Saint Germaine--it is located between the arrondisements that contain the Eiffel Tower (to the west) and the Latin Quarter (to the east), with the Seine found directly north of the neighborhood. I had not explored this area before, but loved it due to its relatively non-tourist nature, charm, local people, beautiful architecture, good restaurants, interesting shops and lively atmosphere. Here are some of the sights I saw in the neighborhood on Christmas Eve:
Starving, I found Le Cafe de Flore, one of the oldest restaurants in Paris (this is a nighttime picture taken on the last night of my visit, when it was too cold to set up the tripod):
The Cafe was supposedly frequented by Picasso, Simone de Beauvoir and Jim Morrison, among others, and is highly competitive with its next-door neighbor, Les Deux Magots Cafe. I initially chose a seat at a sidewalk table (the heaters worked beautifully), but soon realized that the interior would provide a more inviting place to eat, due in part to the surliness of the waiter, who had no desire to monitor someone outside who ordered anything other than coffee. The doorman directed me upstairs to the non-smoking section, reached via a nice staircase:
I found the area to my liking and settled comfortably into the beige leather banquette. While this photo was taken on my last night, after the upstairs had cleared out, during my Christmas Eve lunch, the upstairs was bustling with last-minute holiday shoppers taking a rest):
The menu was fascinating and just reading it was a lovely experience:
For my meal, I tried the "Welsh Rarebit" and a lovely white wine, the Pouilly Fume Ladoucette. (The linked image is the closest thing I could find to the Rarebit I experienced, except that mine did not have a visible slice of bread in it--it had a thin layer of breading at the bottom and sides of the round, flat dish, and was filled with delicious cheddar cheese). I tried to brush up on my French by eavesdropping a bit on the natives, then set out to investigate the neighborhood.
I explored two churches in this area, the first of which was called St. Germain-des-Pres, built in 1163. According to Rick Steves, this church is the remainder of a "once-sprawling and influential monastery." Here is a photo of the outside of the church, and its Christmas tree:
The interior was beautiful, with the colorful interior found in many churches of its era:
As with all of the old churches, an area called the "nave" surrounds the central worship area. It contains a series of little carved-out rooms, each with its own statue(s) or artwork, generally fronted with candles and chairs or kneelers so that one can pray in front of the inanimate object of one's choice. Here is one example:
I also saw a little old lady walking through the church, stopping to cross herself and say a prayer at various stations within the nave. She appeared more superstitious than prayerful, however, when she stopped and touched the toe of this statue (I was too slow with the camera to snap her photo as well):
I gave my tripod a workout in this church, and I think the results turned out quite nicely:
I left the St. Germaine church and snaked my way down a narrow passageway to another church, St. Sulpice:
This is what I saw outside the church:
Again relying on the venerable Rick Steves, St. Sulpice is supposedly modeled on St. Paul's church in London, and is known for the art of Delacroix, its organ concerts and a mention in The Da Vinci Code. Walking through the nave, I saw this art:
And this boy (I loved the colors around him, but had a hard time photographing him crisply):
And this creche, with lights:
The center of the church was beautiful as well:
Outside, it was a gorgeous day and people were soaking it in, by sitting:
and skating:
and shopping:
and scooter-riding:
There was even a car carousel outside, as the City of Paris scattered several of them about for the holidays:
I thought this little girl on the carousel was exceptionally charming:
After this, I wandered off to the areas around St. Michel and Notre Dame, and I'll write more about that shortly!
Starving, I found Le Cafe de Flore, one of the oldest restaurants in Paris (this is a nighttime picture taken on the last night of my visit, when it was too cold to set up the tripod):
The Cafe was supposedly frequented by Picasso, Simone de Beauvoir and Jim Morrison, among others, and is highly competitive with its next-door neighbor, Les Deux Magots Cafe. I initially chose a seat at a sidewalk table (the heaters worked beautifully), but soon realized that the interior would provide a more inviting place to eat, due in part to the surliness of the waiter, who had no desire to monitor someone outside who ordered anything other than coffee. The doorman directed me upstairs to the non-smoking section, reached via a nice staircase:
I found the area to my liking and settled comfortably into the beige leather banquette. While this photo was taken on my last night, after the upstairs had cleared out, during my Christmas Eve lunch, the upstairs was bustling with last-minute holiday shoppers taking a rest):
The menu was fascinating and just reading it was a lovely experience:
For my meal, I tried the "Welsh Rarebit" and a lovely white wine, the Pouilly Fume Ladoucette. (The linked image is the closest thing I could find to the Rarebit I experienced, except that mine did not have a visible slice of bread in it--it had a thin layer of breading at the bottom and sides of the round, flat dish, and was filled with delicious cheddar cheese). I tried to brush up on my French by eavesdropping a bit on the natives, then set out to investigate the neighborhood.
I explored two churches in this area, the first of which was called St. Germain-des-Pres, built in 1163. According to Rick Steves, this church is the remainder of a "once-sprawling and influential monastery." Here is a photo of the outside of the church, and its Christmas tree:
The interior was beautiful, with the colorful interior found in many churches of its era:
As with all of the old churches, an area called the "nave" surrounds the central worship area. It contains a series of little carved-out rooms, each with its own statue(s) or artwork, generally fronted with candles and chairs or kneelers so that one can pray in front of the inanimate object of one's choice. Here is one example:
I also saw a little old lady walking through the church, stopping to cross herself and say a prayer at various stations within the nave. She appeared more superstitious than prayerful, however, when she stopped and touched the toe of this statue (I was too slow with the camera to snap her photo as well):
I gave my tripod a workout in this church, and I think the results turned out quite nicely:
I left the St. Germaine church and snaked my way down a narrow passageway to another church, St. Sulpice:
This is what I saw outside the church:
Again relying on the venerable Rick Steves, St. Sulpice is supposedly modeled on St. Paul's church in London, and is known for the art of Delacroix, its organ concerts and a mention in The Da Vinci Code. Walking through the nave, I saw this art:
And this boy (I loved the colors around him, but had a hard time photographing him crisply):
And this creche, with lights:
The center of the church was beautiful as well:
Outside, it was a gorgeous day and people were soaking it in, by sitting:
and skating:
and shopping:
and scooter-riding:
There was even a car carousel outside, as the City of Paris scattered several of them about for the holidays:
I thought this little girl on the carousel was exceptionally charming:
After this, I wandered off to the areas around St. Michel and Notre Dame, and I'll write more about that shortly!
posted by Lisa at 12:26 AM
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