The Rich and Famous

One of the things we can depend on the most here is that the internet will be undependable which means blog posts are undependable, but I’m happy to be back, and happy to be able to report that we finished our officially assigned walks this week.  We ended with an exploration of the rich and famous in Paris at the turn of the 18^th-19^th century.  (Think “Downton Abbey” time period, for you BBC followers!)

This walk starts on one of the bigger streets in Paris, Haussmann Blvd, named after the gentleman who essentially redesigned Paris during the Second Empire.  He’s responsible for the wide Boulevards and much of whatever can be classified as organized in the city structure.  This is the area of town where the very wealthy lived during the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, and in order to enjoy it, the tour required me to drop all my issues with decadent wealth, which I happily did and spent a delightful day looking at art and contemplating a life of ease.

This walk essentially comprised its self of two very large homes, and a beautiful park.  

The day started right with these AMAZING blackberries.  I didn't know there were blackberries so sweet they didn't have a kick.  We bought these at the market on the way to the train and they were perfect!

First house!  Yes, this was a house built by a wealthy bachelor, Jacquemart-André in order to accommodate his art collection. He later married the woman artist who painted his picture and together they amassed a remarkable collection of art that included artists like Titian, de Vinci, Rembrandt, 

The courtyard

The music room.

Don't you just love this statue?  Look at that face, it's so sweet; and she reminded me of Annie, enjoying nature in the buff!!

Okay, this is cool; look at the gap in the wall around the door...

....this room is designed so that the walls on either side fold back and/or disappear into the floor in order to combine this and the two adjoining rooms to make a gigantic entertainment room!!  Mr. André could entertain upwards of 1000 people in one evening!  Ingenious!

When I came into this room I had a flashback to the years when Jim and I would go to the Parade of Homes with Jill and Mike.  Jill and I would stand in family room after family room and ask ourselves, "can you see kids playing legos on the floor here?"  And so often the family rooms would be way to fancy for anything so useful, and Jill and I would have to walk away smiling, saying, "oh well!" So, this room made me think the same thing, "oh well!"  But lucky for this couple, they never had kids, so it was not issue; they just called this (and about a dozen other room like it) the gathering room.

This little gate surrounded Mrs André's bathtub.  Look carefully at that picture on top of the mirror; it's a clock with the hands that just move from left to right and point to a straight line of Roman numerals.  Kind of different, I should market something like that, it's sweet.

This photo does absolutely no justice to the picture.  It's Rembrandt's "The Road to Emmaus" and depicts Christ eating with his disciples. When you are looking at it in the museum Christ seems to be completely in shadow, an effect called chiaroscuro, and the picture is incredible serene and reverent.  This truly is one of the most interesting paintings I've seen on this trip. 

But, back to the house/museum.  This is the winter sun room, designed for Mrs. André.  She would entertain her friends here during the long Paris winters so the women could enjoy a little sunlight in this room with large windows and a full ceiling skylight.  Legend has it that this double staircase (you can only see one half)  was designed by the gentleman who did not get the job of designing the Paris Opera House staircase, and it is considered his revenge.  Look closely, the sweeping, unsupported marble is quite grand.

At the top of the stairs is this enormous fresco that the couple had brought from Italy.  The house is full of these giant walls and ceilings that the couple would have imported and reinstalled in their house.  Also, look closely at take gate on the right.  There is a matching gate on the left and it seems like an invitation to walk across this narrow marble beam that drops off on either side to a marble floor below.  It just gave me the willies, and made me think of surgical tubing and naughty kids!

One of the Italian rooms.  Yes, this is pretty much how they had them set up when they lived in the house!

A door just stuck in the corner.  I thought it stunning.

All in all, I spared you many pictures of this house, just know that every wall in the many rooms was ceiling to floor art of the most exquisite kind, with name after name of famous artist that you would recognize.  And it was just one couples private collection.  When they passed away, they donated the house and it's contents to the Nation of France as a memorial to great art.

But before we were done with the tour, interestingly enough, they had actually preserved this bathroom.  In all these amazing palaces and homes we've been going through, the bathroom's and kitchen's have always been mysteriously missing, leaving one to wonder if these people were human.

And Mr Andrés bedroom which was right next door to his wife's.  I was also pleased that in this home, even though they had separate bedrooms, the husband and wife suits were right next door to each other instead of in different wings.  I just love thinking that someone might have been happily married!

At the end of the tour, in a funny sort of déjâ vu, as I was leaving the museum I glanced into the restaurant and realized I had been here before, with Jim and Sarah.  Last time we were in Paris we happened on this museum  that's not really in the travel books, and were so charmed. When we were done that day we had lunch in this dining room. It's no wonder I was thinking about them the whole time I was in there.

Expensive real estate!!

Parc Monceau.  Like so many others in Paris, this park has been around for several centuries, but one think I loved about this one, is that when they built it they built "ruins." They were so in love with the classic traditional architecture and experience, that they actually built incomplete structures on purpose!  Got to love it! 

Also interesting, this was the first park where I saw serious runners.  People don't generally run in this city, probably because they walk so much!

Also in this park, I realized that I've been so distracted by old buildings and delicious tarts that I haven't paid much attention to one of the things I generally notice right away in a new place: the vegetation.  This park had lots of very cool plant life.

More expensive real estate.  Just an apartment over looking the park

The worlds first documented parachute drop took place in this park in 1797, when André-Jaques Garnerin landed here after dropping over 3,000 feet from a hot air balloon.

I know I keep putting in pictures of random statues, but if I didn't you wouldn't have "been" to Paris.  This city has so much sculpture that it is tucked in every nook and cranny, on street corners, intersections, parks, under random trees.  It's everywhere.

Yep, built just like that!  Provo bridal photographers would have a hey-day in this park!

Now we are to the next home/museum.  This was built by a Mr. Comondo, a Jewish man who inherited a banking fortune and invested all his money in furniture, clocks, chandeliers and carpets in an effort to recreate and preserve the 1800 Century lifestyle.  This man and his wife did have two kids, and I can't figure out where they played legos!

This house actually is on the Parc Monceau.  His own yard was pretty nice too.

His china hutch.  He would eat breakfast in here in the bay window where I'm standing to take the picture.

All hand painted china.

The butlers station by the dining room, with a lift to transport the used dishes down to the wash room.  The contraption over the sink is a water purifier--and we thought those were modern devices!

Just love the sink!

Library

The bathroom was his one nod to modern living.  It has a tub, foot bath, bidet, and tiled walls, all because he was very concerned with cleanliness.

And my favorite room, the kitchen!

Into the servants dining room...

One of 3 porcelain sinks

Another look at at the servants dining table, check out their lockers on the right.

Tell me you don't think of "Downton Abbey"

The exterior of this house patterned after the Louvre.  This home and it's contents were also donated to the French Nation ofter Mr. Camondo died.  It's named after his son Nisson who was killed in WWI, and who's death his father never got over.

We were so happy to be done with our walks that we celebrated with a real sit-down lunch at a French café.  Poor Brittany was trying to talk to our host dad on the phone while the waiter was bugging her so he could take the picture.  As so many of you know, talking on the phone it a foreign language is so difficult (I haven't tried it yet), and Brittany was a bit stressed.  We had a good laugh.

And then we celebrated with pastries! 

This one's for you AJ!

Later that night the entire BYU group met for dinner at a real French Restaurant.  This is my meal...

You take the cheese, put it in this "easy bake oven" pan and melt the cheese over the table burners, then mix it with your meat and potatoes.  Delicious!!

Outside the restaurant which I'm sure was chosen for this BYU group because of it's mormon name!!