Down to Four People: Shamelessly Chic Walk

Lou and Sandy left the apartment early this morning heading home to Virginia via Charlotte.  Mike and I headed over to Detaille to pick up my favorite eau de toilette: 1905 – but we got there before the store had opened.

We walked over to Notre-Dame de Lorette and checked out the church.  It is obvious that it is a poorer parish than many in Paris, but I fell in love with its gorgeous ceiling.  Many of the remaining architectural elements need some tender loving care.  We picked up a flyer that in the month of October, each Tuesday, between 1:15 and 1:45, there will be an organ recital!

The ornate ceiling in Notre Dame de Lorette

We walked back over to Detaille, and it was still closed.  Shortly, Shoe and Carol showed up and we all waited one half hour after opening time.  Shoe and Carol left to go to Maison du Chocolat, we left to start our shamelessly chic walk from St. Germain to Luxembourg.  Carol promised that if she came back by Detaille, she’d pick up what I needed, I told her I would pick up her what she needed next week if its still closed when she stops by later.

At last! Carol successfully picked up my "1905" at Detaille

Detaille was started by a Countess, who owned the first automobile in Paris.  She noticed her skin was drying out – which she attributed to traveling at high speeds and the lack of a windshield.  She developed a product she calls “Automobile Baum,” which she made available to friends and acquaintances.  Ultimately, she created her first fragrance “1905” – the year she opened her shoppe.  It is manufactured in Grasse to her original specifications to this day. Her motto: “A perfume should be appealing and leave a soft rather than overwhelming wake.”  “1905” is true to her goal and very floral.

Our shamelessly chic walk began at bd St Germain and bd Raspail, near the rue du Bac Metro stop.  The Left Bank, long known as a haven for literary notables, has attracted the chic and glamourous, bringing chic, fashion, and glamour to the shops on between St Germain and Luxembourg Gardens. Here you will find big names like Dior, Armani, Cartier, Prada, and on and on.  There were shoe and handbag stores after shoe and handbag stores – most shoes with impossible-to-walk-in heels.

Private Residences in Square de Luynes

Our first stop on our stroll, was a very handsome square with strong architectural elements and a very balanced set of proportions: Square de Luynes.  Mike slipped into Barthelemy, a tiny old cheese shop reputed to be the best cheese shop in Paris. At least six women, dressed in white coats, were cutting and wrapping cheeses for customers.  M. Barthelmey was there, sitting in a small spot in the center of the store, giving advice to his regulars.

Mike at the door of Paris' Best Cheese Shop! When he opened the door, the aromas spilled into the street!

More designer shops lined the route, including jewelry and watches, to the Carrefour de la Croix Royal, and intersection of 5 streets, lined with chestnut trees, and centered by a huge metal Centaur, with brushes and tools for a tail. Right on the corner, the Bar de la Croix Rouge, was as busy as ever. Just down rue du Dragon, we ducked down cobbled rue Bernard-Palissy to see a street relatively unchanged since the 17th and 18th centuries. At #7, we found the door to Editions de Minuit, the publisher of author Samuel Beckett and other nouveau roman writers of the 1950’s.

Farther along Rue du Cherche-Midi, in the middle of its fashion oriented shops, we found Poilane, Paris’ most famous boulangerie, known not for baguettes but for pain de poilane, a wheel of sourdough bread.  We settled in at their adjacent bar/cuisine for lunch: tartines on their toasted poilane bread and a glass of rose.

Bread at Poilane!

After our stop at Poilane, we headed into the courtyard at the Institut Catholique de Paris – a prestigious teaching college founded in 1875.  At 30 rue d’Assas we found the home of Leon Foucault, where he developed his famous pendulum experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the earth.  At 27 rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein lived from 1903 to 1937, very close to the Luxembourg Gardens where she first met Ernest Hemingway.

We had always seen the gardens of Luxembourg during the winter – to see them this fall still filled with flowers and color was a treat. The Palais du Luxembourg is now the seat of the French Senate.  It was built by Marie de Medicis and intended to remind her of her native Florence.

Fall is coming to Luxembourg Gardens

An allee in Luxembourg Gardens

We took the pleasant rue Servandoni to St Sulpice.  On a wood door, we found a medallion carved into the door, depicting Giovanni Servandoni, the principal architect of St Sulpice, unveiling his plan for the church.  St Sulpice is still under construction, its unequal towers still shrouded in scaffolding. Near the altar, in the floor, we found the bronze meridian line running along the floor.  The first chapel on the right is decorated with murals by Delacroix.

Flowers in the Luxembourg Gardens

Love those pinks and purples!

We mapped a Metro ride over to our next apartment with the Eiffel Tower framed by the narrow street near the Metro stop La Tour-Maubourg. We easily found its purple door – though sadly in need of painting.  We walked over near Invalides to catch a train/Metro back to the apartment to meet Shoe and Carol and to walk through a brocante market on rue Martin.  A late afternoon rain had forced most to close up early…

We went to Pere au Tranquille for a drink before dinner.  We dined at a Thai Restaurant, Palais Les Halles, on spring rolls, pad thai, grilled chicken with lemon grass, sweet and sour pork, beef with basil and fried rice along with 2 bottles of Cote de Rhones. We were itching for a change from weeks of French food.  By the time we left the restaurant, rain was pretty heavy and umbrellas were necessary.  Then time to pack — for us to move and Shoe and Carol to go home to the good ole USA

Mike's Dream Stove: La Cornue