A Foray to La Defense on a Rainy Monday

While we have been to Paris several times, we have never ventured to its western edge to the business/office development area called La Defense.  We hopped the Metro, sped past the Champs-Elysee, l’Arc de Triomphe, past the western Peripherique, over the Seine to the vast La Defense complex, covering almost 200 acres.  

A lovely Art Nouveau building on our way to the Metro, on rue de Champs de Mars

Begun in the 1960’s as a haven for large French and multi-national companies, it evolved and expanded through the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and last decade.

La Grande Arche, an enormous hollow cube, big enough to contain Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Naturally, the architecture is all very contemporary and a plaza centers around La Grande Arche, only added in 1989, and already undergoing a refurbishment – just like Richmond’s City Hall, the marble slabs are being replaced with more durable granite. La Grande Arche was designed by a Danish architect, started by and now a memorial to late President Francois Mitterrand.  The arch houses a conference center and, on some days, must offer a great view of Paris. Standing on the steps leading up to La Grande Arche and looking back to the city center, even in the rain, we could see the l’Arc de Triomphe dead ahead in the distance.

The latest building, designed by I M Pei, is the home of France’s EDF, an energy company. The building, tall, sleek, and with an odd-shaped cut out is one of the most energy-efficient here.  Other major buildings are housing Ernst & Young, KPMG, and so on. In the glut and excesses of the 70’s buildings were tall, massive, boxy, square and energy-hogs; over the  years, the architecture evolved to shorter, then recently tall and sleek to take advantage of natural light.  There is a vast transportation center, RER line, Metro line, Taxi’s, buses, all co-located with multiple underground shopping centers.

An old-fashioned carousel sits in contrast to contemporary art at La Defense

The live-work-play complex even houses cinema, restaurants, a museum, an open-air esplanade (mostly of concrete and stone) with plantings and fountains interspersed.  In a touch of old-France, there is a carousel plopped down right next to huge contemporary art.

We were there on a busy Monday, but we wondered if it would be busy on the weekends or mostly deserted.  Here again, in the Metro station, the transit employees were checking to make sure everyone had either a stamped/validated ticket or their NAVIGO pass had been updated for the week.  More than once, we heard a furtive cry of Mais non! ne pas de forfeit!

One of the fast food restaurants, we discovered was “Jour.”  Jour was mentioned to us by Alex, when she came over to the Marais apartment for dinner, as one of the few “healthy” food establishments for a quick bite.  You start out picking greens, then for anywhere from gratuit to an additional 2 or 3 euros, you can add toppings.  But, the danger is that you could end up paying as much for a salad as you would have for an entire menu du jour!

Thank goodness! A little bit of green vegetation!

More art in the plaza at La Defense

Not exactly, our cup of tea, so we headed back towards the Left Bank, exited the Metro at Bir Hakeim, and strolled over to the Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower (being guarded by armed military personnel as a result of the current threat levels), past all the souvenir hawkers with their various size replicas starting at 6 for 1 euro!

We rested up our tootsies, it seemed to get chilly.  So we changed into long sleeves and closed the windows a little.  Suddenly, we felt like we’re having hot flashes – seems warmer.  We went out to the boulangerie to get a flute de compagne to go with our fresh ravioli pasta from the Sunday market.  The menu is radishes and wine for appetizers, ravioli along with tomato and cucumber salad and bread, for dessert – we’ll all share chocolate eclairs from the bakery down the street! It was warmer, skies were clearing, the clouds had a beautiful pink glow around the Eiffel Tour to the west and to the east the clouds were briskly moving away from the city! Another day!

The day ended with Bon Jovi and “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” on the iTunes and the Eiffel Tower flashing under a star-filled sky while the trash truck is parked out front emptying the trash!  Only in Paris!