I made a walk through the Marais, just north of the Hotel de Ville, and west of Place Bastille. It’s the “mansion district” of Paris, built of “hotels particuliers” built in the late 1500s to 1600s when the Marais was fashionable, grand stone edifices looking into courtyards or garden. Some are open.
The Carnavelet is the museum of Paris—I’ve been there at least once, possibly twice. Closed Mondays. But I’d missed the Place de Vosges just to the east. The square of cloistered pink brick buildings was once a royal parade ground, now a public park. Most of the shops in the cloisters sell fine art, a good share of it sculpture. A couple cafes. Victor Hugo’s house, closed Mondays, apparently.
A short walk east and slightly south is the enormous Place de la Bastille, with no Bastille, but a column commemorating the rebellion that led to the July Monarchy, 1830. My bet is that one tourist in a hundred knows what the 1830 revolution was. Sidewalks surround the column, with writing on all sides, but you can’t actually get there—without crossing some four lanes of roundabout traffic, and no crosswalk. The new Paris opera is modern and chromed, sticks out as all modern buildings do in Paris, but this city never wants to look old. (London, on the other hand, rather does want to.) Supposedly, stone markers show where the original Bastille stood. I’ve looked for these before, without success. This time I made a determined effort. I walked around the entire square (crossing about nine intersections), determined to find those markings. I thought I found some. Turned out to be the markings for vehicles stopped at red lights. I never did find that outline. Apparently it’s there, as all the tour guides talk about it.
—Feb. 21, 2005, Paris
OtD 