A Visit to a Royal Palace, Friday, 27 November

Palais Royale Gardens

There is, of course, a tendency to see the best side of any city one likes and visits. Thus it is with Paris. The buildings have a certain charm and a certain look which we both find attractive. But, make no mistake, there are a lot of really ugly buildings; some of which were designed at great cost. Still, remember that the Eiffel Tower was not merely dismissed by the Paris population it was despised. That was all right though because it was originally planned as a temporary structure. Anyway, here is an example of apartments that hardly make one think of the Paris we normally admire. This, of course, is nothing compared to the Great Arche de La Defense which was so badly built in the Mitterrand years that it is now surrounded by netting to catch the pieces that fall off!

On to other and more magnificent themes. But first, a weather report! It's turning cold and wet. Today it didn't appear to get above eight degrees and all of next week has that as its high. Not only that, rain is about to set in. Still, although it was cold today, the sun was shining and we decided to visit the Palais Royal. For those of you who are old enough to remember the 1960s film, Charade, with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, the arcades of the Palais Royal were a great feature. And they are still a great feature.

This was originally built to be the residence of Cardinal Richelieu, the prime minister for Louis XIII. it is now occupied by government offices and while the building itself is not open, the shops that line the arcades are, as are the magnificent public gardens. Unfortunately, at the moment quite a bit of construction is going on, particularly in the main courtyard with the controversial sculpture composed of several hundred striped columns of varying heights. It is said that if you toss a coin and it lands on one of the columns your wish will come true. It is also said that this story was started by the sculptor!

The gardens have a number of features, one of the most popular of which is a small pond. The French seem to be taken with these small ponds; there are several in the Tuilleries as well as in other locations. They always seem to attract people who sit around them reading, eating lunch, or even just napping under an umbrella. One needs, we suppose, to take advantage of a nice warm day of eight degrees!!

Just outside the gardens is what for some reason strikes me as the quintessential French Bistro, Le Bar De L'Entracte. Don't know what there is about it, but I always feel that as long as that particular place is there, Paris will be everything we like about it. Virginia prefers the Cafe Nemour nearby but we'll say more about that in a later blog.