J and K Adventures: Saturday, August 16--Centre Pompidou and Surroundings

We woke up on Saturday and reeeeeallly felt the walk from the day before. We were both tired and a little sore from our adventures down the Champs-Elysees. So we looked at the book and decided on a small area north of the Louvre and the Islands for our Saturday exploration.

But first, breakfast. We walked down the street toward our morning Bistro, discussing whether or not we could coax a smile from Frank. We sat in his section and ordered our usual. He DID give a hint of a smile when Kat thanked him in French for the croissants. "Merci Beaucoup" goes a long way toward creating good will.

Anyway, we descended into the Metro and emerged at Centre Pompidou. The Centre was built in 1977 and got a lot of criticism for it's "inside out" architecture. It is fronted by a huge terrace which has a giant mobile and lots of space with no apparent seating.

Finding out what trains to take

The Metro

Panorama of the terrace in front of Centre Pompidou

Such an odd building

No seating? Use a wall


Giant Mobile

We got our bearings and strolled by the Stravinsky Fountain, one of the strangest fountains I have even seen. It was created as homage to Stravinsky's Firebird Ballet.

Each piece was spouting water in one way or another, parts moving...like a ballet, but weird

Water spouting from her breasts

At the end of the square was the church of St. Merri. It was closed for repairs, but this bit of art on the wall caught our eyes.

St Merri's under repair. It was built in the 16th century but the bell has been tolling since the 1300's.....the oldest in Paris.

Copycat

We followed the directions in the book and found ourselves at the corner of Rue Berger and Rue St. Denis......the area of town know for it's red lights. Pretty tame by Amsterdam standards. Nobody hanging out of the window waving red scarves anyway.

On the way we saw this pretty fountain "the fountain of the innocents", placed right next to the "Red Light" area, a paradox mon amie?

A little of the red light aura.

Mr. Berger and his "Rue"

By this time we were starving and tired. Our long walk on Friday had really taken it's toll. We pulled over at a corner restaurant and Kat had a big delicious salad. I ordered what I thought was a beef/cheese dish that turned out to be marinated raw beef. I quickly decided it wasn't for me and ordered a good ole American hamburger and fries......much better.

After lunch we explored the Church of St. Eustache. It was build from 1532 to 1640 and the 8000 pipe organ was played by Berlioz and Liszt. When we went in, we noticed a christening was taking place so we quietly walked around marveling at the wonderful space.

St Eustache

Soaring ceiling--christening taking place. No forced perspective here. The people ARE dwarfed by the building.

Amazing sculptures and artwork

The organ that Liszt played, it did in fact have a list to the left!

Some of the 8000 pipes

Coming out of St. Eustache, we saw a courtyard and park with a huge sculpture by Henri Miller. It was weird to come out of a 15th century church to such a modern piece of art.

Hard to take a picture.....people kept sitting in the hand!

We went on and saw Bourse de Commerce. It was built in the 1700's and now is the Chamber of Commerce. In back is a huge column. It was built by the wife of Henry II. Her astrologer climbed the stairs inside and went to the top to tell the future.

Part of the Bourse and the park for Nelson Mandella

The astrologers column

At that point we found the Metro and went home. It was nap time and boy did we need it. Later that night, we ventured out and had a nice dinner. Kat stuck with steak and salad, but I had to try the extra giant snails.