Paris in the early days

Three posts to catch up on the events of the past ten days, lots of words and lots of pictures. This weekend I visited my dad’s friends Witold and Elisabeth at their home in Senlis, a lovely medieval town about a half hour north of Paris. Their house and the town reminded me a lot of Chaponost, where my family lives near Lyon. Elisabeth showed me the Gothic cathedral, the Normandy-style houses, and the ancient Roman towers. The latter were from the 3rd century AD (!!!) I find myself getting used to how old things are in Europe, to the point where a 19th century Haussmann building seems quite young. And yet Arnie and I were proud of how old our Seattle Craftsman house was (built in 1902). Gothic cathedrals are so weirdly lovely. I wish they still built churches this way, with alcoves for statues and strange gargoyles. Even the statues that are meant to be beautiful, like those above the front entrance, have this odd surrealist aspect to them. What a different way to worship – how interesting the transition, from the mosaics in Ravenna to the Gothic cathedral to the Renaissance and beyond.

Today we went to Chantilly, famous worldwide for horses and its enormous chateâu. My camera died, but I’ll link instead to a lovely photo from Wikipedia. The building is so big, it took me over an hour to walk through it, and I didn’t see the private apartments. (And somehow missed the monkey room.) Then I walked out and realized I had no time to explore the vast grounds, which includes lots of ponds with swans, an English garden, gazebo, a labyrinth, stables, tennis courts, Henri’s lawn, “le petit parc”, and a kangaroo enclosure. Google won’t tell me how many acres the grounds make up, but I would estimate they are at least four square miles, the chateâu itself comprising only one small piece. We did get to see some competitive jumping, a sport alive and well in France. I would like to tour the Grand Stables when my mom comes to visit; I’m not sure the horses actually appreciate the lovely large windows, not to mention the sculptural ornamentation surrounding them, but I do love to see how the French aristocracy lived (we are – sadly or happily – lacking for any true aristocracy in the US).

Back in Paris, I picked up the keys to my NEW APARTMENT!!!! I am very excited, because it’s bigger and nicer in a neighborhood I prefer (but still close to the Jardin Lux). The only problem: stairs. Lots and lots of them.

So, interestingly enough, the setup of my building, a classic Haussmann, is quite standard. Each floor is a flat, and very expensive. The front staircase thus leads up to only one door, the front door to each apartment. Because they are civilized (and rich), there is a lift installed inside that front staircase.

But there is also a back staircase, for the maids. Back in the 1800s, the maids lived on the top floor, in tiny rooms, and used the back service stairs to get from their apartments to the flats they served. I live in what used to be called “chambre de bonne”, literally “the maid’s room” (since bonne is maid. I actually thought this was “good room” but I’ve since been corrected.) Some apartments are still advertised this way, but only if they are very nice.

Anyway, even if one could put a lift here (and there’s really not any room), one wouldn’t, because it would only serve us poor kids on the 6th floor. Oh, and don’t forget, the French count like computer scientists, so I have to walk up seven flights of stairs to reach my apartment.

But that’s a minor quibble; I much prefer my new place to my current one, no lift and all. It’s bigger; the stove and kitchenette setup is nicer; the bathroom is a lot nicer and has a toilet; the ceiling doesn’t slope so severely; the window is large, and I can even have plants! I move in sometime this week. Campbell comes tomorrow, which is ever-so-exciting, and I have tons of work to do by Tuesday, which is less exciting. Pictures of the new place below, as always click for a larger version.

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