Paris once more: part 1.

 

 

 

We are back in our favourite city once again; fourth time in five years as tourists, plus I spent a couple of weeks here for work. Visiting with my sister and brother in law has given the opportunity to revisit some of Paris's iconic sites, and reflect on the changes and similarities noticed over the years.

For the first time we are staying in an apartment rather than a hotel. The view from our apartment balcony over the southern tip of the Luxenburg Gardens is a plus, and the Petit dejeuner prepared in our own kitchen can be scheduled to my rising from sleep! All Lenore has to do is pop out to the local boulangerie each morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Paris icon is the Eiffle Tower, which was named after the engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

We had not travelled to the summit of the tower since 1981 when I had a 2 year old child on my back. The flow of visitors has been progressively improved to cater for volume tourism, and everyday people are willing to stand in line for hours to gain access. We bought tickets online as soon as they became available; 3 months out I think!

Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticised by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design. Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was to be dismantled in 1909.

In spite its controversial beginnings, the tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.

About 5 years ago we went to the top of the Montpanasse Tower (the dark hi rise in the photo above). It provides a similar panorama at lower cost, less waiting, and smaller crowds. However there is something about climbing (mechanical power only in our case) up through the metal lattice work; a definite adrenaline rush!

When we were finally able to visit Saint Chapelle in 2014 after a large restoration project, we were absolutely blown away. An early "must do" for this years trip was to attend a concert.

It is a magnificent structure. The 13th century royal chapel was built to house holy relics bought from the Ottoman Empire who had collected them in the Holy Land! The metal frames to support the stain glass, was ground breaking technology in their time, just as the Eiffle Tower was many centuries later.

In August 2014 after attending an organ music concert in Riga Cathedral I commented that "the soloist (soprano) even sang my favourite sacred aria; "Bist du bei Mir". It could only have possibly been better if sung by a contralto. But now I'm getting picky!"

I could not credit my luck when the opening item at the Saint Chapelle concert that we attended (4 June 2015) was "Bist du bei Mir" sung by an excellent contralto! The first violin was impressive and the sound was brilliant.