Gay Pride Parade in Paris

The Gay Pride Parade was on Saturday, June 27. We researched the route of the parade and decided to stake out a place on the Pont Sully. The parade started down in Carol's neighborhood in Montparnasse. She emailed us early that things were ramping up down there. The parade was scheduled to start at 2:00. We set out of the bridge at 1:30. There was little to no activity when we arrived and slowly over time people started gathering on and around the bridge. Around 2:30 the police blocked off traffic in all directions in preparation of the upcoming parade. It was not until after 4 that the parade arrived at our location. I can only imagine how much this backed up traffic.

Having been to several Gay Pride Parades in NYC, this one was different in several ways. There was little crowd control. Many of the floats were on large rigs and it was up to the marchers to make sure that the crowd stayed far enough away from the floats. This seemed to slow everything down, as people milled in and out of the parade to get pictures. Virtually all of the floats were from assistance organizations for GLBT issues. In NYC many of the bars will create floats in support of the community. The floats in other parades are often very elaborate. The ones here were adequate, but I've seen better ones in Small-bany.

The on lookers took a different approach to the parade as well. The response to the marchers was not very strong. In most American Gay Pride Parades the on lookers provide support with ovation and noise. Typically people clap and shout when a group that they identify with passes by. Only the floats that had blasting music seemed to evoke a response from the attendees of the parade. There was a lucrative business being made by vendors who quickly set up as the parade approached the bridge. We walked with the end of the parade to the Bastille (where is was ending). The crowds got very dense near the end of the parade. I think everyone had the same idea as us. At many of the parades I have attended, there are usually booths set up at the parade destination where vendors and organizations distribute information or sell stuff. Not here. There were a few vendors selling food, but not much else.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the festivities, but it certainly had a different feel than other Gay Pride Parades that I've attended. Perhaps the issues are not nearly as critical here, as GLBT's have fewer rights to fight for.

After the parade we met Carol for dinner. We walked down to Rue Mouffetard and found a great little spot where we had a 16.50 Menu dinner. The food was great and it included entree, plat and dessert.

As Keith and I walked back to our apartment things were still going strong in the Marias. The bars were overflowing beyond capacity. They blocked traffic from the street and people just filled the entire Rue des Archives. Things went on pretty strong through the night.

Concert and Cemetery Catch Up

Sunset in Paris

On Thursday we saw a great concert at the Eglise Saint Merri. It was convenient, as the church is just a few blocks from our apartment. The concert was performed by a relatively new group called Note et Bien. They are an orchestra and choir association, and perform 4 concerts a year. They performed an all Leonard Bernstein concert. The first performed the Chichester Psalms, followed by an orchestral West Side Story medley and closed with a choral/orchestra medley from West Side Story. The group was conducted by Alexandra Cravero. They did a nice job on the Chichester Psalms, but it would have been more effective with a large tenor and bass section. The women sounded great, but there just were not enough men to cover all the splits and their sound was often buried in the thick orchestration. The soloists, Stefanie Raffaello, sang the second movement with ease and sweetness. We noticed an add in the program for more tenors and basses. This would be a great group to sing with. They have a lot of potential, and what a great idea to form a group composed of both orchestra and chorus.

The orchestra did a really nice job on the West Side Story. I love the complex meters of Bernstein. The conductor was really expressive and gave very clear direction. They closed with the choral/orchestra medley, which was a real treat. It was all in English and their pronunciations were pretty darn good. I was amazed that a group of this caliber was performing a free concert. They are scheduled to repeat the performance at 2 more churches in Paris.

On Friday we decided to visit the Cimetiere du Montparnasse. There This cemetery is a mix of old and new graves. There are many French intellectuals, authors, artists and sculptors buried here. There are some unusual looking monuments in the cemetery. We spent some time trying to find some of the more notable graves. It is always difficult to find specific graves. The map available at the front gate really helps out. After some long searching we broke down and got a map from the attendant.

It took some time, but we finally found Saint-Saen.

This is what I would call "Sweet repose".

Later that night we toasted our good friend back home Sharon.

Strasbourg

Monday evening we stopped in for wings at The Great Canadian. We had a group of about 15 and consumed lots of chicken wings. Each Monday the bar has a special on wings. It was worth the .50 euros per wing. We did not stay out late, as we had to catch the train at 8:30 the next morning.

Click on "TGV" to see how fast the train travels

Not knowing how long it would take to get to the train state (Paris Est), we started out at 7:00am. It was a quick walk to the Chatelet Metro and a short ride to Paris Est. We had purchased tickets several months ago for the mere sum of 19 euros. It took a bit of searching to find the right web site but we were able to print out e-tickets months in advance. We took the high speed European TGV. The train travels at approximately 200 mph and takes under 2.5 hours. We got a real deal by booking the tickets in advance. The website is http://www.idtgv.com/. I have seen prices as high as 60 euros one way. The train is not at full speed for the entire journey, but really picks it up on the flat straight away. It is really amazing the investment that Europe has made in mass transit. I really hope the New York gets some of the stimulus money to improve the train system either from Albany to NYC or from NYC to Buffalo. It is such a wise investment and so much money has been invested in roads over the years.







We slept a bit on the train. It is much nicer than flying. You have good leg room. You can walk around. There is a restaurant on the train. It was a real pleasure to travel this way. If you get a chance you really should try it.






When arrived in Strasbourg Carol's friend Sabrina met us on the track. Sabrina had worked as an au pair in Clifton Park, where Carol befriended her. It was a real treat to meet her. She is from Heidelberg Germany and had arrived a short time before us in Strasbourg. We quickly made our way to the hotel, which we had booked on line for the mere 65 Euros a night. Their going rate was 90 Euros a night, so again we got a deal. One room was ready and the other was still being cleaned. We dumped our stuff in the one room, used the facilities and hit the town. Our hotel, the Cathedral Hotel was directly in the shadow of the Cathedral.

Boat Ride in Strasborg

Strasbourg is a beautiful city. It is the capital of Europe and contains many EU official offices, just outside of town. It was settled by the Romans around 13 BC and called Argentoratum (Hence the town is commonly called Argentina). The center of town is surrounded by the river Ill (all capitals: ILL), and has an elaborate canal system, much of which has been removed over the years. We took in an open air boat ride which circumnavigates the city. The river has lots of ducks and swans swimming in the fast current. The view from the boat tour is phenomenal. You get a duck's eye view of the entire city. The tour includes a little jaunt north to see many of the EU official offices.

The Cathedral

The center piece of the town is the Cathedral. Begun in the 12th century, and finished in 1439. With only one tower it became the world's tallest building (even taller than the pyramids). A few years later Guttenburg invented the world's first moveable printing press in Strasbourg. In the 1500's the city embraced the teaching of Martin Luther and became very Protestant. The city changed hands many times in its history between Germany (or its former incarnation) and France. In 1681 King Louis XIV annexed the city and reclaimed the Cathedral for the Catholics, although Protestants were allowed to worship in the city. When we arrived at the Cathedral we had a mission. A friend from Paris challenged us to find Satin's Butt on the front of the main door. It took us nearly 20 minutes to find it, but clearly it's somebody's butt.

Click on "bells" to hear the noon Bells

On our second day Keith and I climbed the tower of the Cathedral. The spiral stairs have several sections where the tower is very open and you get the sense that you are very unprotected. Anyone with a fear of heights will have a problem with this climb. There is a study new metal railing all the way up, but the openness of the design really gives you the sense that you might fall. I do not usually have an uncontrollable fear of heights. Taking pictures on the way up didn't help assuage the feeling. Once on top the view was spectacular. The city can really be taken in from up there. It was nearly 12 noon, so we waited to hear the bells go off. Strasbourg was historically known for making fine bells and the Cathedral has some of the best. We heard a long display of the bells earlier that morning (at 9am).









The city has a sorted past. It has some of the earliest anti-Semitism with publicly burnings of Jews in the early 12th century followed by the expulsion from the city. Until the end of the 18th century, Jews were forbidden to remain in town after 10 pm.

Wine Cellar Tour

We also went on a tour of the Historical Wine-Cellar of the Strasbourg Hospital. It is still a functioning wine cellar, but also has huge casks dating back to 1400's. Several still contain wine (vinegar by now I'm sure).








We also took in the Strasbourg Historical Museum. This was really interesting. They had a self paced audio guide that as you hit hot spots initiated clips on all the artifacts and history of the City. It was well worth the 5 Euros it cost and also included a display of a 17th century model of the city which was absolutely huge. It was 30 by 60 feet and included a film on its making. The museum used to display the Grüselhorn, the medieval horn that was blown every evening at 10 to order the Jews out of the city, but this item was accidentally dropped and shattered into many small fragments and thus is no longer displayed.



The side trip was a real treat and coming back home to Paris felt nice.

Fête de la Musique or Fret de la Musique

When planning this trip we wanted to ensure that we were here for two events - Fête de la Musique and Gay Pride Day. Fête de la Musique is a unique event that has occurred in Paris for the last 27 years on June 21st. It has spread throughout Europe is a festival of Music where performers are scattered throughout the city on street corners, in cafes and bars and at churches and museums. All kinds of music can be heard around the city and nearly everyone is out enjoying the sounds. Things really get going sometime in the afternoon and continue late into the next day. The Metro run all night to provide transportation for all the revelers.



St. Eustache











We heard a variety of music and saw some interesting sites. Near our apartment is an area centered on the Forum des Halles. As we entered the area we noticed a significant presence of riot police. There were all decked out with padding and shields. It seemed like overkill to us as there were lines short buses that brought the police into the area. Les Halles is an ancient market area and is heavily populated with cafes and shops. It is a major center, as many of the metro lines connect at Chatelet. There is a huge gothic style cathedral in this area know as St. Eustache. It has beautiful square columns. There were three women performing in the church accompanied by piano. We listened for awhile and then continued strolling through the area. We came upon a band that had passed out whistles to the crowd. It was a participatory performance and rather loud as everyone joined in.

Acrobat at the Pompidou

Near the Pompidou there was an acrobat performing in the square. He had pulled several subjects from the audience to assist in his stunts.









After walking for awhile we decided to stop for lunch. The cafe we stopped at was right across from the Pompidou and the famous Stravinsky Fountain. We were having a nice lunch and we started to hear sounds of a demonstration. In the offing we could hear the beating of drums (large oil drums) and chanting of a crowd. They also had fireworks and flares with them that they were periodically shooting off. From the sound of it they were probably M-80's. These give off a sound similar to what you hear from firework displays. As lunch progressed the manager assured everyone that things were ok and that the noise was just part of their display/demonstration. The group had formed back in Les Halles and was on the march. Soon they became visible as they were marching directly in front of the cafe. Many wore masks disguising themselves. The march looked rather threatening and seemed to be working up a fever. I asked our waiter what it was all about and he said "I don't know an English word to describe it. They are French." The group marched past the cafe and into the streets.

Tear Gas to Quell the Demonstration

At this point, Carol decided that she would go to the bathroom back in the restaurant. Soon the sounds were beginning to diminish as the demonstration marched on. It wasn't long before we began seeing members of the demonstration running back into the Pompidou square. Many were coughing as if they had been tear gassed. One of the marchers came into the restaurant and yelled about the facist police. Soon all hell broke lose as the police were pursuing the group pushing them back. Rioters started grabbing chairs and tables from the restaurant. We quickly retreated into the restaurant as things looked really unsafe out there. Waiters were trying to grab as much as they could before the rabble could destroy their property. The manager started bringing down the gates on the windows, but left the main entrance open so the waiters culd bring chairs, tables, bottles, glasses and everything else into the safety of the restaurant.


The Police Move In



The police barricade moved slowly forward and the demonstrators continued to hurl anything that they could grab at them. The air was acrid with tear gas. Windows on the Pompidou were graffiti and broken. A helicopter circled above to track the demonstration and inform the police force below. The police forced continued to press forward and moved the demonstrators back into Les Halles. They seemed to stop there and not pursue the group. It seemed their intent to prevent them from marching into the streets. We waited a bit for things to calm down, paid our bill (which we probably could have just walked off without paying) and got the hell out of there.


We continued walking until we were across the river and far from the activities. The helicopter circled the area, apparently tracking the demonstrators. Once we were beyond the sounds and smells of the demonstration we felt safer.

What strikes me odd about the whole thing is that it did not seem to be a strange event. I found nothing on the internet about the demonstration or group that was behind the whole thing. The police seemed prepared and ready for it to happen and we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Laura, Carol and Fey at W.O.S.

After a little time we continued on to other Fête de la Musique events. We heard a steel band in the Luxumborg gardens, and then heard several groups play at the Galway and W.O.S.

All and all we had a great time. Just too much drama for me. We'll see what the Gay Pride Parade brings next weekend.....

Artwork, Music, Picnic, Night Out

Along the way to meet up

We have been slacking off a little. In my opinion a vacation should allow for days where you are not on the run. Lazing around for a whole day is really therapeutic. After a leisurely morning of catching up on things, lunch at the apartment we set off to meet Mark and Carol. The plan was to visit Musee de l'Orangerie. We set up a meeting time of 2:00pm at the little Arc in front of the Louvre. Mark was down near the Museum and we were up near the Louvre. Apparently we weren't all on the same page, so it took some texting to get us all together. What would we do without modern technology?

On our way though the Jardin des Tuleries we passed by gardens of lavendar and holly hocks. The color was really stricking.

Musee L'Orangerie

The L'Orangerie museum has a nice collection of impressionist artwork. It includes works by Guillaume, Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau, Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Utrillo, Modigliani and Soutine.

Renoir

The museum is small, which makes it really doable. You don't get the usual lead legs from walking and standing for hours.

We were through the entire museum in about an hour.

Monet

The second floor of the museum features 8 huge works by Monet. These paintings were donated by Claude Monet to the State. He envisioned them hung in a circular room. It is really impressive to see. Two large oval rooms, 360 degrees of Monet water lily paintings. Sitting on the benches in the middle allows you to be completely surrounded by his masterpieces. This is a site that must be seen.

Baubles for Paula

After the museum it was still early. Keith had noticed a concert at La Madeleine and we were close by. Along the way we passed several high end shops. I noticed a perfect set for my friend Paula, who is watching our cats at home. Unfortunately, the set costs more than our house. So Paula, you will have to wait awhile for these baubles.

Mark, Carol and Keith in front of La Madeleine

The concert at La Madeleine was of the North Central College Women's Chorale. I am usually do not prefer all women groups, but these ladies were good. They sang mostly sacred music and they were extremely expressive. I was particularly impressed by a commissioned work by Gwyneth Walker entitled "Breath of God". The only less than stellar part of the concert was their soloist. She is a professor from the college and had a vibrato that you could drive a Mack truck through. This was their first tour and they were scheduled to sing in Notre Dame in Paris, KollegienKriche in Slazburg and in Karlskirche in Vienna.

After the concert Carol, Keith and I went back to Carol's apartment and put together food for a picnic. We gather up our stuff and took the subway up to the Pont des Arts. My keen sense of map reading left us a significant distance from our destination. After a long walk we arrived and set up our feast. The bridge was packed with people all enjoying a late afternoon/early evening picnic. We had plenty of food and a couple bottles of wine. After awhile the police came by and there is a new rule that does not allow alcohol on the bridge after 4pm. They told us to hide our wine, so we slipped it into the backpack. They stepped up there activities later and told everyone who had alcohol to leave. By then we had finished our wine and were ready to move on.

A shot from the Galway

We ending the evening at the Galway. We probably stayed a little late and paided for it the next day....

Modern Art

Lunch with Mark and Carol

We met up with Mark and Carol at the end of our street at 1:00 and quickly found an outdoor cafe for lunch. It was a Thai restaurant and we got a great deal on lunch. What a way to start out the day.

Centre George Pomidou

On Tuesday, we made plans to visit the Centre Georges Pompidou. This unusual structure has all of its internal workings (pipes and supports) on the outside. The building was very controversial (as many things are in Paris) when it was constructed in the 70's. A mere 20 years after it opened and it required a significant restoration, as it had deteriorated quickly. The structure is named after the then president George Pompidou. This museum is virtually in our backyard, and we have never visited. I have to admit that modern art often escapes me. I can appreciate more traditional art, as it usually invokes some emotional response. Modern art often leaves me feeling either confused or bleak and depressed. But in the interest of expanding my sensitivities we went.

The first exhibit focused on women artists, and there were some interesting facts incorporated into the exhibit. "Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art section are women, but 85% of he nudes are female". Much of the exhibit focused on oppression of women - sexual and political. Some of the exhibits were disturbing, and certainly evoked extreme emotion. There was a lot of mixed media art. I found one video piece showing a women hoola hooping with barbed wire on the beach rather upsetting. I was drawn to watch yet appalled by the wounds created by the wire. The raw emotions created by viewing the art made it difficult to find deeper meaning.

We moved up to the top floor where artists from 1905-1960 are featured. The museum has a rather extensive collection including works by Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Miro, Gris, Dali, Calder, DuChamp and many others. While this art was more easily consumed, I'm not so sure that I fully appreciate its meaning. For me it was an opportunity to expand the mind. I can't say that I got it all, but I left with a better appreciation for the art form.

Carol's Place

Afterwards we stopped in another outdoor cafe before our scheduled dinner with Lora. Carol is staying with her friends Lora and Craig. Craig is out of town on business, so we went to dinner with Lora and then returned to their apartment. They have a huge apartment close to Montparnasse. It has a wrap around balcony with a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse tower. Lora shared some fine wine that they discovered from a winery in France.