Falling in Love with Paris

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OLD AND NEW: The Louvre Pyramid and a palace pavillion.

IT may be cliche to call Paris the city of love, but it really is. Not that I fell in love with anyone in the French capital, but the city has a way of making you fall in love with it.

When Malaysia Airlines (MAS) organised a Media Familiarisation Trip to Paris and Toulouse last month, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Despite the extremely tight schedule, there was one free day in Paris.

Having a ‘kiasu’ streak meant I was determined to pack in as much as I could in those 24 hours. Well, almost 16 out of the 24 were spent walking around the city or travelling on its trains, with a slight detour to Disneyland Paris. This was made easier by the fact that it did not get dark until 10pm.

As we were staying at Roissy-en-France, near Charles De Gaulle (CDG) International Airport, the journey proper for Malaysia-Asia editor David Hogan and I began at around 8am on the RoissyBus which takes passengers from CDG to the Paris Opera – right in the heart of the city.

This opulent building, completed in 1875 to the design of Charles Garnier, was indeed an apt introduction to Paris’ flamboyant architecture.

GILDED GLORY: L’Harmonie at the Paris Opera glitters in the sunlight.

The baroque-style building, which famously inspired Gaston Leroux’s “Phantom of the Opera”, has gold gilded figural groups – L’Harmonie and La Poesie – by Charles Gumery crowning its end pavilions and is topped off with three statues by Aime Millet depicting Apollo, Poetry and Music. Gumery and Millet’s creations were but a taste of the grandeur of Paris architecture that I would get to feast my eyes on.

From there, we made our way towards Place de la Concorde, going down side streets to try to cut down on walking time.

We, unintentionally, came across La Madeleine, a Roman temple-like building surrounded by Corinthian columns over 60 feet tall. Originally built by Napoleon in honour of his army, the building was later consecrated as a church and is named after St Mary Magdalene.

Dashing down Rue Royale, we came across the Laduree pastry shop, established in 1862 by Louis Ernest Laduree. Its most famous creation is the Laduree macaroon, invented when Pierre Desfontaines – Laduree’s second cousin – first decided to join two macaroon shells together with a ganache filling.

Today, Laduree macaroons come in a variety of flavours ranging from coffee to orange blossom, pistachio and – the flavour for this summer – strawberry. Needless to say the queue for macaroons and Laduree’s other tempting creations was rather long with both locals and foreign visitors.

It was at Place de la Concorde — the largest square in Paris – that the guillotine was installed during the French Revolution when it was known as Place de la Revolution. Among those executed here were King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette and Madame du Barry.

Today, the square’s most significant feature is, rather strangely, a giant Egyptian obelisk topped by a gold-leafed pyramid cap. The obelisk, which once stood at the entrance of the Luxor Temple, was a gift from the Egyptian government and was erected in the square in 1836.

Elaborate fountains

There are also two very elaborate fountains in what looked like a shade of dark aquamarine and gold. The same colours can be found on the streetlamps all along the square which all sport embellishments that are just as elaborate.

Such ostentatiousness is normally off-putting but somehow in Paris, it works.

In fact I found the excessiveness of it all incredibly beautiful. Even along the quieter side streets, where intricately decorated doors and doorknockers never failed to fascinate, I had a silly grin on my face and took an excessive number of photographs.

As we made our way up Avenue des Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe, we passed the Grand Palais (Great Palace) where a queue to get in circled the building. The world’s largest ironwork and glass structure is an exhibition hall and museum complex. At that time, it featured sculptor Anish Kapoor’s “Leviathan” – a huge installation that reportedly filled half the building.

Located opposite is the Petit Palais (no prizes for guessing the translation) which houses the Paris Fine Arts Museum. As we got closer to the heart of the Champs-Elysees, it dawned on me that there really is something quite special about this road with an official website of its own. Like the lyrics of the song “Les Champs-Elysees” say: “In the sun, under the rain, at noon or at midnight, there is everything you want at the Champs-Elysees.”

From designer stores like Louis Vuitton and Chanel to perfume house Guerlain and international chains like H&M and Zara, as well as cinemas and endless cafes, there’s a mind-boggling array of options.

It might be useful to note that while Paris does have self-cleaning standalone toilets that are free, in general, public toilets are quite hard to come by. If you can wait, look for those magical golden arches – that’s where most tourists head – otherwise a few of the shopping arcades have toilets which you need coins to enter. I had to pay 50 euro cents (around RM2.30).

At the end of this avenue is the Arc de Triomphe which Napoleon commissioned to commemorate his victories. Here, you can see the carved names of his generals, incredibly detailed sculptures as well as bas-reliefs commemorating the emperor’s many battles.

For some of the best photographs, tourists normally stand on the tiny median strips at the centre of the Champs-Elysees. Do be warned that drivers in Paris have little patience for photo-taking tourists and you should carefully take your turn.

We then made our way back to the Seine, constantly taking photos as we drew nearer to what was once the world’s tallest structure.

In the daze of snapshots, I was approached by a woman who held out a golden ring in her hand. As she spoke French, I just shrugged my shoulders and looked at her blankly. My bodyguard for the day started yelling: “No! No! No!” This prompted the woman to move on and I suddenly realised that the casual approach was probably a scam.

Be warned that scammers often target tourists with a ring. They may roll the ring to your feet or use some other ruse. If you pick up the ring, you’re likely to be accused of stealing and find yourself surrounded by a group looking for ‘compensation’.

You’ll also find foreign hawkers offering replica towers as you get nearer to the real thing. They are illegals who play cat and mouse games with the authorities, so it is advisable to stick to authentic stores where it is easier to find things actually made in France.

Eiffel Tower

STUNNING: The Palais de Chaillot provides some of the most picturesque views of the Eiffel Tower. — Photos by David Hogan Jr

Going to the Eiffel Tower is something that every visitor to Paris is expected to do. To be completely honest, I never understood the allure of the iron lattice building which has come to represent France to the world.

However when I finally stood below the 81-storey structure built in the 19th century, I was quite moved. Unlike what I had seen on television or in photographs, it was a bronzy-golden shade up close.

It is made of some 12,000 iron pieces – all designed separately – and fitted together with around seven million nails. Although Gustave Eiffel’s tower was supposed to be taken down at the end of the World Fair in 1889, it continues to stand proudly 122 years later.

The sight of soldiers carrying automatic weapons was a rude reminder of the world we live in today but the pure delight on the faces of children riding the carousel located across the road from the tower brought me back to a happier place.

Crossing the Seine to the Palais de Chaillot provided some of the most picturesque views of the Eiffel Tower despite the threatening clouds. Also known as Palais du Trocadero, it houses the Naval Museum, Museum of Man and an architecture museum.

From here, our Parisian adventure went semi-subterranean through the complex web that is the Paris metro and train system. This was an interesting experience in itself as it allowed a glimpse of Parisians going about their daily lives.

Despite what many say about Paris’ residents, if you approach them politely, they can be very helpful and even go out of their way to point you in the right direction. Throw in a few French phrases and people tend to be even nicer. Just imagine a Mat Salleh tourist trying to speak Bahasa Malaysia when asking for directions. Wouldn’t you make a greater effort to be helpful?

The purpose of this journey by train was to reach Disneyland Paris which comprises Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park and Disney Village.

The area is a complete juxtaposition of the elegant beauty of Paris. If ever you become blase about Paris’ architectural wonders, a trip here should snap you outof it. The train station Marne-la-Vallee – Chessy is located just outside the entrances to the theme parks and Disney Village. As with Paris’ other attractions, there are security checks to put up with, even to enter “the happiest place on earth”.

No hunchback

On our return to the city, we headed to Notre-Dame Cathedral, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) world heritage site, which was built on the location of the city’s first Christian church.

The current cathedral was completed in 1345 and its most notable features are two 228-feet towers at its west front. The south tower houses the bell, ‘Emmanuel’, which weighs over 28,000 pounds.

There was no hunchback in sight but a couple from Hong Kong were having their wedding photos taken outside the cathedral and became an extra attraction for the many visitors.

Our final stop was the Louvre. We wandered into the Pavillon Sully quite by accident, trailing behind other pedestrians out of curiosity.

As we entered the pavilion, strains of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” floated through the courtyard. It was an incredibly surreal moment which completely moved me to tears and led me to praise God for the talents he bestowed on the many artisans responsible for such beauty across the city.

Buskers playing the flute and cello continued to serenade us as we wandered through the pavilions towards the Louvre Pyramid, the entrance to the Louvre Museum and home to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”.

We ended the day as many Parisians do, sitting at the sidewalk table of a cafe, watching the world go by.

Paris in a day definitely did not suffice. I fully intend to return soon to this city which has truly captivated my heart.

thesundaypost travelled to Paris courtesy of MAS. Since November 2006, MAS has flown the Kuala Lumpur-Paris route daily. It currently serves the route with the Boeing 777-200ER.

To see more of David Hogan Jr’s photos go to http://malaysia-asia.my.