badezimmer regal modern
hi, i'm rick steves, back with more of thebest of europe. and this one of about a million reasons that this place is called the cityof lights. you got it... we're in paris. thanks for joining us. as we return for another visit to paris, we'reenjoying an intimate look at europe's grandest city. one of the great things about parisis how, amidst all its grandeur, the little joys of life are still embraced. we'll feel the pulse of paris... from village-likeneighborhoods to a magnificent pipe organ loft. we'll visit a megalomaniac's tomb, tourthe world's biggest art gallery, and celebrate the mother of all revolutions with a big patrioticbastille day bang.
paris was born — over 2000 years ago — on thisisland in the river seine. and many of its highlights can be seen from popular sightseeingboats. there's the notre dame...and the louvre museum. and of course the eiffel tower, builtto commemorate the 100th anniversary of the french revolution. paris glitters with history.even the bridges — bestowed on the city by kings and emperors — tell a story. beyond its glorious monuments and buildings,paris is a city simply in love with life. delightful parks let commoners luxuriate likearistocrats. here in luxembourg gardens there's a tranquility, and refined orderliness — enjoyedby young and old. the gardens are impeccably tended. and for generations, children havelaunched dreams on this pond.
to establish a foothold in paris, i like tochoose a neighborhood and make it home. strolling market streets like this, paris has a smalltown charm. for those learning the fine art of living parisian-style, market streets likerue cler are ideal. with the help of my local friend delphineprigent, each shop provides an insight into parisian life. delphine's planning a dinnerparty and she's taking us along. rick: shopping on a street like this is justa delight, isn't it? delphine: it's very nice. we are very luckyto be able to walk on the street and have all this very different shops which are verygood for shopping. rick: because in america there's one-stopshopping. we go to one big place.
delphine: we have one street shopping here.rick: one street shopping, it's like a market street. delphine: it's a market street, it is... i think for the first course it would be niceto put some shrimps and mayonnaise. and so you see you have different types of shrimps.you have like different colors, different sizes as well. so i think we'll go for themoyenne, for the medium ones, which is very flavorful.rick: it looks very fresh. delphine: so we'll have some meat tonight,as a main course. and we knew the neighborhood butcher. you know my mom used to come here.rick: so you can trust the quality. delphine: you can trust the quality. you knowthat they give you advice as well. so i'm
going to have roti beuf and i'm going to askthe man for tips. [conversation in french with butcher] rick: so what did he say?delphine: he said like 25 minutes and for six people 1,200 grams.rick: 1,200 grams. for six. big people! delphine: the dinner without the cheese courseis not complete. so we have to go and pick some cheese. before dessert, after main courseand we'll have some, an assortment of different cheeses.rick: so you create a variety. delphine: yes. i create a small plate withdifferent cheese. so we'll have some, this one looks good, some good cheese and somebleu, some camembert and some hard cheese. rick: good socially, i think.delphine: it is very good because you have more wine.
rick: more wine, more cheese, more wine, more cheese. delphine: so once we know what we are eating we are going to choose the wine.rick: beautiful shop. delphine: yes, it's really nice. bonjour,bonjour. we are going to talk with the expert and we are going to tell him what i'm goingto have for dinner and he's going to pick the wines for us. in france with so many wines to choose fromexpert advice is welcome. he recommends a white for the shrimp, a full bodied red fromthe rhone valley for the beef and another white, this time from the loire valley, forthe cheese plate.
in france any good meal comes with fresh bread.and that requires a visit to the local boulangerie. delphine: so we'll have some bread for dinner.no meal without today's bread. rick: today's bread. no bread, no party!delphine: no fresh, no party! so we'll have some baguettes and we will have some specialbread as well, for the cheese. rick: oh, so a variety of bread with the cheesecourse. okay. and the final touch? flowers for the table delphine: it's very bright. and they're goingto be beautiful on my table. it's great. we're hopping the metro to visit another neighborhood.paris has the most extensive subway system on the continent and it's clearly the fastestand most economic way to get around town.
trains come frequently and the system is easyto use. the marais is another distinct parisian neighborhood.i'm always impressed by how you can just sit and savor parisian street scenes like this.once a mucky slum...marais means swamp... it was gentrified in the 17th century by kinghenry iv. with henry's vision, place des vosges becamethe centerpiece of the finest neighborhood in town. stroll along its elegant, gallerylined arcade. the park-like square is a reminder that paris is not just a collection of worldclass museums. for millions of people, it's home — a place to meet a lover, enjoy a relaxedretirement, or raise a family. in the 18th century as paris' high societymoved elsewhere, immigrating jews gradually
settled in the marias. in the historic heartof this neighborhood you'll find paris' jewish quarter-with kosher eateries and falafel jointsthat draw an enthusiastic crowd. strolling its characteristic lanes, pauseand observe. it's a celebration of cultural diversity. the marais is also the city's gay district — muchenjoyed for its lively cafes and clubs. and — straight or gay — trendy marais boutiques make for funwindow shopping. paris' original neighborhood, the ille dela cite is well worth exploring. a church has stood on this island since ancient times.but, the iconic gothic cathedral we see today-dedicated to notre dame or, "our lady" — is "only" 700 years old.
you can brave the line for a look at its interiorand climb to the top of its belltower. but the church i like to visit in paris, especiallyon sunday mornings is st. sulpice-to enjoy its magnificent pipe organ-arguably the greatestin europe. for organ lovers, a visit here is a pilgrimage.after mass, enthusiasts from around the world scamper like 16th notes up the spiral stairsinto a world of 7000 pipes. before electricity, it took three men, workingout on these 18th century stairmasters, to fill the bellows, which powered the organ.the current organist, daniel roth, carries on the tradition of welcoming guests intothe loft to see the organ in action. as his apprentices pull and push the manystops that engage the symphony of pipes, a
commotion of music lovers crowd around a towerof keyboards and watch the master at work. st. sulpice has a rich history with a lineof 12 world-class organists going back over 300 years. like kings or presidents, the lineageis charted on the wall. and overseeing all this: johann sebastian bach. this sacred music continues to fill the spiritualsails of st. sulpice as it has for centuries. the good life in paris-music, culture, anappreciation of its rich heritage and fine architecture-is easy to take for granted.but today's freedoms and a government that seems passionate about its people's needsdidn't come to france without a struggle. and the pinnacle of that struggle — an epicevent that reverberates in the spirit of its
people to this day — was the french revolution. the symbolic launch pad of the french revolutionwas a notorious prison called the bastille which stood on this square. in 1789 angryparisians stormed it, released its prisoners, and tore it down. it's one of europe's greatnon-sights. there's nothing left to see. while parisian back lanes feel peaceful andcontent today, during times of revolution they hid hotbeds of discontent. before frenchpolitical leaders learned the wisdom of subsidizing the cost of baguettes, hungry peasant mobswould set up barricades in narrow lanes like these. generals, like napoleon, were fond of quietingthe streets by loading chains and nails into
cannon and giving the malcontents what theycalled "a whiff of grapeshot." later, the government commissioned baron haussmannto modernize the city. he ripped up most of medieval paris and created the city's grandboulevards. great city planning... but really it was greatmilitary planning. heavy artillery and grand armies work better with long broad streetsas battlefields. paris was made easier to rule...and more elegant. today, like a citywide game of "connect thedots," wide parisian boulevards lead to famous landmarks: like the pantheon...the old opera...thearc de triomphe... and the hotel des invalides. built by louis xiv in the 1600s as a veterans'hospital, this massive building now houses
europe's greatest military museum. and, atits center, under a grand dome — which glitters with 26 pounds of thinly pounded gold leaf — liesthe tomb of napoleon. it's hard to imagine a building dedicatedto a mortal that's more impressive. gazing at napoleon's tomb, i love to ponder the storyof the charismatic leader who took france from revolutionary chaos to near total dominanceof europe and then, catastrophically, to near ruins. just a humble kid from corsica, napoleon bonapartewent to military school here in paris. he rose quickly through the ranks during thetumultuous years of the revolution. by 1799 he was the ruler of france. after that, withinfive years, france had conquered most of europe
and napoleon declared himself emperor of it all. as the head of france's grand million-manarmy, he blitzed europe. his personal charisma on the battlefield was said to be worth 10,000additional men. imagine napoleon the emperor-all of europeat his feet. the laurel wreath, the robes, and the roman eagles proclaim him equal tocaesar. as emperor he worked feverishly to implementthe ideals of the revolution into a well-designed and modern society. probably no single individualdestroyed so much and yet built so much. to this day, the french remember napoleon forhis legacy: infrastructure, education system, and legal code.
but, ultimately, his megalomania got the bestof him. napoleon invaded russia with the greatest army ever assembled and returned to pariswith a frostbitten fraction of what he started with. two years later, the russians marchedinto paris, and napoleon was deposed. after a brief exile on the isle of elba, in1815 napoleon skipped parole and returned to france, where he bared his breast and declared,"strike me down or follow me!" for 100 days, the people of france followed him until finally,in belgium, napoleon was defeated once and for all by the british at waterloo. exiledagain, napoleon spent his final years on a remote island in the south atlantic untilhe died in 1821. the arch de triomphe was finished just intime for the funeral procession that welcomed
napoleon's body home from exile in 1840. thearch is a memorial to france's many military campaigns, and is particularly stirring onnational holidays when it flies the french flag. it crowns the city's main drag. europe's grandestboulevard is the champs-elysees. built for the queen in the 1600s, it originated as acarriageway leading away from the palace gardens the population of france is becoming increasinglydiverse and this is particularly true here in its cosmopolitan capital. the largest immigrantgroup is from its former colonies in africa, especially muslims from north africa. paris' mosque is a reminder that, even thoughits colonial empire is long gone, cultural
connections remain strong. the challenge forboth france and its immigrants is to assimilate comfortably into an ever more multi-ethnicsociety. welcoming visitors, the mosque's tranquil courtyard provides a calm and meditativeoasis in the midst of the hubub of paris. the adjacent cafe de la mosque provides analternative to french cuisine. parisians and north africans alike enjoy couscous, tagine,and a characteristic glass of sweet mint chai with the ambiance of a moroccan teahouse. nearby, stands the home of the arab worldinstitute, a partnership between france and 22 arab countries. with a museum, art galleries,and library, its mission is to build understanding between the arab world and france. and fromits rooftop terrace, the rest of the city
beckons. the palais du louvre was once the palace ofthe ultimate king and the biggest building in the entire world. today the vast horseshoe-shapedpalace, built in stages over eight centuries with its striking 20th century pyramid entry,houses the world's grandest collection of art treasures. these people are waiting not to get into thelouvre, but to buy a ticket to get into the louvre. with a city museum pass, i save moneyand, more importantly, lots of time. anyone with this pass can walk right in. ]once inside, take a moment to enjoy themodern pyramid entry — a work of art in itself.
it leads to three wings. we'll limit our visitto the denon wing. the huge louvre collection covers art history from ancient times to about1850. it can be overwhelming. a key to enjoying your visit: don't even try to cover it all.enjoy an excuse to return. remember to look up for a sense of how, longbefore it was a museum, this was europe's ultimate palace and home of its mightiestkings. in fact, the collection includes royal french regalia — such as the crown of louisxv and the crown napoleon wore on his coronation. this museum is one of the world's oldest-openedto the public during the french revolution in 1793. i guess it just makes sense. youbehead the king, inherit his palace and a vast royal collection of art, open the doors,and voilã – a people's museum.
the statue of winged victory seems to declarethat the louvre's ancient collection is europe's finest. two centuries before christ, thiswind-whipped masterpiece of hellenistic greek art stood on a bluff celebrating a great navalvictory. and just past her, stands an entourageof twisting and striding statues, each modeling the ideal human form. venus de milo has struckher pose — like a reigning beauty queen — for 2500 years now. there must be more famous paintings here thanin any other museum. the crowded grand gallery-while a quarter mile long-displays only a smallpart of the louvre's collection. we'll feature a few paintings representativeof three styles: renaissance, neoclassical,
and romantic. francois the first, who ruled through theearly 1500s, was france's renaissance king. his private paintings became the core of thelouvre's collection. it was trendy for kings to have a renaissancegenius in their court. and one of europe's greatest kings, franã§ois i, got europe'stop genius: leonardo da vinci. leonardo's work epitomized the esthetics ofthe renaissance and the louvre's collection of his paintings demonstrates his lastinginfluence. his virgin of the rocks, illustrates his trademarksfumato technique — the subtle modeling of his faces, and, in landscapes, how he shows distanceby making it hazier and hazier.
and this portrait, mona lisa — believed to beof the wife of a florentine merchant — is leonardo's most crowd pleasing masterpiece. with herenigmatic smile, she seems to enjoy all the attention. her body is solid and statue-like,a perfectly balanced pyramid angled back so we can appreciate its mass. her arm — levelwith the frame — adds stability and realism. and again, leonardo creates depth in mona'sdreamy backyard. for me, this painting sums up the renaissance:balance, confidence and humanism — the age when the common individual — mona lisa-becomes art-worthy. like the museum, napoleon was a product ofthe revolution. one of the louvre's largest canvases shows europe's grandest coronation:napoleon's. the pope traveled from rome to
paris to crown napoleon. but europe's mostfamous megalomaniac, crown confidently in hand, pretty much ran the coronation showhimself. the pope looks a little neglected. the french revolution was all about endingkings...so napoleon crowned himself emperor. the politically correct art style of the timewas neoclassical. napoleon would approve of everything in thisroom. greek, roman, heroic, or patriotic themes; clean, simple and logical-it's pure neoclassical.this parisian woman, wearing ancient garb and a pompeii hairdo, reclines on a roman-stylecouch — perfectly in vogue. neoclassicism was an intellectual movement.after all, during the revolution, everything was subjected to the "test of reason." nothingwas sacred. if it wasn't logical, it was rejected.
the reaction to neoclassicism? a romanticmovement: romanticism. romanticism meant putting feeling over intellect,passion over restrained judgment. logic and reason were replaced by a spirit that encouragedartists to be emotional and create not merely what the eyes saw but also what the heartfelt. what better setting for an emotional workthan the story of an actual shipwreck? in gericault's raft of the medusa, we see a humanpyramid ranging from death and despair at its base to a pinnacle of hope as one of thesurvivors spots a ship — which ultimately comes to their rescue. if art controls your heartbeat...thisis a masterpiece. the romantic movement championed nationalisticcauses of the 19th century. delacroix's liberty
leading the people shows the citizens in 1830,once again asserting their power and raising the french flag at a barricade in those troublesomeback streets of paris. this painting and that struggle reverberate with the french peopleto this day france's national holiday is july 14... bastilleday. that's today and that means a big party as all of france indulges in a patriotic bash.in paris that means lots of flags and lots of parties. everyone's welcome to join in. like towns and villages all over the country,each neighborhood here hosts parties until late into the night. the local fire department'sputting on this party...so i guess it doesn't matter if the fire marshal drops by.
traditionally, crowds pack the bridges andline the river for a grand fireworks display over the eiffel tower. traveling here i realize i could come backto this city for the rest of my life and never get enough of what to me, is the culturalcapital of europe — paris. i'm rick steves. until next time, keep on traveling. au revoir!