July 13

Petite palaces in Paris and Grande Spectacles in Versailles

Two cities, two surprises and one long day.

Sometimes quite by accident you stumble on a gem. Not that it was unknown, how could anything right in the middle of Paris called the Petit Palais be a secret? But there are no stars or triangles next to its listing in the guidebooks. The descriptions are rather plain as one of two structures built for the last great Paris exhibition of 1900, Art Nouveau architecture housing the City of Paris art collection.

But we were meeting a friend for a drink at 3 in the 2nd, stopping to gawk in the hip  concept shop Collette near Place Vendome and with only a few days left in Paris, how could we sit home all morning?  We might as well 'hop' into the Petite Palais nearby first and kill an hour.

You approach with the Royal Palais on one side, the Petite on the other but they are only relative descriptions of their size as both are huge and grand. 

Walk up the steps, into entry and be totally wowed by the surprise of the soaring space of light, stained glass windows, marble and painted ceilings. Unlike churches or the Sistine chapel, these are bright and light and more contemporary than those dark religious scenes.  

The permanent collection begins with a long curved gallery, lined with paintings of the time.  The art is great but it takes a few minutes of strolling through to realize the message. All of the paintings on the right are of working class Parisians, bread lines, soup kitchens, scullery maids. The left, portraits of aristocracy, bucolic landscapes and gala parties. Same time, but not same channel. It makes you glad that somewhere between then and now, the middle class was created.

We stroll around and through the gardens admiring the architecture and painted vaulted passage ceilings and leave thinking we have discovered a Paris secret. So for my guidebook:***Petit Palais- don't miss this gem, free for the permanent collection, a joy for an hour.

And that little unplanned stop was the lowlight (literally) of the day.

Confession: I, to a great extent, and Steve, to a lesser one, are Fireworks Fanatics. We have been to spectacular fireworks shot over Mt. Morency Falls in Quebec twice,  over the lake on the island in Montreal once and at home every New Years no matter how cold. So, though Versailles the Chateau was not on our list to see yet again, the evening of magic water fountains and fireworks were too tempting to resist.

After arriving in the town of Versailles and having a surprisingly good little Indian dinner (it is refreshing to have some ethnic food!) 

we headed to the Chateau with tickets to the gardens, expecting beautiful gardens but what else??

Neither words or photos or even a video could describe the grandeur and scale of Louie's little backyard. But the evening's charm is the statuary and fountains set in the Haussman like (did he steal his Paris plan from Louis XIV???) maze of green. Start at the top of the stairs, a high perspective of the lawns below, walk down the Grand Allee and into an Alice in Wonderland like maze of 20 and 30 feet evergreens and lattice.  

Turn right, a secret fountain, turn left a hidden cafe, head straight, another fountain or a garden of Roman marble gods. At each turn you discover something new, the most astounding an outdoor rotunda like garden, fountains in the middle with waters dancing, choreographed to music, marble statues surrounding the perimeter, spotlights lighting the night, workers scooping dry ice into fountains creating mystical smokiness all around while green lasers lights up the smoke that envelops the crowd with a holograph like dome. Almost creepy, very surreal and beautiful.

With seven thousand people taking their evening 'passeo' through these magic gardens, listening to Mozart and Beethoven (I am guessing on the composers), the evening finally darkens enough to appreciate the 200' line of gas jets 'performing', jumping high and low, synchronized like waves, also in time to the music. 

Finally at 11pm it is dark enough for the fireworks. We find a seat, not too far away and close enough to the entrance to be assured of making the last train back to Paris at 11:50. The weather is perfect and with the evening cool setting in,we put on our scarves, the wind is just right to blow the smoke a bit and away. The fireworks are beautiful, mostly white against a massively big sky, not a building in site. The music and lights are completely in sync. The leaping gas flames and dancing fountains add to the mix. And everyone watching is smiling including  the young Italian guy sitting next to me whose brother went to Wharton. 

This won't win my personal best fireworks display. There weren't massive booms and the finale was a bit understated. But there was something very elegant and refined in the dripping lights last night that I am sure Lou and Marie would have loved.

All in all, a wonderful day of petite and grand, and we caught the last train back with ten minutes to spare.