33. Musée Nissim de Camondo

Although it has an entirely forgettable name, this museum is one of the best you could hope to visit.  

The Musée Nissim de Camondo is an elegant house museum of French decorative arts located in the Hôtel Camondo, 63 rue de Monceau, at the edge of the Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.  

The mansion itself is in the traditional French shape, built along all four sides, like the letter 'O', with a large central courtyard.

Looking through the central gateway into the large courtyard.  It is only the main house across the rear of the property that is open to the public.

From the moment you walk up to the front door you know this is a special place.

The mansion was built in 1911 by the Count Moise de Camondo, a banker, to set off his collection of 18thC French furniture and objets d'art.  Its design was patterned upon the Petit Trianon at Versailles, though with modern conveniences.  Both the house and the collections were bequeathed to Les Arts Décoratifs in honor of his son, Nissim de Camondo, killed in WW1.  It was opened as a museum in 1935.

Today the house is maintained as if it was still a private home, preserved in its original condition.  Three floors are open to visitors, the formal reception rooms, the private apartments and the kitchens.

A large tapestry on the upper wall of the staircase.

The grand salon.

The house's furnishings include needlepoint chairs and works by the artisans of the Royal Furniture Repository.  Floors are furnished with Savonnerie carpets woven in 1678 for the Grande Gallerie in the Louvre.

Bankers are rich.  But even for a banker, this Count was seriously rich.

The second salon.  The building is just over 100 years old but the 18thC furnishings and works of art are 250 years old. 

A lovely detail.

The dining room.  

The Orloff silver in the dining room was commissioned by Catherine II if Russia in 1770 and the porcelain dinner services are Buffon, made at Sèvres in the 1780s.

Another little detail.

The marble sideboard in the dining room. The Count purchased this sideboard from a grand mansion being demolished, and had a wall in his new dining room built exactly the correct size to accommodate it.

Another view of this glorious, light filled room.

The butler's pantry, just off the dining room.

The family sitting room.

The reception or entertaining areas of the house are magnificent.

The circular library.

Most windows look south towards the sun, and onto a garden which blends into the Parc Monceau beyond.

The Count's bathroom, 1911 style.

The public toilet I used downstairs was just like this one, but all white.

And into the kitchens.  This is a huge rotisserie, obviously for huge roasts of meat.

Three ovens on each side of this magnificent structure.  Originally wood or coal fired but converted to gas in the 1930s.

The scullery for washing dishes is beyond.  Very grateful that Louise, Jen, Annalea and I don't have to scrub and polish copper like this at the Ministry of Food.

The huge sink has gas heating underneath so you could get through the whole wash-up without your water getting cold.  Brilliant!

These sinks in the main kitchen are for the preparation of vegetables etc.

I think the reason the mansion is so impressive is because it is so integrated and complete.  Count de Camondo built the house around his treasures and it remains today, just the way he lived in it. 

32. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris & Crypte

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is 850 years old this year.

You have to stop and think about how old that is.  

And when you look at it, you have to think about the vision and bravery of the people who believed they could build this structure with not much more than blocks of wood and ropes for levers and pulleys, chisels and wooden mallets for cutting and carving stone and spades to dig foundations.

A big vision for a city of 220,000 people.

Notre Dame de Paris

Because it is the anniversary, a huge viewing platform has been built in the forecourt of the cathedral to offer spectator seating and viewing for various religious ceremonies.  But no ceremonies today, just tourists, and me amongst them with my camera.

Looking upwards.  It is the architecture that fascinates me, rather than the inside decoration. How did they get the stone up there?  How long did it take?  Who designed it and how?  Were there arguments about planning or set-backs?  Did the neighbours complain?  What were the height restrictions?  Were there unions?  How did they know the Seine wouldn't flood it?  What was the budget?  

I could go on and on.

This huge blue construction is the tiered seating and viewing arrangement in the forecourt.

Of course, we are only looking at the front of the cathedral in these photos.  The beautiful buttresses and the apse are best seen from the bridges on the end of the Ile de Cité, behind the cathedral.

The front again, but from street level this time.

The stone used in Notre-Dame was from the first limestone quarries in Paris, before they began mining underground. (Remember the Catacombs in Post No. 22).

And if you want to climb the interminable, narrow, winding and totally claustrophobic stairway to the race that runs around the very top of the facade, then you need to join this queue in the street by the side of the cathedral and buy tickets.   We did it in 1998.  That was enough!

And finally, the reason we are here is not to see the cathedral at all, but to visit the archaeological crypt underneath the forecourt. 

However I can't look at any cathedral without reliving every page of Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth.  If you  haven't read it and you like good storytelling and history, do yourself a favour.  In fact I have two copies and I'm happy to lend ........

Ken Follet - Pillars of the Earth

But back to the crypte. 

A stunning subterranean museé, if you enjoy pouring over the history of lumps of stone in barely comprehsible positions with vaguly deciperable markings.  But if that grabs you, as it does me, you'll want to know that the crypt was created in 1980 to display the archaeological remains discovered during excavations for the cathedral car park, which took place between 1965 and 1972.  

The crypt provides a unique overview of both the urban and architectural development of the Ile de Cité, the historical heart of Paris, from ancient times to the 20thC. 

The city has been in a continuous state of construction and reconstruction for over 2,000 years.   The Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia began to develop on the left bank of the Seine in the reign of Augustus (27BC - 14AD) in an area occupied by a Gaulish tribe called the Parisii.  From about 250 AD and for 150 years, Lutetia was invaded by wave after wave of Germanic invasions.  To defend themselves against the barbarians the Roman Empire fortified the Ile de Cité, in the middle of the river, and made this the strategic and political heart of their city.

The photo above is of an arched doorway in a building from around 700 AD built above the photo below, which is a stairway from a damp marshy area near the river, leading up and into the fortified ramparts of the city wall, from around 300 AD.

Above are Gallo-Roman baths, hard to believe, I know.  

This was a small bath house from the 4thC and the ruins are almost complete.  They include an entry courtyard for exercising, a cold room which was also the changing room and then a warm room, for chatting.  This was followed by a hot room, for sweating, heated by under-floor heating.  Next is the main room with two pools, one of which was very hot, heated by a boiler and the other cold.  The stones were enhanced by a three-dimensional overhead projection of what the building actually looked like, which appeared over the top of the old rock.  The whole complex was only 175 m2 or about 16 squares, not that big for all of the men and women of a Roman city.

Moving forward to the Middle Ages - all focus was on the cathedral which began in 1163.  The population of Europe in this time quadrupled, as more land was cleared for cultivation.

In the 18thC many of the mediaeval buildings on the Ile de Cité were demolished to ease traffic and improve sanitation and the square in front of the cathedral was extended.

In the 19thC Baron Haussman carried out a radical program of urban restructuring  throughout Paris which included destroying many old buildings and lanes on the Ile de Cité.  The current layout of the cathedral square, the barracks, now police headquarters, the hospital and the surrounding streets are a result of his changes.

On the way home we walked past the Town Hall - the hotel de Ville.


It too has a large square or forecourt and the city of Paris constantly uses the square to host public events.  At this time of year it is always in support of the French Open tennis tournament - Roland Garros.

Lots of men in their matching party-shirts leaning on the barricade.

Watching one guy doing all the work with the pressure washer.  Typical!

That's a gigantic colour TV screen at the far end, with Notre-Dame in the background.

31. Older than (white) Australia

We were walking south towards the Seine the other day, and in a little street on the Ile de la Cité, very close to the Cathéderale Notre Dame de Paris, we found this quaint, wisteria covered building.  

Because the Ile de la Cité is the very oldest part of Paris, there are many buildings, lane ways, gates, arches and footpaths that seem to have escaped demolition or re-development and have great charm.

Paul just had to go and have a look and it turned out that the proprietor was quite keen to have people crawl all over his very old property.  

Whatever careers it had had during its long life, it is now a restaurant and outside meal hours offers itself as a bar, a tea shop and a cafe. 

And there are plants everywhere.  I'm such a sucker for plants. 

You have to get your head around the age of this building and the life it has lived.  This building was already extremely old when white people settled Australia.

At the top of the stairs, a traditionally furnished dining area.

And around the corner, in the next room, another dining area.

And a further large dining area in what was originally the house next door.  This end of the room is over the doors to the courtyard in the final picture.

The other end of the same room.  The wall paper throughout is actually fabric - silk taffeta - tautly stretched across lightly framed wall partitions. 

The courtyard at the rear - still cobbled.

Very well worn stone stairs leading from the courtyard up to many adjoining buildings at the rear.  I can just see the handsome musketeer with sword flashing, cape streaming behind, leaping off his horse in the courtyard, throwing the reins and a gold sovriegn (or something) to an obliging groom and galloping up these stairs three at a time to his lady love!

Part way up the stairs you can peer out a tiny window and there is yet another courtyard, and this time a georgeous little number, in more buildings behind.

The original building is on the left - with the pale green ironwork.  They have taken over the two buildings to the right for their restaurant dining areas and the doors you can see open into the courtyard.

How loverly!

Ile de Cité

30. Le Chateaubriand

We are still eating our way through Paris' (and the world's) best restaurants.  

Le Chateaubriand is number 18 in the world.  No Michelin stars here, this is the avant-garde of the bistronomy movement - relaxed and affordable (well, almost), multiple courses of small serves (degustation), fresh and local ingredients, very often sustainably produced and cooked simply.

I wish I could have photographed the kitchen.  I had a fabulous sticky beak when I went to the toilet, but one doesn't take one's camera to the toilet, does one?  However, I can tell you that there were nine people in the kitchen (not including wait and drinks staff on the floor, of whom there were five plus a maitre-d') in a space smaller than my pantry.  So simplicity takes a lot of person power.

It is a fixed menu, different everyday, dependent on what is fresh at the market that day.

We arrived on the dot of 7.30 pm preceded only by two other tables.

Our charming maitre-de, a close relative of Al Pacino, emerging from the kitchen.

The first of the amuses-bouches, melt-in-the-mouth cheese and herb puffs - more like bread than pastry.  This was followed by a mouthful of raw fish in a tomato and lime dressing. 

Next, deep fried crevettes (tiny prawns) dusted with powdered tamarind. 

Followed by the freshest, plumpest pippies (tiny clams) in a cream sauce flavoured, I'm guessing, with lemongrass.

And finally a bowl of clear broth something like dashi flavoured miso.  And none of these were on the menu.  These were the amuses-bouches, the mouth amusements.

First on the menu - slices of tiny, line caught mackerel with samphire, baby peas and baby broad beans. 

My piece-de-resistance, cod in a fabulous sauce of grapefruit with asparagus and a dusting of something intense and crunchy on top.  Absolutely delicious because I love fish.

The meat course.  But it didn't look all that great.

Better when Paul rearranged the plate.  This is fillet steak, barely heated through, topped with pan-seared pointed cabbage and dobs of kalamata puree.  Topped with two large, crisp slices of thrice fried potato.

The palate cleanser was a sorbet of Sicilian lemon on a thick, marinated slice of cucumber.  The delicious green, crunchy topping is made from the herb lovage.

Dessert - called A Hint of Sky. I was instructed by Al Pacino, "Do not bite eet , Madame!  All een zee mooth, and ......" hand and facial gestures mimicking an explosion!

Paul exploding with his Hint of Sky.  A raw egg yolk sitting on top of a little savoury/sweet meringue, on a pile of nutty toasted crumbs.  Talk about imaginative - and it was great!

Because French restaurants are so small and tables so close, you can't help but meet people.  

Our fellow diners turned out to be a lovely couple, David and Agathe.  As it was Agathe's birthday, we shared Calvados to celebrate and to wish them good luck in their upcoming relocation to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast, where Calvados is produced.  

We hope to see them again when we eat our way up the French Atlantic Coast in October.

La Rochelle

La Rochelle - Map

Not everyone was happy with the menu at Le Chateaubriand the night we were there.  One quite irate man, with an American accent, was engaged in a yelling match with the chef out on the footpath as we left.  And I could see during the course of the evening, that quite a few people didn't like the Asian flavoured dishes, and I have to say - they were different!

But different is fine - we absolutely loved many more dishes than we slightly disliked.  So we are going back again at the end of the month to celebrate the end of our time in Paris.