Paris
I'm just back from a weekend (left Providence on Friday, returned Tuesday evening) in Paris which included the Retromobile show and the Christie's and Artcurial/Poulain auctions.
They're separate subjects: i.e., Paris, Retromobile, Christie's and Artcurial/Poulain.
This is about Paris.
I'd never been to Paris. I'd twice passed through Paris airports on the way to Le Mans for the 24 Heures and never had the chance to "waste" time sightseeing.
That was a mistake. Paris is wonderful.
Christie's let me in on the location of the hotel where their staff stays: the Select on Place de la Sorbonne, in the 5th Arondissement, on the Rive Gauche, in the Latin Quarter.
This note could go on for pages.
The Select Hotel Place de la Sorbonne is a couple blocks up the Boulevard Saint-Michel from the Place Saint-Michel on the Seine across the channel from the Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame. The 5eme Arondissement is at a confluence of the history of Paris and the transportation system that goes to the sites of Retromobile and the Monday Poulain auction. That is about as good as it gets.
I'm a reader: eclectic, voluminous and tres impressionable. I have images of Paris etched in synapses going back decades. The reality of Paris exceeded the accumulated mental images of six decades of reading.
I never encountered a rude Parisian. No waiters, taxi drivers or street vendors ripped me off. None appeared to be willing to try, not even to uphold Paris's reputation for exploitation of tourists.
On one train ride out of the Saint-Michel RER station a guy came up and tapped me on the elbow. I figured I was being importuned and made dismissive gestures. He held up the train ticket I'd fed into the machine to enter the station. As it turns out, you can't get through the exit turnstile without your cancelled entry ticket.
He saved my ignorant American ass.
Paris really is a magical place. It has a human face and a practical interface, but at the same time is a center of science, culture, art and intellectual discourse. In Paris all discussions move up a notch or two on an intellectual plane.
Paris is not to be taken lightly, nor entirely seriously either. It's Paris. I'm sorry it took me this long to get there. But I'm glad it took this long, too.
NEVER pass up a chance to go to Paris.
Rick Carey
February 22,2007
I'm just back from a weekend (left Providence on Friday, returned Tuesday evening) in Paris which included the Retromobile show and the Christie's and Artcurial/Poulain auctions.
They're separate subjects: i.e., Paris, Retromobile, Christie's and Artcurial/Poulain.
This is about Paris.
I'd never been to Paris. I'd twice passed through Paris airports on the way to Le Mans for the 24 Heures and never had the chance to "waste" time sightseeing.
That was a mistake. Paris is wonderful.
Christie's let me in on the location of the hotel where their staff stays: the Select on Place de la Sorbonne, in the 5th Arondissement, on the Rive Gauche, in the Latin Quarter.
This note could go on for pages.
The Select Hotel Place de la Sorbonne is a couple blocks up the Boulevard Saint-Michel from the Place Saint-Michel on the Seine across the channel from the Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame. The 5eme Arondissement is at a confluence of the history of Paris and the transportation system that goes to the sites of Retromobile and the Monday Poulain auction. That is about as good as it gets.
I'm a reader: eclectic, voluminous and tres impressionable. I have images of Paris etched in synapses going back decades. The reality of Paris exceeded the accumulated mental images of six decades of reading.
I never encountered a rude Parisian. No waiters, taxi drivers or street vendors ripped me off. None appeared to be willing to try, not even to uphold Paris's reputation for exploitation of tourists.
On one train ride out of the Saint-Michel RER station a guy came up and tapped me on the elbow. I figured I was being importuned and made dismissive gestures. He held up the train ticket I'd fed into the machine to enter the station. As it turns out, you can't get through the exit turnstile without your cancelled entry ticket.
He saved my ignorant American ass.
Paris really is a magical place. It has a human face and a practical interface, but at the same time is a center of science, culture, art and intellectual discourse. In Paris all discussions move up a notch or two on an intellectual plane.
Paris is not to be taken lightly, nor entirely seriously either. It's Paris. I'm sorry it took me this long to get there. But I'm glad it took this long, too.
NEVER pass up a chance to go to Paris.
Rick Carey
February 22,2007
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