Place : Paris - Arcades- Eiffel Concert -Back to Israel
Date: Nov 11 /2019
Parisian Arcades - Passages
In between the mega modern fashionable Parisian garments, shoes and luggage stores, with their merchandise flashing through their most elegant large shop glass windows, there are 19thc old-fashion most charming hidden, glass roof-top covered Arcades, with old style store fronts, a chain of them extending from one boulevard to the next, situated between Blvd Sebastopol and Houssmann,
Old books,prints, antique and vintage merchandiser is sold in these shops, as well as art on display in the galleries
Built in 1836, covered walkway in the south of the 9th district
Situated between the Boulevard Montmartre to the south and the Rue de la Grange-Batelière to the north and in the continuation of Passage des Panoramas. Its charm is due to the beautiful iron and glass architecture and some most original shops of old canes and walking sticks, old books, paper specialists and others.
The Passage represents an important stage in the technological evolution of the 19th century and the mastery of iron structures. It is the first Parisian passage built entirely of metal and glass. Only the decorative elements are wooden. It is also the first passage heated by the ground. In 1974 the passage was registered as a monument historique. in 1987 the passage was completely renovated and regained its original checkered paving.
Musée Grévin and its famous waxwork models is located there
since early 1880s when Arthur Meyer, founder of the newspaper Le Gaulois, joined the cartoonist Alfred Grévin to create a gallery of wax figures on a property adjacent to the passage and then named the Musée Grévin.
(Arthur Meyer born in 1844 in Le Harve, was the grandson of a rabbi from a modest Jewish family. He was a French press baron, director of Le Gaulois, a notable conservative French daily newspaper that was eventually taken over by Le Figaro)
Also "The Salon des Miroirs" (a former 19th century brasserie which, today, is only used for private hire and transforms into a club on Saturday nights.)
And most charming on the outside "Hôtel Chopin" but terrible on the inside (we saw a room) is hidden at an end corner of the passage.
The 1799 Passage des Panoramas opens as a continuation of the passage Jouffroy on the other side of the Boulevard Montmartre.
The Passage Verdeau does the same on the other side, after crossing the street from the Grange Batelière.
Galerie Colbert - 1823
A short walk from its main rival Galerie Vivienne, pretty covered arcade belongs to the Bibliothèque Nationale, with no shops here.
On the Metro ride to Porte de Maillot
On a very cold rainy day, on the way to our last lunch at Porte de Maillot, before departing next day early morning, I commented in Hebrew to David, that the young cute guy, with his green eyes and full head cascading shiny dark hair, sitting across from us, resembles the American (Jewish) actor Timothée Chalamet, who was recently also featured in woody Allen's last film which I liked -
A Rainy Day in New York (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7139936/
To our surprise, our young Metro co-rider responded in Hebrew that he "has often been told so", and he continued chatting with us until we got off. Outside of his good looks, and the Rainy day there were no other similarities.. In reality his mother is an Israeli and he studies math in Paris we were told.
And then the waitress at the restaurant we ate , also addressed us in Hebrew, the language she has been studying at the university.
Beware in Paris when you converse in Hebrew....
Many more then you anticipate, actually can unexpectedly understand.
Jewish presence apparently has been embedded in the country so much more then we had realized until this visit.
Jewish perspective
In our travels we try to understand the Jewish contributions to the communities they lived in. France knocked us off our socks .
It was our impression that the Jews in France reached more prominence than either the German Jews or the Jewry in Britain . In Germany , the Jews achieved prominence through trade, large stores (Shoken), industry, medicine , academia, law, and the arts . In GB the prominence of Jews was similar to that of Germany (Lord Ziv- Marks and Spencer ). In France, the Spheradic Jews were major bankers, infrastructure developers and real estate magnates . We learned of at least four big banks owned by Jews through the philanthropy they left - such as the two green Michelin Star Malmaison - Château of Josephine Bonaparte where Napoleon lived, that belonged to Daniel Ifla (alias Osiris ) , Rothschilds( Ashkenazi) , Nissim Camandeu who left his mansion to the state - who transported his progeny to Auschwitz, Kahn (Ashkenaz). Also the Jews in France were big infrastructure and real estate developers( Monceau), shipbuilders( the largest French cruise line owned by the Perriers). This may have been as a result of Napoleon’s liberal policies . There is no mention or hardly any mention that these museums were gifted by Jews . Only google knows it ... .In the Camendou museum , on the third floor in a side room is a good movie about this Ottoman Banker Family , but none in any other museum we saw, and the only other place that Jews (Spharadic Jews from Iraq via Kolkata )were so dominant was Shanghai (until Mao) and Hong Kong , where they developed and owned the trains, the electric company and and and .
And there is also this more current piece which my friend Donna sent about the contemporary jews in Paris
The last gastronomical lunch we had before departure was at this
beautiful seafood Brasserie, recommended by Ora in the Port Malliot
L'Ouberge Dab - at Porte Maillot
Porte Maillot, the Metro station we got off at, a former ancient gate, one of the access points into Paris mentioned in 1860th, which derived its name perhaps from maille, or croquet. Porte Maillot is in the center of a roundabout close to the modern Palais des congrès de Paris, where we saw the Russian Ballet dancing to Ravel's Bolero.
The Grand Finale
The grand cultural special finale which signed our 6 weeks stay in Paris, culminated with a wonderful string quartet concert accompanied by a ravishing Opera singer, taking place on the first elevated floor of the Eiffel Tower in "The Salon Gustave Eiffel"
This amazing concert's location, within the national most admired monument which is suspended 57 m above the ground and offers stunning breathtaking unobstructed views of Paris and the city’s most outstanding landmarks, was heavenly exceptional.
It was also worth battling the endless crowd's pouring into the tower's premise and lingering at the security's and elevator's entry lines.
At night the glittering lights added so much more to the towers enchantment.
"The Salon Gustave Eiffel" is a popular event's venue of contemporary décor renovated in 2013, with enclosed glass windows transparent facades, a spacious room of high ceilings (6.2m), modern equipment and a modular stage, for private hire. Launches, seminars, business conferences, product launches, gala evenings, seminars, cocktail receptions, and musical evenings, can be organized there for an exceptional unforgettable experience, like we had at the musical event. The Gustave Eiffel Room is one of the most striking spaces for holding events in Paris. It can accommodate 300 guests for Cocktail events and concerts and 130 guests for Meals.
Concert on the Eiffel Tower - Salon Gustave Eiffel
Violon & Songs A la Tour Eiffel
Grand Concert du Nouvel An
We liked staying Paris and love its amazing architecture, historical monuments, artistic and cultural venues, fashion dispels, and gastronomical opportunities. Yet we could do without its French inhabitants, whom we found on numerous occasions, to be aggressive, rude, stand-offish and very unwelcoming to tourists.
The worst were the Bus Drivers, who like tamed blind horses absolutely, have no clue about the bus system beyond the route line, they are assigned to drive, neither do they try to extend any effort and be helpful.
The Chanel designer Dog
On the morning of Nov 12th we flew back to Israel, along with the
flying missiles, shelled from Gaza to the south and up the center of the country. Immediately, our Parisian abstract dream vacation, transformed into the wild wild Middle East uber realism horror feature..
On the plane, we were told that, a delay occurred with taking off, as only one runway has been operating at the Israeli airport, due to this latest round of shelling triggered by the liquidation of an infamous Jihadi mega-terrorist.
We landed safely, to almost a stand still country of closed public schools and shopping centers, as well as traffic-free roads, yet were thrilled to be back home basking in the warmth of our family and the unusual November hot dry weather.
THE END