Thursday: June 24
Lapin Agile / The Montmartre Vineyard - The Last Vinyard in Paris / Hotel du Nord / Tour Jean sans Peur / Galerie Vivienne / Passage Choiseul
Lapin Agile is a famous Montmartre cabaret, at 22 Rue des Saules, Paris, France. It was originally called "Cabaret des Assassins". Tradition relates that the cabaret received this name because a band of assassins broke in and killed the owner's son. The cabaret was more than twenty years old when, in 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted the sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling their neighborhood night-club "Le Lapin à Gill", meaning "Gill's rabbit". Over time the name evolved into "Cabaret Au Lapin Agile", or, the Nimble Rabbit Cabaret. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Lapin Agile was a favorite spot for struggling artists and writers, including Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, and Utrillo
The Montmartre Vinyard is the last vinyard in Paris. Saved during a building boom, it is now maintained by the City of Paris and once each year, the wine it produces is sold at auction for charity. It's a fun event in early October. The drinability of the wine is questionable, but the cause is worth supporting.
The Hotel du Nord is just a nice, small 24 room hotel on the north side. It has a reputation however, and the restaurant is quite OK. The gallows that were once right outside have a more dismal reputation. Near the Canal Saint-Martin; a picturewque area.
Tour Jean sans Peur is worth a visit. If nothing else to see latrines 60 feet high. Built for protection, it didn't work. Only the tour remains.
The Galerie Vivienne / Passage Choiseul are two fine examples of covered passage ways that still exist in parts or Paris. The Galerie Vivienne is especially opulent and worth a visit. Have a coffee...you'll enjoy the experience.
Lapin Agile
Lapin Agile is a famous Montmartre cabaret, at 22 Rue des Saules, Paris, France.
It was originally called "Cabaret des Assassins". Tradition relates that the
cabaret received this name because a band of assassins broke in and killed the
owner's son. The cabaret was more than twenty years old when, in 1875, the
artist Andre Gill painted the sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It
was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling
their neighborhood night-club "Le Lapin à Gill", meaning "Gill's rabbit".
Over time the name evolved into "Cabaret Au Lapin Agile", or, the Nimble Rabbit
Cabaret. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Lapin Agile was a favorite
spot for struggling artists and writers, including Picasso, Modigliani,
Apollinaire, and Utrillo.
The Lapin Agile is located in the center of the Montmartre district in the 18th
arrondissement of Paris, behind and slightly northwest of Sacre Coeur Basilica.
Since this was the heart of artistic Paris at the turn of the twentieth century,
there was much discussion at the cabaret about "the meaning of art".
Au Lapin Agile also was popular with questionable Montmartre characters
including pimps, eccentrics, simple down-and-outers, a contingent of local
anarchists, as well as with students from the Latin Quarter, all mixed with a
sprinkling of well-heeled bourgeois out on a lark.
Pablo Picasso's 1905 oil painting "At the Lapin Agile" helped to make this
cabaret world famous. The cabaret was often captured on canvas by another
Montmartre artist, Maurice Utrillo.
In 1993 American comedian and entertainer, Steve Martin, wrote a play, Picasso
at the Lapin Agile, which had a successful run in Chicago, Los Angeles, and
elsewhere. The play depicted an imagined meeting between Pablo Picasso and
Albert Einstein at the Lapin Agile.
Today, many people visit the Lapin Agile, sitting at wooden tables where
initials have been carved into the surfaces for decades. Located in a stone
building on the steep and cobbled Rue des Saules, the cabaret presents visitors
with French songs dating back as far as the fifteenth century.
Click here to see other pictures....
Click here to see other pictures....
The Montmartre Vineyard
Before artists like Picasso, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec turned Montmartre into
the center of bohemian Paris, the hilltop district served a different function -
it was home to church-owned vineyards that churned out full-bodied wines for the
local cabarets and drinking establishments.
But by the twentieth century, due to the annexation and subsequent urbanization
of Montmartre by the city of Paris, the district's legacy of French winemaking
was in danger of being erased. In the late 1920s, a group of artists led by
François Poulbot decided to take a stand.
The artists petitioned the government to halt a real estate development project
on a plot of land in the back of Montmartre hill, and instead grant them the
property so that they could recreate the original vineyards.
The French government, notoriously staunch in its support of cultural projects,
approved the plan, and Clos de Montmartre was born. The first vines were planted
in 1933 and the first wines were produced the following year.
Today the vineyard, the only one of its kind within Paris city limits, spans
1,556 square meters with 2000 vine stock in 27 varietals. It produces about
1,700 half-liter bottles per year, all of which are auctioned off for charity
during the annual autumn Fête des Vendanges (Montmartre Harvest Festival) on the
first Saturday in October every year. There is a party and parade in celebration
of the harvest - you can go if you happen to be in Paris at that time. It has
been said however that the wine is more noted for its nostalgic value than its
drinkability! The wine is not cheap to buy, but if you want to contribute to a
good cause you can buy bottles of it at auction; the proceeds go to the elderly
inhabitants of Montmartre.
Hotel du Nord
Right on the Seine, in a bit of what was considered a rough
part of town, stands a small, quaint hotel called the Hotel du Nord. It is
directly linked with the Canal Saint-Martain and I understand many of the more
upscale workers stayed there during construction. The hotel ran down in the
1900s. In the late 1900s it was bought and extensively renovated; a nice
restaurant is downstairs. It is most famous for a movie that was made in the
late 1930s of the same name; a gangster movie that is still very popular. The
only copy I know of is in French without subtitles; but perhaps another exists.
Also, right outside the hotel, in a “place” by the river, occurred several
executions of which it is famous.
Here, in 1325, on the king's orders, an enormous
gallows was built, consisting
of a plinth 6m high, on which stood sixteen stone pillars each 10m high. These
were joined by chains, from which malefactors were hanged in clusters. They were
left there until they disintegrated, by way of example, and they stank so badly
that when the wind blew from the northeast they infected the nostrils of the
still far-off city. The practice continued until the seventeenth century.
Personally, I believe the gallows was near here, but maybe a little further
north, but this is what I was told. Obviously they are no longer here so I can't
show you apicture. Nice little place with an interesting
history.
Tour Jean sans Peur
The tower (of) John the Fearless is a fortified tower built in Paris in the
Fifteenth century by John the Fearless .
It is the last vestige of the dukes of Burgundy Hotel.
Located at 20 Rue Etienne-Marcel , in the 2nd arrondissement , it is now part of
the yard of a elementary school .
The tower was built between 1409 and 1411 by the Duke of Burgundy , John the
Fearless, to strengthen his Paris home.
The civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians in full swing then.
On November 23, 1407, John the Fearless assassinated his cousin, Louis of
Orleans , brother of King Charles VI .
To protect himself from retaliation, he built this fortified tower 21 meters
tall in his hotel.
The hotel was originally built by Robert II of Artois in the late Thirteenth
century, leaning against the walls of Philippe Auguste .
He became the Hotel de Bourgogne in 1369 as a result of a union between the
families of Artois and Burgundy.
After the assassination of John the Fearless Montereau in
1419, the hotel remains in the family of the dukes of Burgundy, in 1477 until
the death of Charles the Bold .
The hotel tower then fell into disuse.
In the Seventeenth century , one theater, the Confraternity of the Passion,
moved to the Hotel de Bourgogne.
In 1866-1868, during the construction of the rue Etienne Marcel, that we
rediscover the tower, the only remnant of the old Hotel de Bourgogne.
It is classified under the Historic Monuments by a decree of 29 September 1884
, then restored in 1893 .
Outstanding elements of the tour include :
·
The large spiral staircase , inspired by that had built Charles V at the Louvre
(now defunct).
·
The plant decoration of the vault of stairs.
·
The reconstruction of latrines which was equipped each room.
·
The throne and the meeting room of John the Fearless.
Click here to see other pictures....
Click here to see other pictures....
Galerie Vivienne
Some of the most beautiful but most often over-looked gems of Paris are its
Passages and Galeries. These small, elegant arcades which date back to the
beginning of the 19th century, were inspired by the Arab Souks, or covered
markets, of the Middle East and North Africa. This is reflected in not only
architecture with its arches, rounded windows, domes and Egyption motifs, but
also in their original function which enabled shopkeepers to display their
wares, shoppers (especially women) to browse and buy and pedestrians to pass
from one area to another, under cover from the weather and away from the clamour
and dirt of the streets.
Most of the most interesting Passages and Galeries are located on the Rive
Droite, or Right Bank, in the Premier Arrondissement. But the best one of all is
in the centre of a square bounded by the landmarks, Palais Royal, La Bourse, La
Place des Victoires and La Bibliotheque Nationale. .
Galerie Vivienne, which runs between Rue Vivienne, Rue des Petits Peres and Rue
des Petits Champs, was the brainchild of Marchaux, then Deputy of La Chambre des
Notoires. It was begun in 1823 and opened to the Public in 1826. With its
beautiful mosaic floors, its wrought iron staircases, its glass rotundas and its
exotic, Arabian decoration, not to mention the sophisticated boutiques,
bookshops, salons de the and cafés, it was a favourite Parisian haunt until the
end of the Second Empire.
Today, Galerie Vivienne is home to a number of interesting modern boutiques but
still has those authentic, "old Paris" shops which sell letter paper, etchings,
pictures, as well as the fascinating and impossible to leave, bouquiniste,
Librairie Jousseaume. There are still elegant cafes and salons de the, like A
Priori, where the chocolat chaud and the cheesecake are legendary.
The Passages and Galeries are step back in time, away from the glaring, blaring,
fast-paced Paris of the 21st century, to another age, of quiet charm, gracious
style and elaborate decoration, for its own sake, to another, older Paris.
Passage Choiseul
Follows is another "passage" a bit different than Vivienne above. Passage Choiseul is tagged as a "high street", but here you will find a more casual setting and more "discount" stores, although that concept is not apparent in Paris. Just cheaper brands and less luxury. Still a very nice passage. There are many of these in the area...try them all! This is the only picture.
