Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
Find me on Facebook 2011
Paris Journal ← Previous Next
→ Go back to the beginning
|
As we were strolling down the boulevard de la Tour Maubourg, something stopped us dead in our tracks: a strange façade on a small storefront, on an otherwise normal, handsome Haussmannian apartment building at number 82. It had those fine, thinner bricks with stone coining, two small stained/leaded glass windows with iron grills, and old wood double door protected by an outer glass door. Above the brick was some decorative stonework that included what I thought was a hairy pig but Tom thought was more likely a porcupine, with a crown hovering over it. Very weird. I pulled out the camera and began to photograph it. A woman wearing a tourist-like knapsack came up and also pulled out her camera. She started to address us in French, but then when she heard us speaking to each other, she switched to English. An American, she was. She asked if we knew what this place was. I said no, I had no idea. But I knew I’d be able to find out – on the internet, this morning. First, I found a piece about the façade in a web site for the history of the 7th arrondissement. Tom was right; the animal in the symbol is a porcupine. The emblem is that of an order of knights. L’Ordre du Porc-Épic
(the Order of the Porcupine) was started by Louis de France Duc d’Orleans (the second son
of King Charles V) in 1343, on the occasion of the baptism of Charles d’Orleans, his oldest son. The porcupine was selected to show Jean Duc de Bourgogne, the mortal enemy of Louis de France Duc d’Orleans, that he would
avenge the enemy’s defiances and ruin the enemy’s
evil plans. The motto for this order
of knights was “cominus et eminus,”
meaning “from near and from far” (noting the belief that the porcupine can
shoot its needles at those who offend it).
[Source: http://www.paristoric.com/fr/paris-visite/tourisme-arrondissements/paris-7eme-arrondissement/848-paris-7eme-le-porc-epic-a-paris.html?&tmpl=component
] This emblem is also found on Louis XII’s château of Blois (see photos of it there at http://his.nicolas.free.fr/Histoire/Monuments/Chateaux/Blois/AileLouisXIIEmbleme.html ). Although Louis XII used the emblem, he disbanded the Order of the Porcupine in the 1490s. When the order existed, Louis de France declared himself as the grand master of it; in addition to him, there were 25 knights in the order. Although Louis XII ended the Order of the Porcupine, it seems to pop up again now and then. Now, for example, there seems to be some sort of game called the Order of the Porcupine, that has something of a cult following the way Dungeons and Dragons did. The façade on number 82 boulevard de la Tour Maubourg is probably from some earlier (early 20th Century?) revival of the Order. The protective glass door seems not to have been opened or cleaned in a long time. Litter collects between it and the wooden doors. The small windows are covered in newspaper on the inside. The last real knights of the Order of the Porcupine who existed in the mid-1400s included a man named Lorens de Lignières. I have a friend in Sanibel with that last name – interesting! I think the name belonged to her ex-husband. I’ll have to ask her about it sometime. According to a Flickr photographer named RUAMPS, this façade at 82 boulevard de la Tour Maubourg was a boutique called “Au Louis XII.” I think it is strange for a boutique to have such small windows, with iron grills, that you cannot really see through. But maybe . . . . We continued walking down the boulevard until we were stopped in our tracks once again, this time by the beautiful décor of a Moroccan restaurant. I took a couple photos, and then asked a man working there if I could please have a card (carte de maison). He happily gave me two. On the agenda for the evening was a walk-by for a few of the restaurants mentioned in the Bonjour Paris article about places open in August. The first, the Arpege, on the corner of the rue de Varenne and the rue de Bourgogne, was outrageously expensive, and you couldn’t even see what it was like inside, even though the menu was posted outside. If we are going to spend that much money, we are going to Tour d’Argent or someplace else that we’ve heard about. I’ve never known anyone who dined at Arpege, and I don’t trust reviews in publications that rely on advertising. We enjoyed the rue de Bourgogne and its charming shop windows. Then we found ourselves at the rue Saint Dominique, the street that is home to the three restaurants owned by the Constant family. But the address for their restaurants was not near; we had to walk for some distance before we arrived there. We arrived in time (7PM) to see the staff open the doors for Les Cocottes and Café Constant – the two Constant establishments where one does not need a reservation. People had been in line, waiting for these places to open. The real restaurant, Violon d’Ingres (135 rue Saint Dominique) would not open until 8PM, and reservations would be required. We went on, because we were not yet ready for dinner, and because I wasn’t so sure about Les Cocottes and Café Constant. The clientele so far looked like people who were mainly looking for inexpensive dinners. They didn’t look savvy. It took a while, but we finally circled back to the beautiful Moroccan place, Dat Lyakout, at 94 boulevard de la Tour Maubourg. There I ate the best tagine I’ve ever had – a healthy, piping hot, and well-seasoned variety of vegetables with perfectly roasted chicken -- and Tom had very good grilled lambchops and fries. Tom finished with a fascinating millefeiulle of pear dessert. The delight of the evening was the beautiful sunset sky, and the views of the Eiffel Tower and École Militaire that went with it, as we walked home after dinner. |
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Seemingly,
an outpost of the Order of the Porcupine, but maybe a former boutique called
Au Louis XII.
Beautiful
interior of Dat Lyakout,
a Moroccan restaurant.
Tagine
poulet maison at Dat Lyakout.
Tom’s
millefeuille
pear dessert was not too sweet.
The
Eiffel Tower and École Militaire
as we were walking home down the avenue Lowendal.
|
