Paris Journal 2013 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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The art
galleries and antique shops of the rue de Seine and environs are
organized. They often have special
“events” at various times of the year, and they have banners designed and
hung for each one at many places along each block. The current
“event” is promoting the sale of African art.
Dealers have brought in new art from Africa for the shows, and there
are very friendly men from Africa standing here and there on the sidewalks,
saying bonjour, and trying to stop
you to engage in conversation, with the goal of selling you some African art. Tom stopped and
had one of these conversations. I
don’t like sales pitches, so I just returned smiles and “bonjours” and kept
going on my way. Many of the
galleries were stuffed with people, but not so much the ones with a lot of
African art. I’m not sure why. The exhibits that I saw through the windows
were interesting and appealing. When we reached
the end of the rue de Seine, we walked under some scaffolding covering the
façade of an old building on the Quai Malaquais. As always, I remembered to look up. There I saw a plaque on the wall telling us
that this had been the home of Alexander von Humboldt for a while. This German explorer and scientist
preferred Paris as a home base; he reluctantly returned to Berlin when the
court asked him to come back. What a glorious
place to live in Paris! He was right
next to the Institut de France (of which he was a member), and his building
faced the Seine. Alexander von
Humboldt was known for his work in biogeography; he influenced Darwin. His father had married a wealthy widow, and
this enabled Alexander to make a number of voyages to places like Latin
America. He even lived in Mexico City
for a while. His last
excursion was a short trip to Italy with his friend Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac
for the purpose of studying the law of magnetic declination. Then it was time to settle down and work on
editing and publishing his massive volume of studies. This task, which he thought would take two
years, took more than two decades. He
did this work in Paris. Humboldt had a
holistic view of nature, and not everyone agreed with his approach. He also was vocal in his criticism of
colonial policies including slavery and the treatment of native Americans. He had to
return to Berlin in 1827, and there he lived until he had a massive stroke in
1859. He never married. Several
creatures are named after Humboldt: a
penguin, a squid, a skunk, a cranesbill, a monkey, and a dolphin. Also, a number of plants are named after
him: a lily, an orchid, an oak, fruit
tree, a bladderwort, and a willow. And
there are places named for Humboldt: a
bay, a harbor, an ocean current, a glacier, a river, a couple mountains, a
couple mountain ranges, a lake bed, a sinkhole, a waterfall, a hacienda,
eight American towns, three American counties, several parks, lots of schools
and streets, and much more, I’m sure. Edgar Allan Poe
dedicated his prose poem, “Eureka,” to Humboldt. There’s a Humboldt lecture series and a
Humboldt Foundation. Finally, there is
a ship called the Alexander von Humboldt.
A number of
famous people said some amazing things about Humboldt. My favorite is Thomas Jefferson, who said,
“I consider him the most important scientist whom I have met.” Robert Ingersoll said, “He was to science
what Shakespeare was to the drama.” Always remember
to look up as you walk through Paris. Our dinner was
around the corner at Amore et Gelosia on rue Mazarine. This Italian food was delicious and
creative, and the service was excellent, but we were seated in an almost
windowless chamber that had a bad infestation of gnats. Gnats.
I’d hoped to avoid them – especially at dinnertime. |
Saturday, September 14, 2013
A
man smoking a pipe on the Quai Malaquais reminded
me of my father, who used to smoke a pipe and occasionally had a beard like
this, but usually trimmed shorter.
The
side of the Institut de France building.
Scaloppa al Tartufo (above) was veal
scaloppini with black truffle sauce, ravioli, and sautéed vegetables. Scaloppa Milanese,
below, came with a fine purée of potatoes.
A
raspberry dessert and a chocolate dessert at Amore et Gelosia.
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