6TH ARR-CLOSERIE DES LILAS-RUE DU CHERCHE MIDI-HOTEL LUTETIA
Jack
http://i.am/jack_travel and on http://home.earthlink.net/~primos
WALKING IN THE 6TH ARR-CLOSERIE DES LILAS-RUE DU CHERCHE MIDI-HOTEL
LUTETIA
Leaving Zadkine museum, get to the Boulevard Montparnasse, quite near
and have a stop at the famous brasserie "LA CLOSERIE DES LILAS" at
no.171. It has the pretension of serving the best "Steack Tartare" of
Paris, which seems a to me greatly exaggerated. But this is the place
to be SEEN. Reporters, actors and debuting writers. So trendy and all
this because of a glorious past. Don't forget in which illustrious
footsteps you walk when you get in!!
It started with Verlaine in the 19th century. The Closerie was not
more than a common tavern where they could dance in the garden during
the summer. Some day, the owner, still seeing his tavern being empty
except a couple of quite and silent gentlemen playing chess, said,
"C'est encore le vide!". What he didn't know that these two men were
Trotsky and Lenine. In the twenties the brasserie became the meeting
place of the surrealists, which degenerated regularly into fierce
battles, (real ones with boxing, foot kicking, face slapping and
injuries!). Some anecdotes are written in the memoires of movie
director Luis Bunuel, also a regular customer. One of the great
controversies was if you could marry a German woman so soon after the
war.
When the brasseries "Le Dome " and "La Coupole" started their
activities, the atmosphere became quiet in the Closerie. Ernest
Hemingway appreciated that calm and came often to write his novels. He
lived right around the corner, no.112 rue Notre-Dame -des-Champs. Ezra
Pound lived at no 70 bis. Theatre writer Alfred Jarry shot once an
mirror into thousand pieces and uttered then the historical sentence"
Maintenant que la glace est rompue, causons!" (now the the ice is
broken, let's talk!) --glace can mean mirror or ice in French-- A
copper plate with the name of the celebrities is pinned on the seats
where it is supposed they sit. After this anecdotal interlude let's
proceed to the rue du Cherche-Midi.
Let's start at the carrefour Croix-Rouge, corner of rue du Four-rue de
Grenelle. The street has a sinuous tracé and is lined with new trendy
boutiques, antique shops and restaurants of which the famous "Nemrod",
where Earl goes often to dinner. But look at the houses, elegant
hotels particuliers with private courtyards. Nice facades like the
ones at nos.18, 19 and the splendid hotel of 1710 of Rochambeau at
no.40, victor of the battle of Yorktown. (American Independence War).
He lived there in 1779(nice door and staircase) At no.44 l'Abbe
Gregoire, emancipator of the Jews and Blacks during the Revolution
died in 183. At the corner of the rue de 'l'Abbe Gregoire is the
hotel Laennec ( inventor of the stethoscope!!). At no.72 and 86 also
nice courtyards, gardens and fountains. At no.85, a charming small
museum in the chic Petit hotel de Montmorency-Bours, the musee HEBERT,
a French painter (1817-1908) considered as an expert in Italian
landscape paintings. At no.89, the Grand hotel de Montmorency (1756),
famous for being the residence of Madame Sans-Gene, a mistress of
Napoleon. Today it's the embassy of Mali.
To finish our St.Germain trip, a few anecdotes about the famous
hotel Lutetia, 45 Boulevard Raspail. From an architectural and
decorative standpoint it's a fabulous hotel. Certain sculptures on the
facade are from Paul Belmondo (father of Jean Paul Belmondo).. General
de Gaulle and his wife had their honeymoon there. But during WWII the
hotel was the H.Q. of the Gestapo. Hence the owner walled the caves
containing his best wines in until the day a German officer found an
old menu where excellent vintages were proposed!! Very bad hours
(torture and all the works!!) for the hotel staff to find out where
this treasure was hidden......no one talked! French are very serious
when their dearest patrimony is in jeopardy (1st grand cru Bordeaux
wines!). In 1945 the Lutetia was a reception centre for the
concentration camp deportees, the rooms transformed into infirmaries.
Today the Lutetia is a hotel again with a splendid art-deco interior.
The French government houses here often foreign high visitors like
prime ministers.
Bibliography: Vie et histoire des arrondissements de Paris, ed.Hervas,
1985-1988, 20 volumes- Le piéton de Paris, by L.P. Fargue,
ed.Gallimard 1997-Rive Gauche, une expérience unique, by Cl.Evrard,
ed.Albin 1991--- Guide du Routard Paris 1998-99 -Dictionnaire
historique des rues de Paris, by J.Hillairet, ed.Minuit 1985, Musées
insolites, Jean Hermann ed.Lemaitre1995
My Paris,Provence and Cote d'Azur posts are open again at
http: http://i.am/jack_travel WITH pictures and at
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