Day 7 – The Marais, Saint Germaine des Pres, and the Museum of the History of Medicine
(Continued from Day 6)

Le Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine is one of my favorite finds in all of my time in France. I’d never even heard of it ’til an American friend posted a link to it on my blog, asking me if I’d been there. I sure hadn’t, and I made plans to go right away! I’ve always been a huge fan of medical museums and sought them out in all my travels (my favorites so far being the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia and the Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum in Berlin), and I’m pleased to report that le Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine did not disappoint! It’s a relatively small but absolutely fascinating museum if you’re into creepy medical stuff. The place only takes about 45 minutes or an hour to see, and it’s delightfully weird.

The Musée is full of things like scary old medical instruments, creepy medical models, strange prosthetic limbs, and more. One of the strangest and coolest items, which you’d totally miss if you’re not looking for it, is a small circular table right by the staircase to go up to the second floor. At a glance, the little table doesn’t seem too noteworthy, but take a closer look. It’s got an intricate design under the glass top, which is made entirely of human body parts, with a real human foot as the centerpiece. Seriously:
– See more at: http://www.coolstuffinparis.com/musee-dhistoire-de-la-medecine.php#sthash.FfkX6cRO.dpuf

After breakfast we tackled the first item on our busy itinerary: explore the Marais.  When the Ile de la Cite became overcrowded in the 17th century, it was here, the Marais, where the wealthy Parisians moved.
Over the years, it became the center of the city’s Jewish community, although today the gay and lesbian community have adopted the area.   In this nabe, you find hip boutiques, busy cafes, trendy art galleries, narrow streets, leafy squares, Jewish bakeries, aristocratic chateaux, and real Parisians.

Our walk starts at Place de la Bastille.  This is where the famous Bastille fortress stood. Though virtually nothing remains (you can just make out a faint cobblestone outline of the Bastille’s round turrets traced in the pavement where Rue St. Antoine hits the square), it was on this spot where history turned.  On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille and released its seven prisoners.  This dramatic triumph of citizens over royalty ignited all of France and inspired the Revolution.  Over the next few months, the Parisians demolished the stone prison brick by brick.

Behind it is the Opera Bastille, with its flashy glassy gray facade.  It was opened on July 14th, 1989, the 200th Bastille Day.  Tickets are heavily subsidized to encourage the unwashed masses to attend.

We headed down the Rue St. Antoine, about four blocks into the Marais.  We pass the statue of Beaumarchais.  He lived bar here, made watches for Louis XV, wrote The Marriage of Figaro (which Mozart turned into an opera), and smuggled guns to freedom fighters in both the American and French Revolutions.

Nobles entered the courtyard by horse drawn carriages, and then parked under the arches in the courtyard. The courtyard separated the mansion from the very noisy street.

Beyond the first courtyard is a second courtyard, and way in the corner is a little door.  If you go through the door, it leads you to one of Paris’s finest (it’s also the oldest) squares, the Place des Vosges.

In the center is a statue of Louis XIII, on horseback.  Surrounding him are locals enjoying their community park.

 In the museum courtyard not far from the fountain, a street artist was creating a sidewalk mural.  His big ol’ dog was oblivious.

Continuing on, we reached the Hôtel de Ville.  This is Paris’ city hall.  It’s been the center of city government since 1357.  Each of Paris’ 20 arrondissements has its own city hall and mayor.  This one is the big daddy of all of them.

This is Paris’ most beautiful, interesting, and enjoyable garden.  It’s the perfect place to watch Parisians being themselves.  It’s 60 acres big and loaded with fountains and statues. 

There, on the right, in the picture below, is the Luxembourg Palace.  There’s a certain justice in the fact that the former palace, built between 1615 and 1627 for the widow of Henry IV, is now home to the democratically elected French Senate. 

Luxembourg Garden has pretty specific rules governing its use.  There are rules regarding where cards can be played, where dogs can be walked, where joggers can run, and where (and when) music can be played.  There are brilliant flower beds that are completely changed three times a  year, and the boxed trees are brought out of the orangerie in May.  Honey is made here for the orangerie by bees that are kept in beehives that have been here since 1872.

In one section of the Garden, I found the Medici Fountain.  Totally beautiful.  It’s a monumental fountain, built by Marie de Medici, the widow of King Henry IV in 1630.  It was moved to its present location and extensively rebuilt in 1864 – 1866.

Delacroix has a few murals here. the most famous is the Jacob Wrestling the Angel.  The two grapple in a leafy wood that echoes the wrestlers’ rippling energy.  Jacob fights the angel to a standstill, bringing him a well-earned blessing for his ordeal.  The shepherd Laban and his daughter Rachel (Jacob’s future wife) hover in the background. The glare makes it a little hard to see.  The painting is also is some disrepair, and there was a sign nearby asking for donations to help with the restoration of the paintings.

 

 

 

Strolling around the neighborhood afterward, I came upon another veterinary clinic.  I like how every veterinary clinic in Paris has the standard cross-shaped sign out front, similar to the way you see a barber pole outside of every hair salon.

Inside the University is the Musee D’Histoire De La Medecine, the Museum of the History of Medicine.  I’ve always liked medical museums, especially the Vrolik Museum in Amsterdam.  This one is filled with creepy models, scary instruments, and painful drawings and descriptions.

And how about this table?  It looks pretty unassuming, but this table is actually composed of human body parts, with an actual human foot as the centerpiece.  Grotesque!

Here are a few impressive anatomical models.  The wooden one on the left has an interesting history. It was made by Felice Fontana for use in anatomy lectures. In 1796, during th First Italian Campaign, Bonaparte asked Fontana, the director of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II’s Natural History collection, to make him a wooden model body for the Paris Ecole de Santé. The model was made in 1799 and comprises several hundred pieces made of popular representing the organs and muscles of the human body.  The entire thing can be taken apart me into hundreds of pieces.

I found a French version of the Merck Manual, and a cool surgery text.

We headed back toward the Seine, before leisurely making our way back to our hotel.  The view down the Seine was lovely.

We crossed the Seine at the Pont des Arts.  The bridge is famous for lovers who affix padlocks to the bridge’s iron grillwork. 

I knew about this bridge, and I wanted to put a padlock on here with my and Mark’s initials on it, but I never ended up taking the lock with me.  It’s a good thing I didn’t, because city workers recently dismantled the wire mesh panels on which hundreds of lovers professed their undying love in what they thought would be a permanent statement.  After attaching the lock, you’re supposed to throw the key into the Seine. Bruno Julliard, the deputy mayor in charge of culture, supervised the removal of the locks.  He tried to be sensitive to the feelings of those who had placed them there, saying that Paris was still “the capital of love, the capital of romance.” But he urged people to find other ways to express their fervency.

She was resting pretty comfortably on a chair, but didn’t mind me paying her a little attention.