Paris Day 4 – Bastille, Opera Bastille, Victor Hugo’s House, Jardin des Plantes, City of Lights

Our 4th day in Paris was Monday. Since we visited many of the major sites by this time, we reserved Monday as a day where we could see something new or go back to places that we liked. We kept the schedule open and picked out a few new places to go.

We decided we would like to see Victor Hugo’s home which had been turned into a museum. We got off at the Bastille Metro Station and saw a huge monument there called the July Column (pictured below).  The Opera House was on the side of the street we walked on.

The July Column marks the storming of the Bastille. From Wikipedia:

The Bastille was a fortress-prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. The event was commemorated one year later by the Fête de la Fédération. The French national holiday, celebrated annually on 14 July is officially the Fête Nationale, and officially commemorates the Fête de la Fédération, but it is commonly known in English as Bastille Day. Bastille is a French word meaning “castle” or “stronghold”, or “bastion”; used with a definite article (la Bastille in French, the Bastille in English), it refers to the prison.

The Bastille was built as the Bastion de Saint-Antoine during the Hundred Years’ War. The Bastille originated as the Saint-Antoine gate, but from 1370-1383, this gate was extended to create a fortess, to defend the east end of Paris and the Hôtel Saint-Pol royal palace. After the war, it was reused as a state prison, with Louis XIII the first king to send prisoners there.

The archives of the Bastille show that it largely held common criminals (forgers, embezzlers, swindlers, etc.), as well as people imprisoned for religious reasons (Protestants and Convulsionists) and those responsible for printing or writing forbidden pamphlets. People of high rank were sometimes held there too, and so the prison (which could only hold a little over 50 people) was far less sordid a place than most of the Parisian prisons. But the secrecy maintained around the Bastille and its prisoners gave it a sinister reputation.  (Source:  Bastille. (2008, October 4). In  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:46, October 5, 2008, from  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bastille&oldid=242983348)

The task to find Victor Hugo’s home proved challenging as the map showed that the house was on the corner of the round-a-bout at the July Column.  The house was no where to be seen.  We did find a sign pointing in the direction of the home.  We walked down the street.

We found a flower shop on the way, but still found it difficult without good signs to find Victor Hugo’s home. We kept walking and based on a description of the home/apartment where he lived, we turned down a street.

We thought for sure we had found the house because the home at the end of the street looked like the picture from the walking tour guide book we picked up at the airport. Little did we know…

Angie sat down at a little cafe to illustrate all the cafes we saw all over Paris.

We reached the redbrick structure at the end of the street and walking through a large arch in the building and saw a courtyard surrounded by buildings just like the one we walked under. Which one was Victor Hugo’s?

There was a lovely park in the square and we walked through it a couple times as we sought the home of Victor Hugo.  Again, we walked a lot trying to find where the museum was.

Under those red buildings, was a covered walkway all the way around the square.

We walked into a little garden which had an art exhibit. It was beautiful, and I believe it was called Sully.

We finally found Victor Hugo’s home! It was in one of the corners of the square. The funny thing was that the door was closed. After pressing the button to call in, we found out that the museum was closed on Mondays! So we got a picture of the entrance.

Since we could go in the museum, I have place a little bit about it below.  From Wikipedia:

The museum is in the Place des Vosges and dates from 1605 when a lot was granted to Isaac Arnauld in the south-east corner of the square. It was substantially improved by the de Rohans family, who gave the building its current name of Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée. Victor Hugo was 30 when he moved into the house in October 1832 with his wife Adèle. They rented a 280 square metre apartment on the second floor. The mansion was converted into a museum when a large donation was made by Paul Meurice to the city of Paris to buy the house.

The museum consists of an antechamber leading through the Chinese living room and medieval style dining room to Victor Hugo’s bedroom where he died in 1885. (Source:  Maison de Victor Hugo. (2008, September 24). In  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:49, October 5, 2008, from  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maison_de_Victor_Hugo&oldid=240778537)

On our way out, we stopped and went inside this beautiful cathedral.

We then decided to hop on the metro and go to the Jardin des Plantes.

The gardens were beautiful and very unique since they were a botanical garden and had exhibits from the natural history museum.  From Wikipedia:

The garden was originally planted by Guy de La Brosse, Louis XIII’s physician, in 1626 as a medicinal herb garden. It was originally known as the Jardin du Roi. In 1640 it opened to the public.

After a period of decline, Jean-Baptiste Colbert took administrative control of the gardens. Dr. Guy Crescent Fagon was appointed in 1693, and he surrounded himself with a team of brilliant botanists, including Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, Antoine de Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu and his son Adrien-Henri.

The Comte de Buffon became the curator in 1739 and he expanded the gardens greatly, adding a maze, the Labyrinth, which remains today. In 1792 the Royal Menagerie was moved to the gardens from Versailles. (Source: Jardin des Plantes. (2008, September 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:17, October 5, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jardin_des_Plantes&oldid=240778853)

Of course we had to take a picture next to the dinosaur which stood outside the Natural History Museum.

In the evening, our last evening in Paris, we decided to climb back up the steps to the Sacre Coeur Church.  We took a picture of the Eiffel Tower that can been seen from the top of the hill and lit by the sunset.  We ate dinner at Montmartre at a restaurant.  We had steak and French Fries in France!  The chocolate Mousse we had for dessert was incredible.  It was Angie’s birthday and we enjoyed eating out.  The other nights, we cooked our own food at the apartment since it’s expensive to eat out at restaurants.

The Sacre Coeur Church was beautiful at night.  You can see the steps in front of the Church below and there were still a lot of people there.  Many had dinners that the were eating there.

Even the walks in Paris were beautiful and especially so at night.  Below are the stairs leading down the street where we stayed.

Proceeding down our street, we were in awe of the simple beauty of the buildings and lights around us.

We decided to take the metro into the city and go back to Notre Dame and see if we could get a picture of the Rose Window lit at night.  The church was showing a film in the cathedral, so the inside wasn’t lit while we were there, but we took pictures there with our camera stand.

Notre Dame on the river was so beautiful at night.

We stood on the bridge just by the cathedral and took a picture.  Angie had purchased the scarf up at the shops at Montemartre that night.  It was a little chilly at night, and many many of the Parisians wore similar scarfs.  We really didn’t see many tourist shops on our trip, but there were a few in Montmartre, and so we picked up a couple souvenirs there.

Related Paris Posts:

Paris Day 1 – The Trip and Arrival

Paris Day 2 – The Louvre, Jardin Des Tuileries, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and Tour Eiffel

Paris Day 3 – Notre Dame, Palais du Luxembourg

Paris Day 4 – Bastille, Opera House, Victor Hugo’s Home, Jardin des Plantes, City of Lights

Paris Day 5 – Outside the Louvre and Return by Train

Paris, France Video