Simi bought a little smoothie juice, I think mainly because it had a knitted beanie on it. Very good marketing!
We got on the RER train line and took a journey 45mins out of town to Poissy, to visit one of the masterpieces of 20th century architecture, the Villa Savoie
On the train ride out we went thru La Defense and we got a small glimpse of the Grand Arche in the new business district. Another interesting thing about the journey out of Paris is you get to see the importance of the Seine River, as it snakes back and forth through the Parisian basin.
We arrive in Poissy, and catch a bus to the villa. Now the next few paragraphs will have a lot of 'archi wank lingo' so my apologies!
We got there early and wandered the site and surrounds as well as the internal rooms and spaces ourselves. At first the feeling you get is that the place is pretty drab and run down. It's a bit lifeless, and so I was a little disappointed at first. However upon visiting one of the rooms which had photos if it's past uses and told the story if it's occupation by nazis in WWII you get a greater appreciation and sympathy for the life of the building.
I must say, even now, 80 odd years after it was built, there are many elements that are still cutting edge and modern, particularly the open bathroom ensuite in main bedroom.
Luckily we did stay for the tour. It's was a new light on the building, in particular it's history and it's occupants, the rich Savoie Family. I love how passionate the tour guides are when you visit these sorts of places. They're fanatical yet its so endeering! What's more the sun began to break through the overcast skies and it lit up the place, making me feel thankful for Sim wanting us to stay. The tour was great, it explained the new architectural ideas within the building such as the architectural promenade and the 5 points of modern architecture, but it also went into more intimate details of how the family occupied the building and there relationship with the servants quarters on the lower level.
By the time we left the building had started to become alive to me. It want just an object and space there to be photographed but it had a story and a life of its own, one that changed with the seasons and one that had been rescued from death and demolition in the 60s.
It was now early afternoon and we got the train back into Paris and down to the Catacombs at the lower part of the 6th arrondissement. These were old limestone mining and quarry tunnels and the stone was used to build most of Paris' main buildings, like Notre Dame. When Paris' main cemetery in Les Halles reached capacity in the 18th century, the graves were dug up and the bones were relocated here.
I must admit I'm not a fan of enclosed underground tunnels. The fear of cave ins scares the sh.t out of me. At one point on the tour however, Sim said I passed wind. Though I maintain I didn't, as you should never fart in tight enclosed spaces.
The most torturous part of the tour was getting out, as we had to climb back up 320 more spiral steps. With a backpack on this was no mean feat, purely because it was so tight and narrow. We made it to the top and popped out in some back street of town.
We found our way back to the train station and made our way to St Michel Notre Dame.
It was now drizzling with rain, however I felt like ice cream. The lonely planet book suggested this place not far from Notre dame called Maison Berthillon, however when we got there it was closed and it was raining harder. So we headed home for a nap. A nap turned into a sleep and before we knew it, it was late at night. We must've needed the sleep.
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