I Love Touring Paris - The Eighth Arrondissement

I love touring Paris so much that I am doing a series on both the well known and the rarely visited tourist attractions of Paris's twenty arrondissements (districts). This article visits the eighth arrondissement in central Paris. We suggest French wine and food to increase your touring pleasure. The eighth arrondissement on Right Bank of the Seine River is part of the business and tourist center of Paris. Its land area is a tad under 1.5 square miles (about 3.9 square kilometers) and has a population of about forty thousand but hosts over one hundred seventy thousand jobs, the most of any Parisian district.

L'église de la Madeleine, often called la Madeleine is a church built to honor Napoleon’s army. Towards the end of the Twelfth Century the site contained a Jewish synagogue that was seized and consecrated as a Church dedicated to Mary Magdalene. In 1757 construction started on a new church, one demolished prior to completion. Then a new church was started but work ceased during the French Revolution. Napoleon and others got involved and finally the church was consecrated in 1842, almost one hundred years after rebuilding commenced. The building is Neo-Classical but inspired by a Roman temple at Nimes in the south of France. You can’t miss its fifty-two Corinthian columns, each twenty meters (over sixty feet) high.

The Madeleine’s organ is top of the line; the famous composers Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré were church organists. I am told that this is THE place to have your wedding and the list of Madeleine funerals is quite impressive including the likes of Chopin, Saint-Saëns, and Josephine Baker.

I Love Touring Paris - The Seventh Arrondissement

The seventh arrondissement is located on the Left Bank of the Seine River. It is home to several major government institutions and some very important tourist attractions. This district occupies about 1.6 square miles (slightly over 4 square kilometers) and has a population of almost 57 thousand people while hosting over 76 thousand jobs.

Some of the best jobs in this arrondissement are in the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly), the lower house of the French Parliament which consists of 577 elected members known as députés (deputies), each elected to represent a single-member constituency. The official seat of the National Assembly is the Palais Bourbon (Bourbon Palace) on the banks of the Seine River as well as some neighboring buildings.

The Eiffel Tower is perhaps Paris’s best-known landmark, recognized all over the world. This thousand foot (three hundred twenty meter) building, as tall as an eighty-story building, annually attracts over six million paying visitors. Once the tallest structure in the world it is now only the fifth tallest building in France. And yet year in year out more visitors pay to see it than any other monument in the world.

What does this Royal Caribbean Chef have to hide?

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I Love Touring Paris - The Sixth Arrondissement

The sixth arrondissement of central Paris is located on the Left Bank of the Seine River. Its area slightly exceeds a square mile (over 2 square kilometers) with a population of 45,000 and slightly fewer jobs. Like its neighbor the 5th arrondissement, the 6th is often known as the Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter) although it's been a long time since many have spoken Latin in either district. Its best-known part is the famous Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which in the years following World War II was the intellectual center of the world; home to philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Later on we'll talk about the district's world-famous cafes that they frequented.

On the subject of intellectuals, this arrondissement is home to l'Academie Francaise (the French Academy), the watchdog over the French language. For what it's worth I'm a strong believer in keeping the French language French and avoiding Franglais. The Academy was founded in 1635 by Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. It was suppressed by the French Revolution but brought back by Napoleon. The academy is an advisory body with no power to punish the many people and institutions that disrespect the French language. It holds only forty seats, some of which may be vacant waiting for a candidate acceptable to the sitting members. Normally membership is for life but some malfaiteurs (wrong doers) have been expelled; for example, given their association with the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II.

I Love French Wine and Food - A Red Côtes du Rhône

Among France’s eleven wine-growing regions the Rhône Valley ranks second in acreage. The region extends 125 miles (200 kilometers) along the Rhône River. This region is actually composed of two parts, the north and the south whose wines tend to be quite different. The northern Rhône Valley is quite narrow. The major red grape variety is Syrah, while the major white variety is Viognier. The southern Rhône Valley produces about 95% of the Rhône Valley wines. This is the kingdom of grape blending. For example the famous Châteauneuf-Du-Pape AOC wine may be made from up to thirteen different grape varieties. The better wines are clearly defined as coming from the northern or the southern part of the Rhône valley. We will be reviewing some of these wines in later articles.

The site of Avignon was probably settled by the Celts. It was a flourishing city in the time of the Ancient Romans. But it is best known as the home of seven popes between 1309 and 1377. Who would have thought that when Pope Clement V chose this southern French city for the site of his Papacy, it was ruled by the King of Sicily, albeit through the house of Anjou, in the opposite corner of France? Avignon and the surrounding area remained more or less papal property until the French Revolution. The major tourist site is the Palais des Papes (Papal Palace), which unfortunately is missing many of its original furnishings. But there is a lot more to see including several churches and museums, the beautiful hilltop garden Rocher des Doms (Rock of the Domes), the opera house, the Clocktower Square, and of course the Pont-St.-Bénézet (St.-Bénézet Bridge) made famous by a children’s song Sur le pont d’Avignon (On the Avignon bridge). Parts of this bridge are said to date back to the Twelfth Century. And you’re only a little more than ten miles (less than twenty kilometers) from the village of Châteauneuf-Du-Pape.