The Michelin Guide kindly told me that despite Jeanne D'Arc saving France from the nasty English, there are only four statues of her in Paris and moreover where to find them. But first I had to find the exact spot where she was wounded while trying to wrest Paris back for the French. There is a spot on the Rue St Honore where her head is carved above a doorway which was once a gate into Paris and I also found the gilded statue of her on horseback nearby in the Place des Pyramides (see last picture). One down, three to go! The reward for my self-appointed Joan of Arc mission however was to stumble across an amazing English bookshop opposite the Tuileries Gardens where I finally bought a copy of The Three Musketeers for which I have been searching for some time. I had a lovely wander around the Tuileries gardens, dutifully admiring all the statues that my Michelin guide recommended.
My next stop was the church of St Germain l'Auxerrois, not to be confused with St Germain des Pres, which is now my favorite church in Paris, perhaps in part due to its lovely Gothic porch and in part due to the fact that someone was playing classical guitar while I walked around it, which was very inspiring. It is also a little gloomy, peaceful and smells slightly of incense - just how I like my churches. As well, I had a puzzle to solve - which of its two towers was the Romanesque one? (quite a rare find in Paris). In most of the information on the Internet, people say it is the spectacular front tower which looks old but is obviously not Romanesque and was in fact only built a hundred or so years ago in the Gothic revival style. You have to go around behind the church to really view the Romanesque tower which is only slightly visible from the front. It is really lovely and I am grateful to my Michelin guide for pointing me in the right direction and giving me something to obsess about!
Fortunately the next Joan of Arc statue is located within walking distance of our apartment so I can easily find and admire it, as I need time to prepare our tiny apartment for a number of people who are coming over for dinner. I find I don't mind cooking so much if I don't have to do it very often and besides we have all this plunder from Normandy to consume. The guests did not leave until 2am but at least the calvados was finished and not entirely by me! Feeling a bit seedy, the next day I decided to do a gentle Michelin guide walk around St Germain, locating the spectacular Four Seasons Fountain (located bizarrely in a tiny side street) and finding the famous Procope cafe, which was frequented by Voltaire and all those other famous seventeeth century French intellectuals, where I had a genteel cup of Earl Grey tea.
Despite the rain, on the following day I bused out past the Gare St. Lazarre to find Joan of Arc statue number three, which I think is the best so far, as it has quotations from actual letters that she wrote (or had written for her as she was illiterate) and things that were said about her at her trial before she was burned alive - the poor poppet. The last statue of her may be the hardest to find as my guide is not terribly specific for once, but I will not be daunted never fear! On the way home I admired the architecture of the Louvre from the outside, which thanks again to my Michelin guide, I started to see the different architectural periods in which it was constructed by various Kings and Queens of France. Such fun for a history addict like myself!
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