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| ISBN-13: | 9781741155662 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Allen & Unwin Pty., Limited |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2002 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
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My Other World
By Margaret Whitlam
Allen & Unwin
Copyright © 2001 Margaret Whitlam, Anne Krone and John WellingsAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-74115-566-2
CHAPTER 1
The Heart of France
Sitting high in a coach was a different way for me to travel from Charles de Gaulle airport to downtown Paris. I had made the journey often before, but it had usually been in an Embassy car. This time I had thirty people who were depending on me to show them something of France. In the next three weeks we would not only explore Paris, but travel through the very heart of the country.
As we headed towards the city through the mists of the early morning I could make out the church of the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre and it seemed to be beckoning to us. People were starting to move around the streets and shops of their arrondissements — they are much more like separate villages than suburbs. There is always a sense of excitement for me in arriving in Paris. I could feel that excitement now, despite some apprehension about my new responsibilities in leading a group, but I certainly knew that I have a special love for France.
Our hotel, Jardin de Cluny, was located near the Musée Cluny on the left bank of the Seine, and as soon as I had settled in I slipped out to explore that neighbourhood. One of the delightful things about Paris is that wherever you are there is a shop nearby which sells baguettes and another for cheeses and other things needed for a snack or light lunch. The wines range from those that are cheaper than the bottled water to really fine regional selections. The shops are uniquely French, quite different to a corner store or deli in Australia, or even other parts of Europe. Part of their appeal is the rather jolly shopkeeper who usually speaks good English, but responds warmly to a 'Bonjour, Monsieur' or a 'Bonsoir, Madame.'
Betty was one of the participants on our first tour, and she is one of those you will meet again. She was such a pleasant person to have with us, always friendly and helpful and on for a bit of fun. For years she had owned a chocolate shop in Mosman, on Sydney's lower north shore, and she greeted people with a quite delicious smile. One of the nice things about people like Betty is that they appreciate arrangements made for them. After a few days in Paris Betty announced that she needed only two words of French. 'What are they?' I asked. '"Magnifique" and "merci". I go into a shop and say "magnifique". Someone comes running over and asks what I would like. I say "merci" and I can get whatever I want.' Betty knew how to get on with people.
The afternoon we arrived we went on a coach tour of the city — always a delight for me. For many of the group it was their first time here and I looked forward to showing them my favourite places. We were soon crossing the Seine and stopping at that grandest of buildings, the Notre Dame de Paris with its twin bell towers, statues and flying buttresses. We drove on past the Louvre and into the Rue de Rivoli. As we passed the Tuileries Gardens I pointed out l'Orangerie where we would return later to see the Monet water lilies and other great art works. From the Place de la Concorde we travelled up the magnificent Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Crossing back to the left bank we came to the Eiffel Tower, leading down to the Champs de Mars and the Ecole Militaire. Beyond is the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with which I was very familiar. Near the Eiffel Tower is the Australian Embassy, which had been home to Gough and me for nearly four years.
I had been invited to take the group to the Australian Embassy so that all could see the superb view of Paris from the rooftop. The embassy had been purpose-built in the 1970s to a Harry Seidler design, and we had lived there in the mid 1980s, when Gough had been Australia's Ambassador to UNESCO. In those days an invitation to our quarters was much sought after on evenings such as 14 July, when the fireworks were virtually in our front yard. During the daytime there is a great view across the Seine to the Palais de Chaillot, with its fountains and handsome bronze sculptures in front of the colonnaded buildings. I couldn't help feeling a little homesick for our old abode.
The big white church of Sacré Coeur looms large at the top of Montmartre, and both it and the square beside it are a sometime refuge for Parisians and visitors alike. It is possible to walk there, either up a great flight of stairs or by meandering along winding streets, but it is easier in the funicular! The square is surrounded by cafés, their brightly coloured tables spilling right across the cobblestones. It is a gathering place for painters, though only some of them are any good — I once sat in on the drawing of a child whose parents were delighted to pay almost any amount. The result was lovely — for them and for me!
Dinner on the first night of the tour was at one of those uniquely French restaurants in Rue Lepic leading to Montmartre. Our first-time visitors really knew they were in Paris when the first course of escargots arrived followed by lapin served with a delicious sauce. Some needed large gulps of wine to wash down the snails and rabbit, but none baulked at the different cuisine.
John and Anne were with me as the tour managers, of course, and on the second day they asked me to tell the group about my experience of living in Paris, a talk I called 'Living in Paris and loving it'. Those were very important years for UNESCO because the US and Britain had both withdrawn from membership and, as Australia's Ambassador, Gough had worked hard to keep Canada, in particular, and other nations involved. He was the Deputy Chairman of the World Heritage Committee and this was a time when many of the now famous listed sites were under consideration. I enjoyed my role in supporting him in these tasks, and particularly in meeting representatives from so many countries.
Of course it is often the simple things that stick most in your mind. I would tell the groups that in my free time during those years I loved visiting the great shopping complexes like Printemps or Galeries Lafayette and enjoyed the bus trips to these places — on my carte orange, a weekly bus and metro pass. I would also talk about my favourite Sunday treat of a subscription concert at the Théâtre du Rond Point, with musicians from near and far. Held between eleven and twelve-thirty, it was then possible to lunch very nicely in the restaurant below the concert hall. At other times we would travel home by metro or by bus, which I actually preferred, picking up fresh walnut bread, cheese and maybe some raspberries to go with the chicken casserole waiting in the oven. Such a good Sunday!
Australians visiting Europe for the first time often have unfounded fears that it will be very cold, but even in the coldest weather hotels, theatres and restaurants are warmed to a comfortable temperature, so we encouraged people to dress in layers, which would enable them to shed an outer coat or jumper if necessary. Thermal underwear can be a real hazard, a fact that was confirmed on one of our first tours in France when we arrived one cold night at a warm restaurant. Halfway through the meal one woman fainted. We got her to a private room where Anne, who is trained in first aid, routinely loosened the clothing around her neck. She then realised the apparent cause of the problem — the woman was being cooked. She revived shortly afterwards, though she probably still wonders how the thermal underwear she wore to the restaurant came to be in her handbag when she got back to the hotel.
We took the group to several museums, and made sure that they had time to visit the Louvre on their own — it is so big that it is hard to take a group through successfully. The Musée d'Orsay was the favourite for most of our people as it contains nineteenth and twentieth century French art. The ground floor has magnificent paintings and sculpture in more traditional styles. However, soon everyone migrated to the galleries of the French Impressionists. I always find myself lingering in front of the Renoirs, particularly his two paintings 'Country Dance' and 'City Dance'.
During the nineties I led four tours in France. On one of these we looked specifically at the Impressionist painters, spending time in Paris and Provence. Naturally we saw a whole range of the works of Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Matisse, and I was reminded to re-read Emile Zola's 'L'Oeuvre' (The Masterpiece) about the bitchiness of the art world in their time.
The Musée Marmottan is probably the best place to experience the art of Claude Monet, so naturally we made a visit. Paul Marmottan, an art historian, gave his nineteenth century family house, together with his paintings and furniture collection, to France in 1932. Then in 1971 Claude Monet's son, Michel, gave a huge collection of his father's works to the museum. They included the famous painting 'Impression: Sunrise' which gave the name 'Impressionists' to Monet and his contemporaries. A great many of the paintings in the water lilies series are at the Marmottan.
Other paintings in this series are to be found in the Musée de l'Orangerie, one of the small pavilions each side of the Tuileries gardens at the Place de la Concorde. Here you will also find well-known works by Renoir, Cézanne, Modigliani and Picasso. The lower ground floor has two rooms filled with what I call wraparound panels of the water lilies planted and painted at Giverny, Monet's house in the country. They never cease to delight, nor does the final part of my Monet tour — at Giverny itself. Here there are no original paintings, but there is a reconstruction of the studio in his charming provincial house, and the well-maintained gardens are enchanting.
On our first tours we stayed, as I have mentioned, at the Hotel Jardin de Cluny. Not only is it in the Latin quarter, but it is right near the Musée Cluny and the Panthéon. Other times we have stayed at the Hôtel Duminy-Vendôme and the Hôtel St James et Albany, both close to the Louvre on one side and the Madeleine and the opera house on the other. We always avoid the larger hotels that cater for bus-loads of tourists. Such hotels may be convenient, but they lack the special atmosphere that is Paris.
I have a friend from my days at the Australian Embassy, Alice Gay, who usually joined our groups for an evening out in Paris. Although she grew up in Sydney, Alice has been in Paris for so long that she really belongs there now. Indeed, she has a super little flat in the chic 7th arrondissement, just above the equally chic Rue Cler market. She loves the social and cultural life, and sings in one of the Paris choirs. It was Alice who suggested that we spend an evening on the bateaux mouches, those big boats which serve dinner as they move quietly along the Seine. The food is good and properly French. Paris looks so different from the river. There are grand floodlit views of Notre Dame and so many other buildings — the Australian Embassy looks quite noble!
No matter when one visits Paris there is always a range of theatre and music available. We usually managed at least one performance — and mostly they were very good. Opera is now only seen at the Opéra Bastille, and we took one group there for Iphigenie en Tauride, the story of the daughter of the Greek king Agamemnon. Iphigenie moved most uncomfortably around the stage on six-inch high platform soles. Betty, who found most things to be 'magnifique', was very concerned: 'That girl needs to see a good podiatrist', she said. I noted in my diary: 'Great performers; terrific sets; dramatic colours; peculiar production.' I must say that we have also seen some first class opera there. Ballet in the old opera house — the Palais Garnier, which has been beautifully restored — is an alternative.
Some of the better concerts in Paris are those presented in old churches. The Saint Chapelle provides a beautiful backdrop and has excellent acoustics. We have attended some very memorable concerts in that church, usually just before sunset when one can appreciate the depth of colour in the magnificent stained glass windows.
For those who had not been to France before we tried to include a visit to the Palace of Versailles. Arriving at the parking area, the sight of several hectares of coaches patiently waiting for their disgorged passengers prepared us for the disappointment that we would not be there on our own. In fact the Palace of Versailles hosts more tourists each year than any other site in the whole of Europe. So many visitors come in the tourist season that only a small proportion of them manage to get into the famous Hall of Mirrors. The enormous palace built by Louis XIV is, by any standard, one of the grandest buildings in the world and it's set in one of the finest gardens. It has also been the scene of some of the most significant historical events. It was here that the treaty ending the American War of Independence was signed in 1783. It was also here that the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871 and Europe was restructured at the end of World War I, culminating in the Treaty of Versailles. No other palace in France has either the grandeur or the historical connections which make Versailles a must to visit.
Another out of town journey that we have often included is to Chartres and its famous cathedral. The present cathedral was started in the twelfth century, although five other churches had previously existed on that site. Its size and architecture are very impressive, but the special attraction is the stained glass windows. A luminescent blue glass, known as Chartres Blue, features in the fine old windows. An Englishman named Malcolm Miller has made a study of this cathedral his life's work and we have been fortunate to have had him as the guide for our groups — not that he suffers any interruptions to his dissertations!
On our first tours of France we started our travels in Paris. We noticed that those who had not visited Europe before could feel rather overwhelmed by this wonderful but often frantic city. With ten million people it is the largest city in Europe, and more than twice as large as Sydney. Planning a later visit with the theme 'Heart of France' we decided to conclude, rather than start, in the capital. It would give our people the opportunity to get used to the French way of doing things before arriving in the great city.
On that tour we wanted to take part in the Anzac Day commemorations in the north of France, but to take advantage of warmer weather we preferred to travel in May. It was another good reason for concluding the tour in Paris. We flew into Charles de Gaulle airport and travelled immediately to Amiens, the main city of Picardie. The coach waiting for us at the airport was driven by Richard, whose only English consisted of the words 'no problem'. We communicated with him in French, but he really did have an amazing ability to understand us and what we wanted. We conducted many more tours in France, and always made sure that Richard was with us. He was an excellent driver, negotiating the sometimes tortuous roads without causing alarm as he took us around in his big white bus with blue and grey stripes on each side. I appreciated the little wooden step he produced to make climbing into the coach easier. Our groups loved him.
Richard had us at the Grand Hôtel de l'Univers in Amiens in time for lunch. The hotel had offered to prepare one sandwich for each person, and we'd wondered whether one sandwich each would be enough, but of course it turned out to be a very sizeable half baguette. Amiens is not on the itinerary for most Australian tourists, except near Anzac Day. It was the home of Jules Verne, author of those fascinating books we read in our youth, Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, so of course we went to see his memorial. The cathedral is a very impressive one and it has a chapel dedicated to Australian soldiers. We had a special interest in learning more about this part of France where Australians played a significant but tragic part in World War I.
Anzac Day is commemorated in France with many ceremonies on the Saturday closest to 25 April. The ceremonies are all held in the Somme, and Amiens is a convenient place to stay to take part in them. The Australian Ambassador to France usually plays a leading role while our Military Attaché has a primary responsibility, along with the local French representatives, for organising the ceremonies. John and Anne had let the attaché know that our group would be there and that we would have a priest, Father Jim, as one of the participants. We were invited to be involved in all the commemoration events. Father Jim was asked to officiate in the last two services of the day.
We had arrived in Amiens on a Thursday so were able to spend Friday on a tour of the battlefields. We visited nearly all the memorials to the five Australian divisions that had fought in World War I. Most people in our group had fathers, uncles or grandfathers who had fought there, and many of us could identify with names like Pozières and Moquet Farm. Nearly 60 000 Australian soldiers were killed in what was then called The Great War, the majority of them in this part of France.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from My Other World by Margaret Whitlam. Copyright © 2001 Margaret Whitlam, Anne Krone and John Wellings. Excerpted by permission of Allen & Unwin.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments,Setting Off,
1 The Heart of France,
2 The Red Flag Fades,
3 Britain is Great,
4 Ich Spreche Deutsch,
5 Interludes in Italy,
6 Ulysses, Socrates and St Paul,
7 Lands of the Dragons,
8 Incas, Conquistadores and Politicos,
9 My World in Review,
Appendix: The Whitlam Tours,
What People are Saying About This
"Enough to make even the most unadventurous of us pack a bag, jump on the bus and join Margaret Whitlam in her 'other world.'" (Sunday Age)
"A readily deployed humour . . . her zest and her disdain for grandiloquence combine to make this a fine read." (Australian Gourmet Traveller)