Paris Journal 2013 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Saturday was our day in the Grand Gallery of Evolution at the national Museum of Natural History (the Jardin des Plantes). Both of us were as excited to see the building as much as anything. Its central ceiling is a grand “verriere,” or glass in a metal framework structure. The exhibits are arranged on four levels, which one generally follows around in a clockwise direction. On a very warm day, the museum was chilled. It felt good to me, but Tom was a bit too cold. The museum was dark. This is intentional, and is for the purpose of preserving the contents. Many taxidermists have made money on the contents of this grand gallery. The museum’s web site, mnhn.fr, is in French only, so allow me to give you a translation of the rather dramatic description of this gallery: “Really a theater of life, the Grand Gallery of Evolution, dramatizes thousands of animal specimens. More real than nature, they tell the shocking history of evolution: a story in three acts, played in a grandiose set.” “Act One” takes place on the ground floor and first level up, in the central nave of each. It gives you a chance to meet the species that populated the seas and the land. Ironically, the first creature we saw on the ground level looked exactly like a huge smalltooth sawfish. The low light level made it impossible to read the plaque for this creature. Perhaps the plaque was supposed to be backlit, and the light wasn’t working. No matter. I know this creature because practically the only habitat it has remaining on this Earth now is right in the area where we live – the coastal waters of southwest Florida. The giant squid is a popular specimen on display, as are the narwhals. I’ve never seen a narwhal, and no wonder. They live in artic waters, and so are vulnerable to global warming. The male narwhal has a tusk that twists and comes to a point. It was used by people who tried to “prove” that unicorns existed. Voila! The tusk of a unicorn is really the tusk of a male narwhal. It is a sensory organ, not used for violence. However, male narwhals do joust with each other using their tusks. One level up, we visited with examples of animals from the tropical forests of the Americas, the African savannas, the Artic and Antarctic, and the Saharan desert. “Act Two” is a double adventure: living organisms evolving throughout the Earth’s history, and the “human spirit trying to understand its origins through the dynamic of life.” Whew. In one corner, we saw a huge volume of Buffon’s Natural History, and both English and French volumes of Darwin’s Origin of the Species. On the next level up begins “Act Three,” examining the visible traces and effects of human activity on the natural world. A big part of this action is people domesticating many kinds of animals – cats being my personal favorite. Then of course there are the really bad things that people do, like pollution. Will it be fatal? We don’t know. Act Three isn’t over yet. Tom noted on the top level, in an area that featured extinct species, there was oddly situated an elaborate, large clock that had been used by Marie Antoinette at Versailles. He decided that the clock was a clever way of accenting extinction. Time and tide wait for no man – or animal, for that matter. I’m not going to tell you the whole story of the Museum of Natural History. The storytellers have created a beautiful scene. I like many things about the museum – from the story, to the funky and wonderful leather sling chairs that populate some of the exhibits. Tom was too cold for us to dine in the museum cafeteria, however. So we went out into the warmth of a lovely summer day, and sauntered back over to Les Trois Carafes again, just in time for a late lunch. On Saturday, the lunch specials are not in effect, but at this point, we didn’t care. Tom ordered the filet mignon with peppercorn sauce. I ordered the cod wrapped in chorizo and served with a delicate, creamy tomato sauce and basmati rice. We shared an excellent baba au rhum for dessert. Needless to say, we fell asleep while watching the Tour de France. Thank goodness I woke up in time to check my Facebook messages. There was a welcome response from Sue. We were to meet her and her friend Roniece at Le Petit Cardinal in an hour for drinks at 6:30. Sue is a longtime reader of this journal who told us about the apartment where we stayed for these first five days in Paris this month. That was great, useful information, because we enjoyed the apartment so much. Roniece is another of Jacques’ renters -- she’s from New Zealand, and lived in Australia before moving to Paris five months ago. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit with Sue and Roniece and hope we’ll have another before Sue departs for home. Sunday morning was a good time for moving. The sidewalks and metro were not busy, so maneuvering our bags wasn’t too difficult. By the time we’d unpacked and trained our computers and other devices to recognize the wireless network in this apartment, it was time to watch the Tour de France again. We are amazed at how quiet the apartment is, with its new windows all around. We’ve found peace, in Paris. |
Monday, July 8, 2013
The
Grand Gallery of Evolution on a fine summer day.
A
large, smalltooth sawfish at the French Museum of
Natural History’s Grand Gallery of Evolution.
The
narwhal and its twisted tusk.
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