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Hi, I'm Rick Steves
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back with more of the best of Europe.
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This time we're exploring the wonders of Paris
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magnificent and� thanks to monsieur Eiffel�
riveting.
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To me, Paris is the capital of Europe.
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It's the city I can return to more than any other
with grand monuments that need no introduction.
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And it hides a lifetime of cultural delights.
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Everything in this episode is within easy reach
by foot and metro.
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We'll see some icon of this gerat city.
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The industrial-age iron of the Eiffel Tower
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and the medieval stonework of Notre Dame
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then, we'll see stark realism and dreamy impresionism
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in the Orsay Gallery.
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We'll join a friend, dining on french favorites
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After looking at bones in the catacombs
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We'll see how the French Revolution
helped create this great city.
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The Seine River splits the city into
the Right Bank and the Left Bank.
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Its two islands mark the center of the old town.
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Most of the essential sights lie near the Notre Dame,
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between the Eiffel Tower, the Latin Quarter,
and Montmartre, the city's highest point.
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The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the French Revolution
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and show off at a world's fair.
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It was a muscular symbol of the Industrial Age.
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To a generation hooked on technology,
it was the marvel of its day�
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trumpeting progress and man's ingenuity.
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This 900-foot-tall tower has three observation levels:
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the higher you go the more you pay.
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For me the middle level is plenty high.
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Thousands of iron bars and millions of rivets,
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all assembled in just over 2 years.
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Today, it stands tall, an exclamation point,
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symbolizing the proud,
independent spirit of the French.
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The Trocadero Square, across the river,
is the place to view the tower�
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and to check out a colorful scene.
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Parisians own their city.
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In fact, twice a week streets are closed
and thousands turn out to roll through the city
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in an exuberant celebration of life.
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Paris was born centuries before Christ
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right here on the �le de la Cit�,
an island in the middle of the Seine River.
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The Romans conquered
the local fishing tribe and set up camp.
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Today the Notre-Dame cathedral marks
the place where a Roman temple once stood.
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The city's first bishop, St. Dennis,
holds his head in his hands.
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When Christianity began making converts here,
the Romans beheaded him.
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But, according to legend, Dennis just
picked up his head and kept on going.
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Inspired by this miracle, Christianity flourished
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and the temple was replaced by a church.
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Imagine the faith of people who built this
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breaking ground in 1163 on a building
which wouldn't be finished for 200 years.
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Gothic architects incorporated the latest technology
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flying buttresses to support the heavy rooftop.
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Its ghoulish gargoyles multi-task:
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they serve as fancy rain spouts
and scare away the evil spirits.
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The church is dedicated to
�our lady� or Notre Dame.
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Mary cradles the baby Jesus;
the rose window provides a majestic halo.
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The Virgin Mary was highly revered
throughout the Middle Ages.
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The faithful petitioned her in times of trouble
to gain both comfort and,
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through her intervention, God's mercy.
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As worshippers headed for Mass they'd walk
under a relief of Judgment Day.
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Christ sits on his throne.
The trumpet sounds.
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All are judged: peasants,
knights, nobles, royals � even bishops.
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An angel weighs cute little souls while
cheating demons yank on the scales.
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The saved stand happily at Christ's right hand.
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The damned� a sorry chain gang on His left.
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Carvings like that� and like this scene
of Eve tempting Adam with an apple�
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remind us that this art was more than decoration.
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These images reinforced the stories
people learned in church.
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While the church is dedicated to Mary,
the rest of Paris seems dedicated to regular Parisians.
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The old center, with its two islands in the middle
of the Seine, retains a charming elegance.
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The �le de la Cit� is laden with historic sights.
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But the little �le St. Louis,
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connected by a pedestrian bridge,
is laden only with the delights of good living.
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I'm rendezvousing with my Parisian friend
and fellow tour guide, Arnaud Servignat.
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The Ile St. Louis is charming.
But the whole city of Paris is charming.
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In fact, it faces the river Seine.
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And the river Seine has been called by Parisiens
the mirror of the city.
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Ah, it's a great people's zone.
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So, what is the french word for these little stalls ?
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Bouquinists, we call them, it comes from old french.
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Old books.
Old books, yes.
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They sell prints, you know..
And they go back a long time ?
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Back to the 1600's , yes, indeed.
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I'm taking Arnaud to lunch. Against his advice, I'm eating all the Parisian cuisine clich�s
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in one meal.
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Aperitif,... tell me about aperitif.
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peritif is to open your appetite.
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So, this is the first course.
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Yes, this is the entree,and actually
you guys call the entree the main course,
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when the entree is the starter in France.
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Ok, i have my escargot
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And i just use this
Yes
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So, you stab it, then you twist it out.
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What is the history of the onion soup ?
The onion soup is something you eat more in the winter time.
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because it was used to warm the employees
on the central markets.
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Ok, the principal plate
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Stake tartare.
Stake tartare, yes.
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You know what it's made of ?
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This is raw beef.
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You've introduced me to something new.
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I can't belive it.
I'm eating raw beef, and it's good.
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Especially with some red wine.
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So we are having now the cheese course
which is very important
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And basically, you know, you order cheese to finish the wine
and then order more wine to finish the cheese.
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It's a nice cycle.
It's a vicious circle.
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The coffee always comes after the food.
After the dessert, always.
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What if you ask for your coffee with the meal ?
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They will say, yes, sure,
but it will come after the meal.
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What a meal !
Excellent, wasn't it ?
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I'm heading for the Orsay Gallery.
Go ahead, I'm finishing my cognac.
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Bye-bye, Rick.
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Getting around Paris is easy on the Metro.
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The original stations were Art Nouveau.
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This new one celebrates the system's 100th birthday.
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00:10:08,137 --> 00:10:13,104
And the latest generation shows Europe's commitment
to ever more efficient public transit.
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The train is completely automated allowing passengers
to watch the tunnel coming at them.
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Faster than a taxi can take us�
we hurtle beneath the city to our next stop.
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The Orsay Gallery, famous for its much loved
collection of impressionist masterpieces
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fills an old train station.
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The building itself is magnificent.
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Train tracks used to go right down the middle.
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The art of the Orsay takes you from 1848 to 1914.
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00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,667
This is the time when the old world
meets the modern world.
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It's conservative and revolutionary,
side by side.
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00:10:52,654 --> 00:10:57,152
Before the impressionists, 19th century artists
painted idealized beauty.
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This was conservative art, popular throughout the 1800s
because it was simply beautiful.
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Cabanel's Birth of Venus is the quintessence of beauty.
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The love queen reclines seductively,
just born from the foam of a wave.
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At the time, sex was considered dirty and could be exalted
only in a more pure and divine form.
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00:11:19,154 --> 00:11:22,831
But while mainstream artists
cranked out these ideal beauties,
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a revolutionary new breed of artists
was painting a harsher reality.
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Cross the tracks and you find the Realists.
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In The Painter's Studio, Gustave Courbet takes us
behind the scene at the painting of a goddess.
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The model, not a goddess, but a real woman,
takes a break from posing to watch Courbet at work.
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Ordinary people mill about.
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The little boy seems to admire the artist,
already notorious for his non-conformity.
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00:11:57,702 --> 00:12:00,948
No one would show Courbet's work�
so he put on his own art show.
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He built a shed in the center of town and hanging his paintings
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basically thumbing his nose at the shocked public
and his conservative critics.
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00:12:08,946 --> 00:12:13,542
Edouard Manet rubbed realism in the public's face.
And they hated it.
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00:12:14,618 --> 00:12:17,277
Manet's nude doesn't gloss over anything.
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00:12:17,414 --> 00:12:22,714
The pose is classic, but the sharp outlines
and harsh colors are new and shocking.
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Her hand is a clamp.
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Her stare�defiant.
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00:12:28,367 --> 00:12:34,039
Ignoring the flowers her servant brings from her last customer,
this prostitute looks out as if to say:
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�Next�
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It's about 1880 and Manet and his rat pack of
conservatively-dressed radicals gathered in Paris,
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pushing the creative envelope.
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00:12:43,876 --> 00:12:47,768
It's time to let the revolution of Impressionism begin.
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Impressionism initiated the greatest change
in art since the Renaissance.
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Now, artists were freed to delve into the world
of colors, light, and fleeting impressions.
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00:12:57,899 --> 00:13:02,631
They featured easy-going open-air scenes,
candid spontaneity, and always�
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the play of light.
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Impressionists made their canvases shimmer
by an innovative technique.
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Rather than mixing colors together on a palate,
they applied the colors in dabs side-by-side on the canvas
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and let these mix as they traveled to your eye.
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00:13:21,211 --> 00:13:25,553
Up close it doesn't work.
But move back� and voil�!
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00:13:26,785 --> 00:13:29,562
Claude Monet is called the father of Impressionism.
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00:13:29,660 --> 00:13:34,412
For him, the physical subject was now only
the rack upon which to hang the light,
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shadows, and colors.
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00:13:37,150 --> 00:13:41,629
August Renoir caught Parisians living
and loving in the afternoon sun.
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Dappled light was his specialty.
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In this painting you can almost feel the sun's warmth
and smell the powder on the faces.
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Even the shadows are caught up in the mood�
everything's dancing.
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Renoir paints a waltzing blur
to capture not the physical details
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00:13:58,976 --> 00:14:04,217
but the intangible charm of a restaurant
on Paris' Montmartre.
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Montmartre, a Parisian hill crowned by
the dramatic neo-Byzantine Sacr� Coeur church
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was famous for the ambiance captured by the Impressionists.
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A block away, the Place du Tertre
is jumbled with artists - and tourists.
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If you really try, you can almost imagine
Renoir, Van Gogh and Picasso
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who came here a century ago,
poor, carefree, and seeking inspiration.
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00:14:31,639 --> 00:14:37,858
Back then, life here on Montmartre was a working class
commotion of caf�s, bistros, and dance halls.
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00:14:37,956 --> 00:14:41,926
Painters came here for the low rent
and ruddy joix de vivre.
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To get away from all the tourists, simply walk the back streets,
where a bit of Montmartre's village charm survives.
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Aah, the steps of the Sacr� Coeur
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This is a place where locals and travelers alike
congregate to marvel at Paris, or each other.
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From here, the city of light fans out at your feet.
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Your parisian experiences are a blend of great museums,
fine food, and characteristic neighborhoods.
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The Latin Quarter is the core of the Left Bank,
as the South side of the Seine River is known.
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This has long been the city's University District.
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00:15:23,094 --> 00:15:26,868
In fact the University of Paris,
a leading university in medieval Europe,
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was founded here in the 13th century.
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00:15:29,998 --> 00:15:33,576
Back then the vernacular languages,
like French and German, were crude�
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good enough to handle your basic needs.
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00:15:35,689 --> 00:15:40,539
But for higher learning, academics, like this guy,
spoke and corresponded in Latin.
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00:15:40,774 --> 00:15:46,230
Until the 1800s, from Sicily to Sweden,
Latin was the language of Europe's educated elite.
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00:15:46,699 --> 00:15:49,183
And parisians called this university district
�the Latin Quarter�
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because that's the language they heard on the streets.
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Today any remnant of that Latin is buried
by a colorful tabouli of ethnic restaurants.
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Still, it remains a great place to get a feel for the tangled city
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before the narrow lanes were replaced
by big modern boulevards in the 19th century.
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00:16:06,941 --> 00:16:12,417
The scholarly and artsy people of this quarter
stoked a new rage: Paris' caf� scene.
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00:16:12,554 --> 00:16:13,943
By the time of the Revolution,
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00:16:14,162 --> 00:16:18,026
the city's countless caf�s were
the haunt of politicians and philosophers
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00:16:18,089 --> 00:16:21,390
who plotted a better future as they sipped their coffee.
194
00:16:22,321 --> 00:16:25,857
And the Caf� society really took off in the early 1900s
195
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,128
as the world's literary and artistic avant-garde converged on Paris.
196
00:16:30,222 --> 00:16:34,447
In now-famous cafes along Boulevard St. Germain
and Boulevard St. Michel
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00:16:34,571 --> 00:16:38,092
free thinkers like Hemmingway,
Lenin, and Jean Paul Sartre
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00:16:38,217 --> 00:16:42,112
enjoyed the creative freedom these hangouts engendered.
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00:16:48,214 --> 00:16:53,142
With its university and caf� scene,
Paris has long been a launch pad for bold new ideas.
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00:16:53,564 --> 00:16:57,820
In the 18th century, ground breaking political
and social thinking of French philosophers
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00:16:57,821 --> 00:17:01,559
like Voltaire and Rousseau ushered in
the Age of Enlightenment.
202
00:17:01,778 --> 00:17:05,595
And later, this Enlightenment gave
the French Revolution its philosophical basis
203
00:17:05,658 --> 00:17:09,178
and it gave the American constitution
many of its basic principles.
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00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,670
Paris honors its intellectual and cultural heroes
with tombs and memorials
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00:17:14,671 --> 00:17:16,813
in its neo-Classical Pantheon.
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00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,633
It looks like an ancient temple
but it's only about 250 years old�
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00:17:21,789 --> 00:17:24,230
from the time of the Enlightenment.
208
00:17:28,610 --> 00:17:31,129
During the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution, which followed,
209
00:17:31,332 --> 00:17:34,117
everything was subjected to
what was called �the test of reason�
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00:17:34,226 --> 00:17:36,464
if it wasn't logical� it was tossed out.
211
00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:39,796
Nothing was sacred:
the whole notion of royalty was challenged
212
00:17:39,875 --> 00:17:42,347
and churches were turned into temples of reason.
213
00:17:42,596 --> 00:17:48,557
Even the use of city land for cemeteries,
as you learn at the catacombs of Paris - was rejected.
214
00:17:50,372 --> 00:17:51,514
The sign reads:
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00:17:51,608 --> 00:17:54,487
Halt. This is the empire of death.
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00:17:54,893 --> 00:17:58,116
It kicks off a one mile hike you won't soon forget.
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00:17:58,554 --> 00:18:05,860
The anonymous bones of 6 million permanent Parisians
line former limestone quarries deep under the streets.
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00:18:07,472 --> 00:18:12,838
TIn 1785 Paris decided to make its congested city
more spacious and sanitary
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00:18:12,947 --> 00:18:14,481
by emptying the cemeteries
220
00:18:14,653 --> 00:18:19,487
which traditionally surrounded churches,
into this labyrinthine ossuary.
221
00:18:20,269 --> 00:18:25,620
For decades priests led ceremonial processions
of black veiled bone-laden carts
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into the quarries where the bones were carefully
and artistically stacked as much as 80 feet deep.
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Each transfer was finished with a plaque identifying
from which church the bones came
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and the date they arrived.
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While there's history in dem bones,
the Carnavalet Museum
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filling a lavish aristocratic old mansion,
is the best place to sort through the story of Paris.
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Pre-revolutionary France had
a government by, for, and of the wealthy.
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00:18:55,907 --> 00:19:00,006
And as the rich got richer and richer,
people who lived in fabulous mansions like this
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became blind to the growing gap between
the haves and have nots in their country.
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Louis XIV - a.k.a. �the Sun King�
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was the ultimate king back when people accepted
the notion that a few were born to rule and be rich
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while most were born to be ruled and taken advantage of.
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Room after room shows the opulence of the upper classes
in the age leading up to the revolution.
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00:19:23,724 --> 00:19:27,182
Louis XIV, who enjoyed the luxury but anticipated trouble
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said �Apres moi, le deluge.�
(After me the flood.)
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00:19:40,184 --> 00:19:45,566
The heart of the museum features that deluge,
which hit when this man, Louis XVI was king.
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00:19:45,988 --> 00:19:49,899
The French Revolution was kicked off
with the storming of the Bastille prison.
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00:19:50,332 --> 00:19:56,856
Supporting the The liberal wing of the government met
in this indoor tennis court declaring it wouldn't quit
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00:19:57,091 --> 00:19:59,140
until the people had a constitution.
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00:19:59,665 --> 00:20:04,417
It was vive la nation,
libert�, egalit�, and fraternit�
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until the people literally beheaded the king and queen.
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00:20:10,891 --> 00:20:14,333
La Place de la Revolution,
or Revolution Square
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It was here that the new fangled guillotine,
considered a humain form of execution in its day, was setup.
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00:20:20,356 --> 00:20:25,226
And it was here that Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, and over two thousand others were made
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�a foot shorter at the top.�
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00:20:28,645 --> 00:20:33,280
According to this painting, it took three to run the guillotine�
one to manage the blade,
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one to catch the blood and one to hold the head,
in this case of Marie Antoinette, up to the crowd.
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00:20:41,532 --> 00:20:47,380
Today the vast Revolution Square
is called Place de la Concorde, place of harmony.
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The guillotine is long gone,
and its centerpiece is an Egyptian obelisk.
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The king and queen were beheaded
by a stark and egalitarian government.
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00:21:02,380 --> 00:21:05,449
But the French love of fine living couldn't be kept down.
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00:21:05,809 --> 00:21:08,410
The 19th century was a boom time for Paris.
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The entire city was beautified with
grand boulevards and fancy architecture.
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00:21:13,319 --> 00:21:17,993
It was an exuberant age of money,
if you had it� you flaunted it.
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00:21:18,814 --> 00:21:21,552
From the place de la Concorde,
the Champs-Elys�es
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00:21:21,674 --> 00:21:26,817
once a royal carriageway� now Europe's grandest boulevard,
leads to the Arc de Triomphe.
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00:21:26,993 --> 00:21:30,729
The arch was dedicated to the victory
of the people and their republic�
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00:21:31,022 --> 00:21:33,858
the triumph of French Nationalism.
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00:21:34,836 --> 00:21:42,013
A glimpse of the decadence of that beautiful age
or bell� epoque is enjoyed along the Champs-Elys�es.
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00:21:44,340 --> 00:21:51,048
Paris' old opera house, the grand palace of this gilded age,
was finished in 1875.
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00:21:51,458 --> 00:21:56,288
The real show was before and after,
when the elite of Paris, out to see and be seen
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00:21:56,445 --> 00:21:59,613
strutted their elegant stuff in the extravagant lobbies.
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00:21:59,887 --> 00:22:06,008
Think of the grand marble stairway as a theater itself�
filled with Paris' beautiful people.
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00:22:17,096 --> 00:22:20,597
The actual theater is a palace of plush and ornate seating.
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00:22:20,773 --> 00:22:24,958
Above it all, a delightful ceiling,
painted by Marc Chagall in the 1960s
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00:22:25,036 --> 00:22:27,989
frolics around an eight-ton chandelier.
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00:22:35,577 --> 00:22:40,799
Nearby, the Jacquemart-Andr� Museum fills
a 19th-century mansion offering the public a rare
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00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,598
aristocratic open house.
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00:22:42,832 --> 00:22:45,414
Edouard Andr� and his wife Nelie
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00:22:45,531 --> 00:22:50,420
spent their lives and fortune designing, building
and decorating this incredible mansion.
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00:22:51,496 --> 00:22:55,544
I'm enjoying a tour by one
of the museum's fine guides: Kiera.
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00:23:11,307 --> 00:23:15,453
You could almost imagine the clutter of jewelry
mixing with the chamber music
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00:23:15,531 --> 00:23:17,819
as Edouard and Nelie threw a party.
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00:23:18,162 --> 00:23:19,648
This is italian.
Exacly
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because they travelled in Italy, they loved italian arts.
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00:23:22,495 --> 00:23:27,392
And they brought paitings of Bellini,
Botticelli, Montegna, Carpaccio.
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00:23:27,814 --> 00:23:31,897
And Tiapollo, whose fresco graces the mantion's lobby.
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00:23:48,967 --> 00:23:53,457
And this was Edouard's bedroom,
complete with a deluxe bathroom.
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00:23:56,789 --> 00:24:00,357
For more of the decadence of that age,
check out the ritzy shops.
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It's ritzy in the true sense, since they cluster
around the original Ritz Hotel.
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00:24:05,597 --> 00:24:08,898
Enjoy the luxury of this neighbourhood by window-shopping.
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00:24:08,976 --> 00:24:13,216
Or, as the French say,
"Faire de lache vitrine" (window licking)
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00:24:15,110 --> 00:24:18,677
Actually, today's Paris thrives with ordinary people.
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00:24:18,740 --> 00:24:21,524
The good life feels accessible to all
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00:24:21,681 --> 00:24:26,922
and, in the spirit of France's revolution,
the government truly seems to work for the people.
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00:24:27,032 --> 00:24:30,928
While the stunning Georges Pompidou center holds one
of the world's top modern art collections,
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00:24:31,162 --> 00:24:34,589
most Parisians seem happy just to hang out in front.
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00:24:35,511 --> 00:24:41,050
And apart from its world class attractions,
millions of people call this city simply� home.
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00:24:41,285 --> 00:24:45,947
Neighborhoods enjoy first-class public transit and,
if a train line's decomissioned,
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00:24:46,087 --> 00:24:52,267
it's put to good use, with its arches housing colorful shops
and the elevated track made into a long skinny park.
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00:24:52,439 --> 00:24:55,991
The Promenade Plant�e is popular for jogging or strolling
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00:24:56,116 --> 00:24:58,838
or just a peaceful break from the city.
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00:24:59,167 --> 00:25:02,218
There's a time honored finesse to Parisian life
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00:25:02,296 --> 00:25:06,332
a comfortable time-tested rhythm with kisses on the cheek,
neighborhood market streets
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00:25:06,363 --> 00:25:09,508
and familiar faces at the corner caf�.
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00:25:12,919 --> 00:25:14,938
Whether you visit for the blockbuster monuments,
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00:25:14,939 --> 00:25:18,364
its captivating history or the simple delights of a caf�,
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00:25:18,615 --> 00:25:20,711
Paris just might steal your heart.
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00:25:20,977 --> 00:25:22,870
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Rick Steves.
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00:25:22,964 --> 00:25:24,904
Until next time�
Keep on travelin'.
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Au revoir.
30306
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