—  Shaky Tour Europa (2016)  —

October 11, 2016 (Tuesday) - The Pop In welcomes to Paris Thayer Sarrano & Co. -- Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums). Despite departing the Iberian Peninsula, Thayer arrives in the French capital to find a bit of the Spanish on stage with her this evening. Also performing at the Pop In is the band Presumido, deriving from Vigo, Spain. Presumido categorize their music as "Synth Pop 2.0" -- in the vein of Massive Attack and Air. Check out the nice drum intro for their song "Vendetta." Euro Synth Pop meets Southern Goth Rock on a Parisian stage -- intriguing cosmopolitan combinations befitting Sarrano. Passers-by are sure to be confused. But in the house of music there are many mansions. We are certain that all will go down swimmingly. This is the third of three French shows, and the nineteenth of nineteen concerts --- which means, sadly, the last -- for the Tour Europa 2016 of Thayer Sarrano. The distance from the previous venue in San Sebastián, Spain, to Paris, France, is 511 miles, or some seven hours and 45 minutes of driving -- sans bouchons. We will circle back soon at a later date to thank all of our friends and colleagues, as well as broadcast the trophy totals (hours, miles) accumulated like feathers in a cap on this leg, and what those totals contribute to the grand sums traveled in the name of this thunderously sublime record named Shaky. A few more hours of showtime, several days of travel-time yet remain. Let us savor and prolong, shall we? Since we Guildwater Scriveners have wrapped up our historical chronicles in a satisfying fashion -- satisfying to us, at least -- we find ourselves reduced again to playing the role of Travel Guide in the city of Paris. This suits us just fine. Since we have already given away two of our more favorite well-kept Parisian secrets (Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, and the Canal Saint-Martin), we will reach back into our bag for a few others.

Originally known as the Place royale, the Place des Vosges is located in the 3rd and 4th Arrondissements. Henri IV ordered its construction in the early 1600s, following the conclusion of the French Wars of Religion. As mentioned previously, before inheriting the French throne, Henri was simply the king of small Navarre, down south, by Pyrenees way. He now became the first French king of the Bourbon dynasty. To construct the new Place royale, many older buildings were demolished. This was a real attempt at what we might now call "urban planning," one of the first of its kind in that period, long prior to the modern urban renovations that gripped Europe like a fever in the 1800s. Henri's chief minister Sully -- a forerunner of powerful ministers such as Cardinal Richelieu -- lived along what is now the Place des Vosges. Sully was neither the first nor the last of many famous inhabitants of that quartier. It was to visit Sully that Henri traveled when François Ravaillac rushed towards the royal carriage with a stiletto in 1610. Henri had previously survived nine assassination attempts, and some 23 assorted plots. This time he did not escape. Although the throne of France was badly shaken in the years that followed, Henri IV is still regarded as having created the bedrock of monarchical absolutism -- a political system that Louis XIV would eventually inherit, making France the envy of other European monarchs. As for the Place des Vosges, it is tucked inside the Marais District. By turns stately, refined, and modest, it is serene, cut off, despite its small size, from the bustle of the broader city. The Marais ("The Swamp") is probably to thank for that.

Heading west, one can search out the Place Vendôme, if one happily follows in a haphazard fashion (you have little choice) the tangle of streets laid out centuries prior even to the Place des Vosges. It is best to take a compass, lest you end up back where you started, thinking all the while that you were almost there. It was only in the 1800s that Baron Haussmann and others like him across Europe set about their immense urban revitalization projects. In many ways, such innovators took to new levels the tentative enhancements begun in Henri IV's era. Haussmann constructed the Grands Boulevards of Paris, one of which bears his name. Sadly, the project brought about the demolition of many much older buildings. On a more positive note, it opened the clogged traffic arteries of the city. It is difficult to imagine, but the spectacle of Citroëns jousting Peugeots buffeting Renaults in the inner-Paris would be on an altogether greater magnitude than it presently is had it not been for Haussmann. The Place Vendôme is found in the 1st Arrondissement. It is the mirror opposite of the sand- and linden-lined Place des Vosges. Vendôme replaces those things with unadorned cobblestone and concrete, neither of which do anything to absorb the urban din. What Vendôme loses in acoustic absorption it gains in sound absorbing space. Especially after winding pleasantly through the often angular and narrow side streets to get remotely near here, it's almost eerie to be confronted by the openness. Its lone column stands isolated in the center like a breathing de Chirico painting. The Place Vendôme was designed in the late 1600s by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who replaced Louis Le Vau as Louis XIV's chief architect at Versailles. The monarchical absolutism begun by Henri IV reached its apogee in this Sun King.

Heading south from Vendôme, and across the Seine to the Left Bank, there is Saint-Sulpice in the 6th Arrondissement. Construction on this church began in the mid-1600s and lasted into the next century. It is a mix of baroque and neoclassical architecture. Purists might call it hodgepodge. Admirers, such as we, call it medley. In terms of ecclesiastical size, Saint-Sulpice is only second to Notre-Dame in the city of Paris, making it all the more remarkable that it sits tucked away, veritably hidden, located a block from the Luxembourg Gardens. The French Senate now meets in the Luxembourg Palace on those garden grounds, a crucial axis of modern democracy. But the Palace, constructed by Marie de' Medici, the widow of the assassinated Henri IV, was once the scene of pivotal political intrigues in the early modern period. In 1630, in a series of events known as the Day of the Dupes, Marie de' Medici had hoped to fleece the rising star of Cardinal Richelieu, and thereby win back her influence over her own son Louis XIII. In the end, it was the Cardinal who emerged victorious. Marie was duped. Her son exiled her. She died in 1642, living abroad in the city of Cologne. If you tire of this older architecture, and need a quick dose of the modern, may we suggest the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain on the Boulevard Raspail in the 14th Arrondissement. You don't even need to go inside. Strolling by will suffice. Not nearly as large or renowned as the Centre Pompidou, this nevertheless remarkable structure, built in the 1990s, sits nestled like a small urban forest growing inside a large glass house.