Palais Royal (9) and a nap in the park

Last week, I went a walk around the neighborhood north of the Louvre. What struck me most about this area was the cool juxtaposition between old and new.

Several big names have lived in the Palais Royal, including Cardinal Richelieu and the young Louis XIV. During the Revolution, however, it became a gathering point for popular demonstrations. It is perhaps because of this history that the apparent clash of the old and new is so... not clash-y.

Here's the first courtyard we stumbled across on the walk, which illustrates this contrast:




Another landmark (okay, maybe just to me) was the BnF: La Bibliothèque nationale de France, or the French National Library. According to the note in the Paris walks book, this is "where most of your French professors researched for their dissertations."

As we approached the library, however, my walking companions and I were struck with sudden exhaustion and decided to go relax in the park across the street, which turned into a lazy, in-and-out-of-dreams kind of afternoon. That's my kind of Paris.



Besides the juxtaposition of old and new, I also really enjoyed the doors in this district. Vibrant colors, cool designs... Who cares what the apartments on the inside of the building look like?