One Week In Paris
(Photos on this article can be clicked for larger images)
Immediately after leaving Algiers, Ilyn and I went to Paris for a week at the invitation of Serge Ewenczyk of Editions Çà et Là, the French publisher of Elmer. We were of course, very excited to go to Paris. More than anything else in the world, this is where I really wanted to visit for much of my entire life. Paris has lived in my imagination as a beautiful place of art, architecture and history, an almost mythical, legendary place that could not possibly exist except in books, movies, comics, and TV. It was very much like Valinor, impossibly far away, tantalizingly unattainable.
And yet there we were on a plane, supposedly going to a place called “Paris” but even then it was so difficult to believe.
The intense cold that greeted us upon alighting the plane was the first indication that we were actually there. I asked Ilyn, “Did you feel that? DID YOU FEEL THAT??” It was just too much excitement to contain.
We were greeted by Serge and brought us to our hotel, still buzzed, still kind of disbelieving, but sort of tired. Nevertheless, we ventured out into the cold Paris streets immediately. It was around 9 in the evening and it was biting cold. We quickly realized our flimsy jackets simply weren’t enough. But we went walking the streets anyway, full of stars and wonder in our eyes.
Our hotel was wonderfully located within old Paris, along Rue de Rivoli. It was walking distance to the Notre Dame, Bastille and the Louvre Museum. The Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower were within easy access of the Metro, Paris’s subway system. After an hour or so of walking, we decided to retire back to our hotel, and planned what we would do for the week. First order of business was to get a couple of scarves for ourselves.
The following day Serge brought us to one of the branches of France’s biggest book store chains and showed me the huge and I mean HUGE comic book section.
It was quite impressive. We do have large sections of comics in our local bookstores like National Book Store and Fully Booked, but they’re predominantly Marvel, DC and Manga. Here, there’s very little American comic books. If there were, those from independent publishers outnumber those from Marvel and DC, and the rest are purely comic books from mostly Europe. A lot of these books were beautifully designed large hard bound books with amazing artwork.
We decided to pay an early visit to one of the comic book stores I’ll be doing a signing in, Librairie Super Héros along Rue Saint-Martin. On the way there there was this huge colossal modern art building that’s at odds with much of the surrounding ancient architecture, the Centre Georges Pompidou.
Serge and I walk along Rue Saint-Martin
Librairie Super Héros
175, rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris
On the way back to the hotel, we saw this random gothic church just hanging out nearby, next to some street art. One thing that’s so nice about Paris is how creative their street art is.
One of the first things we really wanted to see was the Notre Dame Cathedral. It holds special significance to us, being both Architects. We studied this cathedral studiously back in college. We drew it inside and out and have come to know it quite well even without really seeing it.
During my college days, it was even the site of one of the biggest battles of the X-men, which occurred in X-men 200, “The Trial of Magneto”, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Romita Jr. One memorable scene was Colossus being thrown through, and destroying, Notre Dame’s main rose window.
I simply could not wait to see it.
The River Seine on the way to Notre Dame
Ilyn and I were both speechless upon seeing it rise in front of us. We just sat there for a while not really saying anything, just looking. Later, we both approached it and hugged it. Well, I just had to. It was quite simply an overwhelming experience. I felt touching it was important. Like I wanted to make a physical connection not just with the thing I had in my memories, but also with history. We couldn’t forget how old it was, and how many millions of people had stood where I stood.
That night we found a Chinese food place we just had to try. Ilyn had missed rice terribly. It was rather expensive though, but we tried not to think about it and convert currencies in our heads. We’ll end up not eating anything or buying anything. For sure things would be more expensive here so we just had to get used to it and just not think too much about it. We just decided to enjoy it while we were there. I mean, we were in Paris. Perhaps it hadn’t completely sunk in.
Rue de Rivoli at Night
Next stop was the Louvre Museum. Although it was walking distance from our hotel, we nevertheless decided to take the Metro because we wanted to reserve our walking strength for walking this museum, which was just gigantic. And full of stairs. As we approached the building from the side, we slowly approached the plaza knowing full well that just around the corner was the world famous glass pyramid that has become the distinctive look of the museum in modern times. We are aware of the controversy that surrounded it when it was first built, but as time went on, it became an indelible part of this ancient institution. At the corner we held our breath, and then… there it was.
It was kind of gloomy that day, with a cloudy sky that threatened to rain. In fact, rain was forecast for that day, and for much of the week we were there. We nevertheless remained optimistic. Although we saw this incredible line of people who wanted to get in, it didn’t discourage us. While still in line I felt bits of rain drops here and there. And us without an umbrella. We decided to stick it out. I mean, one chance in a lifetime. Rain isn’t going to keep us away.
Thankfully, rain didn’t come, at least for the time being.
Inside the Pyramid
The first thing we really wanted to see was the Mona Lisa, and then after that, we can just wander around. We immediately went to the 13th-15th century Italian paintings section of the museum where the Mona Lisa was located. When I imagined it to be a huge place, I never imagined it would be that huge. With so many stairs. My knee hadn’t been doing really well in recent months so it was really difficult for me. But what kept me going was the fact that I was in the same building as the Mona Lisa and sooner or later I will be in sight of it. It was a huge deal for me. A huge deal. It was what kept me going and kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Very soon, we were there.
The crowd surrounding the Mona Lisa was immense.
The closest I could get.
To be honest, the Mona Lisa isn’t that spectacular a painting. What made it special was its special place in history and world culture. She’s more famous than any living person. To see her is to see history in one glance. Seeing her is humbling and overwhelming. We took a moment, and then we went exploring.
Now I love these kind of classical well rendered paintings. Seeing one was enough to last me a long time. The sheer beauty of the figurework, the delicacy of the brush work and the beauty of the colors… photos simply weren’t enough to depict all this. But seeing one spectacularly painted painting after another… seeing a hundred… two hundred…. it all started to blur. I started to stop appreciating each one and just glossed over one painting quickly before looking at another. It’s hard to explain. Perhaps all this wasn’t meant to be seen in a day. It had to be appreciated a little at a time, over a period of weeks, perhaps months.
By the end of a couple of hours, I was so ready to see some impressionistic paintings. I wanted to see Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir… all those funky guys with the wild imaginations. I wanted to go to the Musée d’Orsay, which was just next door. Of course, “next door” was probably a kilometer away, but that was just OK.
I never had a chance to go though, as I had an appointment for a media interview for Elmer. I did look forward to the interview… it was one of the reasons we’re in Paris in the first place. I can’t believe I was thinking it, but I was kind of museum-ed out for the day, and was looking for a change of pace. Meeting with Serge and a journalist and talking through the afternoon at an outdoor cafe seemed the best thing for me at the time.
At the interview, Laurent Mélikian arrived with writer Dana Walrath and American comic book artist Dan Panosian (pictured above). It was such a pleasure to meet Dan because career wise, this is one of those artists who I truly admire. He started out as inker and then transitioned to drawing his own comic books and now he’s being published in Europe. He too was having a signing tour of Paris and other France cities and will be there until the end of the month.
Ilyn stayed on at the Louvre to see the other sections of the museum.
That night, we went to Laurent’s home for a farewell dinner. There we met Laurent’s wife Sylvie and their son Victor. Laurent prepared an awesome baked cod with steamed vegetables and cream. We had a bit of champagne, cheese and figs afterwards. Figs! I only heard about those things in the bible. This was the first time I was actually tasting one. It was very nice.
We all had nice conversations that lasted well into the night. It really has come full circle for us. Laurent was there at the beginning of our two week trip, and now there he was just at the end of it. It was nice. Laurent is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, extremely helpful and kind. I am extraordinarily lucky to have met both Laurent and Serge, specially at this point in my life.
Laurent escorted us back to the nearest Metro and then we said our goodbyes. The following day we left before the sun was up. It was bittersweet. We had a terrific time in Paris. Personally, I loved it there. I wish I could have stayed longer. I dreamed of doing just graphic novels, living in some Paris apartment, having coffee and croissants in the morning and creating, as well as appreciating art all day long. But well, it was time to home, and time to go back to work.
It was an incredible two weeks, a short time in my life that seems like years in my memory.
