Taking to the Streets

I really should get my act together, I said to myself, and so when Ritwika said she was coming over to Paris, I decided that whether she liked it or not she was going to see an interesting side to the city. Not, of course, that the city in itself wasn't interesting, but that in a sense Paris is overdone even before one's begun visiting it. Everyone's seen the Eiffel Tower, everyone's heard of the Notre Dame - even if, like me, your image of it was based on gargoyles and men with hunched backs jumping on bells - and thanks to Dan Brown everyone knows about the Louvre.

This was something that irritated me a bit, when I first got to the city. It seemed that the only interesting things were the things that were overdone. Also, while beautiful, it seemed at the time (wrongly, I might add) that the city was a little too homogeneous for my liking. The same type of buildings: nothing old, and more importantly, no contradictions. And it is from all this that I decided to do a little bit of snooping around to find stuff. So I'd like you to follow me on a little (preliminary) walk around Paris, with lots of (possibly erroneous) historical facts.

Look out for the little signs :)

1) Le Petit Pont  

(get off at the St. Michel-Notre Dame RER station and walk towards the Notre Dame)

This tiny bridge was probably one of the most important sites of Paris, back when crossing the river wasn't quite as easy as today. Being the narrowest point in the river, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that the city grew around it, so to speak.

Paris started off as a village of Gaulish fisherfolk, called the Parisii, the earliest traces of whom date around 250 BC. They lived relatively blameless lives, until the Romans - doing what they did best - conquered them. The Romans set up a garrison camp (if you're imagining something out of Asterix, you wouldn't be too far off mark) which they called Lutetia (again, ring any Asterix-y bells?). The place evolved from a simple camp to a center of culture, with baths and temples and even an amphitheatre. This lasted for another 500 years or so, until the Germanic tribes from the north kept raiding the place and the Romans lost their stronghold. Towards the end of the Roman rule the city reverted to it's 'original' name, Paris.

So around the fifth century-ish, Paris was under the aegis of a germanic tribe called the Franks. Interestingly, the Hindi word Firangi - used to mean foreigner - comes from the Persian Farangi, in turn from the Arabic Faranji which can ultimately be traced back to the word Frank. (Apparently the "fr" sound isn't allowed in Arabic, and the -i was a sort of suffix to describe different ethnic groups.)

Clovis (the first) was the first King of the Franks. Up until it then the Franks were a bunch of unruly tribes, headed by their chieftains, until he unified them. He was also, interestingly, a Roman Catholic. He supposedly converted because his wife forced him to. Interestingly this helped him stand out from the large proliferation of other kings who seemed to be popping up everywhere. Back then Catholicism was a minority religion, and most Christians were Arian Christians. I hadn't heard about them before, but as far as I can tell, they separate Christ from God, and thus get rid of the idea of the trinity (you know, the father, son, holy spirit thing).

Clovis' legacy is an interesting one. Being not only the founder of Paris, in a sense, but also of a Catholic Paris. Interestingly, the name Louis, a modification of Clovis, was used (as I'm sure you know) by 18 kings. So he's done good, I'd say.

(Cross over the Petit Pont and walk towards the Notre Dame)