On this trip we have tried to become increasingly aware of the "road less travelled;" at least the one less travelled by tourists. We spend quite a bit of time walking in the very beautiful, leafy, elegant suburbs of Paris. Today it was a walk in Auteuil; a real bastion of bourgeoise life. It is a mixture of old village on the one hand and some of the most interesting and modern buildings we have seen. It is in the westernmost part of the city, across the river from the Eiffel Tower and right behind the massive Maison de Radio-France which was built in 1963 to house French radio and television.
Bruce, as another American living abroad found the house in which John Adams and John Quincy Adams had lived interesting, commenting that even in those days Presidents did quite well for themselves! What impressed us most, however, was watching the Saturday morning life of people shopping for the long weekend in the local open-air market (around a beautiful Wallace drinking fountain), walking their dogs and promenading with their children. All very bourgeoise. All very white. In fact, we say only two non-whites and they were obviously very haute Couture!
Lots of buildings to admire since it is an area in which there are a number of Hector Guimard Art Nouveau houses with wonderful elegant cast-iron balconies. The Mallet Stevens' houses were disappointing having had an additional three stories stuck on to them in the 1960s. On the other hand, the Auteuil has Le Corbusier's Villa Roche and Valla Jeanneret which are now part of the Corbusier Foundation and are quite magnificent. Built of reinforced concrete in the 1920s, their geometric forms are still a pleasure to the eye and their lack of ornamentation contributes to a sense of pleasure in their architecture.
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