01-080 [Family]
1883.06.21 Paris
From: José Rizal
To: Parents and brothers
The journey from Madrid to Paris — A stroll through Paris — Laennec Hospital — Lariboisere Hospital — Jardin d’Acclimatation.
* * *
Paris, 21 June 1883
MY DEAR PARENTS AND BROTHERS,
As I informed you in my previous letter written at Madrid a day before my departure, I’m now at Paris — Hotel de Paris, 37 Rue de Maubeuge — since the morning of the 17th, Sunday. My trip was one of the best and fastest I have ever made for it lasted only 36 hours from Madrid through an express train. I passed through Avila, Villadolid, crossing all of Old Castile, San Sebastian, Yrun. Until this last place I travelled in Spain. The landscape of Old Castile, if such can be called those bare fields formed by monotonous lines, without trees or the play of light, accompanies the traveler until the Basque provinces where the mountains have more vegetation, more luxuriant foliage, and [are] better cultivated, though they are sparsely populated, a characteristic of these provinces. The Basque type is tall, masculine, ordinarily the face shaven, long rather than oval; small eyes, aquiline nose, and the general aspect reflects honesty, ruggedness, and frank affability. The women are exceedingly industrious, so much so that they plow and I have seen not a few pulling carts. A stone or iron bridge separates Spain from France, like that between Santa Rosa and Cabuyao, and the first French town one sees is Hendaye where travelers generally stop for lunch. From there on one notices a great difference; a smiling landscape, numberless chalets, or country houses, with vines and flowers beautifying the road; pines and olive groves compete for every inch of ground, which is all planted, all utilized.
Just as in Spain I had for fellow travelers an Englishman and two Frenchmen whose company I quite enjoyed, especially that of the Englishman who was traveling to learn Spanish; in France my fellow travelers were two Spaniards who were going to London to study English. We passed through Bourdeaux, Poitiers, Tours, Biois, Orleans until Paris. I mention here only the first class cities, Many memories were awakened in my mind by the sight of these cities full of history, or that fill history, above all the heroes of novels whose lives were supposed to have been spent in those places, like the Three Musketeers, etc., etc. The environs are very beautiful and very picturesque. There are little houses with gardens and the churches like all those we have seen along the road, are of Gothic style, so pure, so tall are their turrets that with the landscape they form and constitute the enchantment of the traveler. From Hendaye on, the politeness and urbanity of the people are noticeable; if you address anyone, he replies amiably and takes off his hat, and when you pay or give them anything, they don’t fail to thank you, just as for the slightest collision or stumbling, they ask you for pardon or excuse. In Paris it is even more so. What Grant says that the English in comparison with the French are barbarians, I can apply to myself. Having been accustomed to a certain kind of treatment for many months, now that I’m in Paris, I find myself and I consider myself almost rude. This is the great generality.
Well then, as I was saying, I arrived at Paris Sunday morning and stopped at the hotel where Filipinos use to stay and where Zamora[1] is. My room costs me seven pesos a month, without board or light, for here everything is dear.
Early in the morning I went out for a stroll, and by the long time that I walked and the little I covered, I can imagine how big is this city that they call “Babylon.” Fill with magnificent houses the entire area of Calamba, Cabuyao, and Santa Rosa and you’ll have Paris more or less. That is the way I figure it out because to traverse it in a coach from one extreme to the other takes more than an hour and a half. Here man is a real ant; there are streets whose ends cannot be seen and nevertheless they are straight, wide and very well laid out, shops and department stores everywhere: coaches for hire are said to reach 25,000. Passers-by animate and throng the streets, the restaurants, cafés, bouillons, beerhalls, parks and monuments. On every street, however small it may be, there is at least one hotel and these hotels are filled up with travelers from all parts of the world who come and go, so that there are always seen new faces, trunks, and suitcases everywhere, different attires, strange types, including us. Here they call us Japanese, because there is a large number of them around.
On the first day I did nothing else but walk and walk. I saw the Champs of Elysées, Vendome Column crowned with a statue of Napoleon I, the exterior of the Opera, Place de la Concorde, Obelisk of Luxor, Madeleine Churche, and other edifices of lesser importance.
The Champ of Elysées is an extensive park from the Place de la Concorde to the Arche of the Carousel, wide and long, filled with trees, with theaters on both sides in which plays and concerts are held at night, with cafés, exhibitions, flowers, and plants. There many persons go to sew under the trees, to read; children with their nurses, etc etc. The Champs Elysées at night is full of people.
The Vendome Column[2] is tall and big, full of bas reliefs depicting the wars of Napoleon in Germany, crowned by his statue holding in his hand that symbol of victory and a globe. He wears the emperor’s attire.
I’ve not yet seen the Theater of the Opera except its exterior; it is magnificent and elegant and worthy of Paris. As to the rest, La Ilustración[3]that we have has its picture. It is crowned with magnificent groups of glided allegorical figures.
The Peace del la Concorde is an immense and wide circle inside which stands the Obelisk of Luxor. The principal French cities are represented by matrons seated around. The City of Strasbourg,[4] formerly belonging to France and now to Germany, is also represented there, but in mourning and with a crown of everlasting and funeral decorations.
The Church of the Madeleine is stately, beautiful, and purely of Grecian style. It is an imposing edifice and presents a very beautiful view. It is open for worship.
For the sake of economy the majority of the people in Paris eat at the restaurants or bouillons. The Bouillons Duval of the butcher Duval are found everywhere; they are near and clean and one can eat in them quite well for two and a half pesetas. Those who wait on tables are women and the food is good and inexpensive. We usually go there.
The first evening we went to the theater. This is the most sumptuous public edifice I’ve seen until the present. It is of Indian architecture, fantastically grandiose, full of mirrors and illuminated with electric light, decorated with gigantic statues. Indian also: Elephant heads and those fanciful drawings in which gold, red, and blue are combined to form a strange mass that creates a vivid impression. Huge mirrors, conveniently placed, prolong the series of columns so that one imagines himself inside a very extensive temple in Ellora[5] or Mahabalipur.[6] The troupe of dancers performing there is composed of three hundred persons, and allegorical dances, like the “Excelsior” in which is shown the victory of Progress over the evil genius, exhausting all the advances of the art of scenography, employing lavishly tinsel, costumes, and electric light jointly with magic, are held there every night for the enchantment of Parisians and foreigners.
The floor of the houses here, like those over there, is made of wood and waxed unlike in Madrid which is of brick or flagstone. The least one can spend daily for board and lodging is 7 pesetas.
The following day, the 18th, we, Zamora, Cunanan,[7] and I, visited the Laennec Hospital[8] and we were present at the treatment of patients by Dr. Nicaise. I marveled at the progress and facilities found in this small hospital, superior to those of San Carlos at Madrid. As they all took us for Japanese here, they told us they would introduce us to Mr. Saint Rémy who was in Japan for a long time. I took charge of clearing up the confusion.
We had a quick look at the establishment they call Bon Marché (literally cheap), one of the four or five very big department stores here, the others being La Louvre, Le Printemps, La Belle Jardiniére, and others. In these establishments are sold all kinds of articles except food, though I believe I have seen a café and a restaurant. It occupies an entire block with all the floors of the buildings as large as the space between our house and the telegraph office. So that you may be able to form an idea of how big it is, it keeps 150 Norman and English horses whose only work is to deliver the purchases of buyers, the horses occupying an entire large building. With respect to Norman horses, mine, though small, resembles them closely for its broad haunches and thick musculature. They serve only as draft horses and they are very strong; there are some that are like elephants.
We have seen the church of Notre Dame of Paris [and] for 50 cents we were shown the treasures, relics, sacred vessels, the gifts of different sovereigns, vestments of the most famous cardinals and archbishops; we went up the tower which reminded me much of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris upon seeing the sculptured monsters that served as decoration There we were shown the bells called bourdon and the one taken from Sevastopol.[9]
We saw many buildings besides from outside, but as I’m thinking of visiting them all, I shall tell you about them later.
On the 20th we visited the Lariboisiére Hospital. Pardo (Felix)[10] is an extern and there we attended the examination of various women’s diseases.
On the 21st, after attending an operation performed by Dr. Duplay, we went to the Jardin d’Acclimatation located outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne. There we found plants of all kinds and the rarest and most beautiful birds. Everything that the imagination can conceive in forms and colors is there: Sparrows, from the paquing[11] to the multicolored bird representing the entire color scale all species of doves, the rarest chickens, parrots, etc., etc., ostriches, cranes, cassowaries, elephants, seals, dear, oxen, gazelle, giraffe, zebra, horses, etc. and even men of different countries are exhibited there with their customs and manners. There is also an aquarium where through the glass can be seen eels, corals, sponges, and from the red fish to the green, blue, and even black one. There is also a small place set aside for the hatching or artificial incubation of chicken eggs. The eggs are placed in boxes with a temperature of 39o. Their method of fattening them quickly by keeping them in narrow boxes to impede their movement and feeding them through a tin tube that reaches until the stomach or crew with corn that does not pass through the mouth. In fifteen days they become so fat that nothing more can be desired.
Inside the Jardin d’Acclimatation there are also tramways that take tourists or sightseers around. There are cafés, restaurants, concert, equitation school, gymnasium, and even water closets. Trees of all kinds shade the roads and there are flowers and roses of different shapes and color.
Until now I haven’t seen more than this.
Henceforth, as I do more sightseeing, I shall write you more Only it costs something to go sightseeing, for one has to pay for transportation, tickets, tips; and then Paris is big and so complicated that one gets lost easily on any street.
It is very possible that this letter may go together with my letter from Madrid and consequently this will serve only as a description. On 1st July I intend to move to the Latin Quarter where the cost of living is a little cheaper.
[The rest of the letter is missing]
[1] Dr. Felipe Zamora, wealthy Filipino physician who was at Paris for specialization. Returning to the Philippines, he became a famous obstetrician and general practitioner. He also resided at Saigon, a practicing his profession.
[2] The Vendome Column is 44 meters high covered with the bronze of 1,200 canons taken from the enemy by the Grand Army of Napoleon on 1805.
[3] La Ilustración Española y Americana, an Illustrated magazine published at Madrid, to which Rizal’s family was a subscriber.
[4] As a result of the Franco-Crussian War (1870 -71) France lost Alsace and Lorraine and she didn’t cease to mourn her loss until 1918 when she regained them after the First World war (1914 – 1918). Strasbourg is the capital city of Alsace.
[5] The Ellora Caves, a temple carved in the rock in Hyderabad, India. One of the largest rock-cut templer-monastery cave complexes in the world. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
[6] Perhaps meaning Mahabalipuram, an Indian coastal town with 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
[7] Mariano Cunanan, wealthy landowner of Pampanga, who was then studying agriculture at Paris. It was he who offered to finance the Colegio Moderno that Rizal planned to establish at Hong Kong.
[8] Named after the eminent French physician René Laennéc (1781 – 1826), discoverer of auscultation.
[9] A naval base on the Criméa, sieged during the Crimean War, 1854.-1855.
[10] A Filipino physician and noted sculptor, brother of Dr. T. H. Pardo de. Tavera, and brother-in-law of painter Juan Luna y Novicio.
[11] Also called mayang-paking in Tagalog, or Luzon brown weaver. Munie Caoanisi.