Paris sketches-What becomes of Ile Saint Louis

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As a sort of counter weight for the busy Ile de le Cité and the right and left bank, the ILE SAINT-LOUIS can be self supporting, thousands of light years away from the city noises. No cathedrals, no palaces, no triumphal arches. Just a little church---perfect example of French religious baroque from the 17th century. On the others side you have plenty of private homes which mirror their superb facades in a river, as astonished as we are. It is of course evident that only heavily filled purses can afford to settle down here, just look at the names of the quays and you will see what personages lived here in the course of centuries: the royal and princely Bourbons, the Anjou and the Orleans. Before Michele Morgan, Georges Pompidou you could stumble upon Voltaire, Aragon, Appollinaire, Chopin, Theophile Gauthier….
At the corner of the quai d’Anjou and rue Saint-Louis en l’Ile, stands the superb hotel Lambert of which Voltaire, who lived some time in it, said it was build for “a prince who was a philosopher at the same time”. He probably pointed to himself when he wrote that ;-). The architect of this hotel particulier was Louis le Vau who built it between 1640 and 1642. He made also the blue print for another jewel on this island, hotel Lauzun, 17 quai d’Anjou where Charles Baudelaire started to write his famous “Fleurs du Mal”. To visit before anything, because you can still smell and inhale the air that Victor Hugo inhaled.
Right across the island runs the rue Saint Louis en l’Ile, bordered by beautiful, mostly 17th century houses. A great part turned into restaurants, painting galleries and craftsmen shops. The fans of the island fear already the moment when their oasis will lose its real face.
Like any place, suddenly put under spotlights of fashion, the Ile Saint-Louis is looted and relooted lately by gluttonous hoards of the artificial tourism, being just busy to compare Les Baux de Provence to Rocamadour and Rocamadour to Saint-Paul de Vence. The last resort of these tormented souls is to visit Ile Saint Louis at the quiet hours of the day and the calm days of the year. If they still exist……
How many real, genuine and original “Louisiens” are still existing, convinced islanders, stay at home autochthons who think it over twice before crossing the water “to go to Paris” and who considered the new inhabitants of the island as strangers? Are these original islanders still alive, who prefer the agreeable inconveniences of a simple existence in a simple house to the one-piece comfort and stereotype advantages of a modern apartment? Better a hidden staircase than an elevator with aluminium walls. Better the reliable warmth of burning wood in an open fireplace than artificial timber logs.
Where are the good old times?.......