Let freedom sing

The St. Lambert park was built on the site of a former gasworks.  Dimitry
Vicheney's first job was working on the crew that demolished the gasworks and created this fine park.

July 15, 2017 – Under the guise of a holiday stroll along a lively street in Paris, we continued my investigation into Russian influence on the history of Paris.  Specifically, we wished to locate the other two Russian Orthodox churches that Dimitry Vicheney mentioned in the interview with the Paris 15 magazine reporter.

We’d already seen the doorway to the Russian Orthodox church on the rue Olivier de Serres.  And on the 13^th, we visited the big, shiny, new Russian Orthodox church and cultural center at the corner of Avenue Rapp and the Quai Branly. 

Now we had to find the Russian churches on the rues Petel and Lecourbe.  I’ve been wanting to explore the rue Lecourbe anyway; it is a busy shopping street not far from our apartment, and for some unknown reason we haven’t walked or shopped there much at all in the 20 summers we’ve been here.

Old fashioned roses still blooming in the St. Lambert park.

First we took a diversion on the rue Peclet (near the town hall for the 15^th arrondissement) and noticed the Chaplin St. Lambert cinema.  This summer, the cinema is featuring an Alfred Hitchcock retrospective.  There is another Chaplin Cinema in the 14^th, in the Denfert neighborhood.  Good to know.

Next we found the odd little Russian Orthodox church at 3-5 rue Petel.  It is a small, flat-roofed, one-story, strange structure made of ceramic-faced block with a stark, 1930-vintage appearance.  The bulletin posted on one side of its doorway is entirely in Russian – no French or English.  On the other side of the doorway is a wooden plaque that does give the name of the church, which is very long and includes the names of a number of saints.  Obviously, a committee charged with naming the church could not reach consensus. 

Plaque by the door of the Russian Orthodox church on
the rue Petel.

Back at the corner of rue Lecourbe, we turned and walked past the side of the town hall.  There Lecourbe becomes a shopping street with wide sidewalks, and lots of stores and restaurants.  

Lecourbe is not chic; the buildings have not been recently cleaned, and the street infrastructure is a little bleak; it does not have lots of street trees the way that rue de la Convention does, for example.  The shops and small restaurants seem to have plenty of business.  Many were open even though this was a national holiday. 

We found the doorway to the last of the Russian Orthodox churches on our short list.  It was a door to a Haussmannian building with a couple courtyards.  The sign indicated that the church was at the back of the second courtyard.  It had to be a small church, like the others, and we did not intrude.  We continued our walk.

Sign for the St. Seraphin of Sarov church at 91 rue Lecourbe.

When we reached the end of Lecourbe at the Place Henri Oueuille we turned around and walked down the sunny side of Lecourbe.  The temperature was just mild enough that we enjoyed the sun in our faces.

At rue Mademoiselle, we veered off toward our neighborhood.  An entrance to a Haussmannian building caught my eye because of whimsical carvings of a dog and a cat hovering over the door.  Nice!

Back at the apartment, we did our usual July late afternoon thing: rest and watch the Tour de France for an hour or so.  Then we dressed up for our holiday dinner at Le Tipaza.

Tom waits for dinner at Le Tipaza.

We like to be seated toward the back of the restaurant, and without asking for it, we were given our usual favorite table.  The fancier dining room with crystal chandeliers is toward the front, but we like the cozier back room – especially when air conditioning is needed.

Service was wonderful and the tagines were delicious.  It was a simple dinner, without starter courses or desserts – except that Tom had a café gourmet, which included a piece of Turkish delight and a small pastry stuffed with fig – a sort of fancy fig newton.  We left feeling well nourished on meat and vegetables.

We especially enjoy the walk to and from Le Tipaza because it includes the shady, broad avenue Emile Zola, and the shady shopping street, rue Saint Charles.  The streets are usually calm during our after-dinner walk home.

This time, however, traffic was backed up everywhere because of people trying to go somewhere where they could watch the Quatorze Juillet fireworks, which are set off behind and from the Eiffel Tower, nearby.

Dog and cat carvings above door
on rue Mademoiselle

But there aren’t only fireworks to celebrate the national holiday.  Just in front of the Eiffel Tower, an elaborate stage had been erected for a concert that began at 9PM.  This annual concert features mainly the national symphony orchestra – which is fantastic – as well as some featured opera stars from France and elsewhere.  Two American opera singers were included this time.  You can watch the entire concert here, on YouTube.

We were home in time to watch the magnificent concert on TV.  When it concluded, we went up to the maid’s room, where we have an even better view of the Eiffel Tower.  We watched the fireworks from there.  You can watch them here, on YouTube.  The video is a half hour long; put it in full-screen mode, kick back, and enjoy the show.

You can see on the video that the Champ de Mars was full of people – mostly young people – screaming in delight at the fireworks.  There were plenty of families with small children.  I love these fearless people.  Paris is still Paris.  Paris knows how to do fireworks.

The sound track for the fireworks is great, too.  It includes a wide variety of music – classical and popular.  In the middle somewhere, Frank Sinatra sings “I Love Paris.”

I can’t imagine another city having a more impressive fireworks display.  Sure, some put on some great shows.  But no other city has the Eiffel Tower, which was made for a show like this.  Grande Dame de Fer et Dame de Feu.