Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The end and the beginning

The Parc Andre Citroen's blue garden
 August 15, 2017 -- Back home in Florida, people sometimes ask me if it is safe to be in France now.  My short answer is, “Yes.”  For a longer answer, here’s an article from Conde Nast Traveler from last April.

But just to emphasize how safe it is here, let me show you this sign that we saw yesterday in Parc André Citroën.  We saw a similar sign in the Parc Georges Brassens not long ago. 


I’ll translate the sign for you:

Open at Night
During the summer, 50% of Paris’ green spaces remain continuously open.  For walking, sports, picnicking:  it is possible to benefit from the fresh air of the green spaces at all hours of the day and night.

The Parc André Citroën is open without interruption from July 1 to September 3, all week, 24 hours a day.


Respect the site and the neighborhood!
·        Throw your litter in the bins
·        Limit noise
·        Use the toilets put to your disposition
·        Avoid the unrecommended zones after 10PM because they’re not well lighted.

The legend on the graphic indicates the entrances open at night with a red triangle.  This encourages people to use the entrances in the open, well-lit areas.  Green areas are those accessible after 9:30PM.  Orange zones are not recommended after 9:30PM; my knowledge of the park tells me that it is the wooded areas that are not recommended at night.  That seems reasonable.

If Paris were not safe, the City could not leave these parks open all night in the summer.  I rest my case.
The park's balloon.

The Parc André Citroën was created on the site of the former André Citroën automobile factory.  Like the Parc Bercy, several of the park’s landscape features remain from or are reminiscent of its former, pre-park days.  Beautiful gardens have been created along the northeast side of the park.  A huge fountain of dancing waters is open for kids to play in during warm summer days.  A large balloon takes people up in the sky for a view of Paris from its southwestern edge.

The vast, open central part of the park stretches all the way to the Seine on the northwest border.  Some of the sightseeing boats stop there.


The park is heavily used by families, especially on warm summer weekends and holidays.  Yesterday, the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, with sunny weather reaching the lower 80s F, was a perfect day to be there.  So many people were; the line for balloon rides was long.

When we finished walking around in the Parc André Citroën, we left through its southernmost point and had a light lunch in Le Terminus brasserie on the Place Balard.

Dinner was at Le Pario, which may be Tom’s favorite restaurant in Paris.  During our afternoon walk, we’d noticed that it was open, even though Lafourchette.com seemed to indicate that it was closed.  Only a few tables were occupied while we dined there.  The food was terrific, even though the regular chef, Eduardo Jacinto, did not seem to be in the kitchen. 
The dining room and its stained glass at Le Terminus.

Today is the Feast of the Assumption, a day when those of the Catholic faiths celebrate the Virgin Mary’s assumption into heaven.  A grand procession will take place on and near the Ile de la Cité this afternoon, followed by vespers and a mass this evening at Notre-Dame de Paris.

This is like a time of renewal in Paris, because soon after this holiday is the “rentrée,” or re-entry, meaning “back-to-school time.”  But the rentrée has become more than just the start of the new school year.  It seems to be the start of the new year for everything:  new exhibits open at museums, new concert and theater series start, new books are published, new fashions are displayed, new businesses are opened, old businesses are re-opened.

The Feast of the Assumption marks the end of a year or a season, and it marks the beginning of a new year or season – just as the Assumption marked the end of Mary’s life on earth and the beginning of her life in heaven.


Here’s to new beginnings!

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