Here there be dragons

Bon Marché -- the famous Parisian department store -- surely it will have a nice stationery section, we thought.  Maybe we should continue our search for bookplates there?

So we hopped on the nearest metro and exited at Sevres-Babylone, right across from the Bon Marché entrance.

One of several glass ceilings at Le Bon Marché department store.

After a circuit through the entire store, we finally determined that the bookstore/stationery section was on the second floor in the main building.  The entire section was well organized, pleasant, and attractive.  But the stationery part had more interesting items than what we've seen in independent stationery stores so far.

The cover of Tom's book, Back to the Lake, has always featured the dragonfly in each edition.  Here's the latest cover, for the book coming out this year.  Ideally, we'd like to have bookplates that have a dragonfly image.

Weird display in Bon Marché.

Bon Marché had two small note cards with envelopes with just such an image, as well as small notepads made of high quality paper (hand-made in Belgium) with dragonflies at the top.  Put some glue on the back, and these will be perfect bookplates.  So we bought the last two notecards and two notepads.  The search was really over at that point.

But we got into a conversation with the cashier at Bon Marché, and I explained what we were trying to do.  She was interested in Tom's book, and so she wanted to help with the hunt.  She suggested we also look at Rougier et Plé, an art supply store.  I looked up Rougier et Plé on my phone and found that the flagship store was not too far away, on the boulevard Saint Germain.  For the fun of it, we walked over there after we left the Grand Magasin, small shopping bag in hand.

Monument in Square Boucicaut by sculptor Paul Moreau-Vauthier representing Marguerite Boucicaut and Baroness Clara de Hirsch.  Marguerite and her husband established Le Bon Marché.  Clara and Marguerite were both known for their philanthropic work to help working women and girls.

I selected a series of small, medieval streets as a way of going to the boulevard.  Rue du Dragon has always been one of my favorites.  At last we were on the boulevard, and were soon shocked to see that The Mondrian, one of our longtime favorite brasseries, was gone.  I searched this morning and found that The Mondrian announced its closing in August 2018.  I'm sorry we missed the closing night party.

The vacant brasserie front now looks as though it was burned in a fire sometime during the cold winter, but that fire must have happened after The Mondrian closed.

The Mondrian brasserie used to occupy this corner of Rue de Seine and the Boulevard Saint Germain.

My guess is that the inexpensive hotel that The Mondrian was in will also close to make way for a major renovation.  That location, on the corner of the Rue de Seine and the Boulevard Saint Germain, is ripe for a luxury boutique hotel.  That the very plain Welcome Hotel has lasted as long as it has in that prime spot is amazing.  On va voir . . . .

We continued up the boulevard, noting some positive changes along the way.  Finally we reached Rougier et Plé, on the northern side of the boulevard between the Odéon and Cluny metro stations.  This fine art supply store has other branches, including one not far from us on Rue Lecourbe, but this store on Boulevard Saint Germain is the main store, I believe.  It is an older building, and the store occupies three levels.  We enjoyed looking around there, and selected some self-adhesive labels with silver borders that could be used as bookplates, or as stick-on nametags at a party.  

Now we have options.

Flowers and palm trees in Square Boucicaut.

We walked back to the Carrefour de l'Odéon to have refreshments at Les Editeurs -- for the second time this summer.  I think this handsome brasserie has become our new favorite brasserie in this neighborhood now that The Mondrian is gone.   We ordered a planche de charcuterie, which was really a late lunch.

While at Les Editeurs we witnessed some interesting interaction between a tow truck driver who was towing away two motorcycles from the Carrefour de l'Odéon.  The owner of one of the motorcycles, an expensive semi-covered BMW model,  was attempting to talk the driver out of towing his vehicle.  The owner was an elderly man who was in good shape.  With is longish gray hair swept back from his well-structured face, he had the look of an intellectual.  I wish we could have heard the discussion between him and the driver.  It went on for some time, while the driver awaited authorization to proceed.

Flowers and a kiosque in Square Boucicaut.

After we'd paid our check, we went out and immediately flagged down a taxi in front of Les Editeurs.  We were able to relax and enjoy the view of the boulevards on the way home, where we relaxed more, until dinnertime.

We ventured out in the evening for another walk down the Avenue Félix Faure and Rue de la Convention to the Rue Saint Charles and the rue Sebastian Mercier, where we had a fine dinner at L'Ardoise du XV (the Blackboard of the Fifteenth).  We've probably dined there about eight times in the past few years, and each time the quality of the cuisine has been dependably fine.  Tom ordered the golden bream and I had duck breast, and we shared a small financier cake with orange sauce for dessert.

Here are some more photos from the day:

Beautiful doorway on the Rue de la Chaise.

Rue Bernard Palissy, a charming little old street named after a
painter, glassmaker, and enamel artisan of the 16th century.

The Dragon café on the Rue du Dragon.

Creative Art Deco style sign with dragon image above a Picard frozen foods storefont on Rue du Dragon.

Florist shop on Rue Bernard Palissy.

Golden bream, above, and duck with figs and puréed potatoes, below, at L'Ardoise du XV

Financier cake with orange sauce.

It is summertime in the 6th

A strikingly handsome bust of the Swedish playwright August Strindberg appeared before us as we walked down Rue Mabillon toward the back of the Saint Sulpice church.  We'd not seen it before, even though it was installed in November 2017.  Strindberg is quoted on a plaque below the bust.  Tom was curious about that quote from Strindberg, referring to one of the murals by Eugene Delacroix inside the church.  Here's a translation:

"I often enter the church to strengthen myself in the contemplation of Jacob's struggle with the angel of Delacroix. And on leaving I remember the wrestler who stands despite his dislocated hip."

Mural by Eugene Delacroix, depicting Jacob's struggle with the angel.

I don't enter the church of Saint Sulpice to strengthen myself, but I treasure the opportunity to visit that place because I always have a sense of complete calm by the time I leave it.  I don't think I get quite the same feeling anyplace else that I've been.  I don't have to be there for very long; the feeling just washes over and through me.

My sister likes that church, too.  Perhaps it is in our DNA.

We'd entered the side door on the southern façade and made our way past the sacristy and back to the chapel of the virgin where I sat quietly for a while.

Moving on along the north side of the nave, we quickly passed by a tour guide who was whispering to his group about the pieces of the church that played roles in The DaVinci Code.  We don't care about that.

We paused to admire a large number of wooden chairs that were efficiently and elaborately stacked in the north aisle.  We speculate that these are here because the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral is out of commission, and the church of Saint Sulpice -- which is almost as large as Notre Dame, and not far away -- is now accommodating the worshipers who would otherwise be at Notre Dame.

Heliodorus driven from the temple, by Eugene Delacroix -- a mural in the church of Saint Sulpice.

At last we made our way over to the Delacroix murals.  Tom particularly likes to examine these when we go to Saint Sulpice.

We exited the main doors and looked over the Place Saint Sulpice.  The square was amazingly quiet and uncrowded.  The fountain was flowing with water again, and it is in top form now -- as clean as can be.

An uncrowded Place Saint Sulpice.

The magnificent fountain in the Place Saint Sulpice.

At the southeast corner of the Square, we walked down to the Rue de Ferou, past a newly expanded ice cream parlor and tea room at the corner of Rue Canivet (photo below).  If we still stayed on the Rue Canivet in September, this would be a hazard for Tom, who loves ice cream.

We entered the Luxembourg Gardens through the gate on Rue de Vaugirard, by the Angelina tea room.  Almost immediately, I was horrified to see an ugly building that has been erected in that part of the park.  I read the signs, which assured me that the building is only temporary.  It houses a daycare center while the center's real home is being renovated.  There is almost no vacant land in the 6th arrondissement, so this is where the temporary building has to be, I suppose.

But the rest of the garden was as lovely as ever.  We wandered slowly, pausing to rest on a couple of the ubiquitous green metal chairs, and pausing again to look at a sculpture by Zadkine that we'd forgotten (photo below).

We walked past some of the "old queens," statues representing Queens of France (as well as Saint Genevieve and other influential women) that were created and installed in the gardens in the 19th century.

Bathilde, my 40th great grandmother.  She was sold into slavery when she was
a child.  Later, Clovis II asked to marry her.  Even later, when acting as queen regent,
she abolished the trading of Christians as slaves, and she tried to buy and free children from slavery.

My 36th great grandmother, Bertrade, who died on July 12, 783,
in Choisy, Haute-Savoie, Rhone-Alpes, France, at about age 63 -- my age now.

After walking alongside the Medici Fountain, which was lined with dozens of people in green metal chairs, we exited the park and walked down the Boulevard St. Michel, past the Place de la Sorbonne, and turned left on the Boulevard Saint Germain.

The side of the lovely Medici fountain.

Tom was ready for coffee and ice cream, so I suggested that we go to Les Editeurs -- a place where I once met a friend for a drink, but Tom had not yet seen.

Les Editeurs is a classic brasserie with one dining room that is lined with books, and the other area is decorated with colorful prints.  We sat out on the sidewalk, which was decidedly quieter and roomier than the crowded Danton brasserie across the street, facing the Carrefour de l'Odéon.

Bee hives in wooden boxes in the pavilion on the left
in the Luxembourg Gardens.

When we walked past it, Danton was full of tourists.  Tourists also crowded the sidewalks on the boulevards of the 6th.  I can see why Parisians feel overwhelmed by tourists in that part of town, just as we feel overwhelmed by tourists in south Florida in the winter and early spring.

In Paris, we don't see ourselves as tourists.  Paris is just where we live (and write) in the summer.  We agree with many Parisians, that it is easier to live in the 15th and 16th arrondissements because those places don't feel like Disneyland because they aren't loaded with tourists.

Tom had his Berthillon ice cream and espresso, we shared a bottle of sparkling water, and I had a glass of wine, as we admired the Carrefour de l'Odéon.  Here's a video of our view from our table:

As we paid the tab, I checked the fitness app; we'd met our 5-mile walking goal for the day.  So we took a taxi from the taxi stand around the corner and we were home in no time.

We'd taken the metro to go over to the 6th earlier in the afternoon, when my knees and Tom's hip were still in fine form.  But after 5 miles of walking, we don't wish to suffer from going down all the steps to the metro platform underground.  We've learned that taking taxis to go home after walking is just a great way to extend our sightseeing time on street level.

Inside the brasserie called A La Tour Eiffel, 96 Rue du Commerce.

After resting in the apartment for a while, we dressed casually for dinner down the street at the brasserie called A La Tour Eiffel, across from the Saint John the Baptist church that was once the centerpiece of the town of Grenelle.  We had our first dinner in Paris at A La Tour Eiffel in August 1998.

This brasserie is handsome, has a reasonably priced menu, and serves a delicious beef carpaccio and fries (for Tom) and duck breast with mushroom sauce and asparagus (for me).

Here are more scenes from the day:

Display at A La Tour Eiffel.

Beef carpaccio (above) an duck breast with mushroom sauce (below)
at the brasserie called A La Tour Eiffel.

Old façade on Rue de Ferou.

Looking at Saint Sulpice from the Rue de Ferou.

The fountain in Place Saint Sulpice (above and below).

THANK FOR FOR RESPECTING  THE SILENCE in the church.  I can't emphasize this enough.

Detail in one of the Delacroix murals in Saint Sulpice.

Extra chairs stacked in the north aisle.

The chapel of the Virgin in Saint Sulpice.