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!

Hopeful surprises and favorable hazards

Notre Dame, as seen from the Pont de l'Archeveche

July 26, 2017 – The adventure often starts with a ride on the metro.  All five of us took the line 10 to the Place Maubert.  We climbed the metro steps and emerged on the Place as the last of the vendors were packing up their wares.  Market day was over by 2PM. 

Olivia, Sarah, and Tom Cooley ride the metro.

As we walked up the rue de Bievre, Tom and I told Olivia and Sarah about the Bievre (a French word for “beaver”), which is a stream that flows into the Seine.  As “civilization” progressed in Paris, the stream became an open sewer, and eventually was covered over.  But the street name of Bievre lives on, and so does its story. 

Graffiti in the Village St. Paul

[Translation of the graffiti at left:
There aren't accidents, there are hopeful surprises of fortuitous circumstances, and the favorable hazards.]

Graffiti in the Village St. Paul

The Bievre enters the city near the border of the 13^th and 14^th arrondissements, according to Wikipedia.  But you can’t see it; it is under the street level in Paris.  You just have to believe it is there.

Once upon a time, the Bievre served the famous Gobelins tapestry factory, which is in what is now the 13^th arrondissement.  Perhaps we will visit Gobelins sometime this summer.

When we reached the end of the Bievre, we crossed the Seine on the Pont de l’Archiveche, which gave us a lovely backside view of Notre Dame.  We entered the little park which is now the entrance to a memorial monument to those deported to concentration camps during World War II.  The guardienne of the monument told us about how to enter and move through it. 

Cleverly painted shop window
 in the Village St. Paul

Trompe l'oeil painting of a door
in the Village St. Paul

Olivia and Sarah have been learning about the World Wars and the Holocaust, so they were interested in seeing the exhibit.  The guardienne had instructed us to be very quiet as we proceeded through the exhibit, and the girls were indeed quiet, attentive, and respectful.

When we exited the monument, Tom and Dan decided that we should walk up the middle of the Ile Saint Louis.  The girls were content just to walk along the colorful street; they felt no need to go into the shops.  They’re like me.

We left the island so that we could explore the St. Paul neighborhood in the 4^th arrondissement.  Wandering aimlessly through the courtyards of the Village Saint Paul and then into the Marais, I temporarily lost my sense of direction.  That rarely happens.

We stopped for refreshments at Le Sevigne (15 rue de Parc Royal).  I was excited to see that the place serves Mariage Freres tea.  I’d told Olivia and Sarah about that brand, and was pleased to see them have the opportunity to try it.  We sat under a large crystal chandelier at a plain table in a room with old stone walls.  The girls each consumed a thé gourmand while Dan and Tom had ice cream treats and Dan drank some strange red martini-like cocktail.  We all shared a plate of excellent, piping hot fries.  The Sevigne did not look like much from the street, but it was a delightful surprise. 

We carried on, walking through the Marais, including the rue de Rosiers in our path, and finally reached the Hotel de Ville (Paris City Hall).  As part of the pervasive campaign to promote Paris as the site for the 2024 Olympics, an athletic track has been set up in the big square in front of the Hotel de Ville.  It is a strange contrast with the decorative old building.

We crossed over to the Ile de la Cite where we saw plenty of souvenir shops.  Olivia wanted a black “Le Chat” t-shirt and Sarah wanted a Paris sweatshirt.  Olivia and I ventured into a shop together.  I found the right shirt for her, in the right size, and bought it.  Then Tom, Dan and Sarah entered the shop and, with lots of help from the shopkeeper, found the right sweatshirt for Sarah.  The girls also bought Eiffel Tower keychains for their friends and a beautiful, pink silk Paris scarf for their half-sister, Hannah.

Sometimes those ubiquitous sourvenir shops can be helpful.

Shops in the Village St. Paul

I led the pack through the swarming crowd in front of Notre Dame, through the Square Viviani, past the ancient church of St. Julien le Pauvre, past the odd little green medieval house that Tom and I could have bought at one point, through the Huchette, past the church of St. Severin, the Canadian bookshop on the rue de Parcheminerie, and right down to the metro at Cluny La Sorbonne.

And so ended the day’s adventure, but the evening’s fun was about to begin.

The athletic courts on the other side of the fence here in the St. Paul
neighborhood are on the site of what was once a crowded and colorful
Jewish ghetto.  The neighborhood was demolished in an ill-advised
"urban renewal" which was undoubtedly fueled by anti-Semitism.

Dan, Olivia, and Sarah deciding which way to go when exiting the Village St. Paul.

We dined near the apartment, at l’Alchimie, my favorite restaurant in Paris.  Situated in a quaint, country-looking building on the rue Letellier, the resto is run by the talented Chef Eric Rogoff and his elegant wife. 

I ordered one paté foie gras starter dish for us all to share.  The girls had not yet tried foie gras, and Eric’s foie gras was definitely the one to use to introduce them to this classic.  They both liked it, even after I told them it was goose liver!

Gargoyles on the St. Severin church.

Tom and the girls had beef tenderloin in a luscious brown pepper sauce; Dan had a turbot filet; and I had a stunning whole sole meuniere – perhaps the best I’ve ever tasted.  Madame had asked me ahead of time if I would like the chef to debone the fish, and she was not surprised at all when I said I would do it myself. 

That heavenly fish came with the absolutely correct steamed potatoes.  The others each had a dark, rich moelleux au chocolat for dessert, and I was content to watch them eat while I finished a glass of cold, crisp sauvignon blanc. 

Panorama of the Hotel de Ville (thanks to Autostitch software).

Back at home in the apartment, the five of us settled down to quietly use our devices, as we often do.  Tom checks his email on his computer, Dan checks on airline reservations using his phone, the girls use their phones to text their friends about all they saw and did in Paris today, and I read the Washington Post on my Kindle Fire – a modern day Norman Rockwell scene.

Beautiful Churches on a Lovely Day

Notre Dame

August 23, 2016 -- While I love to look at Notre Dame from the outside, I admit that other churches in Paris have interiors that intrigue me more.  One of those is Saint Séverin.  Part of the reason is the forest of columns in its ambulatory, especially the twisted column.  Somehow this twisted column represents exuberance to me.  The expository plaque in the church suggests that it represents the “Tree of Life,” and how “good overcomes evil and the Resurrection of Christ is a wonder.”

Twisted column in the middle of the ambulatory and modern stained glass windows in the absidial chapel of
the Saint Severin church.

This section of the Saint Séverin church dates back to 1489 to 1495.  Another plaque in the church states that this part “is the triumph of Parisian flamboyant gothic style.”

Flamboyant.  I like it.  I also deeply appreciate the modern stained glass windows near the twisted column.  They are part of what is called the absidial chapel.  The windows were created by Jean Bazaine (1904-2001), and were installed in 1970.  They exude life in this otherwise fairly somber church.

The history of the church as explained on plaques in the church differs a little from the history contained in Wikipedia.  Today, I’ll go with the church’s version.  (Maybe someone from the church should correct the Wikipedia article?)

Folklore says that on this site was an oratory erected in ancient times, near the tomb of a hermit named Severin, who died in 555.  But information in the church states that it is dedicated to a different Séverin, one who started the Agaune Abbey in Switzerland.  A church was most likely constructed here by the 11^th century, but it is long gone. 

The Saint Severin church, as seen from the rue Saint Jacques, in the 5th arrondissement.

The Saint Séverin church that we see now began in the 13^th century.  Like so many of these old churches, it was expanded and modified in the centuries that followed.  Wikipedia claims that a fire destroyed the old church in 1448.  Whoever wrote the church plaque information isn’t so sure.  The plaque states that the destruction could have been due to neglect during the Hundred Years’ War.

We left Saint Séverin to wander through the part of the maze of medieval streets where that corner of the 5^th arrondissement meets a corner of the 6^th arrondissement. 

The Abbey Bookshop

As always, we walked by the quaint Abbey bookshop on the rue de la Parcheminerie.  As always, the shop was jam-packed with books – almost all in English.  The shop is run by Brian, who is a friend of our bibliophile friend who owns the apartment where we stay.

We didn’t stop in the bookshop because our dinner reservation time was fast approaching. 

Dinner was at yet another of the former Chartier bouillons:  Bouillon Racine, on the rue Racine, near the Odéon national theater.

We’ve dined at Bouillon Racine at least once a year for the past decade or so.  We know that it can be very good. 

The Abbey bookshop, rue Parcheminerie

Last night, the results were mixed.  The crabmeat starter course looked beautiful (except for terribly wilted lettuce scattered “decoratively” around the edges of the plate).  But the taste was bland.

Our main courses, duckling for me and steak for Tom, were absolutely delicious – but only just barely warm – almost cold.

For some reason, Tom ordered two desserts – a dish of ice cream, and a chocolate fondant with a scoop of raspberry sorbet.  I liked the sorbet, but I left the rest of it to him.  I guess he was taking full advantage of the Lafourchette.com 40% discount (food items only; not beverages).

The restaurant is a gorgeous Art Nouveau wonder.  But near us the coat closet “door” was a tattered and dirty curtain – a far cry from the lustrous blue velvet curtains at La Vagenende.  Then again, La Vagenende does not offer a discount . . . .

We had taken the metro out to the 5^th arrondissement, so we decided to walk back, part of the way, to the Sevres-Babylone metro station.  If it were daytime, we would have walked the whole way home.  But we were tired.  Our bedtime was approaching.

So we enjoyed the evening stroll through the elegant Place de l’Odéon, by the national theatre, and through the familiar streets of the 6^th until we reached our metro station near the Bon Marché department store.

The upstairs dining room at Bouillon Racine, on the rue Racine.

Today begins a 5-day streak of hot weather.  So I took my walk early this morning, solo, through the neighborhoods alongside the Champ de Mars.  When I was almost home again, at about 8AM, I slipped into the bakery to buy a baguette for Tom.  He was thrilled to have a fresh baguette in the morning as he had his coffee – none of that toasted stale bread today!