Joan of Arc and Lady Liberty

July 27, 2017 – Wednesday and Sunday are the market days for our Grenelle neighborhood.  I like to rise fairly early so that I can process photos and write before 10AM, which seems to be the ideal time to walk through the outdoor market on the boulevard de Grenelle.  By that time, the vendors are completely set up, even the latecomers, and the shoppers are shopping.  There are others like me who just walk through the middle of the market, gazing at the wares in each stall, looking at all the people, without buying anything. 

The Lulu dans ma Rue stall in the Grenelle market.

I combine this walk up and down the length of the Grenelle market with a walk up to the rue Cler, a pedestrianized market street.  In between, I walk along the end of the Champ de Mars, with the war college on my right and the peace pavillion on my left -- war and peace.

After walking through the pedestrianized section of rue Cler, I walk home via the rue de Grenelle and the Champ de Mars.

Yesterday, as I was walking from the boulevard de Grenelle to the rue Cler, a couple of the young women who I call the “do-you-speak-English scammers” were behind me.  They were pestering everyone they passed, trying to scam them.  Most people brushed them off quickly.  A few who had not encountered them before, or who had not been warned about them, were taken in for a few moments – but not for long. 

Two female scammers walking behind me at the end of the Champ de Mars

Scammers bothering a tourist as his wife is trying to catch up with him.

One poor man couldn’t get away from the scammers because he was waiting for his wife to cross the street, wheeling her suitcase behind her.  Jet-lagged tourists hauling luggage are favorite targets for the scammers, I’m sure.

Yesterday the scammers never approached me, even though they were in front of me, behind me, and passing me several times along that end of the Champ.  I was looking very Parisian, I guess, with my black clothes, gray silk scarf, and sunglasses even on a cloudy day.  So I wasn’t taken as a tourist.

But I did have my camera in my palm, and I took a couple photos, surreptitiously, of the scammers at “work.”  I really wanted to get away from them, but wasn’t able to do so until I crossed the boulevard de la Bourdonnais, leaving the Champ behind me.

In the afternoon, the five of us went for a walk up the Ile aux Cygnes to the Pont de Bir Hakeim.  We paused to look at the Monument de la France Renaissante, which is a gorgeous statue reminiscent of Joan of Arc on her horse, symbolic of the spirit and power of France.  I love that this symbol of power is the image of a strong woman, and I was sure to point that out to Olivia and Sarah.  They thought that was very cool.

Monument de la France Renaissante

A little earlier, we'd looked at the Statue of Liberty at the other end of the Ile aux Cygnes.  Strong women at each end of the Ile -- that was not simply happenstance.  This Statue of Liberty originally faced east, toward the Eiffel Tower,  It was turned to face west, in the direction of her big sister in New York City, in 1937, for the World's Fair.  Look what happened to liberty in France in the next several years!  Never forget.

This Statue of Liberty was moved to Japan for a year in 1998, then returned to Paris in 1999 -- all 14 tons of her.

Looking up at the Statue of Liberty on the Ile aux Cygnes

We dined well at Le Blavet on rue Lourmel last night.  Dan and I had the duck breast, while Tom and the girls had the beef filet.  Lovely starters and desserts were consumed as well.  The restaurant, one of our longtime favorites, offers delicious food at good value.

The girls were absolutely exhausted.   This morning, Dan and the girls left very early to take their flight home to Louisville.   The girls said it was a wonderful vacation – all three weeks of it – in France, Spain, and Italy.

In their absence today, Tom and I set about a thorough housecleaning of the apartment.  The cleaning lady is on vacation in Portugal, so the job is ours.  But who better to vacuum and to dust the thousands of books than a professor emeritus from The Ohio State University, who has a Ph.D. in American Literature from Indiana University and a B.A. from Duke?  Who better to scrub all the germs and grime away from the bathroom and kitchen than a science writer who worked for a research institute and a college of engineering?

We did it.  The place is gleaming, and quiet.

The Eiffel Tower as seen from the Pont de Bir Hakeim

Seizieme et Quinzieme -- so nice

September 10, 2015 -- We were strolling along the avenue Mozart in the 16^th arrondissement, when I noticed that we were at the intersection with the rue Serge Prokofiev.  Mozart eclipsed Prokofiev in breadth and grandeur.  Prokofiev was even overshadowed by the prefect Claude Erignac, who had a plaza named after him in this spot that is also home to the gendarmerie (police station) for the arrondissement.

Place du Prefet Claude Erignac

The Place du Préfet Claude Erignac is a gracious yet modest Art Deco space.  Shade trees protect it from the sun, and its setback from the avenue gives it relative calm.  With the police station right there, and its location in the middle of the chic 16^th, it is a place where you might feel safe and relaxed enough to take an afternoon siesta on a bench.  One gentleman was doing just that.

I’d mentally mapped out an hour and forty minute walk for us – up to and across the Pont Mirabeau, uphill on the rues Rémusat and George Sand, right along the avenue Mozart, and back downhill on the rues de l’Assomption and Boullainvilliers to the Pont de Grenelle.  Most of this territory we’d seen before, but we’d not been over there this summer.  And some of the streets we’ve not yet explored.

There aren’t so many major attractions in the 16^th, and that’s the way this arrondissement’s residents like it.  Calm.

So who was this prefect, Claude Erignac, whose name is important enough to have a Place that overshadows Prokofiev’s street?  I consulted Wikipedia.

He was not a prefect in the mainland of France; he was prefect on the island of Corsica.  He was not from Corsica originally, but rather from Lozere, in the south of France.  He went to Corsica to take the job of prefect of the southern part of the island in 1996.  On February 6, 1998, he was assassinated.  His murderer – a Corsican nationalist -- was found guilty three times and then sentenced to life in prison.

In the summer of that year of 1998, Tom and I were given the task of chaperoning a study abroad session for some Ohio State University students in Bath, England.  The program was only six weeks long; so when it ended, we still had a month and a half before Tom had to be back on duty, teaching, in Ohio.  Why leave Europe?  We just decided, “Let’s go to France!”  

Fortunately, this apartment in Paris, which we’d just heard about in mid-February 1998 while canoeing on the Sanibel River, became magically and immediately available to us that August.

That’s how we started summering in Paris.  This is our 18^th summer here.

As we turned down the rue de l’Assomption, I thought perhaps we’d never walked on that street before.  But then I saw an unusual red brick building with white gingerbread trim, and I remembered it from one of our first summers – from one of our first walks up into the 16^th.

Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus is a founder of the Religious Order
of the Assumption, headquartered on the rue de l'Assomption.

The rue de l’Assomption seems to be home to a number of substantial properties owned by the Roman Catholic Church.  One is named for the nun who started the religious order of the Assumption.  Her image is emblazoned on a couple of the buildings.  Such an icon. 

When the rue de l’Assomption ended, we crossed the Place du Dr. Hayem and began our way down the rue de Boulainvilliers.  We passed by the huge, round Radio France building, which is still undergoing some renovation, and by the amusingly named Café de l’Ogre.  An “ogre” is probably what some people called the Radio France building when it was first built.

We admired the Statue of Liberty again, this time from the right bank foot of the Pont de Grenelle.  I realize now that Liberty is facing west and south – she is facing in the direction of her big sister Statue of Liberty in New York.  (Paris is far north of New York City, and obviously very far east of it.)

We finished our walk with the very familiar rue Linois and avenue Emile Zola.  In the evening, we were out again on the avenue Emile Zola, making our way to dinner at l’Épopée.

That’s where Tom especially wanted to go.  

I know that my favorite restaurant this year is l’Alchimie.  I asked Tom what his favorite for this year would be.  It took him a while to decide, but then he said, “Le Pario.”  Le Pario has exceptionally inventive and delicious food, and the service is ultra-professional.  The décor is elegant, and it is a true haven with real air conditioning on a hot summer evening.  I can see why he selects it.

But we both are very fond of l’Épopée. 

Dinner began with a mis en bouche of crème fraiche, herbs, and tomato purée.  It was exceptionally good; it awakened the taste buds.

Our starter course of chicken and mushrooms in a pastry was fine.  But the main courses stole the show.  Mine was a tender piece of cod, encrusted with peppercorns and served with softly cooked, colorful veggies and a carrot purée.  Tom’s was a tasty beef filet.  We shared a dessert of profiteroles with rich, dark chocolate sauce.

Cod encrusted with peppercorns, served with veggies and pureed carrots.

Cool, early autumn air greeted us as we left the restaurant.  This year, I am enjoying September in Paris more than ever.  That’s because we’re in the 15^th, living among Parisians, in a very civilized fashion.  We’re here in this sunny, familiar apartment, in a good old building where we know the neighbors, and they are nice.