Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Change is neverending in Paris. The Beaugrenelle re-do of the Beaugrenelle re-do from decades ago is chugging right along, and concrete structures have emerged from vast holes in the ground at the end of the rue Linois, near the Seine. (Click here for the propaganda video about this urban renewal project.) The concrete structures are a long way from finished, however, so we pedestrians in the 15th will be putting up with confounding pedestrian detours for a while yet. The Beaugrenelle web site claims the work will be done in Spring 2013; we don’t believe that. We cannot avoid the rue Linois and Beaugrenelle, because we simply must walk, from time to time, along the full length of the Île aux Cygnes. This leafy, long, narrow human-made island in the Seine is a calm place to stroll during rush hour, away from the cars. For a long time, I’ve wondered why this place is called the Île aux Cygnes by some, and the Allée des Cygnes by others. Google Maps has finally helped me solve this enigma. Zoomed out just far enough, it is called the Île aux Cygnes, and that seems to refer to the entire island. Zoom in, and the Allée, or walkway, on the island becomes visible, and this walkway is marked “Allée des Cygnes.” There you have it: the Allée des Cygnes is the walkway, or path, on the Île aux Cygnes. Like all good Allées, this one is lined with mature trees on each side. Now that we have resolved that, let me say that while walking there at rush hour, we are separated somewhat from the cars and their drivers trying to go home (or to the restaurant, or to the supermarket, or to pick up the kids from daycare). But we can still see them, especially on the Voie Georges Pompidou, the highway that runs along the right bank of the river in that part of Paris. We can even see a gas station tucked in along that road, not far from the iconic Radio-France building. I notice on the Google map, and I think I have read before about a museum dedicated to the history of radio, and Radio-France, in that building. I think I’d like to see that sometime. Anyone been there? Speaking of you readers, some of you make me smile sometimes. For example: When he saw yesterday’s photo of the utterly decrepit 3 Ducks building, Christian Vivet commented “Love the Blue Windows for the 3 Ducks Hostel!” Ya gotta love a guy who sees beauty in a derelict old building like that. He’s right, though. The blue window trim is charming, and oh so French. Christian is from Paris, and now he is a talented chef who, with his lovely wife Mari, owns a French bistro in Florida. The name of their bistro? Blue Windows, of course. It is at 15250 S. Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) in south Fort Myers, Florida. We have dined there, and we can tell you it is absolutely the real thing. I’d be delighted to find this bistro in Paris. If you’re in southwest Florida and you can’t make it to Paris, at least take yourself to Blue Windows. It is authentic, it is real, and it is superb. I wish I could go there more often, but while Tom’s music gigs take him over to the “mainland,” as we islanders call it, with some frequency, I am generally not with him then. And I no longer have the responsibilities that used to take me over to U.S. 41 on the mainland more frequently, but even then, Tom would not be with me at those times. Experiencing wonderful French cuisine is something Tom and
I do together. By dinnertime, when we both are back on the island together, we tend to stay. But oh do I ever wish that the Blue Windows bistro was on Sanibel Island. I know that the seasonal nature of business on the island is brutal, however, so I understand the need for Blue Windows to be on the mainland instead. At any rate, we are so fortunate that Christian and Mari are in southwest Florida. So, if you are a south Floridian, make a reservation at Blue Windows by calling (239) 849-0622 and GO! My friend Judy dined there recently, and of course she loved it. Christian showed her where we are staying, approximately, on a map of Paris. He, being a native, knows Paris so well that he can surmise our location based on what I write here. Judy, who is an attorney, has been helping me figure out how to vote on our absentee ballots (who knows all these judge candidates, anyway???). Yesterday, I worked on that ballot for about an hour. I’m still not finished. There is more research to do. This is for the August primary in Florida. For some reason, this is also when we vote for some judges. Thank you, Judy. And thank you, Jane, for your help with the school board recommendations. We take voting very seriously, as you can tell, and so we’ve been dealing with these absentee August ballots each summer for over a decade. I wish voter turnouts in the U.S. would be as high as they are here in France, but they are nowhere close. Please, please, please vote. In the recent Presidential election in France, the turnout was an astounding 80 percent. Will we ever get to that point in the U.S.? I pray that we do. I’ll try to focus on that every time I see the replica of the Statue of Liberty at the southwestern end of the Île des Cygnes. With liberty comes responsibility. Because of all the construction at the end of rue Linois, we decided to walk home a different way, not by backtracking on the Allée. Instead, we crossed to the left bank at the picturesque two-level Pont de Bir-Hakeim. Then I paused to photograph the park called the Square de la place des Martyrs Juifs du vélodrome d'hiver, which should be marked on the Google map but is not. This memorial to the horrendous round-up at the Vélodrome d’Hiver, which was located near this park, is a place I visit every year, since first learning about the horrible event over a decade ago. I’ve written about it several times in this journal in years past. Vel d’Hiv, as it is called for short, is also the setting for part of the well-written book called Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay . This Vel d’Hiv crime against humanity took place on July 16 and 17 of the year my husband was born, 1942. That’s not so long ago – and we should never forget. Every year, there is a ceremony in this little park to commemorate the crime, so people don’t forget it. This year, I believe the event will be on July 22. We crossed the busy Quai de Grenelle and marveled at the traffic backed up along the boulevard de Grenelle. Ten years ago, walking along a backed up street like this in Paris was an asphyxiating experience. But now, more stringent emissions standards that have been in place for some time mean that the exhaust from the nearby, idling cars, trucks, and buses no longer chokes us. It was actually kind of fun, and quieter, walking along with all the traffic almost gridlocked rather than flowing. We decided that the rue Saint-Charles is the best way to walk home from there, so we turned to the south and soon found ourselves at the quintessentially Parisian intersection of the rue du Theatre, rue Saint-Charles, and rue Héricart. This leafy square is called the Place Saint-Charles, another fact that the Google map ignores or omits. Once, we saw a scene for The DaVinci Code being filmed there. Later, when we watched the movie, that scene never appeared. I suppose it ended up on the cutting room floor, as they say. I like the place better without all the movie crew and equipment clutter. One amenity in that square, one of the useful and highly functional free self-cleaning public restrooms, was something that I took advantage of yesterday. So civilized, les sanisettes. And so we meandered home in a quiet part of the 15th. When we arrived there, we decided not to eat out. We weren’t hungry enough because I’d cooked lunch (oh those sautéed mushrooms were good, if I may say so myself). We bought a baguette just before a bakery closed, and we dined simply on fruit, bread, Cantal cheese, and, of course, a little piece of dark Swiss chocolate for dessert. |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Hollyhocks
blooming on the rue Saint-Charles.
On
the Île des Cygnes, we found a young musician playing the bagpipe, as his
instructor listens. The kid played
rapidly and marvelously.
The Square de la place des Martyrs Juifs du vélodrome d'hiver, by
the intersection of the boulevard de Grenelle and the quai de Grenelle,
alongside the Port Autonome de Paris on the Seine. (Got that, Google maps? Now mark it.)
I
remind myself often to look up as we walk.
Otherwish, I’d miss some enchanting tops of buildings, like this one,
just off of the rue Saint-Charles.
That top apartment with the portico and balcony must have an
outstanding, full-length view of the Eiffel Tower. It would be a good place to watch the
fireworks on Quatorze Juillet
(Bastille Day).
The
Eiffel Tower on the evening of July 8, 2012. |
