Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Love. What does it mean to love? I believe love is positive, constructive, protective, caring, nurturing. “Love” that does not have those qualities is probably not love, but rather something else that can be confused with love. “How do you show your mom that you love her?” Pastor Danner once asked the children during the kids’ moment on a Sunday not too long ago at church on Sanibel. “Do you show her you love her by cleaning up your room?” Yes, that is one of the ways you can show your love, if you’re a kid. If you’re an adult, you can show your love by NOT putting a love lock on anything in a public space. So-called “love” locks are destructive and ugly. They’re a poor way of showing your love to your loved one, and a self-defeating way of showing your love for Paris. People by the hundreds of thousands have been putting padlocks on Paris bridges (and other infrastructure) to demonstrate their love for their significant others. Attaching those locks is a selfish and bad idea. The sheer weight of the locks is undermining the bridges’ railings. On the Passerelle des Arts, entire sections of the railings have had to be removed. They’ve been replaced by temporary panels that are solid, blocking the view but not providing places for more locks to be attached. The locks are ugly. What can I say? Why would anyone want to make Paris ugly, just for their own foolish superstitious beliefs? People, please, I beg you: STOP putting love locks in public places! If you insist on a love lock, put it somewhere in your home. The rest of us don’t want to see it, and we don’t want it to be damaging our infrastructure. We’d started our Sunday walk by taking the metro to Maubert-Mutualité, in the 5th arrondissement, where we walked up the rue Maitre-Albert toward the Seine and Notre Dame. I noted the spot on Place Maubert where many Protestants were burned to death hundreds of years ago. I just can’t get that historical fact out of my head; every time I pass by there, I think about it. Across from that spot, the sidewalk is several steps lower than the street. We stepped down there to take a look at one of those ubiquitous pubs for English-speakers. This one was not British or Irish however; it had half a dozen American flags flying on its façade. The name of the place was “The Long Hop,” and it had a sign on the façade urging its patrons to be quiet, for the sake of the neighborhood. I’ve seen those signs on many Parisian bars, in French, but this is the first one I’ve seen on an English-speakers’ pub. I applaud the owners for showing that they love their neighbors. A little farther up the street, we paused to look into a shop window at a display of whimsical creatures (below).
Directly across the street, a rifle-toting soldier stood on guard. Was he guarding something/somebody in the old building behind him? Or was he just stationed there because of proximity to main tourist attractions like Notre Dame? I don’t know. He was an unusual sight. We crossed the busy quai and descended the steps to the Porte de Montebello, where we began our trek homeward, on the banks of the Seine. We noted that the café boat called the Six-Huit is gone, now replaced by a couple of smaller boats and a bigger one owned by Maxim’s. The Maxim boat has the amusing name: Bateau Ivre (drunken ship). Rain started falling. We paused under a few bridges, and then the sky brightened. After we passed under the Pont Saint-Michel, we admired the view toward the Pont Neuf. I can see why Francis LeCoadic chose to paint that view in January or February of 1956, and I am so happy that we now have that painting. Sharing a rendition of a beautiful view in Paris is another way of showing your love for the city. At the Quai Voltaire (where Voltaire did indeed once live) we had to climb up to the street level, because the cobblestoned riverbank ends there. Just before we reached the Musée D’Orsay, I saw a sculpture in front of the Caisse des Depots, and wondered if it was a Lichtenstein. Later, I learned that it was a piece by a French sculptor named Jean Dubuffet, but that there is indeed a large Lichtenstein sculpture just inside this building, in the hall! In front of the Musée D’Orsay, we were able to descend once again to the riverbank, now in the section that is part of the Berges de Seine project. So there were lots of amenities – things to see, places to sit, games for adults and children. We stopped at the Rosa Bonheur café boat for refreshments. There Tom discovered another brand of ice cream that he appreciates: Alperel. At the bar, where one places one’s order at Rosa Bonheur, Tom asked for ice cream, vanilla and chocolate, meaning one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of chocolate. Instead, he received two little containers of ice cream, one vanilla and one chocolate, at 6 euros each! It amounted to something like four to six scoops of ice cream! I thought that was pretty funny, but then I had to help him eat some of it. Normally, I’d pass on ice cream in the afternoon. At 2 in the afternoon, the Rosa Bonheur was uncrowded. We sat by a window at a long table that we had to ourselves, and we felt the boat move gently while we watched the water glisten and the tour boats pass by. Having the space and the view was relaxing. When we felt restored, we continued our walk to the Pont de l’Alma, where we climbed back up to the street level, crossed the Place de la Resistance, and began walking down the avenue Rapp, for the first time this summer. We paused briefly to admire that wonderful Art Nouveau building with the salamander door hardware and then continued, to the Champ de Mars. We crossed through the usual crowd there, and then selected the quiet avenue Charles Floquet to continue on to the avenue de la Motte Picquet. We like walking the length of the avenue Charles Floquet because it is quieter and less dusty than the Champ de Mars, but also because of the elegant Haussmannian buildings lining each side of the street. There are no commercial businesses on that avenue, just beautiful trees and buildings. Once we were home, we did the usual: watched the Tour de France on channel 2, and got ready for dinner. Dinner was down on the avenue Félix Faure again, this time at Axuria. We’re running through our list of local favorites, and soon will have to start making repeat visits to some of them. Axuria did not disappoint, although we noticed that this restaurant, too, has shortened its menu. Shorter menus are definitely a trend. Curiously, there is no longer any lamb on Axuria’s menu. That was originally one if its main specialties. There were still several seafood offerings, but we each chose to have the veal instead. It was a great choice.
The starter course, croustillants de langoustines, was small in size but rich in flavor. In addition to the three croustillants, there was a nice scoop of lobster mousse, topped by some caviar. Delicious!
Dessert was, of course, the incomparable Soufflé au Grand Marnier, which we shared.
After dinner was the usual pleasant stroll up the avenue Félix Faure, with a stop in the Carrefour Express so that Tom could by strawberry jam for his breakfast toast. At home, we sat out on the balcony in the dying light. There was still plenty of that light at 10PM, even on a cloudy evening. But the days are getting shorter; we’ve been here for two weeks now. That’s long enough for us to have relaxed and recovered from our recent move. Paris has restored us. Paris, je t’aime. |
Monday, July 20, 2015
Notre
Dame, as seen from the left bank.
A
green roof on one of the barges/boats across from Notre Dame.
Views
of Pont Neuf.
You can see the statue of Henri IV in the photo below.
On
steps leading to the Passerelle des Arts, you can
still see ugly love locks on the railings.
On the Passerelle itself, the railings had
to be removed and replaced by solid panels, which have been painted rose and
white.
Sculpture
by Jean Dubuffet in front of the Caisse des Depots.
The
beautiful Art Nouveau building at 29 avenue Rapp,
designed by architect Jules Lavirotte.
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