Barbara Joy Cooley's Paris Journal

Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

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It was about time we visit the Parc André Citroën. When we arrived at the gate, we were surprised to see a posted notice saying that the park would be open until 10PM in July and August.

We suppose this is because of the heat wave the city experienced in late June/early July. Only the open, central section of the park will be open at night; the wooded sections to the northeast and south will close at dusk, as usual.

The park was relatively new when we first started summering in Paris, in 1998. Now it has aged, and the infrastructure has taken a beating. The maintenance needed for this park is overwhelming. We were frankly surprised to see about half of the water features in the park operating.

Now when we read about newer features being added to the city of Paris park system, we usually read that native vegetation will be used and that the infrastructure added will be replaceable/moveable or low-maintenance. That is the case with the Berges de Seine and the Petite Ceinture.

Paris city hall has learned its lessons from the green spaces that were added in the 80s and 90s; places like the Parc André Citroën and the Promenade Plantée, are wonderful parks , but absolute money pits when it comes to needed maintenance and rehabilitation.

We enjoyed a new amenity added to the Parc André Citroën: a café called the Buvette du Parc. We saw it off to the left where we entered the gate on the southern edge of the park.

The buvette has interior and exterior tables, and the food and drink are served cafeteria style (photo below).

I held a table in the shade for us while Tom went in to buy a snack and beverages. The prices were reasonable: 3.80 for a thick slice of pound cake for Tom, 5.50 for a 25cl mini bottle of wine for me, and 3.50 for a 50cl bottle of Perrier for Tom.

From there, we walked along the lushly planted southwest edge of the park until we reached the garden on its westerly corner. There a delightful human-made waterfall was gushing, and the air felt cooler.

We continued across the grand, open, central field of the park, where the large balloon was parked. The atmospheric conditions must not have been right for offering rides yesterday afternoon.

We walked past the gardens that are arranged and planted by color, and then exited the park on its easternmost corner, which is near the Grenelle cemetery.

We’d not visited this old, walled cemetery in a long time, and so I suggested that we enter it. First, we looked at the new fountains (photo below) that had been added to the outside of the cemetery wall, facing the Esplanade Max Guedj, where children often play ball games.

Max was an aviator in the Free French forces in WWII who died a war hero while commanding an airborne unit over Norway. He was born in Tunisia, to parents who were French and Jewish. He was trained in Britain’s Royal Air Force. The Brits came to admire Max for his bravery and valor.

In January 1945, he led a group of bombadiers whose target was a petroleum ship carrying 6,000 tons of aviation fuel (high octane) in the north of Norway. It was in a highly defended zone, so the attack was risky. The mission was successful in that the petroleum ship was destroyed, but Max’s plane exploded.

It occurred to me that I did not remember seeing any graves of Jewish people in the Grenelle cemetery. So this time, after we entered the cemetery on the rue Saint Charles, I really looked for them. I found a few, but they are relatively recent family tombs, and a couple of those were Christian/Jewish marriages.

We were the only visitors in the cemetery. Weeds were growing along the edges of the pathways. Most graves were well tended, but many were not.

Still, the place was verdant with mature trees, and of course it was absolutely calm and quiet.

Nearby was a journalism building on rue Cauchy that had a photo exhibition on its exterior wall, one floor above the street level. The photographs were of Syria, and sadly portrayed the irony of humanity trying to live orderly lives in a state of chaos.

We could see the photos above the cemetery wall and the rows of tombs – quite a juxtaposition.

When we exited the cemetery gate on the rue Saint Charles, we remembered that we had an errand to run at Zola Color, the hardware store, conveniently located at the head of that same street.

We enjoyed walking up the street as the last of the market stalls were being carted away. The men in green uniforms were sweeping up a surprising amount of debris left from the market. Where a vegetable vendor had been, there was a pile of vegetables and pieces of cartons. A man in colorful African robes stopped to look through the pile, pulling out perfectly good green, red, and yellow peppers.

At Zola Color, we made our way back to the real hardware section, past all the housewares, and found the lock lubricant that we needed. The apartment’s front door lock has been getting more and more difficult to work in recent summers.

At home, we watched the Tour de France, and then prepared for dinner at Tandoori Nights on the rue Letellier.

Only one other table was occupied in the restaurant. A man also came in to pick up a takeaway order of Biryani.

This restaurant should have far more business than that. Maybe there is an onslaught of late-night diners at Tandoori Nights. The food was good, and certainly was good value. The ambiance was lovely, except that I think the restaurant should have turned on its air conditioning. It was just a bit too warm and humid in the dining room.

We made our usual Indian food choices of samosa, biryani, lamb korma, and garlic nan, and Tom had some ice cream for dessert. All that, plus our beverages, amounted to only 39 euros, with the Lafourchette.com discount.

Our server was a nice man from the Punjab state in India. Punjab is the only state in India in which the Sikh population is the majority. Alcohol as an intoxicant is forbidden for Sikhs. Sure enough, our server thoroughly approved of the fact that Tom does not drink alcohol.

Nevertheless, most of the tables in the restaurant were decorated, in part, by a fine bottle of rosé wine in a clear glass wine cooler. When in France . . . .

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Saturday, July 25, 2015