Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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Today is a big holiday in France: the Feast of the Assumption. We’ve been told that not very many people in France are very religious anymore. We’ve heard it said that not many go to church much. That may be, but lately we’ve noticed the plethora of church services held throughout the week, and we’ve seen crowds emerge from evening mass on a couple occasions. Many see the Feast of the Assumption on August 15 as a sort of milestone holiday – it marks the dead center of the vacation period. After today, Parisians will start to come home. Shops and restaurants that were closed will start to reopen. The “rentrée,” or “re-entry” will begin, and suddenly, by somewhere around August 25, the new season begins, almost as if it were a new year. The Assumption was certainly an important milestone for the Virgin Mary: the day that she was “bodily taken up into heaven at the end of her earthly life.” I believe this holiday is very important in the Catholic Church, but as Protestants, Tom and I never were raised to think much about it as a holiday or to celebrate it with a feast. The one Protestant denomination that does celebrate the Assumption is the Anglican church; but we were raised as Methodists. In the Catholic church, this holiday is a “Holy Day of Obligation,” which those of you who are Catholic know means those of that faith are obliged to attend Mass on this day. Not being Catholic, we won’t be attending Mass, but yesterday we discovered another one of the relatively fewer Protestant churches in Paris. We already knew about the Korean Presbyterian church around the corner from the end of the rue du Theatre, on the rue Quinault. I think it is a sort of mission church, and its building was formerly an Evangelical Lutheran Church. Before we started our walk yesterday, I noticed on the newly published map that on rue Fondary, also near the rue du Theatre, was supposed to be a synagogue. We’d never noticed that on our walks, so we made rue Fondary our route to the Seine. It is probably the most direct route. We never found the synagogue, but there was another Protestant church near that spot. It is an Assembly of God evangelical church that meets in an apartment building. Farther down the same block, on the other side, is an interesting Catholic church or chapel that I cannot find in the directories. It dates back not too far, but far enough that I think it was originally surrounded by the factories of the 15^th, which was in the early 20^th century a fairly industrial area. Rue Fondary turns into rue Rouelle, and at the end of it is a lovely neighborhood park, Square Bela Bartok. Did you know that Bela Bartok, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, became an atheist and then converted to Unitarianism? He wrote not only music, but also anti-fascist treatises. For that reason, he had to flee Hungary when it sided with the Nazis. Very reluctantly, Bartok emigrated to the U.S. After he died at age 64, in 1945, in New York City, only ten people attended his funeral! So I’m pleased that there is a lovely park named after him in Paris. He gave us beautiful music. Sunday afternoons always make us think of music. In the winter, of course, Tom’s Island Jazz band plays for the people on Sanibel, in the garden in front of BIG ARTS. On Sunday afternoons in the summer, we wander through Paris along the Seine. If our timing is right, we always stop to listen to Bernard Constant, the amazing one-man jazz band. Now we know one-man bands in Florida, but they rely on electronic gadgetry and pre-recorded or programmed tracks. Not Bernard. Bernard does it all. He plays accordion, trumpet or valve trombone, bass drum, and high-hat cymbals all at once. If he isn’t playing a horn, he’s singing while also playing the accordion and drum set. And he does it all so very well! We listened to him play for quite a while, applauding after each tune. Our applause echos in the covered stone passageway where Bernard plays, at the right-bank foot of the Passerelle Solferino. It makes the two of us sound like twelve people applauding. Bernard likes that. Not many people stop to listen so long, and we are among the few who applaud. Most people are busily moving from the Seine to the Tuileries or vice versa, and if they stop to listen, they only pause for a short time. Lots of people like Bernard’s music, however, because they put coins into the upturned top hat in front of him. When it was nearly 5PM, Bernard stopped. We went over to say hello. He immediately remembered us as the people from Florida. We had a nice chat, and I explained to him that in Winter on Sunday afternoons, Tom’s band plays jazz for free in the park in Florida, and in Summer, we come to listen to him play there by the Seine, in the passageway to the Tuileries. Such symmetry. Bernard liked that. We worry about Bernard because in these past few years, he’s become frail. The last time we saw him before yesterday, it was a chilly day, and he couldn’t play much or well. But yesterday, he was in fine form. His music was amazingly good. Even his voice, as he approaches 80, is wonderful – deep and full. After that nice chat with Bernard, we walked on and made our way to the Place Saint Germain des Pres, where we hoped we might find the Dixieland band that often performs there on Sunday afternoons/evenings. But they must be away on vacation. That was a long walk, we decided, and it was time to take the metro home to rest before dinner. For dinner we wanted just something very simple, which we found at Le Commerce Café. Charles was our server, but he was more subdued and less silly this time. There were no shenanigans with the credit card machine this time. This was just a simple brasserie dinner of grilled meat – steak for Tom, and duck breast slices for me. Each came with an enormous side – mashed potatoes for me, pasta for Tom. But I ate pasta, and only a fraction of what was served, and Tom ate the potatoes. Again, he could only eat a part of what was on the plate. Why the servings are so large here, I do not know. But if you’re very hungry, this would be a good place to go. I feel a little bad about that much food being wasted. I was surprised when I heard the young French/American father at the table next to us ask his little boy if he wanted to take a doggie bag home. I thought that was “forbidden” in France. The little boy said no, so I didn’t get to see this unusual event happen. The family at this table came in after us, three kids and two adults. They all yammered away in both American English and French. Mom was an American who had evidently lived in France for quite a number of years. She had that interesting way of enunciating everything that comes to some Americans who live abroad. The family ordered, ate, and left in record time. One reason they come there, I’m sure, is because the food is served so quickly. That’s important when you have energetic children, I’m sure. I admit that one of the several things I like about the Commerce Café is the prices. Our tab last night was 33 euros, tax and tip included. Not bad for a good, simple, quick dinner in Paris for two in an attractive café on a chestnut-tree shaded park. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.

Monday, August 15, 2011 We found several more Carmona statues in our walk along the Seine yesterday, including this one, which reminded us each of the song Rockin’ Robin, which does have a part for a flute. Our friend Bernard Constant, the amazing one-man jazz band. A ladybug display in a florist shop on the rue de Vaugirard. A Turkish toilet still in use at the Albert Kahn Gardens. Don’t worry, there is a regular modern toilet in the stall next to this. Simple grilled duck and steak at the Commerce Café – the peppercorn sauce with the duck had some great kick to it, and Tom’s steak came with a Roquefort sauce. The pasta seems to be homemade. The meats were cooked medium rare, just the way we like. So far, this café has been consistently good, and reasonably priced. ← Previous Next →