Paris

Paris
April 23-29

Spring in Paris for me meant the wonderful yellowish-green of new leaves, a warmth as we walked around, especially in the evening, a certain amount of blue-green colour in the Seine reflecting the spring sky, blooming chestnut tress in the street outside Madeleine’s house and lilac blossoms popping up in the most unexpected of places.

Paris on this occasion was about meeting friends, and apart from the business end of things (getting a phone, a Carte Orange for the Parisian public transport system, a discount card for the SNCF train network, doing the spadework to get net and card access to my bank account – still waiting for the secret codes to arrive somewhere, maybe NZ), friends were the top of the list. Update: the secret codes have arrived – in NZ.

Which is not to say I didn’t see new things. Madeleine and I went for a lovely walk in the warm sun the first morning and covered a lot of territory, including parts of the Ile St Louis (Robin!) that I hadn’t seen before, where we found some interesting drainpipes! Rachid took Brendan, Jeff and I around the Musée Carnavalet in the Marais, to see the history of Paris unfold. Well worth the visit. Jean-Marc, Pedro, Chris and I walked to the Parc de Vincennes where there is a lot of green space and people hire boats, horses et al. And picnic. Or just lie around. The lungs of Paris, I read.

Brendan and Jeff, my friends from Sydney whom I had arranged to meet on Anzac day because they always spend this day with New Zealanders, were pleased to share the evening with some members of the France-NZ society in a Turkish restaurant. We did quite a bit of walking around Paris and an excursion into The Conciergerie interested both of them very much. The rather stunning architecture is only part of the attraction; the historical displays, especially those of the Revolution are fairly powerful. Not a good idea to be a plumber or delivery boy for the king! Many of those guillotined were just workers and some very young at that, especially delivery boys..

The Musée Carnavelet gave us an even deeper look at many of the aspects of Paris’s history covered in the Conciergerie. There are rooms of paintings and sketches of the Revolutionary times, as well as items of historical interest from the earliest of tomes until last century. Brendan, Jeff and I also shared an excellent and well-priced meal in a small workers café not far from the Pont Neuf. Various (and copious) entrées, steak with green pepper sauce and a salad, assorted (and delicious) desserts, with wine chosen by our host and coffees if I remember correctly. Followed by a long walk through the Latin Quarter, past Roman remains, right along to the Gare de Lyon, where time dictated we take the metro to our respective destinations.

On two successive days, both Madeleine and Rachid took me to the same church independently, one I had stumbled upon in a previous visit, St Gervais. This is also in the Marais, behind the Hotel de Ville. It is the base for the Fraternités Monastiques de Jérusalem (FMJ), a comparatively new order which is city-based and works with the community it is situated in, rather than devoting itself to meditation and prayer. Sound familiar, Jessie? I found out that the fraternité exists also in St Gilles, Bruxelles, where Pedro lives and at the Mont St Michel, one of my favourite places. Not to mention Vézelay, Florence, Montreal and others.
http://jerusalem.cef.fr/

Chris arrived at Paris-Montparnasse (station) on Friday evening from Toulouse and Pedro at Gare du Nord on Saturday morning from Brussels.. We spent all of Saturday in the company of all our friends though not necessarily at the same time. Many thanks to Jean-Marc and Rachid for their unfailing hospitality. After an apéro chez J-M/R we had the evening meal at a Couscous restaurant very close to Madeleine’s, where fairly vast quantities of Tagine, couscous and various meats were washed down by very acceptable wines, the details of which escape me. The Australian contingent had additional members, from England and Spain and the evening passed by in happy and fairly noisy conversation.

More photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Paris

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