Last Week (where did the time go?)

If you stand in the middle of the Pont Louis Phillip just across the road from the Cite and look across the ends of both Ils (st Louis and de la Cite) to the left bank the horizon is dominated by the dome of the Pantheon. Earlier this week we set off to walk there and ended up having lunch at the foot of the beautiful church Saint Etienne du Mont while listening to the church's bells.

View from the restaurant

one of the reasons I think this is one of the most beautiful churches in Paris (as well as it's exquisite bells).
It was only after we returned home that we realised that if we had turned left at the Pantheon (it is in such bad repair that they are spending E100 million to restore it and it is currently held together by huge steel braces locked around it just below the dome) we would have been in the area where Hemingway and his first wife lived between 1921 -23.
Naturally we had to make this the object of another exploration. It was as simple as crossing the bridge to the left of the Cite (Pont Marie) and following Rue du Cardinal Lemoine to its end at Place de la Contrescarpe. 

Hemingway, Hadley and their son lived at 74 rue du Cardinal Lemoine and he had his writing studio just around the corner at 24 rue Descartes (where he eventually took up with his mistress who became the second Mrs Hemingway). If you are interested in Papa, his millieu and this period of life in Paris there is an excellent novel, "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain.

Enjoyed another excellent French meal (Salade Geant) nearby in Rue Moufftard where the waiter insisted in giving us a free Kir to drink (white wine and cassis) as well as olives (how could we refuse?).

Every Sunday at Vanves there is a market called the Marche du Livre ancien et d'occasion which Maria Kunda pointed me to in 2005 so we visited there last Sunday in search of old newspaper/journals. It seemed a little smaller then last time but otherwise nothing had changed (even saw the same dealers sitting around the same small table with cheese and wine as last time). Found what I was looking for and rewarded ourselves with a perfect almond croissant at the Poilane bakery. 

I also managed to collect some interesting images of the ravens which inhabit the adjacent park.

Finally made our way to Montmartre cemetery by way of Clichy metro. It is a very pleasant, un-crowded place set in a former quarry and we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere as we wandered about looking for people we know from history like Nijinsky, the Goncourt brothers, Gautier, Degas and Zola (it would have been much easier if we had a map but it was fun running backward and forward to the posted directions - it is not nearly as large as Pere Lachaise). 

Amongst the ubiquitous tourist boats that seem to clog the Seine there is a smaller boat called the Batobus
which goes from near the Jardin des Plantes to the Eiffel Tower and back again stopping at six places in between. It really is like a regular bus service where you buy a ticket and then hop on and off as many times as you like between 9.30 am and 9.30 pm. Anyway we finally succumbed and bought a one day ticket so that we could see Paris from a different perspective. Its a two hour round trip and we did a morning and afternoon circuit (different lighting) and I took 170 photos (that's five reels of 36 in old tech) - some of them may even be useful!

The Tuileries gardens are a must see whenever one is in Paris and we spent an enchanted morning there this week inspecting the plants, the statuary, the people (and the ravens) before catching the metro to Sevres-Babylon to get cheese and other goodies from the epicerie at Le Bon Marché. This is a beautiful example of art nouveau architecture designed in part by Gustave Eiffel and the epicerie has an amazing range of foods from all over the world.

On the way home we were stunned to get in to a carriage with 9 gendarmes in it (3 groups of 3 - they always travel in 3s) one of whom looked out along the platform at each stop as though they were searching for someone. When we got off at Pont Marie we discovered that there were another group of 3 in the end carriage (curiouser and curiouser). Actually we have noticed a lot more police and soldiers around since our last visit - there have even been lots of gendarmes in rubberduck inflatable boats on the Seine which we have not seen before.

Many other explorations and discoveries like these street art pieces downriver near Pont de Bercy when we were searching for Les Docks (old warehouses converted into the Cité de la Mode et du Design) which we had read about before leaving home. Les Dock was a non event as almost everything was closed - couldn't even get a coffee!). However we did have a delightful walk back home along the river.
One night as we were going out we ran into Jock Young and discovered that he has also been in the Cite for a month but across Rue Geoffroy L'Asnier in the other section (a small world).

Last night after a very hot day (31) we had a long evening walk to Notre Dame and around the Ile de la Cite to Pont Neuf to watch the sunset - it was perfect and a perfect way to say goodbye to Paris for now.
Marcia is taking down all my prints from the wall as I write this in preparation for the big pre-inspection clean up but it has been very worthwhile and I think that I have enough ideas for work for exhibitions in Hobart and Melbourne later in the year.
Until next time.