Saturday 7th August
Everyone knows what Paris looks like - at least we all know its most famous landmarks. But when you have been to Paris a few times you realise that the sounds and smells of the city are just as evocative. It’s impossible to get away from church bells - or chiming clocks for example. And Parisens shout at each other from the windows to the streets, and use the horns in their cars. Add to that the incredible amount of buskeras in the streets ( and on the trains) playing everything from French accordions to Tubas! And you can see how Paris is a wall of sound worthy of Phil Spector.
And the smell of fresh bread and coffee is always present, along with the smell of stale urine (human) and dog crap. The most beautiful city on earth has some of the ugliest elements, but that’s what makes it Paris.
This morning we wake to the church bells….most probably Notre Dame, although there is a huge church just down from us in the Marais - the church of St Paul and St Louis - or maybe it is both because they seem to be playing in counterpoint. It’s wonderful to know we don’t have to get up - or get out of our room and we can have breakfast when we want. The bells are relaxing and although it’s a grey day - a bit of a shock after Provence - it FEELS sunny here in our little studio. I make some coffee and then Tony goes to buy fresh bread. French bread is fantastic but it contains no preservatives and so is designed to be eaten NOW. The Boulangeries are baking all day and the smell is tantalising.
The bread tastes like heaven with French butter and thick apricot jam and we make more coffee to wash it down. This is the magic we have been dreaming of.
On the flip side - the French are notorious for not cleaning up after their dogs…and they take their dogs EVERYWHERE. It’s quite normal to see the woman at the next table in the Café with a little dog in a shopping bag. West Highland whites seem to be the dog of choice in France this year. Gorgeous little dogs but you don’t see that many in Australia.
The other smell that overpowers is that of stale urine in the streets. The street cleaners come through every other day and turn on the water hydrants and scrub and flush, but it never completely goes away. It’s shocking how many beggars there are in Paris - and homeless living on the streets. This is a city of great wealth living side by side with poverty. And homeless men don’t bother to go and look for a nearby pissoire…they just go in the doorway where they are sleeping. The smell is worst in the Metro stations, but it’s always present - somewhere at the back of your nostrils. It isn’t enough to spoil Paris…nothing could do that.
We shower and dress and we walk across the Ile St Louis and across the bridge to Notre Dame. There are queues of people outside waiting to go up to the top of the tower where there is an observation deck. It’s not as high as the Eiffel tower - but the queues aren’t as long either - and the tower is not slap bang in the middle of everything like Notre Dame is. I find a gorgeous little Paris handbag for Liza’s stepdaughter Liesl, but nothing yet for Allie. Plenty of time - it’s only the first day. We cross to the left bank and go to Le Petit Point café, on the corner with a great view of Notre dame. Two doors up is the famous Shakespeare’s second hand bookshop. Tony finds a huge tome about the 1950s Suez crisis…so that’s his reading taken care of for the rest of the trip. We order two grande café crème and I have forgotten that in Paris un grande café means a soup bowl full!!!! We are served these huge bowls full of the most gorgeous coffee you could possibly imagine but it takes us nearly an hour to drink them. Afterwards we wander back to the right bank via a different bridge, marvelling at the architecture. If you haven’t ever seen a birds eye view of Paris, google one. The proportions of the buildings, and the squares - the parklands and the wide boulevards - are amazing. The entire old city is a work of art. The other amazing thing about Paris which makes it unlike anywhere else that people LIVE right in the heart of the city. Not just in one or two scattered apartment blocks but in every building…from the first or second floor up…there are young couples, families, old ladies - they are as much a part of the city as the shops, the museums, the public buildings - in the rue de Rivoli, which runs parallel to our street, you can see all the window boxes of geraniums on tiny wrought iron balconies, jostling for space with the weekly washing, and even an exercise bike or two. At night the lights are on in all the apartments and you can hear laughter and music…..the city doesn’t just pack up and go home to the suburbs. And the cafes and bars are always full…even though August is the month for annual Vacances and the city is supposedly empty. It’s one of the most endearing things about Paris - when you have had your fill of monuments, bridges, museums and history, there are the people. People watching is a favourite pastime in Paris. Seated at a pavement table at any good café, you can watch the French just living….and the tourists trying their best to live…if only for a few days. We fall somewhere in between, and it’s wonderful to sit at our French windows and watch the passing parade.
We walk home past the Hotel de Ville…which must be the most elaborate town hall in the entire world! http://http://www.google.fr/images?q=Hotel+de+ville+Paris&rlz=1I7GGLL_en-GB&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=jqdlTMqhHoTa4gaL1qnSCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CFMQsAQwCgAgain, its proportions are just beautiful and the stonework is staggering; such amazing carving. In summer there is free entertainment in the square in front of it…. Rock concerts, movies, dances, always something happening.
We make ham and brie baguettes and drink some wine then sleep for a couple of hours. In the evening I cook snails and salmon and we go to the local café for a nightcap. It’s been a leisurely day - no hurried frenzy to see the tourist sights - we’ve already done all that in past trips. Tony is still really exhausted so we go to bed early - content and feeling we are home.
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