My Romance in Paris

The fountain of Saint Michael

A bridge above the River Seine and Sainte Chapelle at a distance

You know what they say about Romance and Paris...and yes, I have to say that it's true. Wherever you tend to look, while on a train, a boat, a park, a restaurant and mostly the streets, you will inevitably encounter lovers in love. If you look closer, these lovers make up mostly of the young ones where romancing comes naturally to them OR you could find the special ones, my favourite kind, older tourist couples from around the world., their faces filled with hope and their actions somewhat revealing traces of efforts to rekindle the flames of their pasts. The thought in itself is romantic and I believe it to be true....imagine coming from miles away...in search of love again, only in my thinking, a different kind, a special kind, the matured kind.

Isn't it true that your first wake away from home is always earlier than you planned especially when you're on vacation? Yeap, that was the case for us, up and about by 6 am and how was that not possible with all the racket going on along the street below. Noise of partying all night and noise of cleaning by dawn was going to be the setback for us during our entire stay in Paris. I say this because we ARE in our fifties and we did have an agenda to keep.


From our apartment window, the sky looked clear and sunny and so for today I was adamant to wear light. It was after all summer in Paris and I had no intention to look like a typical tourist. So after a delicious spread of self made breakfast, we headed off to Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris which we had read about, it was approximately 5 minutes of walking distance. The minute we were out in the open streets I began to feel the chilly winds biting through my clothes; Brabon, by the way, was  extremely comfortable, he looked COMPLETELY LIKE A TOURIST! When we arrived at the square, there were hundreds of people everywhere. There was a very long queue of folks waiting to visit the Cathedral which we actually thought they were queuing up to buy tickets. We thought we take a rain check on that one and decide later because we did have our 3 country Eurorail tickets that entitled us to a list of venue discounts and also minus the queuing or so we thought. Our plan was to take photos, gaze at this gigantic Cathedral, find out how much it would cost us to view it and what time might mass be tomorrow, on Sunday.


So we hung around in the midst of throngs of people, managed to take some photos outside, got to speak to a priest about the mass schedule, lost and found my white scarf (remember the winds?) and even got to donate 10 Euros to a group of young healthy deaf kids that I was to see again and again and was approached again and again as long as we were at the square.

The facade of Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris

Myself in light clothes and my lost and found white scarf

Stood here as a Temple to Jupiter in Roman times and in the 4th Century AD, St Etienne, a Christian church and finally replaced by a cathedral. The main part of Notre-Dame took 167 years to build.

Brabon - The completely comfortable tourist 

Next on our agenda was to go check out Sainte-Chapelle (picture right above), another church across the bridge (about 10 minutes walk) and Parc Flora where the Paris Jazz Festival was happening over the next 3 weekends. We wanted very much to watch the "Tribute to Qunicy Jones" which I had read about on Paris Update and also to find out who are the organizers and who knows, get to know them. You see, over the past 10 years or so, my habit is to always to check out if there are any jazz festivals taking place while and where I might be visiting. Once I've checked out the festival and it is good, I will do whatever it takes to submit in my daughter's (Mia) portfolio and materials in to the organizers. So pretty much, any jazz festival is a priority!    

Anyway, by the time we walked over to Sainte Chapelle, it got cloudy, it started to drizzle and there were also too many folks queuing to get into the church. We couldn't take photos, Brabon was hesitant to follow the queue, the winds got stronger so I got restless. Seeing that I was getting very impatient by the minute and the weather more uncertain, Brabon agreed that we should return to the apartment so I could change to something warmer and he could finalize how we could get to the festival.


When we were ready, we went down and got caught in a heavier rain! We had to squeeze ourselves under a small shade of a cafe (don't ask me why we didn't think of sitting down to enjoy a coffee) and what's more, Brabon forgot his notes, his maps and so the weather got the better of us! I got mad, he got mad, we got madder, we found ourselves back in the apartment. Blah, Blah, Blah....all hell broke loose, I decided to to shut up, speak only when I'm spoken to and refused to look at HIM for now.


I found myself following Brabon who insisted we could still catch the festival, probably for the next 2 hours. We were at the metro, in the train, asking for directions, walking, walking, asking for directions, walking again and again until he conceded and suggested we get a coffee. We were completely lost and loss for words. So we sat down outside a cafe and ordered our coffee. I was still looking everywhere else while he was faithfully trying to save whatever was left of the day. When I finally found my senses and saw the sadness in his face, I realized then how very fortunate and lucky I had always been with this man. He had spoiled me from day 1 and was always giving in to my tantrums while I simply became more and more reluctant and stubborn. Why was I angry with the nicest and most loving person I know.


From that moment on I knew that this was my romance in Paris, the special kind, the matured kind.

Taken by the waiter who I think suspected something was amidst and so was trying to cheer us up

Earlier on, we saw some ladies at the cafe having macaroons they had packed from elsewhere and Brabon knew that the famous "Laduree" was on my list of things to do in Paris; so it was no surprise that was to be our next destination. You guessed? Yes, anything to make me happy. So we left Chatelet Les Halles which later we found was no where near Parc Flora but where the Musee du Louvre was close by. Later when we checked, Parc Flora was located at Chateau de Vincennes which you can get to on the same line except it was at the last stop. So Brabon was not wrong, just not right.

Inside "La Maison Laduree" on Rue Bonaparte

Outside "Laduree"

It was most appropriate to find Saint Germain des-Pres after visiting Laduree and so we went in the church only to be pleasantly surprise that the evening mass had just started. We experienced our first mass in French!

Lighting our first candles in France, one for the Palencias, one for the Brands and one as promised for all our who are dearest to us. Each candle cost 2.50 Euro and they are 3 or 4 offerings at this particular church

St Germain des Pres takes its name from St Germain, cardinal of Paris in the 8th Century. It has the oldest bell tower in Paris

On the way back to our digs, a street artist painting with spray paint using the most ordinary tools one can imagine. Awesome stuff!

Looking all the way down from our apartment window - The famous unpleasant rue de la Huchette. Also found on the same street is the "Theatre de la Huchette" where Eugene lonesco's La Cantrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano) has been performed nightly since 1957. Restaurants also known to be overpriced tourists traps.

                   

The view from across our apartment

These are the famous macaroons from "Laduree Paris" and they are as lovely as promised. I especially like the Pistachio and Raspberry ones. This is a tip "note that the crusts are shiny". Brabon and I also found our current and favourite dessert "Saint Honore" that is on the left. At the top is an Eclair Cafe.

Now, isn't this "Romance"?