Yesterday, was Thursday 18 November and I’m half way through my stay!
The day began traditionally for this trip with a visit to my tutor, Blanche. I’m speeding up her stairs now although whether or not I can speak at the top is a different matter.
I had a lot to say this week about where I had been and what I had done. We had a shorter literary discussion than usual but looked at some grammar where the voix presente or absente is being used. She recommended a particular series of grammar books but said I was to concentrate on the spoken french rather than the written at the moment. However, she told me where I could buy the books if I wanted.
At the end she rushed off to teach at a college and I made my way home, exhausted as usual by the effort. This time I remembered to take a photo of a sign I liked over a butcher’s shop:
Nearby was a bicycle that greatly took my fancy too:
The side:
and even a little bunch coyly peeking out at the back from under the saddle:
I needed to do a little grocery shopping on my way home and then fell onto the sofa with much needed cuppa.
Deciding to go in search of the grammar books I looked up maps to find the place and then buses to get me there. The bookshop was on the left bank of the Seine in the Place St. Michel: in fact there were about eight or ten shops, all in the same chain, Gilbert Jaune, each dedicated to a specific subject. The shop I needed was specifically for languages.
It took me a while to find the correct bus stop but once I had walked around a couple of blocks near my flat I found it: then all went well and I noted my route as we went down the Rue de Rivoli, past the Louvre, turned left onto the Ile de la Cite, crossed over the bridge on the other side and stopped in the Place St. Michel, beside the great fountain of Saint Michael subduing the devil.
Originally, the fountain’s central statue was supposed to depict Napoleon 1st, but this conception came under such criticism from opponents of Napoleon III that it was finally decided that the statue would be an image of Saint Michael the Archangel (St. Michel in French)
with two dragons that spout water into the fountain and figures of the four classical cardinal virtues on the pediment. Personally I love the dragons.
With pink marble, green figures and pale aquamarine water, the whole thing is quite startling.
In this square in August 1944 there was fierce fighting by the Resistance against the Germans occupying force. At the same time, over the bridge in front of the Prefecture of Police, there was obviously more fighting according to a plaque in front of the Prefecture which reads as follows (my rough translation):
(15 August – 28 August 1944)
This building was where, on the 19 August 1944, the Paris insurrection against the German occupation took place, under the stimulus of the resistance activities of the police. For several days, lethal fighting took place around this building and in the streets of Paris, as police, firemen and republican guards, together with their comrades FFI and FTP, fought the occupation. 167 police lost their lives in this fight. At the point, on 23 August, when the resistance appeared doomed the Paris Resistance movement sent a call for help to the Allied Commanders asking for help with the release of Paris. On the order of General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Forces, and on the express wish of General DeGaulle, General Leclerc commander of the 2nd DB (Division Blindée= Armoured Division), marched to Paris. On 24th August he sent a message to the insurgents, dropped by plane, saying ” Hold on, we are coming”. In the evening of 24 August/morning of 25, the 2nd DB forces entered Paris: General Leclerc arrived at the Prefecture of Police to find it already free. At 15h30 General von Choltitz, German commander of the greater Paris, came to the Prefecture of Police where he signed over the surrender of the German forces in Paris to General Leclerc in the presence of MM. Chaban-Delmas, Roy-Tanguy and Kreigel-Valrimont, representative of the Resistance. This act of capitulation was finally made public in the afternoon at the Montparnasse Station in front of an ecstatic crowd. By their actions, courage and sacrifice the men and women of the Resistance facilitated the progress of the 2nd DB and of the 4th American Infantry division to liberate the Capital.
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Opposite the Prefecture is the Palais de Justice and beside it you can just see the roof of the Saint Chapelle, built in the C13, where I am going to a concert. It has fantastic stained glass.
Immediately in front of the Prefecture is an ornate drinking fountain, still operational:
Though how you are meant to get your head to the jet of water through those lusty ladies I have no idea!
Flags everywhere here of course, both real and modelled,I think this really clever with the cut out profiles against the flags,
this is at another entrance to the Prefecture and says that it was donated by President Mitterand on 19 August 1944 to mark the 50th anniversary of the freeing of the Prefecture.
Of course there are also police everywhere guarding the entrances to all these buildings.
Behind the Prefecture is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, seen best from the Left Bank as you walk along beside the Seine:
The thriving Latin Quarter of the students’ Left Bank:
and all along the wall of the Seine are small stalls selling paintings, books and touristy things, just like in London.
Actually I saw some lovely enamel signs some of which I bought as Christmas presents for people back home.
There was a lone accordian player outside Notre Dame and several armed guards:
the first sign I have seen in Paris of a heightened state of alert against terrorists. Inside all was dark, quite velvety and warm, with a faint scent of incense and candles burning everywhere:
there was a sign for a concert at the end of November so I bought tickets, for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. I thought it might be rather atmospheric at night!
Then off to find my return bus stop and stand all the way home since rush hour was upon us. On the way I saw a lampost that was decorated with plants, and with my interest in street furniture I had to take some photos.
One day I must do a post just about lamp posts because I am getting quite a collection!
Another exhausting day, I think a more restful one is called for tomorrow.
It is so amazing compared to what we see here, to see lamposts which have artistic elements to them! Ours are strictly utilitarian.
I would love to stop and see the stalls of the drawings and paintings.
When we were at Notre Dame, it was so crowded that it felt as though we had to hurry through. I wonder if you were able to see more. The plaza looks as though there were not many people there.
Another great post, sweffling. Thank you!
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No, there were enough people but not too many. You could take your time and linger and see everything and entry was free. However I did notice that people paid no attention to the signs asking for quiet and silence which I felt was very thoughtless and selfish. People could at least have whispered.
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You take such amazing photos, Sweffling. I really love them, they so clearly show the sights and atmosphere.
Thanks for your message on my blog – very, very helpful.
J x
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