It's raining as I type this, trying to catch up.
But it hasn't been and Friday was such a buzz.There was a shuttle bus arranged, so Brittany used my transport pass and we met at the hotel in Boulevard Montmatre which surely must be the Picadilly of Paris.It was too early to check in so we stored the bags and strolled the street outside which isnjust humming with life, cafes and different types of theatre, the most dramatic of which is the Opera itself all gilt and statues.
My bank card works fine.
Woho ! Far from the Contiki days of Travellers cheques and French francs - just a very user friendly hole in the wall.
Well, Starbucks it was, just down the road, to use the Wifi and give Brittany a chance to eat something breakfast like. We agreed to go to a big park, the Luxembourg Gardens where the Senate Palace is. It meant using he metro which I have a 5 day pass for.
I have been to Paris a number of times in my "Butlins on Wheels" days, so revisiting he Eiffel Tower or something is not so high on my list. What is so cool though is
1. the way the French enjoy a restaurant, and there are so many, all with the chairs pointing out so they can enjoy watching the people pass.
2. The way they relax - all of them , of all ages, taking obvious and real delight in just the simplest pleasures, like a lovely day. If I cold buy that sheer zest for life I would.
And so to the park so old and thee trees uniquely French all trimmed and formal, but with thick trunks, and old cast iron garden seats lining the white limestone walkways.
It was after twelve and everyone was walking , sitting strolling and the children's parks were shrill with shrieking well clad preschoolers revelling in a swing for goodness sake. In a nice way the contentment was palpable .petanque was played and we laughed because a mobile wardrobe was there for the guys to hang their jackets while they t down to the business of the game. A rack In the gardens for men to hang their coats. Some people had obviously just come to read a book quietly under a tree. Where there was grass it was packed (see photo) with sunbathers, and avid conversationalists. Heaps of metal chairs placed under the trees, hundreds of them artistically available to sit. It felt like a scene from a Catherine Mansfield short story.school kids came through on a kind of Orrienteering thing, the Senate Palace is a government headquarters of some sort. I found myself edging closer, to try to see /hear what they had to find to tick off their quest. They were all identified by bright orange scarves, and were aged about 9 or 10 and each group came pounding up with an adult leader in charge trying to firebthem up to look and check and count various features on the Senate Palace.
Talk about universal children. They were obviously mixed groups, and there the ones being "carried" by the others - their attention wandering. The loud ones yelling out the answers. it was all there in every group. Wonderful. . I was itching to join in. Talk about 'once a teacher. . .' busman's holiday ! etc.
We sat, chatted a lot and looked,and the wandered over to a pavilion where truely fabulous food and service by about five waiters was like another cameo of times gone.
I decided to do an Andrew and we sat down and ordered Caesar salad.
Blow me down but as if on cue a brass band struck up, from a conveniently near raised band rotunda, and played for an hour. A big truck had backed up to the rotunda and unloaded like the Symphony orchestra does at the Michael Fowler. They were clearly professionals and played a lot of Jazz.
Jamie would have been really rocking. He is the brass band follower in our family, and so we vicariously are enthusiasts. So evocative. Fancy them actually still using their rotundas and on a Friday afternoon. Everyone clapped and I suppose there were several thousand in the park, not all near he band but there were hundreds.
It felt like a carnival and people replaced the many tables, every walk of life -,a lot of elderly, probably from the many apartments nearby - just out in the park.
We wandered back o the left bank via Boulevard St Michel - as in "Where do you go to my lovely?"
Presumably these locals have jobs etc. but it feels like everybody is on "'oliday" in Paris.
The hotel is little and right at the hub . I love it, and as I told Brittany I would never have thought to spend it at a gardens. suddenly got pretty tired as the old body clock is at odds with the time here.
Hot sweltery Paris and the Tourist season has not kicked in yet.
Ah C'EST la vie !
Brittany at the Luxembourg Gardens.
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