Yesterday was chilly (8-9 degrees Celsius—high 40s?). OK, OK, I realize that this is NOT chilly for some of you but we’ve been having mild weather and I’m getting spoiled. Anyway, mass at Saint-Eustache was marvelous—as I thought, the sun was brightly illuminating all stain glass windows and the shadowy haze caused by the priests’ incense mixed with the sun beams made a beautiful setting. And the organ and the choir? Oh, my goodness!Then I set out for the Luxembourg Gardens because I know that many French people and their families play there on Sundays—and especially on sunny Sundays. But along the way, as usual, I got distracted and hopped off the Metro at the Cite station. It is the one between Notre-Dame and Saint Chapelle and I’d read for years that they have a bird market there on Sundays. So I checked it out. How strange—stalls and stalls of little birds—who buys these things? And
vendors selling bird cages and ladling out scoops of bird seed from more than two dozen bags of different sizes and shapes. Who knew?Next I strolled by Notre-Dame in order to cross the Seine (the Luxembourg Gardens are on the Left Bank) and because the sun was out, I had to take 100 more pictures of the church. After its recent cleaning, all the scaffolding has been removed and it does make a fabulous shot.
On the sides of the Seine, you find Paris’ open-air and locked green metal bookstalls (les bouquinistes), which date back to the 1600’s. According to a booklet of information published by the Parisian Convention and Visitors Bureau, Paris is the only city to have open-air bookstalls and there are some 250 of them (there's an eight year waiting list for one to be available!).
Each vendor is given four boxes, all the same size, and they pay rent for the stone wall to which they're attached. As soon as the sun comes out, they open up to reveal antique books; discontinued newspapers, magazines, postcards and posters; engravings; and of course, city souvenirs. With Notre-Dame in the background, you can see what a beautiful setting it makes.You can also see the clouds were rolling in so by the time I walked through the Latin Quarter and passed the Sorbonne to the gardens, it was sprinkling. But people and kids were everywhere; a little rain doesn’t stop anyone here.
Supposedly the Parisians’ favorite park, greenery, ornamental ponds, statues, playgrounds, fountains, and pigeons make up the 60-acre Luxembourg. The true French-style garden is adjacent to the Senate Building, which was the palace begun in 1615 by the recently-
widowed (Henri IV) and homesick Marie de Medici. She built it to resemble her childhood palace in Florence, Italy. Unfortunately, when her son became Louis XIII, he threw her out of the palace and sent her to Germany. Quelle horreur!Anyway, what a lovely day for a stroll!
