Le Premier Jour

 

Le Premier Jour

Nous sommes ici à Paris! 

After almost a year of planning, we are finally strolling the streets of la ville-lumière. Happily, the process of leaving Toronto and landing in our apartment has been as smooth as we could have hoped. Neither of us was able to sleep much on the plane, which did not prepare us well for the 8:30 pm organ concert at Notre Dame de Paris, featuring Yves Castagnet. We both came very close to toppling over during the concert, which could have added much drama to the event, given our aisle seats! The evening was gorgeous, and the timing ideal as the sun was setting as we entered the cathedral, casting a golden light on the eastern facade, and a crescent moon was rising as we exited.

Prior to the visit to the cathedral, we had spent the afternoon wandering to and through le Jardin du Luxembourg, where we happened to espy a notice that they give periodic tours of the park, and the only one scheduled for April was to occur the next day (Wednesday) at 9:30 am. 

So we hustled ourselves out the door a little after 9 the next morning. The tour - 21/4 hours of it - was completely en francais. I was extremely proud of Catherine who managed to glean a great deal from what the guide said, which then got passed along to me in English (some of which I heard, some of which I smiled at). Whatever was said, heard or understood, it was just lovely to wander through the gardens on a gorgeous Paris morning.  

Afterwards, we strolled over to St. Sulpice (a mere block north) and decided that we are not fans of Baroque churches. Nevertheless, Catherine fancied the pulpit, although she didn't offer to preach.

On a historical note, Monsieur de Pancemont during the revolution, curé of the parish, refused to take the oath to the Constitution Civile du Clergé before the National Guard and his parishioners (sounds a bit like Catherine, actually).

Following lunch à la baguette, fromage et jambon, and much needed afternoon nap, we ventured out yet again, this time to circumnavigate the nearby Montparnasse Cemetery, much of the time being engaged in a treasure hunt to find important French dead people (Pascal has flown the coop, apparently). We lucked out on finding Camille Saint-Saens and Baudelaire.

Neither were available for a comment, so we ventured off in search of our local library, and are now the proud holders of Paris Bibliotheques library cards, and have enough French books to put me to sleep into the 22nd century.

C'est tout. Nous sommes crevés - mais très heureux!