Paris, Day 20

Today was one of those wonderful days when you couldn't help but know that spring was in the air.  Paris is always an exciting city but it does get a rather grey and sometimes sullen look in colder weather.  Trees are bare and people hurry from place to place muffled against the cold.  But then, suddenly, spring is upon one.  You walk down a street where now the buds are on the trees and you know you are in Paris in that most romantic of seasons, Spring.

Spring

Lunch out, at a cafe seemed a particularly nice idea and we headed down to Place Michel.  Here there are numerous bookshops since it is the area of the Sorbonne.  One of the best which has numerous branches dealing with books, CDs, stationary and all sorts of other things is Gibert Joseph. It is the primary supplier of academic books for the students at the university and advertises that it has over 300,000 titles in stock. Many of its branches are found on the Boulevard Saint Michel.



The French are enamoured of comic books and use the style called bandes dessinees for serious works.  In fact at Gibert Joseph there is a whole part of one floor designated for these "books."  Nor are they cheap.  A BD on the history of music costs twenty-one euro.

A "BD"

Because it is an area around the university there are a great many places where one can get a very good meal for a reasonable price.  Dozens of restaurants are dotted down little streets and alleyways.  Some of these little places have their rotisseries outside and you can see what is going to be available for lunch or dinner.  One place we passed had a whole sucking pig being cooked.  The pork fat dripped down on potatoes which were cooking at the same time.  Ah, the cholesterol!

Pig and potatoes

Keeping in mind the views expressed to me by my cardiologist, we decided to go to a very nice restaurant near the Seine with a wonderful view of Notre Dame. 

View from Le Petit Pont

There we sat, each of us enjoying a wonderful meal with wine, with one of the most spectacular views imaginable.  Now that is what Paris is all about.

Le Petit Pont

Later in the afternoon, in order to walk off the lethargy induced by such a meal, I made my way to the top of the butte.  While I have made a point of the fact that it is very much a tourists' area, it also houses a great many residents.  Some are, of course, in the apartments which predominate in Paris, but there are also some very beautiful houses.

A home on the butte, Montmartre

At peace with the world, I was saddened to pass the entrance to a  house in the quiet rue des Saules where there was a heart-rending reminder of mans' inhumanity.

Street of willows

The little dwelling

Lest we forget