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Published: April 27th 2019
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Notre Dame de Paris
As it is after the fire Friday 26th April
Happy Birthday to me! After the very busy group tour, I felt like a holiday from my holiday, so I had an easy day doing some chores and errands, and a little birthday shopping too. That was after my ten hour sleep!
In the morning I did laundry and went to the Orange shop to get some phone recharges. Then I headed for Helmut Newcake to get something for lunch and a couple of cakes for later. I then headed for the Grands Boulevards – the famous shopping area of Paris. I specifically went to the Passage Jouffroy, where there is a shop selling Tintin memorabilia – I remembered it from last time in 2015. It's all rather expensive, but I did buy myself a figurine as a birthday present. . I also went to the left bank, and after a lot of looking, and negotiating the huge crowds, I bought a painting, as I have done twice before on previous trips.
For dinner I treated myself to an
Indian meal – there are at least five Indian restaurants near the hotel.
Saturday 27th April
Today I set out to visit some of the beautiful and photographable areas in Paris – not museums, monuments or attractions, but parks and gardens, and interesting suburban areas. I had read about 'la campagne à Paris' in Bien Dire magazine, so using its suggestions and some from my French teachers, I headed off with my Paris Visite metro card. Unfortunately the weather forecast was not so good, and right from the start it was windy and rather cool.
First stop (which took three changes and some walking due to station closures) was La Mouzaia, an area with a lot of picturesque little residential walking streets and houses with gardens. Very nice to stroll around and take some photos, even with the cold wind blowing.
I was then intending to head to the Parc Montsouris. As I was passing through stations on the metro I saw Père Lachaise coming up and decided to follow a suggestion I'd had and visit that famous cemetery. After a quick supermarket salad lunch, eaten in the cold wind on a park bench, I entered
the cemetery. What a fascinating place! So different from cemeteries in Australia, and very beautiful with the overhanging trees and cobbled pathways. I downloaded the map and headed off to find some famous tombs. I found Marcel Marceau, Rossini, Chopin, some others, and eventually Georges Méliès (see the film Hugo if you don't know who Georges Méliès was, or Google). Unfortunately the weather began to deteriorate badly, with pouring rain and bitter wind. I sheltered under a tree (as did many others, some inside tombs!) until the worst of it passed, and continued for a while, but it kept raining and I was cold and wet. I decided to head back to the hotel to warm up and dry out.
However, soon the weather started to clear up and the sun came out, so I decided to continue to my next scenic areas, Butte aux Cailles, Quartier des Peupliers and Parc Montsouris (all close to each other). I had started walking around Butte aux Cailles when the rain and cold wind returned, so I gave up and headed back to Montparnasse and went to a movie to warm up (English with French subtitles), then more Indian food for dinner!
Grave of Gilbert Morard
M. Morard was head of the SNCF (French Railways) and is regarded as 'Father of the Metro'. His grave features a picture of a TGV, and hundreds of metro tickets left as tributes. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be heading to Brittany to meet my host family for the next eight weeks.
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