Long Live the Pigeon King!

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July 15th 2012

Published: July 17th 2012

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kellicox

Part of the Sorbonne

Evan...we thought of you.

The most enormous chicken sized pigeon has taken up residence on a branch outside our front window. We can hear him cooing and it's loud. We nicknamed him "the pigeon king" and he is now our protector.

The day, we (not including the pigeon king) took the metro to the left bank to see the Sorbonne neighborhood. The area is home to the university, many bookstores and cages, and tons of galleries and coffee houses. as we walked, we found a fenced off area where they are excavating the remains of ancient Gallo Roman baths from around 200 CE. Those baths are near the Museum of Middle Age, and I don't mean us... We wandered in the gardens for a while, watched kids play in the shadows of medieval walls, and listened to birds sing. After we left, we headed for St. Etienne du Mond - an old church that still incorporates the use of a 'rood' in its services. A rood is a dividing area to separate the clergy from the lay people and this church is the only one in Paris that still divides. Think mehitza, but for the rabbis. However, it was not open, so we walked

Gallo- Roman baths ruins

around the corner to the Pantheon where Rousseau, Hugo, and Voltaire are buried.

All this history and company of smart men made us feel like reading, so we found the famous English bookstore called Shakespeare and Co. This bookstore is so much more than a bookseller, in fact, selling books seems to be quite low on the priority list. The downstairs is a maze books looks on shelves and books stacked on the floor, and books stuffed into every nook and cranny. It's overwhelming and those are the books for sale. Climb the very well worn stairs to a similar labyrinth of rooms and settle into one of the ancient chairs or sofas to read. Signs on the wall encourage you to sit and read, but put the books back where they belong later. No books upstairs are for sale. It quickly became Lee's favorite new spot in town (he remembered it from the last trip). I sat in a tiny cubicle and typed (yes...on a real typewriter and it wasn't electric!) a note to leave on the wall somewhere. "kelli and Lee, San Diego, CA July 2012" click, click, click. We stayed for quite a while, it was

Side garden at Cluny

so relaxing and interesting to see just where books could be hidden. When we tore ourselves away, we stopped for a coke and cafe creme at a little cafe where we watched an old woman unload what seemed to be pounds and pounds of bread onto the grass at a little nearby park for the pigeons. I got up for a closer look and found the birds eat pretty well in Paris- not just bread, but full ham, tomato, and lettuce sandwiches! I wonder what's for dessert? Perhaps the giant slabs of chocolate seen in a yummy looking window...

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