Paris January 2012

 

The ‘City of Light’ is always a whirlwind. Her beauty alone is perpetually overwhelming. Our first several days were deeply cold but crystalline sunny. When the overcast arrived along with rain, the temperatures rose. The flat at least has been warm and snug. We have done little besides walk and see friends. First was Marie Laure on our first night. We dinned at Au Pied de Fouet and afterwards met Marie Laure’s son Robin with his beautiful girlfriend Mona. We had not previously known the upper reaches of the Rue Oberkampf and found it to be an exceptionally active and bustling area. However, when we stepped off the street into the former industrial complex where Marie Laure has her flat, it was a world of complete quiet and peacefulness.

Not in any order, we have also seen Françoise – once at her place in Charenton for dinner (where we met her friends Danielle and Pierre) and once for lunch at Au Petit Fer de Cheval; Anne Laure at the Café de Nôtre Dame and looking as lovely as ever; Pierluigi – running into him on the street and having café serré nearby, and a second time in his office; Jim, Joanne and Renaud – the Aups/Fox contingent – to have dinner together at Anahuacalli; and finally La Stef who has come to Paris for an exposition. Of course, we have been regular customers at the Tea Caddy and one day found Marie Laure in front while attempting to text me.

We have had several meals at home in the flat with Stef joining us on her first night in Paris. The next evening she took us along with her salesman Michael to La Coupole. It may have been twenty years since I was last there, but I found it no less scintillating than previously. We had negronis, and the whole occasion was a lovely treat. We have also been to Jim and Joanne’s apartment in the Seventh Arrondissement near the Tour Eiffel – along with Stef and Marie Laure – for a sumptuous meal of a shellfish starter, salmon lasagne, goat cheese and sorbet.

Uncharacteristically, we have done little cinema and have only seen Take Shelter and Happy New Year. I could say that I am embarrassed about the second, but I enjoy that kind of genre and always enjoy seeing New York. The other film was a moving exploration of mental deterioration along with an element of uncertainty over whether it was a case of schizophrenia or preternatural prescience. Spontaneously, we also attended a piano concert at the Église Saint-Ephrem in which the young pianist, Thomas Pratt, played Beethoven, Satie and Liszt. One evening Richard and I dinned alone at the Restaurant Glou which is near to the flat. With Stef, we tried to enter the Église Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, the church belonging to the Fraternité Monastique de Jérusalem that we had been told never closes. Earlier Richard and I had seen some of the sisters prostrate on the floor. Apparently something they do for hours. However, when we were with Stef, we found the doors to the church locked. With Stef, we had lunch at Marly’s at the Louvre. Afterwards, we photographed her with some of her jewelry that is on display at the museum shop. For Stef’s last night, we had another round at Anahuacalli. For our last night, we met Joanne and Jim at Rosebud, a restaurant-bar recommended by Renaud, for negronis and dinner.

Although we are both looking forward to getting to Amsterdam and beginning the process of putting the house and affairs into order, the Parisian interlude has been a welcomed, relaxing and exhausting break. I have also been able to engage in several responses in the ongoing pantheism-panentheism debate for the Pagan Group on Facebook. And I have been able to begin my assessment of Experiencing Globalization: Religion in Contemporary Contexts. All in all, sandwiching Paris between the worlds of the Midi and the Netherlands has provided a commensurate transition from one realm of enchantment to the next.