Publier en deux parties

La première partie:  This morning while out for my early walk I was approached by an old (well, at least my age) French woman who asked me for directions.  As noted, my French is deficient so I am not 100% sure that that is what her inquiry was.  However, my French is NOT completely absent and my people reading skills should translate to any language, she seemed pretty clearly to be trying to figure out which way to go.  My French is quite deficient, I was unable to assist her. This keeps alive my streak of on every single trip I have made to France I have been mistaken by a French person to be French and have been asked questions in French.  If this keeps up, I am going to have to learn the language.

I was looking at yesterday's post before the walk and realized I overedited.  One of the absolutely premiere attractions at the Opera House which must have a photo included is the Grand Foyer.

That's where patrons would stroll around between acts giving the ladies an opportunity to critique the other ladies haute couture and giving the gentlemen time for, oh, I don't know, bidness?  or plotting against the Emperor?  or planning an invasion of Angleterre?

La deuxième partie: Nice day. At long last.

We set about upon what has been a staple of our trips to France, a day of walking, walking, walking.

Before I get too far, I have to post this because I know there is a subset of potential readers who are intensely interested in this sort of thing, this is the first half story flight of stairs down from our 2nd floor French 3rd floor American but unmistakably walk up flat.

What is most interesting about the arrangement, other than the obvious danger inherent in having to daily traverse those steps, is that the stairway is under cover, apparently part of the building. That semi-landing looking area at the top of the photo, on the other hand, is open above to the open sky. It rains in there.

This next bit is for Midnight in Paris fans.  I watched the movie again and this time came absolutely prepared to  locate this spot.  This is the place where Gil meets the car that takes him time traveling to a more golden age of Paris (1:46 in the movie trailer).

And this is the set of steps where Inez sits while briefly accommodating Gil's request that she accompany him on the after midnight adventure.

The street is rue de la Montaigne Sainte Genevieve, the steps are the side entrance to Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont.

By the way the church was closed this morning.

We were on the literary walking tour, repeating some places we have seen before.  We  stopped by the place where James Joyce lived while he was finishing Ulysses (I have a photo).  We visited the place where Hemingway lived with Hadley when they first moved to Paris (I have a photo).  We went around the corner to the place that was actually on the FT list.  She wanted to have a sit down and a coffee at the Place de la Contrescarpe, the place with cafes and markets where Ernest and Hadley would have had to have conducted much of their day to day lives.

The Hemingway apartment is a couple of doors down on the street to the right, Hemingway's working flat was half a block down on the street to the left.

We explored new territory to the south down rue Mouffetard all the way to Saint Medard before following the ancient postal  road back into the city towards the Pantheon. We knew it was the ancient postal road because street signs engraved into the sides of the stone buildings identified our street as rue du Postes despite the fact that modern street signs insisted on rue Lhomond.

Once past the Pantheon we wandered on into  Jardin du Luxembourg to one of our favorites, la fontaine Médicis.

Here is a view of the main jardin with the Paris Observatory visible at the far end of the giant public gardens.

We checked in on Gertrude Stein's residence (I have a photo) before heading off to one of the few things on my personal short list.  I have been to Saint Sulpice  twice before but was never satisfied.  Once there was a giant public market clogging the square in front of the church and on both occasions there was a massive renovation project on going at the church.  I had never previously gotten a decent photo.

That's the Fontaine des Quatre Evêques, the fountain of the four bishops, in the square in front of the church.

Today the church was not only free of construction scaffolding, it was open and we were able to go on inside.  The interior does not disappoint.  These old stone churches are always worth a look.

Saint Sulpice is famous for its pipe organ and continues to hold organ recitals on a regular basis.

This is the guilded, I dunno, do you call it a pulpit?  It is the speaking platform for the priest to  address the faithful, located not in the altar area of the church, but halfway down one of the sides.

One of the most famous features is the side chapel on the right just inside the door featuring murals painted by Eugene Delacroix during the final years of his life.  The most famous is "Jacob Wrestling the Angel:".

On the opposite wall is Heliodorus Chased from the Temple.

These two art works are murals, painted directly on the wall, not available to be moved to the Louvre.

The church features a gnomon.  This is an astronomical device which in this case also features a meridian line enscribed on the floor.

The use of this particular gnomon is not as suggested in what the guidebooks refer to as "the recent popular novel" but is actually a device to calculate the Pascal equinox.  The Pascal equinox is a beginning point for establishing which of the Sundays in spring will be Easter.  There's probably a Wikipedia article.

This is the Virgin's Chapel at the very front end of the church.  This was the first part of the church built.

Here's today's weather report.  I have noticed that banks here do not appear to have those time and temperature displays that are common at banks in the USA.  Instead, in France, the pharmacies have little message boards built into the characteristic green cross signs.  Often they will display the temperature.  Here is one at rue du Four and rue Mabillon in today's early afternoon.

I can confirm that that is the highest temperature we have experienced since arriving in France.

Here is Mrs. Smith returning to our flat after having procured for us some lunch at a sandwich shop located on the other side of the big stone church from where we sleep.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Tyler Farrar is the lanterne rouge?