Paris in the Spring

We woke up bright and early this morning, thanks to our body clocks still operating on Singapore time. We walked out to find a boulangerie for breakfast and found a cosy little place on Rue St Martin, just round the corner from us. The interior décor theme – medieval knights, with a gentleman in full armour in one corner. The proprietress invited us to go down into the basement to take a look, which we did. The medieval theme continued indeed, but to our surprise there was a Korean food menu in one corner. Indeed, the place transformed into a Korean restaurant downstairs at night, when, one assumes, the boulangerie was shut. It must be slightly surreal eating Korean food with a knight in shining armour peering over one’s shoulder.

The small little side street next to the boulangerie, Rue de Montmercy had one of those little historical signs up. That’s when I found out that it was supposed to house the “oldest house in Paris”, Nicholas Flamel’s house. Nicholas Flamel (as every good reader of Harry Potter knows) had a reputation as an alchemist in the middle ages. Today, his house is a restaurant. (We would be going there a few days later for dinner.)

We walked around the area, passing interesting sights along the way, such as the Defender des Temps, a clock featuring a man defending the clock against various mechanical beasts, and the Tour de Jacques, a beautifully restored tower which apparently is the only remaining portion of a larger building.


Finally we got to our destination - Notre Dame de Paris. It is a much cleaner, more beautiful church than I remember when I saw it as a student, almost 20 years ago (perish the thought). This time around, I spent far more time wandering the cathedral itself than climbing up the towers. But the crowds in the cathedral were still very considerable. It is difficult to get a sense that one is in a holy place whilst jostling with the rest of the people attempting to take a nice photo of the rose windows. However, what helped was the choral performance which was going on.

Thinking about it, it is much nicer on this second visit to Paris than it was the first time round. Of course, one has far more money (being a working adult as opposed to poor student) to shop, eat and also to fund a much nicer apartment than the 3 pax in 1 hotel bedroom which I remember so well. But it also means that one does not feel pressured to go and take a look or climb the Eiffel Tower, view the Mona Lisa and so on. You do what you want out of choice rather than of the compulsion that one must cover certain sights when one is in Paris. So rather than exhausting myself climbing up to the top of the bell tower of Notre Dame, to get a few photos of gargoyles, I could sit, rest, and enjoy the choir singing – a moment of peace and tranquility in the bustle of a big city.

We left Notre Dame for the nearby flower market and passed by the Hotel Bon Dieu. This is actually a hospital, one of the oldest in Paris. It was still very busy, and in fact as we walked past we could see some paramedics doing a spot of resuscitation in the lobby. The flower market is apparently one of the few left in the centre of Paris. The flowers are gorgeous – I loved the colour and the variety.

It was relatively quiet though – not that many tourists were walking around. We followed this up by lunch at a riverside café - a quite forgettable quiche and crepe (covered with what was probably nutella). We spent the afternoon discount shopping at Rue d’Alesia (a lot of stock shops). We needed a rest after all that shopping, so we went back to the apartment before heading out to dinner at Café Beaubourg, outside the Georges Pompidou Centre. It was relatively bright, at 8pm plus (it only started getting dark after 9pm whilst we were in Paris). There were still a number of people sitting on the large square sloping down towards the Centre, taking in the last rays of sunshine. Others were walking their dogs (Parisians love their dogs) around the area, and having dinner in the many cafes and brasseries about the place. Café Beaubourg is supposed to be one of those trendy places to go to, according to my guidebook. It is indeed inhabited by waiters in sharp suits, who were certainly better dressed than people like myself. Had a risotto with prawns, pleasant enough but I think I did a better job with mine :-)

Still trying to get network connection. Now I can’t even find the hotspot. All the wireless networks around are security enabled. Don’t want to inadvertently use the police system!!!

As always, more photos here.

(Note: This note was written on 20 May but only posted on 2 Jun. Thanks to not having an internet connection.)