Another lundi à Paris!

The weekend was a nice mix of cultural activities and doing nothing. On Saturday, I started my day with my first French Conversation Class online. I’m withholding my opinion for now only because it was the first class. But I can share that people from all over the world are in the class. Different regions of French, the United States, Italy, and others were represented. Our first activity, introducing ourselves one at a time, took an hour. I worried. Speaking French only once in an hour is far short of my goal. But then we broke into smaller groups with a list of questions to ask one another, and that was a fun and worthwhile exercise. Stay tuned.

Afterwards, I walked about a mile to join the Alliance Française group on Pont Neuf the oldest bridge in Paris, to tour l’île de la Cité et l’île Saint-Louis, the two natural islands in the middle of the Seine. This is the heart of Paris and where the city was founded. Hard to believe, but she was once known by another name: Lutèce. It was then the fortress of the Roman governor, Julian (335-361).

Also, way beneath and around the grounds of Notre Dame and L’île de la Cité is an archaeological site (discovered in 1960) that goes back to the first century.

La Cathédrale Notre-Dame is still undergoing reconstruction after the devastating fire in 2019. It is not yet open, and is temporarily surrounded/fenced in by large sheets of painted plywood. You can look up and see some of the horrific damage. But there are large photographs affixed to this plywood fence showing the fire, the damage, and the meticulous restoration process. Their intent is to restore the Cathédrale to the way it always was, bien sûr, and this decision was unanimous by those involved. Seriously, the people of Paris wouldn’t stand for anything else. As I understand it, they hope to re-open in 2024, my guess is, in time for Paris to host the summer Olympics.

Sainte-Chapelle, the amazing chapel I visited a few weeks ago, also on L’île de la Cité, originally housed 3 important relics of Jesus Christ, which were acquired by the French Monarchy (King Louis IX) in the Middle Ages (12th Century). They were part of the Cathedral treasury of Notre Dame, and all were saved during the 2019 fire and are now safely ensconced within the Louvre. The relics are: reliquary of the Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the cross, and a nail.

This section of Paris is much busier than where I’m living, and of course, very tourist-centric because of the amazing monuments and museums. There are a lot of bridges around the islands, and for me (!) it’s easy to get mixed up. There is a bridge from Rive Gauche to the isle, and another bridge on the other side of the isle to Rive Droite. A third bridge (pedestrians/bikes only) connects the two islands. Our tour was more than 2 hours long, on foot, and I really had to get my bearings by the time our guide departed, abandoning us on L’île Saint-Louis, maps not being my strong suit. And for the record, Maps are not always Google’s strong point. Just sayin’ because wow, they get more confused than me sometimes. Seasoned travelers and Parisians avoid it, and swear by « City Mapper » for its accuracy.

After the tour, I picked up a beret for myself from a shop we passed by on the walking tour. Then I began my search for a specific road in Paris known as the narrowest street in the city. My husband and I were here on our Honeymoon, and for whatever reason, my then French tutor told me I needed to find this road. That was long before Google, so we had our work cut out for us. We searched and searched and were truly ready to give up, but just when we paused we discovered we were standing right in front of it.

It’s easy to miss! It’s basically an alley. measuring 5’11” in width, and 95 feet in length. It’s now popular for selfies because many people can put their feet up on one wall, and brace themselves on the other. Some would have to curl up in a ball to fit — like a cat. Which brings me to the name of this famous road: Rue du Chat Qui Pêche. (The road of the cat who/that fishes.) Yes, «pêche » also means peach and has the EXACT same accent, spelling, and pronunciation. You just have to know the context of the conversation to know if it’s fishing (verb, not the noun) or the fruit!

“The story goes that, in the 15th Century, a clergyman named Dom Perlet dabbled in alchemy in the company of a very clever black cat who could extract a fish from the Seine with one swift swipe of its paw.”

So yes, I found it again! Mission complete, I ventured home with Siri sending me in the opposite direction. Mon dieu! I saw a cab (un taxi!), flagged him, and hopped in for the journey home.

Sunday, I spent studying and doing homework because we had a lot of it! Not only did we have to write a story about an imaginary voyage, but we had PAGES of Subjonctif Tense work, as well.

I’ll be giving my presentation next week, when I introduce my tiny town of New Hope to everyone.