Paris has many wonderful neighborhoods such as Monparnasse on the Left Bank and Monmartre and the Champs Elysée on the Right Bank. We like the Left Bank across the Seine and a short walk from Notre-Dame de Paris. Notre-Dame was built on a little island, the Ile de la Cité. Construction started around 1160 and took nearly two hundred years to complete. The result was one of the most glorious piece of architecture in the world.
Bill and I never tire of drinking in the beauty of the great cathedral, and we find ourselves gravitating to its neighborhood. One of my fondest memories is when we lunched on salmon and delicious wine on a boat docked down on the Seine below it. One time we went to its huge plaza on the night of the Summer Solstice. We were probably the oldest people there. Oh my goodness! The place was packed with young people jumping and leaping to the beat of African drums. My mother would have called them “hopdoodles.” I found myself wishing that I were a young hopdoodle.
Notre-Dame is lovely at any time of the year. We’ve been in Paris more than once during November. The weather being similar to that of Indiana, we bundle up in heavy coats and warm hats to stroll through the streets. We were in Paris in late November and early December with our dear friend, Phyllis Otto. Phyllis and I took a bateau mouche and saw a different view of the cathedral. Foolishly we insisted on sitting outside and froze our butts!
During our rambles near Notre-Dame I found a shop that had Santons to add to my collection. The Santons — little saints — are crafted in Provence. The charming three-inch-tall terra cotta figures represent villagers who are bearing gifts for the Christ child and are made according to rigid rules that date from the late 1700’s. Some of them are Gypsies with darker skins.
I cannot bear to pack them away, so they sit on Granny’s sewing table. I have a shepherd, sheep, a tramp with a bundle on a stick, a baker carrying a loaf of bread, an old man in a windblown cape, a woman along with her donkey that is loaded with firewood, and several others. My favorite is an old woman who is knitting a tiny sock. Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are housed in a Provencal-style stable and a dovecote that Vicki made for me out of Insty Clay.
The three Wise Men are there, but I’m lacking a camel. I bought two hens and a rooster at the shop. The young clerk said, “Madame, ne-désirez-vous pas un autre coq? ” (Don’t you want another rooster?”) “Non, Mademoiselle.” “Pourquoi pas?” (Why not?) She giggled when I replied. “Parceque, Mademoiselle, on l’a mangé!” (Because they ate him!)
The Parisians were starting to get ready for Christmas, and greenery was beginning to appear in the area. After dinner, we always had coffee in a café from which we could see the cathedral. The ritzy Tour d’Argent Restaurant is across the river and pays for its nighttime illumination.
And the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing in the choir.
— “The Holly and the Ivy” is an English folk song.
On our last evening with Phyllis, we braved the cold and sleet and attended a concert of Benjamin Britain’s “Lessons and Carols” at Notre-Dame. What a lovely start for the Christmas season! Afterwards we dined at a cozy restaurant nearby where mirrors softly gleamed with light.
As always, before I left Notre-Dame I lit a candle in memory of my devout little mother. I like to think that the essence from its tiny flame rose and mingled with that of the centuries where it will remain forever. wclarke@comcast.net
P.S. I have become weary of political correctness. I wish you a very merry Christmas!