A SUNDAY TREAT
2010
I’m up at 8.15 seething with energy, while Oswaldo still feels he walked a lot yesterday. We arrange to meet for lunch and I take off by myself to see the North African marché at St. Denis, as well as the Basilisque St-Deniswith parts as old as AD 475, although what is there now was begun in 1130. I have to take a long subway ride, changing twice, which briefly brings me up to the surface at Place de Clichy, then down again until I emerge at St. Denis, straight into the bustling fair, where stalls selling fruit, clothes, underwear, shoes, scarves, and so on are mingled as far as the eye can see, and there is a din of vendors hawking their wares, in what sounds like Arabic. I had expected to find handcrafted articles and original fabrics, but it’s all industrial, often Chinese. After a while, munching on a pain de chocolat as I go, I get out of the crowd to find the cathedral, which appears suddenly around a corner from the din of the market, grayish white against the bright blue sky set behind a quiet square. It is beautiful inside, with high vaulted Gothic arches reaching up in the half-light. The crypt is the burial ground of many ancient French kings, but a big sign informs me that today (of all days) the crypt is closed ‘ fermé -desolé.’ I seem to have that effect on these places.
Then I’m back in the Metro, packed with returning shoppers pulling their full shopping carts, and on the phone to Oswaldo, arranging to meet at La Coupole. We proceed to have a fabulous lunch, an asiette de fruit-de-mer , with several for us unknown sea-creature, poor things, for starters, then grilled cod for him and Coquilles St. Jacques for me, and finally I have a Café Gourmand, while he has the Crêpes Suzette. All this with a bottle of Gewurtztraminer. We can barely walk, when we finish.
We briefly consider to go to the movies, but decide against it in order to walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg. The park is filled with Parisians out with their families, enjoying their Sunday, the kids getting horseback rides or sailing wooden sailboats on the ornamental lake. We sit for a while in the sun and take it all in, and then leave to walk the last blocks back to our apartment. I want to run a quick errand and leave Oswaldo at our building. When I turn the corner on St. André-des-Arts, I hear a woman’s voice - that of a really skilled opera singer - singing in the street. Her voice is quite beautiful and strong and some listeners stand transfixed, while other people just pass by. There is a hilarious and touching moment when two older men pass with a pointer. The dog stops dead, looks hard at the singer, and lifts its paw. The owner smiles indulgently and waits for the dog.
THE NORTH AFRICAN FAIR AT ST. DENIS AND LUNCH AT LA COUPOLE
Sunday, October 10, 2010
THE REAL THING: CREPES SUZETTE AT LA COUPOLE ON BLVD. MONTPARNASSE
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