Spring is in the Air

18 April 2008

Spring is here! The first lilacs have appeared on the streets sold by gypsies and as we walked back to the flat a number of women commented: "Oh, Madame, C'est printemps,les lilas sont arrives." And it certainly was a breath of spring as the thermometer struggled up to 16 degrees today.
Today we went for a long walk in the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St-Louis. We wandered through the streets looking at lovely shops, Notre-Dame and the Hotel-Dieu de Paris. Although there has been a hospital on the spot since the seventh century, the current building was only erected in the nineteenth; but it is lovely and has a spacious garden area in the centre.

There isn't much that one can say about Notre-Dame which has not already been said. It remains one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe, if not the world. Much of the beauty is enhanced by its setting on the river and with the advent of spring the trees around the Cathedral are bursting into life.

Walking along we passed a jazz session on one of the bridges. Jazz, of course, has been popular in Paris ever since the early years of the nineteenth century. It did, however, seem peculiar to hear the music of New Orleans in the shadow of Notre-Dame.

We ambled along the banks of the Seine, looking at what the many bookstalls had on offer. The reality is that most of it is cheap souvenirs, but interspersed with the junk, every so often, there is a real treasure. Or so we are told. Unfortunately we didn't find any.

After stopping for coffee, we crossed back to the right bank to catch the bus and admired some of the architecture, particularly the Hotel Feiubet which dates from the sixteenth century. We returned home on the bus. Interestingly it was the same bus route that we travelled on yesterday, but today the drivers seemed to have their act together and the trip was rapid and incident free.