Brighton – St Pancras – Eurostar – Paris
A city break in my favourite city – food for the soul after being unwell on and off for some time. Pack my walking round Paris guide, Steve Kowit’s poetry manual ‘In the palm of your hand’ (which somehow I’ve never got round to reading right through), a few pairs of clean pants, a toothbrush, oh and best take Alan too, I guess!
He even insisted he needed some soul food too! Apparently practicing his melodion half the night, learning new musical techniques on youtube, reading books on railways and doing the washing up can get a bit monotonous, or so he claims!
So here are the pics giving you a taste of the best of walk one – around Montmartre, including finding the oldest grapevine in Paris
and the oldest house, which is now the museum of Montmartre, (yes google this one)
So many lovely places that one can only really get to on foot, where writers, painters, poets and philosophers in happier days sat around writing, painting, poeting and philosiphising I guess.
Paris is a city of contrasts. As well as the vibrancy, the posh shops and the gourmet restaurants, both of which we tend to avoid, there are plaques commemorating people sent to concentration camps during the war including hundreds of children attending this school (below left) A whole road where the poets and philosophers of the day were also herded into death camps.
I prefer going it alone, walking, getting a real sense of what makes a place and its people.
Part 2 tomorrow – The Quais, Corot and feminism
What a wonderful break – that you for sharing it. Looking forward to the next installment. Don’t know Paris very well – was Monmartre the heart of the siege of Paris/ (When Parisian newspapers announced that the world was cut off from Paris…)
Guess so, in 1870 and 1871, not a historian myself but pick up bits here and there especially when walking the walk as it were. There is a brief history on http://parispropertygroup.com/blog/2012/discovering-montmartre/ Montmartre that I like. Whoops just realised left out the t in Montmartre on title of this post more haste less speed!