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France/Spain 2011
Day 6 - 22nd March - Paris: Church of St Etienne du Mont (Part 1)
For some reason my body clock was kicking me up after 6 hours of sleep. I hadn't managed 7 hours on any night so far. However I took it slow as I was still sick, and the attractions were not open yet.
Someone else was coughing in the room. Since it was rather run down, it was like La bohème. Besides the lack of sanitary facilities, it also lacked power sockets. So much for the nostalgia value - I don't want to lodge there anymore in future. Even if the restaurant opposite is excellent.
I felt a touch bad disturbing the Australian and American girls in the room as I packed to leave, but the previous night they had kept talking (I had needed to stuff my cheap backup set of in-ear earphones as earplugs) so it wasn't unfair.
Rue Mouffetard before all the tourists come out
Square Ortolan
The word is borrowed from English, but means small public garden
"Jeune homme qualifié donne des séances de massage à domicile sur rendez-vous"
("Young qualiied man gives massages at home on appointment")
Rue Mouffetard
Crêpe/Panini place which serves Halal meats - but also ham and pork sausages
"OBj'ai TROUVÉ" ("OB I have found")
This is a play on "objet trouvé" ("Found object")
Menu of Bubble House. Bubble Tea is more expensive than wine.
Subway. With "15" and "30" subs (6 inch and 1 foot). They use metric here!
I then walked into a pâtisserie to get breakfast. I refused to have the hostel breakfast, as I remembered it sucked (at least compared to the wonderful things available on the streets).
The pâtisserie had "croissant nature" and "croissant au beurre" (with butter). I thought all croissants had butter. I wanted to try the baguette spéciale, which I had read about (supposedly the price of the normal baguette is monitored so they use cheap ingredients - the baguette spéciale is the one you want), but that would've been too big for me.
Flan Havrais (Flan lait sucré fleur d'orange)
A Flan in the style of Le Havre - a sugared milk flan scented with orange blossom. The orange blossom lent it a delicate flavour that you don't get with normal orange flavour.
I also got a Feuilleté Framboise, which you will see later.
Shots of the pâtisserie
Bonobos movie poster. The movie is probably all about sex.
"Every Thursday evening. Happy Hour Non stop for girls"
They didn't say Happy Hour was for women (femmes) or ladies (dames) but girls (filles).
There was a traffic holdup, with 7 cars behind a truck on a narrow one-lane road. The truck driver was making a delivery, and there were no horns. Amazing.
The mélange of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines
Church of St Etienne du Mont
Lycée Henri IV. The Tower of Clovis is from 1180, and the rest from the 18th century.
Another Nazi Victim memorial plaque, with a condemnation of Vichy France. They were exterminated because they were "born" Jewish. Apparently some of them converted out of Judaism, but were still targeted. Were those who converted into Judaism targeted by the Nazis?
The Panthéon
Church of St Etienne du Mont
Portal, with The Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Gabriel-Jules Thomas
Nave
Commemoration of Pope John Paul II, here for World "Youth" Day in 1997
About the church. The sign below reads: "Vous avez admiré notre église. Aidez nous à l'entretenir" ("You have admired our church. Help us maintain it")
This is one of the few jubés (rood screens - a barrier to segregate the church) left in France. According to Wikipedia, no medieval rood screens survive in Britain.
Chapel of the Sepulchre, with The Entombment, 16th c. (stolen from another church)
On the same plane as the rood screen, portal to another part of the church
Church organ