April 14: It's still April. We're still in Paris

We popped into a couple more of Paris’s attractions today, including another Starbucks and a launderette. Robot laundry remains as satisfying as ever.

We are staying in the Marais district, only a couple of kilometres from Père Lachaise cemetery. Although we visited last time, we failed to find the infamous “Tombe de Victor Noir”. “Victor Noir” was the nom de plume of an anti-establishment journalist in the time of Emperor Napoleon III. He was killed by the Emperor’s nephew in a duel, at least, that is how the Courts found, when Prince Philippe was tried for (and acquitted of) his murder. The ordinary people did not agree. He/it became a cause célèbre against an unpopular regime. His tomb, adorned with a lifelike bronze of the slain culture warrior, at the very moment he hit the pavement, was paid for by public subscription.

The realism extends to (how shall I say it?) the depiction of his groin, which, although modestly portrayed is most definitely “there”. His statue (and its groin) have a rich hinterlife in Parisian folklore. Women wishing to conceive come to kiss his lips and rub his bits for good luck – plenty of them, judging from the shine on both. These days, there seem to be only snickering tourists, but who knows what happens when no one is looking?

The cemetery also holds Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. It is also a vast estate of the houses of the dead, full of trees and flowers and wildlife. There are plenty of places away from the smallish crowds gathered at the various “sights”. Today was sunny and calm. The laburnums hummed with insects. The horse chestnuts rang with songbirds. The light shone through the many stained-glass windows in the small chapels that surmount family crypts. There were marigolds, primulas and budding roses among the plastic flowers. It was a refreshing place to spend time.

We also climbed to Montmartre, up to the Sacré Coeur basilica, which really did gleam white in the afternoon light. We sat for a while in the pleasant park behind it, that only a few people seem to visit, enjoying its cooling water feature and wisteria colonnade. We wondered if the French government would redeploy the newly-trained artisans, straight off Notre Dame, to restore the basilica. Up close, you see how much it could benefit, and it is every bit as iconic. Let’s hope it happens.

I’ve done far too many posts during this first week of our trip. Maybe, it’s a reaction to a glorious spring; maybe, a sense of pressing pause on a world going to hell in a handbasket; maybe I’m reconnecting with a me that doesn’t worry quite so much about things I cannot change. Whatever, everything feels special, even doing laundry. We set it churning and sat for an hour in the Place de Vosges; drinking beer from our nalgenes; eating snacks from our pockets. The sheltered park was warm and full of families making the most of the evening sunshine.