Sunday morning in Paris- 15 April

One thing I had googled before my arrival was which church might have some good organ music at Sunday Mass, and the answer seemed to be 'St Sulpice', so I caught the metro in that direction on Sunday morning.

 The Square outside the church had an ornate fountain, and was filled with sculpture.

 I'd arrived somewhat early and the place was fairly deserted just after 9am, but a quick glance at the church noticeboard confirmed I was in the right place for organ music.

 This was yet another place where 'spring' was shouting out its very presence. Paris seems to announce spring very definitely.

 I could see from my map that the Luxembourg gardens were not far away so I wandered there: you never seem to be far from a park or gardens in Paris.

There were many sculptures of various ages and styles, and lots of tulips in flower. This one was 'Le Triomphe de Silene'.

And this was by Zadkine- 'Le poete ou hommage a Paul Eluard'. (Sorry for lack of accents- I still have to work out how to do them on this new laptop.) I got into slight trouble with a security guard when I took this photo as I had stepped onto the grass!

And of course, there were more signs of glorious spring at the park, even if it was cold this Sunday morning, and I had my jacket firmly on.

 

I returned to St Sulpice for the Mass, but it was the organ playing I was really there for, and yes, it was superb. I have a short section captured as video on my camera, but it is 'huge' in terms of megabytes and haven't worked out how to 'reduce' it for the blog yet...

They still have 'sanity' in France: most shops remain firmly closed on Sundays (though I noticed many were open when I returned in late June and the 'sales' were on). I took a few photos of shop windows instead- many small clothes shops were in evidence- there is still a lot of individuality that hasn't been devoured by 'chains'.

I knew enough to search for a meal at lunchtime so I didn't miss out on eating, and found a 'beer' restaurant open, where I fortified myself for more walking in the afternoon.