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Thurs March 26. Paris.

 If anyone is looking at these blogs with a proofreader’s keen eye, they will have noticed that this is the second “Thursday” entry. That is because time really is only a human construct that doesn’t matter much unless you are a farmer, and even then one doesn’t need to be precise about it.  

Anyway, this is now the correct date and the day was lovely despite chilly weather with occasional rain.  After a lazy sociable morning, we took our constitutional walk.  Paris city streets are surprisingly calm and quiet. Even close to downtown walking was peaceful today.

We decided to be religious pluralists and visit the Synagogue de la Victoire.   This nineteenth-century building (photo below) was well guarded by armed soldiers, but a marriage was taking place and visits were cancelled.  

So instead we went to the nearby Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, a church built in 1645, completely destroyed in 1796 during the French Revolution (which was as negative about the church as it was about the aristocracy) and then rebuilt 1823-1836  during a time when the monarchy had been restored and religious fervour had returned. The decision was made to build after models from Rome.   I don’t think this works very well on the outside where an ancient Roman temple was the inspiration, but the inside is more harmonious, a polychrome variation on the early Christian basilicas of Rome.


The well-known French composer César Frank was organist here for six years.  The artists who painted the insides worked with great care, and the frescoes have been well kept up.  They don’t look in the slightest like ones in Rome, but are good examples of the taste of the time.  And of colonialism.


Our stroll ended in a glorious fabric shop - five floors of material of all kinds. There used to be a similar store in Toronto, but long gone, so when I next make curtains for my house, I’ll have to come to Paris for the fabric.  

To end this blog, here is something new. This car is all kitted up to check parking violations and issue electronic tickets - no attendant to argue with these days!





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