September 8- American Church, Antique Market

 

A lovely Sunday in Paris.  Even though I am not employed, Sunday always feels different than the rest of the week. Here, it may be because people are not rushing to work, and I see families out together.

We attended services at the American Church in Paris, which is described as a non-denominational Protestant Church.  It is a lovely old church, along the Seine near Mussee d’Orsay (7^th Arrondissement). Al said the service reminded him of the Methodist services from his childhood.  I thought is seemed Presbyterian, and they use the Presbyterian hymnal. 

 

We picked up a copy of their September newsletter, and I discovered that they have a weekly quilting group. Yippee!  I will go their meeting on Wednesday. It will be fun to sew in a group and learn about other women’s experiences living here.  The church serve meals to the homeless on Friday, and I volunteered for that activity. 

                                               An interesting door on our way to Rue Cler.    

                                          Jazz band playing on Rue Cler.

                                               Lots of folks having morning coffee on Rue Cler.  The French have perfected the skill of buying a coffee, and then sitting with it for an hour watching the world go by.

 

We had seen a sign on the way to church advertising an antique market on Rue Cler. Great fun.  The stalls were more like what I had expected at the flea market in that they had some inexpensive things, plus some treasures.  I again looked at the postcards.  Al found a box with old postcards of our arrondissement, and in the middle was a 100 year old postcard of our street.  Although pricey, we thought it would be a wonderful remembrance to frame and hang up back in St. Paul.  Al also took a picture of the same corner, so we can compare the changes.

 

Dinner at home. “Faux fillets” turned out to be a decent steak.  I had found a great “instant” food at Aldi’s- pre-cooked and peeled new potatoes for only 1E. I have seen few packaged meals here (e.g., Kraft macaroni and cheese or Hamburger Helper).  Pre-cooked potatoes may be as close as they get. They were great- sauté in little olive oil with some herbs d’provence.

After dinner, back to the church for a concert by 2 sopranos singing classical pieces.

 

 

 

Eiffel Tower on the way back to church.  Nice views on the walk.

 





 
This old Fiat is always parked in front of the Ecole Militaire.  Al really likes it.


We walked through parks twice during the day.  First by Mussee d’Orsay on the way to church. Second, after dinner, we walked home through Champs du Mars. It reminded me of that Seurat painting- Sunday in the Park.  It seemed that every Parisian must have been out- soccer games, two wedding parties, groups drinking wine and eating pizza, a book group, etc. I have read that 30% of the land area of Paris is devoted to parks- make sense since everyone seems to live in apartments. 

                                          Promenade along the Seine

 

 

 

Floating barges along the Seine.  They have plants growing on them.  People strolling the Seine can walk onto them.

 



 

Clouds over the Seine.

 

 



 

A weding at the Champs du Mars.

 

 

People sitting on the Champs du Mars.  The Ecole Military is in the background.  The Champ was originally the marching grounds for Ecole Militaire.

 

 

This is what most of them are looking at. 

 

 

 

                                                         

 

 

 

Three children playing football on the Champ.

 The clouds roll in on the Eiffel Tower.