In the afternoon I walked to St Germain des Pres, 1 of the 2 colourful churches that i like and listened to 3 /4 of an organ and soprano recital. I am not aware of every listening to the combination of organ and voice, but I thought it was odd. I am sure both musicians were very good, but I would have preferred just the organ. I left early because i realised I had forgotten to factor in the time for a coffee stop ( or more importantly the loo stop that a coffee provides) in the time it would take me to get to the next church.
So then I walked in the direction of the church with 2 congregations, StvEugene and st Cecile, the modern and the latin speaking congregation ( not sure which is which). This was 5.15 ish. The main streets were full of people but the in-between streets were very empty, quiet and dark, so i decided I would definitely get a bus home. I luckily found a place for a coffee , - have I said here that i have discovered noisettes? A short black with milk, more milk than a machiato in Australia. The milk often comes in a little jug. I have never had one that needed sugar because it was too bitter.
The pewsheet said there was a vespers service at 5.45 on Sundays in the gregorian tradition with organ. When the service started, 12 robed men processed in ( maybe 4 were choristers (extra chanters not singers)) the rest clergy. Therr were about 25 in the congregation. The whole service was on a printed booklet I was given, but it certainly did not start at the beginning of the booklet, so i had no idea. It was chanting in Larin , the music was in the booklet, but old style with only 4 lines and funny markings, The organ fitted in with lots of bits in between and the chanting would start on the note the organ finished on. Sometimes just 1 of the clergy, sometimes all of them. Maybe this is a fairly standard RC service, I have no idea. I was unimpressed with how often the people in the congregation were expected to get up, wait a bit while something short was said, then sit down again. Only about half the 25 were older than me. Quite a few people in 30s and 40s. Maybe they teach Latin in schools.
I left after about half an hour. I knew I had a few dark empty streets before the bus stop. So just outside the church I was looking at the map on my phone making sure I set off in the right direction. There was a man on the other side of the road who saw me and said in English Are you as lost as I am? I said i'm not lost, I know where I am going. I was a bit undecided about him and what to do. . Anyway, i helped him and realised he was going in the same direction as me so we walked together , chattering away. He was Sean from Ireland. We stood on a corner for quite a while talking till I said I better go. I was annoyed at having to wait 20 minutes for a bus tho. He told me he was a journalist and author and one of the books he has written ( I looked him up afterwards) looked interesting.
In Paris there is an old no longer used elevated freight railway line that has been converted to a long thin park. It is quite pleasant. You walk along looking at the upper stories of buildings and are closer to the often very interesting roof lines. There are occassionally chairs, ponds, lots of trees and flowers. I had walked about a kilometre of the 4 1/2 km and was watching the guy in front of me walking at much the same pace as I was. He had a jacket with a logo on the back of the neck that i thought was either Kathmandu or Mountain design. Suddenly a bird appeared and he turned around and said ' there's a sparrow, there are hardly any sparrows in Sydney left. '. He stopped and realised he didn't know who I was at all.. I replied ' I wouldn't know, I live in Canberra' . So he was Ian from Sydney. We chatted for a bit and then walked on together to the end , stopping to take photos. It is about his 6th trip to Paris. He comes for about 2 months a year, usually with his wife. She frequents the wool shop i went to twice. We got to the end and I told him of the church I was going to visit that was about a km in the direction he would have been walking , so we kept chatting as we walked.
The church, Eglise saint esprit was very impressive. It was built in the the 1930's in a poor area of Paris. The nave is square with a huge dome on top. It was inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Inside it is covered with Byzantine style frescoes , but quite plain but lovely marble bits , like the altar rail. ian was pleased that i had taken him there . He had never been or heard of the church. But my secret Paris book knew of it. We had lunch together and then I came back here.
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