Liberation Day in Italy, in Paris and in Decatur

The 25th of April has great significance for the Italians. They celebrate the victory over the Germans in 1945 and in particular honor the members of the resistance who fought against the Nazis and the Fascists. Personally, it gives me a chance to celebrate my own liberation – from my mother’s womb in Decatur, something which I’m sure she greatly appreciated at that time but probably had cause to regret later.

But it was my father who gave me the opportunity at real liberation. he instilled in me the sense of right and wrong, gave me a moral compass and taught me the importance of being considerate of others. I have occasionally failed him but I like to think he has always been proud of my efforts. If it weren't for him. . .

Anyway, Susie and I weren’t in Italy for the celebration (this time)nor were we in Decatur but we were in Paris. Here we enjoyed a raw, chilly and windy Saturday with sun off and off, but mostly off. We spent a leisurely morning over caffe, catching up on home chores after our flying visit to Italy and just generally relaxed.

Late morning we strolled in the direction of Pere Lachaise but stopped short at the Square de la Roquette so I could show Susie the wonderful flowers that are out in that particular green space right now.

(Named after an enormous prison complex for women, now long gone and replaced by apartment buildings at the center of which is this very nice park, it’s nice to see such a place of suffering and human misery turned into something so patently pleasurable and uplifting.)

We then strolled down rue de la Roquette and picked up a bottle of wine, some roast beef from a local boucherie and fresh green beans (from Kenya), all for the meal later on. After dropping the groceries off at home we then headed off for the Metro line 5 at Richard Lenoir. We got off at the Gare d’Austerlitz and went to the ticket office to pick up our train tickets for Monday morning – thus eliminating having to stand in line at the Gare Montparnasse early in the morning.

After leaving the train station we walked across the street and into the Jardin des Plantes. The season is just getting underway for plantings, and the garden here should be full of color in the next several weeks we thought. Anyway we strolled on through the garden, past the Paris Mosque and over to rue Monge and Pascal Pineaud’s pastry shop. Susie wanted to confirm with Misato their plans to get together for lunch before and they decided to meet up for a late morning brunch Sunday morning near the Trocadero.

From rue Monge we walked over to another favorite haunt, the rue Mouffetard, walking past row upon row of restaurants serving everything from crepes to Lebanese to Greek to French regional specialties like Savoyard. This is a great place to see, in just one short straight line, the food choices available in Paris – and this is just one tiny slice of the city!

Ambling up to the Place de Contrescarpe, we stopped and watched a older man, probably in his 50s playing really good music on a small, homemade honky-tonk piano.


After a few minutes savoring the experience we walked toward the Pantheon, down rue Soufflot and into the Jardin du Luxembourg. The huge urns at the center of the garden had not yet been planted and the tulips were fast becoming history. The wind was raw, the drizzle was starting to fall, we were starting to feel the pangs of Parisian hunger come over us and so we sought a nearby café, Le Cercle, to get warm and get a bite to eat.

We both ordered the croque monsieur, Paris’ version of the grill cheese sandwich and enjoyed a glass of chilled white wine – an Aligoté from Burgundy. We just generally chatted about one thing or another (mostly one thing), and savored being in Paris. We eventually paid the bill, and strolled outside into the cold of the afternoon and headed down Boulevard St. Michel toward the Seine. Our objective was the Metro line 10 at Cluny-Sorbonne.

But just short of our objective we spied the huge Gibert-Joseph bookstore and, always on the lookout for bookstores that might carry guides to Paris cemeteries we walked inside.

Almost right away Susie found the book I was looking for, Bertrand Beyern’s new edition of his Guide to the Famous Tombs in France. We both then browsed for the next half hour or so in this incredibly huge store – and ended up walking out with nearly a half dozen books, since Susie found a couple of dessert books to add to her repertoire.

Crossing the street we popped down into the Metro, hopped on the line 10 and switched at line 5 at Bastille and got off at Richard Lenoir and walked home.

I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

Wish you had been there,

Steve