The day started with brunch at Café Livres, a local spot with walls lined in secondhand books & a view over the Tower of St Jacque's. We soon discovered that this cafe's brunch is somewhat high in carbohydrates, so we were full well before we finished anything! Still, we were about to do another walking tour so needed sustenance.
Our first stop was the Shoah Memorial, in memory of all the Jews of France, who lost their lives courtesy of the nazi concentration camps of WW2. On the outside of the memorial is an impressive list of names honouring all those non- Jewish people who helped to hide or protect their Jewish neighbours. They have been given the title & honour of the word 'Righteous'. Not a word we hear much in society these days. Thanks to these people's bravery 3/4 of France's Jewish population were kept from the concentration camps.
I confess to tears at the sight of this wall of names, inside the Memrial, of the Jews who had died. In fact, the tears well up again now as I type. It is one thing to be horrified by the statistics....over 76,000 shipped off to concentration camps, 11,000 of them children. Only 2,500 survived. It is quite another to see their precious names, the thing that labels them as unique & special individual human beings. Moving is an understatement. This experience was followed up by the large black marble star of David in the crypt, the centre of which is an eternal flame & beneath it are the ashes that were retrieved from all the concentration camps where French Jews were interred.
We left suitably sobered & continued our walk around the 'Jewish' section of the Marais district. Occasionally we'd be stopped by a plaque commemorating individuals or groups who had been assassinated by the Nazis, & another place a whole school of children were removed to concentration camps. Aside from these reminders of part of the area's past, we came across a couple of old homes from the 15th century.
And then the beautiful Hotel Sens, the oldest medieval mansion in the area. Aside from beautiful
gardens, the mansion also has a souvenir from revolution days...a canon ball stuck in the wall!!
On Sunday afternoon, Rue des Rosiers is shut off from vehicular traffic, so becomes a wonderful mass of humanity, mainly making the most of the AMAZING smelling food outlets! Apparently the best falafels can be found here. Well, sadly, we were still so stuffed from brunch that we weren't in a position to check that theory!!
Our final destination was one of the oldest teashops in Paris. It looked gorgeous from the outside & we had intended to go in, but.....it was so hot, we both thought the last thing we wanted was hot tea in a small stuffy Salon de The...even if it was special. So, we ended our tour there & went back to our apartment to start the task of packing once again.
We have had an incredible week in Paris & have been blessed with excellent weather. It has been a treat to discover new parts of this city & we both are keen to come again. Hopefully it will be sooner than 11 years!!
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