PARIS DAWN: The sun coming up over the Seine this morning in front of my place, the Grand Palais on left. Took this picture while on my early morning walk with Oscar.

PARIS DAWN: The sun coming up over the Seine this morning in front of my place, the Grand Palais on left. Took this picture while on my early morning walk with Oscar.

THE FOUR BISHOPS: I can’t say my mood was one of undiluted joy as I set out today in the afternoon heat to pay taxes on my consulting company established here in France. Payment was late, as usual, and consequently I had no option but to drop off the cheque en mains propres, seeking indulgence by virtue of personal initiative. The fact that my local tax department is located in Place Saint-Sulpice, I readily confess, more than compensated for the unpleasantness of my task. Saint-Sulpice is one of my favourite squares in Paris, not only because of its rarefied ambience of chic prosperity and architectural splendor, but because it was the first Left Bank spot I discovered as a fresh-faced university student more than twenty-five years ago. In those days, I used to hang out at the Café de la Mairie right on the square. In the mornings, I sat alone savoring my café crème while watching the regulars standing at the counter and gulping their thick black coffee “sur le zinc” and racing off. In the evenings, my classmates and I drank claret and engaged in animated talk on the café terrace facing the magnificent square. The Café de la Mairie is unchanged today, unaffected by its fleeting cinematic fame as the setting of the movie, La Discrète.

The famous fountain in the middle of the square — called the “Fontaine des Quatre Evêques” from its statues of four French bishops — is frozen in time, its lions snarling for nearly two centuries in the shadow of the architecturally eccentric cathedral that today, alas, has become a tourist attraction for fans of The Da Vinci Code. A quarter-century ago as I sat in Café de la Mairie affecting nonchalance, I doubtless would have been immensely impressed by the prospect that, one day, I’d be briskly walking by on my way to pay personal business taxes in the imposing administrative building on the other side of the fountain. And so today, making my way across the square, I stopped to contemplate those unbridled — and untaxed — days when I was in the first flush of excitement to be living in Paris. The photos above were taken just before, grudgingly, I made an exorbitant fiscal contribution to the French state. 

Tags: Paris Place Saint-Sulpice

DECO IN DIVONNE: I made a train trip to Geneva a few days ago to give a talk on social media to a group of pharma marketers. My final destination was not, in fact, in Switzerland, but on French territory just outside Geneva — a small town called Divonne-les-Bains overlooking Lake Leman. From its name (“les Bains”) I assumed it was once a spa town, though today the main attractions appear to be a casino, a golf course, and the Art Deco hotel where I was staying. My trip was too short for me to provide a detailed account of the four-star Grand Hotel’s merits, especially as I dined and spent the evening at a nearby chateau. I was instantly struck however by the hotel’s splendid Deco lobby and corridors, which evoked the 1930s ambience of the building in which I live on the quai d’Orsay in Paris. Just before dinner I was downstairs in the magnificent Deco lobby waiting for my host. There was no Cole Porter music animating the atmosphere, no flappers holding mint juleps. The place was strangely vacant. Maybe everyone was in the adjoining casino. With no eyes on me, I discreetly took several photos around the lobby, including the two above. 

VIEW FROM PASSY BRIDGE: Taken one night at dusk on the bridge over the Seine at Passy, facing east towards the 7th arrondissement. That evening I was walking to the Maison Radio-France to be interviewed live on a France-Culture radio show. The Passy bridge (it’s actually called the Bir-Hakeim bridge but the originally name has stuck if only for the practical reason that it leads to the Passy district in the 16th arrondissement) has some cinematic history. Most notably, it’s the setting of the opening scene in Last Tango in Paris: Marlon Brando is walking across the bridge toward Passy as the clattering Metro train passes overhead. The bridge is also featured in the cult French film, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain. And more recently, it’s famous for a scene in the movie, Inception.

VIEW FROM PASSY BRIDGE: Taken one night at dusk on the bridge over the Seine at Passy, facing east towards the 7th arrondissement. That evening I was walking to the Maison Radio-France to be interviewed live on a France-Culture radio show. The Passy bridge (it’s actually called the Bir-Hakeim bridge but the originally name has stuck if only for the practical reason that it leads to the Passy district in the 16th arrondissement) has some cinematic history. Most notably, it’s the setting of the opening scene in Last Tango in Paris: Marlon Brando is walking across the bridge toward Passy as the clattering Metro train passes overhead. The bridge is also featured in the cult French film, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie PoulainAnd more recently, it’s famous for a scene in the movie, Inception.