Ready for a little history?  In my first post I mentioned that we were surprised that we did not have to show our passports when we entered France from Iceland.   I mentioned this to a friend who explained why:  In 1985, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and W. Germany signed an economic agreement forming the European Economic Area, which, in addition to economic agreements abolished borders among the countries.  The accord was signed in Schengen, Luxembourg and is thus called the Schengen Accord.  In 1996, Norway and Iceland  (two non EU countries) joined the accord.   (The EU joined the accord in 1997)  This explains why there was no passport control in Paris for passengers arriving from Iceland despite it not being part of the EU.   (Details are thanks to Wikipedia)

A few days have passed since my last post and we’ve done a lot.   Although we are thinking about the end of this trip, we’ve a couple of things on our agenda and are looking forward to these last few days.    Looking back on my last blog I see that the photos from the St. Germain area don’t really give a feel for the narrow streets and their charm felt as you walk up and down looking at the shops and galleries.   The whole area is lovely, bustling with people going and coming, or just sitting and having a drink or lunch at an outdoor cafe.  We’ve walked these streets many times before, but only today did I notice that two brasseries (restaurants that serve food all day) that dominant the street specialize in shellfish. Tables are set out on the sidewalk, covered with large awnings, so that rain will not interrupt a meal.   Steaming bowls of mussels  (with fries) and platters of oysters were being consumed by patrons clearly enjoying themselves.  Next time, we’ll be sure to try these.

Tonight we went with friends to a seafood restaurant called La Criée on Blvd du Montparnasse.   It isn’t haute cusine but it was good at reasonable prices.  We ordered mussels — and as it turned out we all ordered mussels and frites.  When we finished, our friends, who are French,  called the waitress over and to our surprise ordered another round of the same thing!  I learned something tonight — the meaning of  à volonté which was on the menu, next to the mussels.  It means ‘all you can eat.’   (and as in buffet à volonté)

And, yes,  the little placard on our table announced that from Nov. 2 -26,  you could have oysters for 24 euros (about $28), à volonté !

Back to the narrow streets of St. Germain —well — not exactly.  First to the Institut Du Monde Arabe where we went to see an exhibit (a kind of retrospective) entitled Eastern Christians: 2000 thousand years of history.  And indeed, the exhibit did cover 2000 years. We were quite impressed, especially with the Armenian parts of the exhibit.  The Armenian Genocide was discussed in some detail, with full blame being put on the Turks as the Ottoman Empire began to crumble.  There was also a discussion of  Christian populations under siege in Arab majority countries with the comment that this is a great loss to these countries. ( We might add of Jewish and other religious minorities as well) The openness of recognizing this as a problem was a surprise to us.

The Institut has an architecture reminiscent of Arab-Moslem design — each panel is a window (one is open) that has apertures which open and close based on the amount of sunlight received.   From the top floor there is a great view of Paris.  It is also where there is an excellent Middle Eastern restaurant — Noura,  owned and run by Lebanese Armenians. )  The day we were there was a bitter cold, rainy day with a wind that precluded opening the door to the outside decks to take in the view.

The exhibits were extensive and detailed covering the history of Christians all of the Middle Eastern countries we know thus giving a history of the Assyrians and other less  well-know Christian ethnic groups.  Below are two very early Syrian frescoes (4th c.), courtesy of Yale University: Christ healing the paralytic and Christ walking on water.

Armenian illuminated manuscripts included in the exhibit, dating from 1312. Above, a fascinating photo of Armenian refugee women in Beirut 1925, selling their laces.  And, below, a photo of Armenian refugees arriving in Aleppo in 1920 (below).

Fortunately the weather improved a bit and we decided to walk along the Seine until we found a bus stop.  As it turned out, we didn’t find a bus stop and so just kept walking.

I love to take photos of the back of Notre Dame.  Today I caught a model in orange being photographed with the same view.  A short distance beyond and we reached the fountain of Saint- Michel.  The fountains have been turned off for the winter otherwise it would have been impossible to get a photo with no strangers in it.    This area is called the Latin Quarter and is usually very busy with not only tourists but students from the Sorbonne which is closeby.  Usually packed with people, the day was too cold for even Parisians to sit outdoors.  I took this though to show that places which offer cocktails usually announce it loud and clear.  You’ll note that happy hour is from 4:30 to 7:30 — given in 24 hour units.   I still can’t get used to the 24 hour clock, which is used for all appointments and official functions, including theater and concert times.  If I think 19 hours I have no idea what it means, while 7 pm is quite clear.      Now back to the narrow streets of Paris. This one is a bit honky-tonk, with a lot of fast food eateries for crepes, pizza, and other ethnic foods.  We were getting hungry so stopped in for a slice of pizza which wasn’t all that bad — or maybe it was that we were quite hungry.   From there we continued walking until we came to the oldest street in Paris, and probably the most narrow one of all, rue Saint- Jacques.  Right about now the battery on my camera gave out and we headed home.