Paris, 11 April 2012

Today we decided to have our morning coffee at one of the great Paris Institutions, the Angelina tearoom.
 

Named by the Austrian confectioner, Antoine Rumpelmayer, after his daughter in law, the tearoom opened in 1903. Over the years one might find among its clientèle the Parisian aristocracy as well as designers like Coco Chanel and the writer Marcel Proust. It is located at 226 rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries Garden.

Inside Angelina

The Belle Epoque décor combines elegance, charm and refinement. It is easily compared with Café Florian in Venice and the Café Mozart in Vienna. Here we enjoyed coffee and macarons.

Macarons

The Tuileries is Paris' oldest and most lavish garden. Its royal roots stretch to the 16th century, when Marie de Medicis commissioned a palace behind the Louvre. Henry IV and Louis XIV would pursue construction and the palace housed the last monarchs of France, until it was burned down in 1871. The elaborate royal gardens remained.

Today, the symmetrical gardens are the starting point of a walk from the Louvre to the Champs-Elysées, forming what is referred to as the "triumphant line". The gardens feature sculptures by Rodin and Maillol.
Leaving Angelina Tearooms, we walked to W. H. Smith, the English book store on the rue de Rivoli.  On the way we saw something that we didn't understand, but which amused us and gave rise to some speculation.  As you can see, in the picture below, it appears that the police have stopped a woman riding a motor scooter.  On the back she has a clear perspex box in which a dog is sitting.  We wondered whether she had been pulled over on the basis that one cannot have a dog riding as a pillion passenger.

The dog on the motor scooter

And purely as an aside, when we got to W.H. Smith, we were able to get our Vegemite.  Oh Joy, Oh Bliss!!

In the afternoon our entertainment was of a different sort.  In the past we have talked about the way in which illegally parked cars are taken away.  People plead with the police, usually to no avail.  Today, however, we saw a successful plea.  As the police approached to  "ticket" a car, the owner opened the boot and removed a prayer rug.  Placing it immediately behind his vehicle, he fell to his knees and started praying.  The police waited, he prayed.  More waiting saw more prayer and the occasional raised eyes to check on the police.  Finally, the minions of the law left, the prayer rug was packed away and the successful supplicant got into his car and, ticket-less, drove off.

This is a "spectator sport," and an elderly woman, in an apartment across the way, exchanged amused looks and raised eyebrows with us. It may well have been a genuine act of prayer, but whatever the case he was saved a great deal of inconvenience and a substantial fine.