French Friday: Saint-Sulpice

November 17, 2017 (321/365)

« C'est pareil pour tout. On tire des lignes droites et la vie fait des courbes. » ~ Katherine Pancol

The Saint-Sulpice church and surrounding square are located in one of my favorite neighborhoods of Paris. Unfortunately, since the publication of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, the church is overrun with tourists looking for the rose line -- the Paris meridian which figures prominently in the novel. I confess, I have been guilty of the same thing -- once. Although fictional, the historic, artistic, and religious allusions in Brown's Robert Langdon series are intriguing and entertaining. Against my better judgment, I just read Robert Langdon #5, Origin. It, too, was predictably intriguing and entertaining.

« Sous l'ancienne Roslin, le Saint-Graal nous attend la lame et le calice la protègent du temps ouvragée avec art par les maîtres des maîtres. Sous la voûte étoilée enfin elle repose. » - Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code 

Seekers of the real Paris Meridian, which lost out as Prime Meridian to Greenwich in 1884, should be on the lookout for the Arago medallions. 135 meridian medallions are placed in a straight line from Gentilly in the south to Port du Clignangourt in the north.

Into the Mystic

November 15, 2017 (319/365)

We were born before the wind. Also younger than the sun. Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic. Hark, now hear the sailors cry. Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic. And when that foghorn blows, I will be coming home. And when that foghorn blows, I want to hear it. I don't have to fear it. I want to rock your gypsy soul just like way back in the days of old. Then magnificently we will float into the mystic...” - Van Morrison

Frosty Morning

November 14, 2017 (318/365)

“All that is gold does not glitter; Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither: Deep roots are not reached by the frost." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring