unusual, even provocative, a different way of doing things and when I went to Clarendon Street church just off Grafton Street, the city’s main shopping drag, the other day, that’s precisely what I found.
On my way into the church, I was astonished to see a security guard sitting at his desk keeping a close eye on all the churchgoers, exactly the same type of security guard you’d see in any shop. I presume that he was keeping a lookout for thieves trying to rob people while they are at Mass. The way things are going, it can’t be too long before the guards at the entrance to churches will be armed! One other depressing piece of news from Ireland, Crowleys, a music shop that was going for 90 years in Cork city, and which supplied Rory Gallagher with his first guitar, is going out of business, partly because there’s so much competition from online purchases. Online has so many advantages, but it’s very depressing that it’s wiping out so much of the traditional retailing
environment.
Of course, they have exactly the same problem with thieving in Paris, but on a much larger scale. As many as half a million Roma gypsies from Bulgaria and Romania are now living in France, most of them in encampments on the fringes of Paris. Many of the gangs of thieves now plaguing Paris are drawn from this community. During August, when the normal city life of the city slows down, making it even more ideal for the 16 million people who throng to Paris every year, long queues of tourists form outside all the main tourist attractions. People are also very inclined to sit outside
cafés, especially the famous ones along the boulevard St-Germain. All these tourists vulnerable to the gangs that make their living by robbing visitors to Paris.
It’s a very serious problem and one that’s very difficult to solve. But this influx of Roma gypsies and other immigrants to France has created a racist backlash in French political life. The other day, I had a look at the new look website put up by Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, in time for her 45th birthday on August 5th. The photo of her on the website is immensely seductive, showing her in a harbour setting, stroking a fantastic looking cat. It all looks very appealing, until people stop and realise what the real aims of the Front National are, very right wing and very anti-immigrant. One
of its policy platforms is the withdrawal of France from the single European currency and that’s just one of its more respectable ambitions. Predictably, given the state of the French economy, it’s hardly
surprising that the Front National is heading towards the top of any forthcoming political opinion poll.
Still, France being France, despite the desperate political situation and the extreme right wing
gaining ground at a rate of knots, helped by an enfeebled president, there are always beacons of hope. I was very struck by an article in the New York Times the other day praising the town of Uzes in the south-west of France, not far from Avignon and Nimes. Uzes is a small town, with a population of around 8,000, dating back to Roman times, with a maze of fascinating small, narrow streets, markets and historic buildings, such as the cathedral. It was always a strongly Protestant town, especially during the wars of religion in the 16th century, which wreaked so much damage on the Languedoc. It was this very Protestantism that caused the New York Times to hail Uzes as a centre of
liberality, a certain free floating spirit that makes the place so attractive for ex-pats, American and otherwise, to settle in.
Talking about the south of France, Bono, his family and friends have been enjoying their usual
summer vacation there; the U2 star and his family have a mansion retreat in the mountain region of Eze. Just the other day, Bono, who recently received France’s highest honour, becoming a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, was pictured with his wife and friends in St Paul de Vence.
This is a marvellously historic and appealing small town, only about 15 minutes inland
from the coast, midway between Nice and Cannes. The hilltop town attracted such
artists as Chagall and Matisse and one of its famous hotels and restaurants, La Colombe d’Or, has many works by Picasso. St Paul de Vence has long attracted celebrities, going back to the film actress Simone Signoret in the 1960s. One of its most famous residents was the American writer James Baldwin, who died there in 1987. St Paul de Vence is also noted for the Maeght Foundation, an amazing collection of 20th century art works.
Incidentally, if you’re in the seventh arrondissement of Paris, peep into the Maeght shop and gallery at 42 rue de Bac. It’s run by Isabelle and Yoyo Maeght, grand daughters of the man who set up the Maeght Foundation in St Paul de Vence. The Paris gallery is small but delightful and the vernissages there (wine fuelled show openings) are also very special, as we can testify!
But back to St Paul de Vence; it’s a very attractive town, but best seen out of season when there aren’t so many celebrities clogging up the place and helping push up the prices. Close by, just four km away, is Vence. It’s a much larger place, with a population of about 20,000 or about five times more than St Paul de Vence. Vence also looks a much dowdier town, although it has lots of small, narrow streets and markets, as well as the Chapelle de Rosarie, which has stained glass and other fittings created
by Matisse. Vence also appealed greatly to the English writer, D.H.Lawrence, another big plus point in its favour.
But if you are determined to see both towns, don’t do what we did. When we were there, we
decided the best way of getting from St Paul de Vence to Vence, since there was no handy bus at the time, was to walk there along the main road. It turned out to be a nightmare, of cars going at breakneck speed and thundering great lorries, with no safe bits to step into on the verges of the road. That was one French experience we won’t be repeating in a hurry!
Otherwise in France, there are lots of bits and pieces happening on the tourist front. There’s
a big row going on in Paris that involves the legacy of Picasso. From 1935 until 1955, he lived in one of those grand maisons for which Paris is famous, more precisely the Hotel de Savoie, on the rue des Grands Augustins in the 6th. It’s said that Picasso painted his famous Guernica artwork here in 1937. For years, a private arts organisation has been based in the mansion, rent free, but now it seems that the owners want possession, so that they can renovate the crumbling mansion. The appeal against the legal judgment upholding the eviction order is due to be heard by the Paris Court of Appeal next
month.
Meanwhile, the renovation work at the Picasso museum in the 3rd drags on and on. The new look museum was meant to be reopened this summer, but now that opening has been put back until at least the end of the year.
But at least another prime museum is set to reopen, on September 28th. The Galleria Museum in the trendy 16th, opened in 1895 and since 1977,it has been dedicated to archiving and presenting French fashion, from the 18th century to the present day. It’s going to reopen, following extensive
refurbishment, with an exhibition devoted to the work of couturier Azzdine Alaia.
Talking about heritage, something well worth looking out for, also next month, are the Journées de Patrimoine, being staged right across France on September 14th and 15th. Lots of historic venues will be open, as well as numerous exhibitions and for many museums, entry on those two days will be
free.
There’s also a brand new way of taking a look at Paris, from the air. For the first time, a tourist Zeppelin has taken to the skies above Paris, floating sedately along at an altitude of 300 metres. The company running the trips is based at Pontoise, to the north-west of Paris and its tours
include an overview of Versailles, Paris itself and the magnificent Parc National du Vexin Francaise, just to the west of Paris. The Zeppelin carries 12 passengers and trips cost from €250 to €650 each, depending on the duration of the flight.
And despite all the recent horrendous weather in France, there’s news now that sea temperatures around the coast have hit record levels. In Corsica,a sea temperature of 27 degrees Centigrade has been recorded, while even along the French side of the English channel, the water is quite warm now, between 15 and 18 degrees Centigrade.
As for Corsica, once again it’s in the news, as the president of the executive of this beautiful but deeply troubled island, Paul Giacobbi, has called for residency restrictions on outsiders and that includes people from mainland France, buying properties on the island. He says that if someone can buy land in Corsica as easily as buying a bar of chocolate in a supermarket, then the island will face
catastrophe. Giacobbi is calling for measures like five year residency to qualify for property purchase, in order to deter non-Corsicans from buying up the island. But since what he’s suggesting is against EU law, this has opened a whole bucket full of worms and created a lot of controversy.
But France being France, there’s always a light side. Gérard Depardieu, absolutely no stranger to controversy, is now looking for an Algerian passport! But cinema goers can rest easy - it’s only in his latest film role, Les Invincibles, a comedy with Algerian themes. And then there was the online ad posted last week by a 28 year old woman, a trained nurse, who lives in one of the suburbs immediately to the west of Paris and who says that she is very healthy. She has offered to rent out her breasts for €100 a day, to breast feed young babies. She aimed the ad specifically at gay couples who’ve adopted very young children and who for obvious reasons can’t undertake the necessary themselves. The whole issue of gay rights, and especially gay marriage, has raised enormous controversy in France, where a substantial proportion of the population is firmly opposed to such rights. But at least, the breasts for rent saga has brought a little light to a very heated and often acrimonious debate.
President Hollande himself even managed to bring a little light relief to an unemployed woman, Nathalie Michaud, who although 50, is still living at home in La Roche-sur-Yon. Last March, when the president visited the town, she berated him for the difficulties in finding a job. But now, it seems
that she has been offered a job working with the website of the Europe1 radio station. However, there are catches, inevitably. The job on offer will only pay €500 a month, not enough to enable Nathalie to leave home, and it’s only for a year, so the whole episode is beginning to look like a mirage. A poll the other day asked French people whether they believed the president’s claims that he was going to make dramatic reductions in the unemployment rate by the end of the year; nearly 90 per cent were disbelieving.
The present era seems to be producing some very lame duck leaders. President Hollande is berated
on every side in France, while President Obama in the US is being called the ultimate wimp in his second term, such is the level of disappointment. Someone even said the other day that Obama makes Jimmy Carter seem like Theodore Roosevelt.
One issue in which the Americans are deeply involved is the saga of the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan destroyed by a tsunami two and a half years ago. The plant was an American design and many people are now saying that a massive cover-up is going on, with the authorities pretending that if the problems are ignored long enough, they will go away. The wrecked plant is 300 times more radioactive than Chernobyl, pouring 300 tonnes of badly contaminated water into the sea every day. Many nuclear experts fear that before long, there will be a massive explosion at the plant, which would contaminate much of the northern hemisphere with radiation.
Environmentalists often say that in terms of planning ahead, you have to consider the needs of seven generations ahead. But with nuclear power, you have to look 700 generations and more ahead. So the
immediate problem of Fukushima is sitting there, not going away any time soon, and likely to get a lot worse.
Another mystery, much closer to home, is catching people’s attention. In mid-July, Allison Benitez and her mother suddenly disappeared from their home in Perpignan. Then in early August, the father and husband of these two women, Francisco Benitez, a member of the Foreign Legion’s elite army unit, was found hanged in his barracks, a suicide note proclaiming his innocence. Then it turned out that nearly 10 years ago, he had been questioned over the disappearance of his Brazilian mistress, who like the other two women, hasn’t been seen since.
La Belle France, as always, comes up with some great mysteries, all the while, beguilingly intriguing and captivating. All that never changes, for which we must give great thanks.