by wnissen » Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:19 pm
For me it would be Alsatian riesling, which I so fondly remember consuming with "coq au riesling" at La Brasserie de l'Ile Saint-Louis while taking in the view of the rear of Notre Dame, which was, if anything, just as beautiful as the famous front. And playing with my 5-year-old on the playground tucked right on the flanks of the magnificent flying buttresses. The newly cleaned front, the grime of decades of neglect gone, and surrounded by blooming trees. I remember the first time seeing the "rose" windows from the inside. The experience of visiting was, touristy, to say the least, lots of people chattering away in a sacred space, despite the constant broadcast of "quiet, please" in a half-dozen languages. But the importance of the building cannot be overstated. While it appears that the towers and some of the interior survived, sadly, there are many magnificent buildings that are no longer with us. Just across the Seine to the north there used to be a cathedral dedicated to Saint Jacques, which was disassembled, leaving only a lonely tower, to remind us of what there was.
Paris has suffered a lot these last several years, I think. Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan, the flooding, the smog that lead to a ban on older cars, and now this.
EDIT: If anyone is in Paris and looking for a church to visit, for solidarity or prayer, the newly renovated Paroisse Saint Augustin in the 8th is open most days of the year. I find it has a certain kinship with Notre Dame, with a single tower and obviously later in construction, but still 19th century.
Walter Nissen
Bob and I honeymooned in Paris. At restaurant Laurent, with duck breast and foie gras, we had our first Montrachet. Our first white burgundy in fact. It was that wine that changed my life forever, as I grokked that what my California under $15 wine brain knew as chardonnay could be something more magnificent than anything I'd ever imagined. I had to know more, and here I am. 