Autumn in earnest

Noise, quiet and lots of books

Dear Friend, 

I hope you have had a good week or two. 

I didn’t write last week because, rarely for me, I didn’t feel like writing. Like many, especially those with a connection to the region, my heart is heavy with the violence in Israel and Gaza. I felt worn down, too, with all the noise surrounding the conflict, in particular on social media, and in particular from those for whom the atrocious cycle of death seems to provide a fitting opportunity to express what they already thought about Jews, or Arabs, or politics or power. I do not have a hot take or a new angle to add. Instead, I am following the news by radio and written journalism, talking with friends and family, thinking and reading.

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A photograph from Montmartre’s Fete des Vendanges last weekend

We are now in autumn in earnest here in Paris after a long protracted summer, and I am grateful for it. It’s a time to embrace dark mornings, lamp-lit evenings and scarf-clad meetings with friends. With so much darkness at our doorsteps, it feels like a time when it’s more important than ever to punctuate our days with light and beauty. A few sparkly highlights from my week: 

• I went to the press vernissage, or opening of a new exhibition, at the Musée Marmottan Monet which places the paintings and pastel works of Impressionist Berthe Morisot in the context of the art of the 18th century, by which she was influenced. It’s an elegant exhibition in an elegant space, right on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the west of the city. The area around this museum is the epitome of bourgeois Paris — clean, manicured, unhurried. Even the dogs looked nonchalant. 

Berthe Morisot, Roses Tremieres

• Yesterday I went with my dear friend Anna for a day-trip out to a town called Meaux (pronounced ‘Mo’ — five letters for one syllable), about 40 kilometres out to the northeast of Paris. We took the suburban train from Gare de l’Est and were there in about 40 minutes. The main idea was to see some trees and give a proper walk to my dog Babbet. I fear she has started to consider herself more human than dog, so accustomed is she to the Paris pavements. (When my partner and I take her to the dog park, she sniffs at her fellow canines, then comes to sit next to us on the bench, looking on at the dogs playing, then looking at us as if to say ‘oh bless them, doing their silly dog things’). The idea was to give  her some time to run off-lead and get back in touch with her non-human essence. Meaux is a small medieval town by the Marne river, which I’m told was once quite posh but has become less so in recent decades. There’s a beautiful cathedral, originally constructed in the 1100s (like Notre-Dame in Paris) and expanded and rebuilt throughout the following centuries, meaning it’s a hotchpotch of different gothic styles. The small town is surrounded by more sprawling countryside, some of which has been portioned into the Parc Naturel du Patis, where Anna and I walked Babbet. It was lush with greenery and flecks of red autumn leaves and dotted all over with wetlands. Apart from one local teenager fishing (I think with little success, despite his use of THREE rods simultaneously) and a few other dog-walkers, it was very quiet. Meaux is perhaps most famous for cheese, specifically the brie variety, Brie de Meaux. I bought some to take home from the local fromagerie and it was delicious. 

• On Friday I met friends at Le Supercoin, a very popular local bar for a drink and a gourmet sandwich (TimeOut says it’s one of the best places for a sarnie in Paris). A few weeks ago I wrote about my baker friend, Frances. She provides the bread for the nightly sandwich menu, which ranges from a simple sausage option to an elaborate roasted vegetable wrap with aioli. Delightful. Craft beers are also on offer, as well as an impressive display of rubber ducks, including a Darth Vader and a Shakespeare duck! – a reference to the bar’s name (‘coin’, as well as meaning ‘corner’ or neighbourhood, is also the sound a duck makes in French). 

Paris tips

Last weekend I had a piece in The Telegraph in my capacity as a Paris destination expert. The overall feature was called ‘Europe’s classic city breaks (and how to do them better)’. You can read it here. Let me know if you have any access issues and I can send you a copy. 

Photo taken at Jardin du Luxembourg

This week I will be reviewing Hotel des Grands Voyageurs, a new boutique hotel in Saint-Germain. I’ll be sure to snap some pictures.

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Thirty-second book club

I have been dipping into the writing of Jewish scholars both present (Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur in France, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg in the US) and past (Amos Oz).

I finally finished Donna Tartt’s epic tome, The Goldfinch. I thought it was about 30 percent too long, and yet I enjoyed pretty much all of it! It has left me contemplating what I would do if I rashly stole an artwork as a teenager. I am now starting on Zadie Smith’s new Victorian-era novel The Fraud. I’ll write about it more next time!

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Thank you for reading this week’s letter. If you enjoy being my Pen Friend, please share the love by either sponsoring or sharing the letter. I would be so grateful if you did!

Have a good week!

Yours,

Hannah