marais nostalgie

Le Marais was my little piece of Paris for years and the Village Saint-Paul was just a cobblestone throw from where my nest had perched...
this was before the Marais was "discovered" and the onslaught of tourists began...this was when the small antique shops had dusty shelves and napping proprietors...this was when the boulangeries did not offer up doughnuts and muffins...this was when I fell deeply in love with a mise-en-scène that does not exist anymore...
the bell of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis may still toll on the hour, but the unseen bird in the garden of the Marquise de Brinvilliers is no longer heard singing in the cool evening air...

l'île exotique

over 400 years ago, La Guyanne was a far-flung colonial outpost sweltering in the fetid tropical heat and  fought over by the sea-faring european powers of the time...

from the island capital of Cayenne to the island heart of Paris, the Marquis de Soumont spent months upon high seas to sail safely home again, never to know of the spaceships that could now launch him almost to the moon in a day...

[Hotel Rolland on Quai d'Orleans, Ile Saint-Louis]

[Guiana Space Centre, established by Charles de Gaulle in French Guiana]