Sunday in the Park with George, Almost:I’lle de la Grande Jette and Levallois

I spent Friday humming tunes from Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” while walking on I’lle de la Grande Jette, the setting for the musical and the “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette” painting by Georges Seurat.

My good friend Deborah and her family live in Levallois, a charming turn of the century village, minutes away from the center of Paris. She took me on a tour of her neighborhood Friday afternoon, showing me another part of Paris I’ve never seen.

Every arrondissement in Paris has it’s own Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and the Levallois one in the center of town is one of the most beautiful. A spectacular example of 19th century French architecture, the white stone building with window boxes dripping abundant foliage and the impeccably planted flower gardens were a knockout.


Hotel De Ville

With a balmy breeze and gray skies threatening rain, we walked across a high bridge over the Seine to a small island. Once I realized it was La Grande Jette, the score from “Sunday in the Park with George” flashed into my head and right out of my lips. Although there was a lovely park, disappointingly, it didn’t resemble the painting in anyway but I let my imagination work overtime to create it. Singing the tunes all the way back to the house, we settled in and Deborah whipped up a delicious dinner of grilled tuna and Asian coleslaw.

Just another day of spending quality time with a friend exploring Paris, being inspired by great music and history, and sharing a yummy meal with people I love to be with. I have a tough job, but someone has to do it.
 

Levallois Cityscape

Comments

[deborah Sommers]

everything does look especially charming through the eye of your camera.
Glad you liked the tuna.
deborah