Sète, Georges Brassens...

Normally, this should be a blog about Paris, but before resuming my “normal” Paris posts, allow me to make a last exception – at least for a while.

To sum up our common experiences during the Transsiberian / Transmongolian trip, Alain invited me to his home in Montpellier and to do some sailing on his boat, berthed at Sète.

The weather couldn’t have been better, considering that we were in October. In addition to sailing, we could also do some bathing and in the very clear sky admire sunsets, the moon…

… and enjoy some nice seafood. (Just behind Sète is the lagoon, Etang de Thau, where some 12.000 tons of oysters are produced annually.)

I have already posted * about Georges Brassens, an icon in France, one of the most celebrated poets, singers-songwriters. He was born at Sète in October 80 years ago and died in October 20 years ago. One of his most famous songs is called “Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète” (Petition to be buried on the beach of Sète).

You can see that this video has been partly filmed in a charming little fishing port on the Etang de Thau. Today Georges' name appears on one of the small streets in the little port.

Finally, Georges was never buried on the beach, but in an ordinary family grave, however still at Sète, but not at the more spectacular cemetery, overlooking the Mediterranean (where the tombs of Paul Valéry, Jean Vilar – who created the Avignon festival - … can be found).

We also took long walks along the road Via Domitia, created by the Romans and in use for centuries, but today visible “here and there”.

*/ If you go back to this post, you can read about the little house where he lived for 22 years, sharing the life of an old couple. I passed by again the other day and could see that several people had left flowers, words...

Georges Brassens

Georges Brassens is an icon in France; one of the most celebrated poets, singers-songwriters. He’s maybe not so well-known abroad; his songs are very particular and difficult to translate. He died at the age of 60 in 1981.

I already talked about him in a post about a year ago, more particularly about a park which has got his name, Parc Georges Brassens. He had his house at rue Santos-Dumont, very close to the park.

Last week I discovered his other home in Paris, a very modest one, where he spent 22 years, 1944-66. It’s situated in a small alley, Impasse Florimont. He actually moved in here to hide during leave from a German labour camp, hosted by friends of her aunt, Jeanne Planche and her husband Marcel – in a house with no modern facilities. He could easily have moved to a more comfortable place before as he was quite successful since the mid 50’s, but he was of a modest nature and cared a lot about friendship. Later, when he could, he helped them and bought the neighbouring house and installed the modern equipment that was missing. He actually left only when the old Jeanne, having lost her husband, remarried. There were a lot of animals in the little courtyard. He loved cats. I suppose some friends have added the cats on the wall and the chimney later - see top picture.

Here you can watch and listen to one of his songs (text by Aragon - I found no good recordings with his own text). As always, he is accompanied by his friend Pierre Nicolas.

Parc Georges Brassens

The recent nice weather incited to more park visits. This one is situated on where until the 70’s you could fine one of Paris’ abattoirs (slaughter houses), under the name of Vaugirard. It was decided use the space for a park and it got the name of Parc Georges Brassens.

Georges Brassens (1921-1981) is perhaps not so well known outside the French borders, but in France he was and still is highly considered as a poet, author-composer and performer. His lyrics may be “too French” to be easily translated; few artists may have been more typically French than Georges Brassens. He used to live very close to here and it was natural to give his name to this park when it was opened in the 80’s. Here below you can find his portrait, the house where he used to live and his statue in the park.

A few of the abattoir and horse market buildings have been left in the park including the central belfry, some just for decoration; others – the open-sided ones - are today used for a weekly used-book market. Also, the main entrance with bull sculptures and a side entrance with a horse head remind about the former activities.The park offers a lot of nice and calm space, including a vineyard (producing some 300 bottles per year), some ponds… …large playgrounds for children… … flowers… You can also find two theatres, a “real” one (Théatre Sylvia Montfort) and a “guignol” (puppet-show) one.

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo-blog.

I wish you all a nice weekend! Hope to see you again on Monday!