“Le Recueillement”

Six years ago today (4/24/16) on her first trip to Paris, Kate and I arrived to lovely spring weather that transformed into snow and freezing rain two days later. Yet it was one of our favorite trips, perhaps all the better for the inclement weather that forced us to spend more time in museums and architectural landmarks and masterpieces.

The Latin Quarter on the Left Bank (River Gauche) provided an almost existential rendering for the scene pictured here. Perched on the southern side of the Seine, the area sits across the river from the Le Marais district, each tucked into its respective arrondissement, both in close proximity to Notre Dame. I took the photo in the early morning on the Rue de Bievre where one might imagine this solitary figure to be an incarnation, or at least a contemporary evocation, of a famous writer, artist or philosopher (perhaps the ghost of Sartre) who spent their time here in the last century.