Paris: The Gardens of the Trocadéro and Lunch with my Mother and my Two Uncles

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As I explained in this post, my brother Benoît told me to be at the Trocadéro at 11:05 on Sunday June 11^th. So, I decided to come early and to take pictures.

The Trocadéro viewed from the Eiffel Tower
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In this picture taken from the top of the Eiffel tower (not by myself), you can see the river Seine, the "Pont d'Iéna" (the bridge of Jena), the "Fontaine de Varsovie" (the Warsaw fountain) and the two wings of the "Palais de Chaillot" on each side of the esplanade of the Trocadéro.

The Gardens of the Trocadéro are on each side of the Fontaine of Varsovie. Most tourists do not even visit these gardens.

English translation:
Destroyed after the French Revolution, the convent of the Visitation was located since 1651 on the esplanade at the top of the hill of Chaillot. To celebrate the capture of the fort of Cadix by the duc d'Angoulème, Louis XVIII planned to build there a monument baptized Villa Trocadero. Only the name stayed. The gardens of the Trocadero were created for the universal exposition of 1878 by the engineer Jean-Charles Alphand. The palace of Chaillot, the palace of Tokyo and the museum of modern art were built for the universal exposition of 1937. The fountain of Varsovie (1937) is made of basins in cascade over a large basin. The 20 water guns have a debit of around 8,000m³ of water per hour. There are small sculptures in the gardens and two monuments: "Aux combattants Polonais" (To the polish fighters) (1977) by André Greck and "À l'Amiral de Grasse" (To Admiral de Grasse) (1931) by Paul Landowski.

[For the record, Paul Landowski created the famous monumental statue Christ the Redeemer (Cristo redentor) in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]

I first visited the right half of the gardens, and I found it almost empty.

If you look carefully, you will see some people in the picture above. Those were the only ones I saw in this half of the gardens.

This tree was cut a long time ago, but it refused to die.

I then crossed to the other side of the fountain of Varsovie, and in the left half I found more people, as there is a playing area for kids.

There are also some magnificent trees.

Then I left the gardens, passing in front of the monument to the Admiral de Grasse.

I knew where I was going: to the "Avenue de Camoëns". Probably the shortest avenue in Paris (115 m), it owes its name to the Portuguese poet, national literary glory, Luís de Camões (1525-1580).

There is only one access fro vehicles, the other end finishing with stairs, with a monument to Luís de Camões.

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The reason I went to Avenue de Camoëns was that my paternal grandfather lived there with his family, including my mother until 1948. The apartment was at the top level of this building:

On the other side of the avenue, there is a catholic private high school, the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, where my uncle Étienne, a jesuit priest, was a teacher and administrator for several decades.

The lycée is better known as "Franklin", as its entrance is on "rue Benjamin-Franklin". Until recently, Brigitte Macron the wife of the recently elected president of France was teaching at Franklin.

At the start of rue Benjamin-Franklin, on the "place du Trocadéro", there is a statue of [Benjamin Franklin]

At 11:05, as expected, my brother Benoît was there and we went some 300 metres from the square to collect my uncle Michel (88 years old). You can see him leaving his apartment building.

We then go to the retirement home where my uncle Étienne (90 years old) currently lives, then to the retirement home of my mother (96 years old) to have lunch together.

From left to right: my brother Benoît, my mother, my uncle Étienne and my uncle Michel.

After lunch we had lively discussions in my mother's bedroom. It was a wonderful day, for me and, I believe, for all of us.

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