12 September 2016 – Paris
Day 6. We decided to walk east along the Blvd. Saint-Germain until we got tired or could think of a destination. We stopped in at the late 17th-century church of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, which had the eeriest sense of tension about it of any church I’ve been in. A priest patrolled the aisles, and such people as were praying did so with a desperation hopefully rare for a Monday morning. I found out after the fact that the building has been occupied since 1977 by the Society of St Pius X, a schismatic sect rejecting Vatican II – which would, I suppose, account for the sense of unease.
We continued east to the botanical gardens, then headed southwesterly to Montparnasse Cemetery, where – after failing to find it six years ago – we found Beckett’s grave. Or maybe we did find it before, but forgot. In any case, we found it (again).