2 degrees of seperation

Following on with the theme of Victor Hugo,

last month I was lucky to have a day in Paris while Chris was working.

 

 

And as we have Hauteville House in Guernsey where Hugo spent 14 years of his life in exile,

I thought I should see the apartment he lived in on the beautiful Place de Vosges.

Its worth noting that the house in Guernsey was the only property he ever owned,

the Paris apartment was rented and so is no where near as flamboyant as Hauteville House.

Place de Vosges - taken a few summers ago
 

I don't know what it is but working out the opening time of attractions in Paris is hard, the websites just never seem to tie in with reality for me, and once again this proved to be the case here. 

I had read opening at 10 am, but the time on the door said 10.30am

 and it was now about 10.15.

I got chatting to a nice British lady by the door who had also got the times wrong,

 and someone working inside had said they wouldn't be open till 11am.

What to do for 45 mins.

So we decided to go and have coffee together.

 Now that alone is a first for me, I have never before gone for coffee with a total stranger,

 but maybe Paris has that effect on me!

Café in the Arcades surrounding the square

I mentioned that I wanted to see the Apartment because I was from Guernsey and it had strong Hugo connections, and she was a mid wife and at the moment lived in Vienna. 

We lovely coffee, enjoying the February sunshine. 

Then she said 'When I was training as a nurse in London, there was a girl on my course from Guernsey'  for some reason the hairs on my arms stood up on end, I knew what was coming. 

 'Her name was Serena Lovell' 'That's my sister!!!' I almost shouted! 

 You should have seen the look on her face in was priceless!

Its such a small world when you start chatting to strangers.......