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Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Released Wednesday, 23rd December 2020
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Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Episode 4: Viviani Square and Rue de la Bûcherie

Wednesday, 23rd December 2020
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You are at the "Square Viviani", which has a bronze fountain in its center. The sculptor was inspired by the story of Saint Julien le Pauvre, the Holy Patron of the church you see right next to it.Here is the legend of Saint "Julien le Pauvre" (or Julian the Poor One). Two mysterious predictions accompany the birth of Julien: he shall be holy, and he shall be Emperor.During his youth, Julian is a cruel lord. During a hunt, a deer predicted to him that he would kill his parents and soon after, the deer's prediction almost comes true: involuntarily, Julien shoots at his mother. To escape the traumatizing prediction, he leaves the family castle. He fights in several armies and eventually obtains the daughter of an emperor in marriage, thanks to his courageous exploits. One night, while Julien was hunting, his parents, who have long been looking for him, come to his wife, who offers them his bed for them to rest. Upon his return, Julien glimpses, in the dark, at a man lying in his bed with what he believes to be his wife, and cuts his parents' throat. When he discovers the horrible truth, he gives up all his property and devotes himself to the service of others by becoming a people smuggler. One night he helps a leper, nourishes and warms his with his own body. So, the dying man, who is none other than "our Lord Jesus", takes him to heaven.Now go back and look towards the church. You will see a tree that looks as if it is falling. This is the oldest tree in Paris, a locust planted in the very early 17th century by the botanist Robin, who brought it from America.At present, starting from the "Square Viviani" on the left, staying on the Seine side, take the "Rue de la Bûcherie". Stand in front of no. 37. Put your device on pause, and resume when you are there and ready.All right, you're in front of the famous English-language bookstore, "Shakespeare and Co", which was founded in the 1950s by the American George Whitman. Authors belonging to the “Lost Generation” --such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Henry Miller often visited the bookstore. We can even come here and nestle in to read in a small alcove hidden by a red curtain.Have you noticed a fountain in front of the bookstore? Another symbol of Paris, it is a "Wallace fountain"; you will see many in the capital, about a hundred. After the terrible civil war of the late 19th century and during the Paris "Commune" phase, which plunged the city into chaos, Sir Richard Wallace, a British philanthropist and Parisian by adoption, decided to donate the public fountains to the city of Paris to that its inhabitants did not die of thirst.Now continue to the end of the street of the "rue de la Bûcherie". You will arrive on the rue du Petit Pont. Turn slightly left, cross the street using the pedestrian crossing on your left, and then take the small street that's almost exactly opposite: "Rue de la Huchette". Go ahead, we'll wait for you there

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