Christchurch Cathedral

The new cardboard cathedral in Christchurch was opened to the public for the first time this week.

 

I saw it under construction when I visited Christchurch in March.  I will be passing through Christchurch next Thursday but probably will not have time. However I will be returning  3 weeks later and hopefully will be able to visit. 

Why I campaign for homosexual acceptance

In reply to discussion on my previous post where I was led to relate some of my experiences in Evangelical churches in Sydney.

As a young man I was a youth leader at church, a leader in the Evangelical Union at University, a worker at Beach Mission, involved as a student and later a teacher in the Inter School Christian Fellowship, taught Scripture (in my 'preparation periods') at school, a parish councillor and a counsellor at the final Sydney Billy Graham crusade.

Many of my friends of that time went on to become priests or academics in religious studies. Actually some did reject their faith and others went to other dioceses  but that is too long to relate here, except to say they have been far more accepting of my sexuality when I have met them in later years than those still involved with the Diocese of Sydney.

I expected to teach for a few years then enter Moore College.  I gradually began to realise that would not be possible as I wrestled with my sexuality.

Sometimes I regret that but at other times I think I would probably have not made a good priest and I have had a generally fulfilling career as a high school teacher.

However I soon learnt to keep my head down when attending church.  I went to church to partake of Holy Communion and left immediately after.   Even staying for coffee might lead to too many questions.  There were periods when I stayed away and a long period when I flirted with the Catholic church.  Catholic priests do not (in my experience) shake hands at the door and ask questions then want to visit you at home.  For a number of years I found fulfillment in Acceptance a Catholic gay group which had weekly mass provided by inclusive priests.  While the official Catholic position is bad, many religious and lay people are far more accepting.

Eventually I found my way to the inclusive St James, King Street in the Diocese of Sydney and now to the Diocese of Dunedin.  I still find it hard to be open about my sexuality in church circles and do not volunteer to take any role but I do stay for coffee.

When I was a young man, not only was the church condeming of homosexuality but it was illegal in society.

Today there has been a tremendous transformation in my lifetime. Here in New Zealand there is no longer any official bar to a homosexual.  The first same-sex marriages will soon be celebrated. GLBTI people are able to be open as members of parliament, the legal profession, business, film and stage. There are anti-discrimination laws (from which churches are exempt).

The only place they are not equal is the church.  We are still waiting to see what will happen at the 2014 synod of the Anglican church of Aotearoa/New Zealand.  The Evangelicals are working hard to see there will be no change and the inclusive members (like the Bishop of Dunedin) are not willing to upset them.

Obviously young people today, especially those with a homosexual orientation, do not want to join the church. They see it, rightly so, as the last bastion of discrimination in our society.

That is why I continue to campaign for full homosexual acceptance, same sex marriage and ordination of partnered gay men and women, in the church.

Finally with regard to those who quote the "Word of God" against my position. As the Bishop of Dunedin has pointed out there are 6 passages that condemn homosexual activity.  There are over 30 that condemn usury.  In the past the "Word of God" was used to justify slavery and apartheid.
"the Word of God" condemns the eating of shellfish.  We can go on.

Even in my most evangelical days while at University, I remember arguing against capital punishment and others quoting scripture to justify it.

I refer to past posts

Worshipping in Dunedin

 The Gay Debate and the Bible

or

More on the Gay Debate

The best of a bad choice

I think.

But who knows in Sydney Diocese?

It has been announced that Bishop Glenn Davies of North Sydney is to be the next Archbishop of Sydney.  He is 62, so will have to retire in 8 years whereas the other candidate was only 49 and the diocese could have been stuck with him for 21 years although he apparently said he would only stay for 15.
it seems Dean Philip Jensen was campaigning for the alternative and wrote some on the surface polite criticisms of Bishop Davies. That would be the obvious reason for me to prefer Davies. I have written elsewhere that I knew Philip at University and even in those days did not like him and actually told him once he was not a real Anglican.  I think he was pleased.  It would be great if he was soon sacked but, of course, that will not happen but he is only a year younger than me so will soon be 70.
I also read there is an emergent generation of bright young, evangelicals, now in their early 40s, who are still conservative but seem to think for themselves.  Philip must be losing his touch.

Both candidates oppose any teaching role for women in the church. they also agreed they would continue to license women to preach if a parish asked them to, but they would not encourage the practice. Women can only lead Bible studies if a man leads too. If the man was sick, Glenn added, then you would not necessarily need to cancel.

I just find this unbelievable. 

In my youth when I was still an evangelical and the idea of women being ordained was just surfacing.  I am pleased to remember that I was in favour.  I remember arguing with my then rector. He was an old school evangelical. He once reprimanded me that, although I spent most of Sunday at the church with sunday school teaching, Christian Endeavour, afternoon meetings, Youth fellowship and Evening Prayer, I rarely attended 8am Holy Communion so only took Communion once a month in the evening.  In other words, I had imbibed the Evangelical view that preaching was more important than the sacraments.

He was not theologically opposed to women teaching/preaching but believed that if women became priests, men would leave the running of the church to them.

I felt he would be turning in his grave last Sunday.  

In my church in Roslyn, Dunedin, the vicar is on leave.  

At our service last Sunday, our woman associate priest presided and preached. As Jo was ordained while I was in Rome,  it was the first time I have been present when she has presided at the Eucharist so was a time of joy for me.  Barbara, our deacon and a good friend, read the Gospel and carried out the other deacon's duties. Both lessons were read by laywomen  and the prayers of the faithful were led by Verna, the parish licensed lay minister.

A young boy was the crucifer and altar assistant and I think our male church warden assisted with the distribution so some males were involved. :-)

I can find nothing Christlike in those who deny women roles in the church. The current situation in England with flying bishops and no women bishops is ridiculous and, of course, I do not see why any young person, especially women, would be attracted to belong to churches in the Diocese of Sydney except the handful of Anglo-catholic parishes such as St James, King Street.

Social media?

I have been thinking about this post since an incident on the hike to Mt Cargill ( so it has taken 3 weeks).  At morning tea, half way up the mountain, one lady took a mobile (cell phone) call.  I was not the only one who declared that, although we had our mobiles with us, they were not turned on.
We only carry them for emergency.  Except when I am travelling I just turn mine on once per day in case there is a message.  Most months go by and there are no calls out or in.  Ocasionally I realise I have left it at home but am only concerned in case my car breaks down.  I can think of no other reason to use it.
I never talk long on my home phone.  I have always been uncomfortable making phone calls and put them off if possible.  I only use it to ring tradesmen and to make arrangements to meet a friend. I do use Skype to chat with my sister in Sydney every morning but she does most of the talking.

The same people were amazed that I have my computer on from the time I get up to the time I go to bed.  I turn it off when I go out but will check for emails at least  once per hour when I am at home.  They told me, and I know from having sent them emails,  that they only turn their computers on a few times per week. They only email close friends and family and use google for occasional research. Some have Skype because they have children living overseas but have no intention of joining any online group.

I have my blog but blogs seem to have lost favour.  There are almost no comments now, although I see there are still quite few views each day.  I laugh that the most commonly viewed post is the one I made back in November 2008 about the flags of Australia and New Zealand (45 in the past week).  I am glad I am still fulfilling my role as a teacher.

I use email to keep in contact with friends.  I like to read their messages and enjoy replying.  I usually take time to create an email.  I have never tried Twitter.

I did join Facebook but could not accept receiving messages about inane topics.  I do not want to know the weather in New York everyday nor that people are going to bed.  It took ages to remove myself yet nearly every day I receive a message asking if I am on Facebook.  Also nearly every day there are news items about the dangers of Facebook.

Even our church is now on Facebook and the webpage is so out of date it is a disgrace so of little use.

I belong to one or two online groups where I can read friends' messages but in my own time and when I am in the mood.  Even there I am concerned at the information some put up.  One lady is now giving us great detail about her problems with her sons and drugs.  All her readers are on different continents so can do very little to help.  As the police are now involved, I think the less information online the better.

I enjoy meeting and chatting with friends while hiking or over coffee.  While I am glad I have overseas friends and have enjoyed meeting with them, it is unrealistic to think they can ever replace  friends whom I can meet regularly in the flesh.  I prefer to talk with people face to face.

I guess I am showing my age.

Mount Cargill

Yesterday I finally climbed Mt Cargill.  It is the highest mountain in the Dunedin area. I can see it from my front gate and last week it  was covered in snow.  You can drive to the top, the TV mast is there,  and I did so with my sister back in March but it was covered in cloud. Yesterday we went up the hard way on foot, shorter but steeper. It is is 676 metres high and the carpark, where we started, is approximately 100 metres.

This photo is not mine and shows the Mountain in mid-winter, much like 2 weeks ago..

We sat on the sunny north side for lunch and I took this photo looking north to Blueskin Bay and beyond.

Then we went to the top where there was still some ice on the road.

A view of Otago Harbour

A view of the city of Dunedin

A closeup of the suburb of Brockville.  My house is about the centre of the photo.

It is not just about Marriage

While I was away, there was a Diocesan Hui (meeting or conference) to discuss marriage, in particular same-sex marriage.  It was held in our parish hall.  Possibly it was just as well that I could not be there as it is a very emotional topic for me.

Bishop Kelvin has covered it well in his blog.

He concludes:

"At the end of the day no-ones opinions were much changed. But the great triumph was that we stayed together, we talked and we began to feel our way towards that sense of God's presence which enables us to be the body of Christ. We have a long way to go, but I am very optimistic."

In another post he has published his submission to the Ma Whea Commission on Same - Gender Relationship, Ordination and Blessing. 
This commission was set up by the National Synod and is to report to the General Synod by 2014.

Some parts of Kelvin's submission.

"The Diocese of Dunedin has been, for some time regarded as a “liberal” diocese with regard to the ministry of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people. We have a number of persons that identify as GLBT serving in our clergy, on vestries, and as Synod Representatives. In the last decade several ordained people in same gender relationships have been ordained in our diocese and/or have held licenses for ministry. This has not been without dissent."

"We recognize that for a large number of our people marriage is defined in our Canons and our Prayer Book and means a lifelong union is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. Further, as our disciplinary canons require ordained people to be either married or celibate, there is currently no possibility of people living in same gender relationships being ordained. "
  
"For others of us there is the recognition that the current situation in the Anglican Church denies a significant group of faithful Christians the experience of living authentically and openly, of celebrating their partnerships and of fulfilling a call to ordained ministry, a situation that many find is difficult to reconcile with a gospel of love and inclusiveness."

"As a diocese we are committed to further discussion of these matters, recognizing that the more we meet with and fellowship with people with diverse opinions and the more we are able to place these potentially divisive matters into the context of the real people whose lives are so impacted by the decisions we make, the more likely we are to find a way in which we can work together for the good of the Gospel which has so captivated all of us."

My own vicar who is now Vicar-General of the Diocese commented on the hui.

"That is the only foundation for 'progress' - the acknowledgement of the foundational significance of our Baptisms, that those who think differently to us are still doing their darnedest to follow Jesus."

In a sermon   the week after the hui the vicar stated

"Jesus sees marriage as relatively unimportant – and I choose my words carefully. Relatively Unimportant. Relative to what you might well ask? Relative to the Kingdom of God, and thus Relative to the life of a Disciple of Jesus."

"At the end of the Hui, Bishop Kelvin speaking of his episcopal ministry used the metaphor of a lumberjack, trying to keep a great raft of logs together on a river. The image that came to mind was that the raft of logs has got stuck up a creek. Perhaps our lack of progress on this issue is precisely its insignificance in terms of the Kingdom of God. "

"I wonder if that was going on last weekend, certainly it yielded little if anything. Our thinking about marriage is so skewed – we see it of such distorted importance, that when we hear Jesus say ‘whoever has left his . . . wife . . . for my sake and the kingdom . . .’ we assume he must have got it wrong . . . but that is quite plainly what he says. To be a disciple is to be devoted to Jesus, to recognise his authority, like the soldiers and the slaves of the Centurion, to Act immediately in accordance with his command. Put another way, to have faith"

 I would reply that to me it is not about marriage it is about equality. 

That was reinforced by Elizabeth Kaeton in her moving post We are Equal.

I was excited when the same-sex marriage bill passed the NZ parliament not because there is any likelihood that I will ever take advantage of its provisons but because it removes the last remnant of  discrimination in the laws of the land.  I have full equality in New Zealand but not yet in my birth country, Australia.

Looking at newspapers of the 1950's when I was a teenager in Sydney, it would seem the politicians, police and certainly churchmen regarded homosexuals as on a par with murderers.  Thankfully I was not very aware of my sexuality at the time.  However even in the 60's,  I was told by psychiatrists that I  should not become a teacher as it would be too dangerous. I seethe with anger at the implications of those remarks.  I taught adolescents for 45 years and never once did anything improper with a student.

I think it is wonderful that today there are openly gay and partnered  politicians, police, judges in both Australia and New Zealand.  Young gay men and women should not feel they are 2nd class citizens anymore.  Except in the church.

While there were many reasons for my migrating to New Zealand and  Dunedin in particular, the existence of one openly partnered gay priest in the diocese was an important factor.

As a young man in Sydney I was keen to train for the priesthood.    I was a youth leader, a lay reader and even preached at Sunday evening services.  But it became obvious that this would not be possible as a gay man.  In fact, when I first told my rector that I was gay,  I was removed from reading the lesson and it was made plain that I was not really welcome to even attend anymore. 

However, until I began worshipping at St James, I never saw a woman read the lesson during a service.

Looking back on my years as a youth leader, we took it for granted that males would be leaders. Girls were assistants but never in charge and although we had youth services, only the boys took any role. 

Now I live and worship in a diocese which has a woman archdeacon, who was in charge of our parish for a year.  Our parish has  a recently ordained woman priest who is assistant and will be in charge during the vicar's absence over the next few weeks and of course there is the  historical fact that we had the first woman diocesan in the Anglican world.

Girls in our churches in Dunedin can see that they can aspire to any role in the church.

Similarly as a gay man it is inspiring to see a gay man preside at the Eucharist and it was one of the highlights of my life to meet and receive a hug from Bishop Gene Robinson. 

However at the moment there is a hold on recognition of gay people in the Anglican church of Aotearoa/ New Zealand.  I wait to see what happens at Synod in 2014.  But I am becoming impatient, there is a strong likelihood that I will not want to remain in a church where I am not seen as equal.

My vicar asks me to see that those opposed to me are also attempting to follow Christ. 

I have received more love and acceptance from atheists than the "Christian" leaders of the Anglican diocese of Sydney.  A straight man who advocated for gay acceptance in Sydney synod told me he had never seen such hatred on  faces as was displayed to him in synod that night. 

There is a local evangelical Anglican church in Dunedin. I have yet to meet any of them and will not be going out of my way to do so. My experience in Sydney makes me very wary of such people. I am told, although a neighbouring parish, they did not send any representatives to the the ordinations of the women of our parish. I see nothing Christlike in them.

Farmers Market

I was going to write about Music in Dunedin but then this clip was sent to me. Another great reason for living in Dunedin.
I do not go every week as I only have one mouth to feed but try to visit every 2 or 3 weeks. Had to go last week as I had not been for 10 weeks, being in Europe. There had been floods then snow and many farmers were cut off. There were probably less than half the usual stalls and it was showery.  Still I managed to stock up with eggs, cheese, pies, vegetables and finish with my regular crepe.

Switzerland - Lucerne and Appenzell

I have now arrived in Mainz, Germany and will spend today wandering around including visiting the Gutenberg Museum as this is where the printing press was invented. This evening I will travel half hour by train to Frankfurt Airport for the flight to Hong Kong and after one night there fly onto Auckland and Dunedin arriving home on Saturday night. Not the best part of a trip to Europe.

I developed a cold on my last night in Paris so, while I managed to keep going for the hiking near Interlaken described in my last message, I decided to take it easy in Lucerne. I spent Thursday cruising on the lake. The journey up to the head of the lake and back took 5 and a half hours and I stopped off for an hour to have lunch at the water’s edge and wander around the small village of Fluelen. The ferry back was a paddle steamer.

I think the upper parts of the lake are more scenic).

On Friday I returned part of the way (just 40 minutes) on the ferry then took the rack railway up Mount Rigi (1798 metres or 1364 metres above the lake). Two photos show part of the many views from the top.

Not sure which of these characters represents me climbing to the very top of gipfel.

You can catch the train back to the top of the cable car but I walked down a very easy road  even though it went down 440 metres.  The view descending to the lake at Weggis.

From there it was back on the ferry but I got off at the Transport museum where I had lunch then spent a lot of time in the railway section.  There was a very good demonstration of building the St Gotthard tunnel, travelling in the dark on a small rail car and learning of the life of the, mainly Italian, workers.  I quickly took in the road, air and boat sections but bypassed the planetarium. All transport, even into the future, is covered. I walked back along the lake to my hotel and then after a rest toured some of the city walls and bridges.

Saturday was spent crossing Switzerland by train to the eastern area of Appenzell. I stayed at Wasserauen in 2008 and find it a lovely area. There are very few international tourists but lots of locals visit to walk.  Staying 3 nights provides a card for local transport and one trip up and down on each of the cable cars plus visits to museums.

When I arrived at the hotel in Wasserauen, where I had stayed before, it was a bright sunny day, the garden restaurant was full and as I ate my lunch there were literally dozens of paragliders landing in the field next door. There is a paragliding school there.  I went up the Ebenalp cable car next to the hotel with some of the paragliders but took the hard way down. I had wanted to do this on my previous trip but being early May, it was snowing lightly and was ill equipped. The view from the top shows the lake to which I hiked the next day.

The track down goes through a cave and past a cave chapel then a guest house on the cliff edge .

The guest house is 20 minutes down from the top and over an hour from the bottom so not suitable for my luggage. My hotel is more suitable for me and has probably the largest and nicest room on my travels.









Sunday was not so nice but remained fine. I travelled free by train then postbus around to Schwagalp on the other side of the mountain and went up the highest but not free cable car to Santis (2503 metres) but it was cloud covered. However there were some good views on the way up and down. I had originally considered hiking down from there to my hotel but, on rereading the notes that commented on the knee jarring number of steps and the fact that cables assisted the nerves, I decided against it. I saw the track heading down into the mist but returned the long way round.

In the afternoon I went up to Seealpsee

 previously viewed from above and could see Santis was free of cloud up on the top right of the photo. However there was a lot of snow up there and this climb of 300 metres from my hotel was enough for me. I went up the road but returned by the forest path which probably went a little higher passing many cows in their summer pastures.

Monday was wet and, being Monday, the museums were closed so was largely a wasted day in the towns of Appenzell and St Gallen.  As it was fine in the afternoon I did go up one of the other (free) cable cars to Hohen Kasten(1794 metres) but I was the only tourist up there and the view on the other side into Austria was mainly hidden. However I was there in fine weather in 2008.

Tuesday morning was also wet but thankfully fine as I walked to the railway station. I travelled right across Switzerland to Zurich where it was a clear day then onto Basel and into Germany and Mainz.

Switzerland - Interlaken

I was going to post one message at the end of my 9 days in Switzerland but I already have so many photos after just 3 days in the town of Interlaken. Switzerland is amazingly beautiful and horrendously expensive. I feel the need to rob a bank before going out to dinner.

Anyway I travelled on the very fast train from Paris to Basel last Sunday and perhaps will reconsider any thought of going 2nd class in France again. It was quite packed. On arriving in Basel and changing to Swiss trains, 2nd class is quite ok as the distances are small and there are always plenty of seats.

I caught up with the misty weather on arrival but the clouds lifted by evening and the weather has been glorious since.  However May has been wet and the snow cover on the mountains is still quite extensive so I had to change my hiking plans as many routes were still closed.

On Monday the hotel owner told me at breakfast that the mountain top was clear so I caught the mountain train to Lauterbrunnen (796 metres) and then the cable car to Grutschalp (1489 metres) so much more civilised than hiking in Italy.  I then walked rather than catch the tram to Murren (1645 metres)  which took about an hour and a half

and had coffee with the view.

Sadly when I reached the next cable car I was told that the mountain top was clouded over and as I would have had to pay 37 Swiss francs (Au$42), I decided against it and instead walked downhill to Gimmelwald (1420 metres)

where I had a steak sandwich again taking in the view.  As the path becomes very steep at that point I again took the cable car

 to the valley floor at Stechelberg and walked for about 20 minutes beside the river.  All the way there were large waterfalls tumbling down the sheer valley sides.

At the Trummelbach Falls I had to pay to enter and was taken by a lift inside the mountains to where the water tumbles down in a series of 10 falls inside caves carrying up to 20,000 litres of water per second.

As the sky had clouded over, it was quite cool and my feet were tired, I caught the bus back to Lauterbrunnen and after a hot chocolate, the train back to Interlaken.

Tuesday was another glorious day and I was assured the mountain tops were clear although there was a bank of cloud just above the town. So I returned to Lauterbrunnen but this time changed to another mountain train up to Wengen (1274 metres) and then the cable car to Mannlichen at 2227 metres. We burst through the clouds to be in bright sunshine with snow covered mountains in all directions.

I had to have another cup of coffee.

The cloud even cleared later and I could see back down into the valley.

I even tried to climb through the snow to the very top

 but stopped about 2/3rds of the way just above where paragliders were taking off.

I would have liked to walk to another mountain top but the route was closed so I went down the other side in a gondola

 to Holenstein (1529 metres)

 and spent over 2 hours walking down through farmlands with cows and bells

to the village of Grindelwald (1034 metres) where after a late lunch of apple strudel I caught the train back to Interlaken.

On Wednesday I had to travel to Lucerne but I broke my journey at Brienz and after leaving my luggage in a locker travelled by the steam rack railway.

 Even it has had to start later in the season and is only going half way but it provided a great view over Lake Brienz.

I have made a video of the 2 full days

Paris

Those who received my messages back in 2011 might remember that  I was disappointed in the hotel where I had previously stayed in 2002 and 2007. It had a small kitchenette but the management had changed and was not at all pleasant.  I found a studio apartment on the net not that far away and it has been a marvellous find. While further from the metro it is much bigger with a full kitchen, good size bathroom and washing machine, small balcony and costs less than the hotel.  The owner met me and took a good size deposit which I hope he will return tomorrow.  There are 3 pass numbers to key in at the doors and lift but I guess that makes it very secure. I have made my own breakfasts and lunches and 2 dinners. It has been wonderful to get breakfast without getting dressed first (except I have thrown my track pants and a jumper over my pajamas along with shoes and plodded down in the lift and 100 metres to buy a baguette each morning).

The first day I just rested and did my washing until I went out and bought some food (I had purchased some breakfast necessities from the nearby supermarket the night before). Then after lunch I made my way to the hotel where my sister and brother-in-law were to arrive in the evening after flying from Barcelona. I checked out some nearby brasseries. I spent time sitting in the Parc Monceau which I had found in 2011 and loved. It was alternately sun and cloud but I had not taken my camera. All my photos of this park had been lost in the great computer crash of December 2012.

Sadly as I had dinner with my sister, her husband and their friends, it began to rain which has been the story of their cruise and it continued through much of their stay the next day. I again met them after another lazy morning due to the weather but a bad habit I have developed. They had been on a morning bus tour of the highlights and after lunch I took them to a museum which I had also found on my previous visit.  The Museum Nissim de Camondo is a house built just before WW1 to hold a remarkable collection of 18th century paintings and furniture. As the Count de Camondo’s only son, Nissim, died in the war,  the house was left to the State and I think it must be one of the best little museums in Paris.

As the rain had eased when we left, we visited the Parc Monceau but the only photo I took was of a nearby mansion or hôtel.


 

Friday was grey and cold but at least no rain so I went back to my book on the walks of Paris which had led me to that museum and park back in 2011. This time I chose a walk around the Marais of 3.5km. I passed the garden of the Hôtel de Sens with its mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles and one of the oldest buildings in Paris

 and it pointed out the scissors and knife grinder carving on the wall from the city’s medieval past that I would never have seen without the book.

I had seen the impressive Place des Vosgues before and visited the Picasso Museum so did not mind that it seems to be undergoing extensive renovations and is closed. However I was led to a small (and free) museum Cognac-Jay which had many 18th century painting, furniture and objets in a wonderful hôtel built in the 16th century.

In the evening I went to another musical function, a piano recital including works of Chopin, Rachmaninov and Schubert at St Ephrem’s church.

I experienced a malfunction of the metro for the first time. I have often commented how this is a regular occurrence on the London tube and thankfully I understand the announcements and can take appropriate action. It was a little frustrating to not know what was actually going on but I took comfort that many people stayed on the platform, although some left, and after about 20 minutes the trains began to run again and I was not late for the concert.

Today the sun finally returned and I chose another walk around Place Bastille of 5 km.  While parts were interesting with the fruit markets and old buildings eg the Boulangerie or bakery,

others were long merely passing where some building had once been. A photo of a metro entrance  was a typical Paris scene for me.

 I again ate a lunch made with part of the breakfast baguette but, after I reached the end, I walked the short distance to the Ile St Louis and found the creperie that I had visited last time.  I had told the French lady from whom I regularly buy crepes at the Dunedin Station markets that I would be going there again. I expected them to be dearer but they were not, however I do not sit down and combine my crepes with a glass of wine followed by an expresso on my Dunedin market visits. As I left I passed the Ile de Cité with Notre Dame and the Seine  and I again realised why I love this city so much and am already thinking of my next return.

However tomorrow I must pack up and head for Switzerland and must getting going early in the mornings again..