Paris seems so far away now. The sun has disappeared and these pictures are making me smile for unexpectedly hot, April days and a peaceful afternoon spent at The Grande Mosquée de Paris.
The air was filled with the rich, sweet and heady scent of Korean spice viburnum and the reflection of pale green tiles shimmered like the mediterranean sea in the sun. These tiny pink and white blooms with their big scent called to me from the other side of the courtyard and I soaked up the perfume, whilst the hushed steps of other visitors to this beautiful mosque moved around me.
The details and patterns that decorate every surface are so beautiful. The sea green tiles in the floor of the courtyard gave the feeling of walking on water. This tranquil space is an oasis in the city, all around outside the streets surrounding it are filled with traffic, locals and tourists, but you would never know it from inside these bright white walls.
Wisteria was trailing all around the high walls of the internal garden and sparrows tweeted from within the winding branches. Archways, carvings, bright splashes of foliage and mosaics were being bathed by reflected sunbeams everywhere and a calmness echoed quietly all around.
After soaking up all that beauty, we sat in the shaded cafe, ate vegetable tagine and drank glasses of mint tea, tiny sparrows kept flitting from table to table pecking at crumbs of couscous and sweet flakes of honeyed pastries that had fallen from plates.
We could have happily stayed here all day people watching, reading and eating cake x
