The other day I was painting in my studio in Ivry and heard a bell ringing at about 6pm. I thought to myself, "I wonder what time it is?" That is when I realized that it was not a church bell ringing the hour but a siren. There are alot of sirens, ambulance, police, firemen, etc...
It came to me then that there are no church bells marking the hours, ringing in the morning, noon, evening and night. In Florence bells ring all the time, all over town. Funny how sounds can change from one place to another. The realization of not hearing any bells, left me with this feeling of expectation, as if my ear is bent searching for the bells. I rmentioned this to a friend yesterday evening over a glass of sancerre wine on rue Bourgogne in the 6th as we sat outside a cafe. We had just left a vernissage at the Galerie Fraîche from one of my studio mates.
He told me that in other places in France the bells do ring.
