Our first visit to the Musee de Carnavalet 4-28-15

We started out the trip with a picnic lunch in a hidden garden of the national archives.  Then on to the Musee de Carnavalet, which is the museum dedicated to the history of Paris specifically.  It's housed in two 17th century Parisian Mansions (hotels des particuliers) and covers Paris from it's founding up to the current time.   We visited this museum many years ago, but this is our first visit this trip.  It's a free museum for the most part but they do have temporary exhibitions for which one can buy tickets. The current exhibition deals with Napoleon Bonaparte, on the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.  We'll save that for another visit, today was just a ramble through the general collection.   They have several rooms dedicated to specific time periods with paneling and decoration having been removed from buildings being renovated or demolished and then being reconstructed in the museum.

Today's venture took us into 18th and 19th century rooms, with sumptuous decorations on walls and ceilings.  There were many installations relating to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, showing furniture from their private rooms.   How this did not all get destroyed during the revolution is a fortunate thing, and perhaps some of it is only representative of the time period.   They are not particularly over the top (by today's standards), but still very high quality. 



Additionally we found the completed portrait of Benjamin Franklin that I mentioned during our visit to the Petit Palais two days ago.  









We had our continuing enjoyment of art from the time period which we collect at home.  Specifically, from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.  We found a painting that really knocked us out. 









Then there was the storefront and showroom of G. Fouquet, designed by Alfonse Mucha, which ushered in the Art Nouveau movement in architecture.








After the museum we headed back to the apartment, but not before Deb explored an interesting courtyard and came up with a very interesting store related sewing.  It has now become a must do place for taking my sister, Gail, when she visits in July.

Some life maintenance 4-27-15

Two weeks ago while eating lunch in the courtyard of the Louvre.  I broke a back molar while eating a ham sandwich made with crusty bread .  It was on a tooth that had been filled around 50 years ago, so it was not unthought of, but a bit surprising due to timing.  It didn't hurt or anything but it would require treatment.  We called a dentist (who speaks English) and made an appointment for two days following.   He was able to remove the old filling, and create a cast for a new bonded replacement for the filling and tooth.  Then a temporary to get me through the Brussels trip.

Today I got the new permanent replacement, he guaranteed the work and felt that the bonding would work well.   If it doesn't then there is always time to put on a crown.  So a less expensive adventure than it might have been. 



         From the Berlin Wall exhibit , but it's me at the dentist's

Afterwards since his office is very near where we once had a house exchange I visited a creperie that was a favorite of ours back then.










On the way back I spotted this exhibition of artwork created from slabs of the Berlin wall.  Very interesting.  (see the one above)

And I haven't had a bit of problem since.   See it's just like real life here, both good and not so good.

Our first trip to the Petit Palais 4-26-15

Today we made our first trip to the Petit Palais, which is a museum that was created for a world exposition around 1899-1900, it houses a number of interesting pieces of art.  Much of it was donated by specific personages and so the collection is a bit eclectic and somewhat below the Louvre in overall quality.

There is a certain flow of historical time beginning around the 17th to 18th century and progressing up through the early 20th century.  Many of the pieces were originally shown at the aforementioned exhibition.   Of particular interest to me, was a beautiful 18th century watch an early pocketwatch;











and a terracotta bust of Benjamin Franklin.

And these are the angels of the horseshoe tournament.

Last day in Brussels 4-24-15

Today was our last day in Brussels, I took this panorama from the square in front of the Hall of Justice which overlooks the older part of the city.  When we arrived there was a detachment of armed soldiers deploying and many vehicles arriving with sirens blaring.  The police arrived with sharpshooters and the entire front steps of the building were cleared.   It made us kind of nervous so we lingered only enough to take the picture and then cleared out.

Since our train didn't leave until 5:00pm we had time to catch the museum that was closed during the strike two days ago.   It is the museum of the Fin de Siecle (end of the Century, in this case the 19th) and it covers the range of art from the last romantics to the stark reality of the late industrial age, impressionism, art nouveau, pre-Raphaelite, etc.  A wonderful walk through Belgian art of the 19th century.  We're very glad we were able to see it.   It is however 5 sub-basements down from the -3 level. 


So the elevator out was really welcome and very innovative, all elevators should be so accommodating.

Catch up Brussels to Brugge 4-23-15

Today we took the train to Brugge, and as Deb explained in the previous post we got cross-wise on getting the right train.   The station worker was telling us that we needed to get the second train, and mentioned the Knokken, Brockenbrugge train. (now when he says Knokken, Brockenbrugge he pronounces it just like, to our ears, a crazy Muppet in one almost Swedish singsong string) so we fixate on Knokken, Brockenbrugge like our life depended on it. We of course think he's telling us to not take it because it's showing as the next train on the board but it's late.  So when the next train comes, we assume that in the normal course of things it would have been the second train and get on.  Luckily the conductor comes through and tells us we have to get off at the next station and catch the Knokken, Brockenbrugge train which stops at Brugge, get the picture? (We sometimes overthink these things)

After a nice ride of about an hour we get to Brugge, city with the most 17th century buildings in Belgium and an extensive canal system (Venice of the North).  On our walk into the city center we spot a restaurant and decide to stop because the guidebooks say that the food is only so-so in the center of town and overpriced to boot.   We had a really good lunch at this little hotel and restaurant, with one of the best asparagus soups I can remember, followed by delectable little lamb chops.   Deb is on a new quest to see how many ways a Caesar salad can be interpreted, and has concluded that as long as the dressing has anchovies then the ingredients are kind of secondary.  She also says that the anchovy and yoghurt dressing was outstanding.

We had considered taking a canal trip, but every boat was bulging with people and it seemed like too much effort to wait in line.  So we walked a large part of the old town with all of these beautiful brick buildings in primarily a Benelux style, with the stepped gables we think of as Dutch.   Many people already taking advantage of the weather and early season to see the town, I can't imagine what it must be like in the high-season.

A 6:00 train got us back to Brussels in time for dinner at Sale Pepe Rosmarino where once again the owner gave us a table, with the proviso that we would be done before the 9:30 reservation on the table.  No problem!  More of the Buffala Mozzarela and this time Limone Vitello for Deb and Orichetti Amatriciana for me.   They even gave us a complimentary grappa and Lemoncello after dinner.  Have I mentioned that I love this place?   Don't miss it if you're in Brussels.

Some Brussels and other thoughts from Deb 4-25-15

*** It was lovely, setting off for a train trip again. We did our usual and took a picnic lunch. This time it was a house-made pate de campagne from our butcher, a favorite hard cheese (Napoleon), some crisp apples, olives, a baguette that I split and buttered at home, water and a little bottle of wine Warren had picked out. A couple of paper napkins to cover the train tables and we were off.

 

*** Only we were off to the wrong station. Somehow, we got our feeble minds confused with the station Warren had just bought Strasbourg tickets for. That trip will be with Elizabeth in May. Fortunately, we had set out early and we grasped the idea quickly, got back on the Metro and, only needing one stop, were at the right station, Gare du Nord. I re-learned how important it is to know your train number for finding the listing. Warren found the Thalys TGV tracks and we got on our lovely train with no further problems. Obviously, this was a shakedown cruise for us, train-wise. Be reassured, Elizabeth and Don, we’re much better in practice again now.

 

***Brussels in the area we were in is clean and pleasant. Beautiful historic buildings and a great town for walking, but with one caveat: you really need to watch where you’re walking. The picturesque cobblestones are treacherous to those of us who haven’t walked on them for a lifetime. Every now and again, one will be missing or sticking up above the others. There are treacherous projections from aged buildings and steps with highly irregular spacing and just whole varieties of things waiting to spring out and injure an old codger.

 

***Another bit of train confusion ambushed us when we went out to spend a day in picturesque Bruges, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe and about an hour’s train ride from Brussels. We had read that trains ran frequently, and that you could catch them from Brussels’ Central Station. So off we went. Got there and found no trains mentioning Bruges. So this is where another aspect of Belgium kicks in. The country has two official languages – French and Dutch. We’d been ambling along merrily in French but now the only train person we could find spoke Dutch, although willing to listen to our question in French. You just can’t imagine how bad our comprehension of Dutch is (we spent an entire house-exchange in Holland unable to pronounce the name of our town without throwing the locals into gales of laughter.) In summary, we completely misunderstood what he wanted us to do and did the opposite. Got to another station, and found a posted train schedule and straightened ourselves out. We got to Bruges and had a lovely day, but it reinforced our determination to find hard-copy of train schedules. Especially since people in Bruges definitely speak Dutch and not French, and all train info after we left Brussels was only in Dutch, meaning that we couldn’t even recognize the station where we wanted to get off again in Brussels (Called “Midi” or middle in French, “Zuid” or south in Dutch and the same station. Go figure.) More shakedown cruising.

 

*** But after a dandy trip overall, we’re back in our quiet apartment in Paris. We’re especially grateful for the quiet since the police sirens in Brussels were the loudest we’ve ever heard. Brussels is of course the capital of the EEC, and as near as I can tell they must be making new laws all the time that their population is busy breaking out of ignorance. I’ve never heard so many sirens.

 
 

 

*** I had tried dedicatedly to empty of refrigerator before we left and use the food we had. I’m working on wasting less food due to spoilage, as I’ve mentioned earlier. So today the cupboard was well and truly bare. After a skimpy breakfast, we headed out to shop and loaded our faithful red grocery trolley to the groaning point. It was a banner day – the wine merchant took Warren’s name to keep track of his purchases in order to better recommend wines. And at our favorite cheese monger, we were offered a “fidelity card” which offers some sort of discount after a certain number of purchases. I’d seen a couple of other people getting theirs stamped (they are a homemade card that looks kind of like a business card with some squares for stamping), but like so many things, didn’t grasp what was going on. This is a rite-of-passage, kind of like becoming a “parsley person” at the fruit and veg sellers, when good customers get a helping of free parsley put in with their purchases. We haven’t achieved parsley status yet, but are childishly happy about the cheese card. Simple minds are happy minds.

 

*** Came home to a sumptuous lunch with all our purchases, so lavish in fact that we didn’t eat dinner. Warren was particularly pleased with my purchase of fromage blanc, the light fresh cheese that is sort of like what yoghurt dreams it might be. Fromage blanc is particularly a spring product when the cows are eating the new spring grass. It is light and low-fat and usually served as a dessert. Our cheese lady ladled it out of a big stainless steel bowl in the cooler. We ate it for dessert, drizzled with a bit of wildflower honey.

More catch up - Brussels pg2 4-22-15

This is our first full day in Brussels and what are we faced with but, A STRIKE!  It turns out that all the train, bus and tram operators are having a 1-day greve, a strike.  So of course our 72 hours passes are now really 48 hour passes, luckily we have a hotel that is fairly central.   When we got out we found that managers were running a very truncated schedule and we were able to get a tram within a few blocks of our day's destination, the main historic area.   But, it also affects the museums because the museum employees can't get to work, so the one we want to see is closed today.  Drat! 

But making the best out of an irksome situation we decided to see the two historic cathedrals here.  Both begun during the middle ages, one gigantic and imposing and the other mid-sized and a bit more cosy ( if a vaulted cathedral can be cozy).   Our first was the large cathedral and it was impressive, very large, but interestingly the upper windows were damaged during some conflict and have been replaced with clear glass,  quite bright and very clean.  The nave has larger than life sculptures of saints adorning each of the pillars, and there is currently an exhibition of P. Debatty hung between the pillars down the length of the nave as well.   Heathen that I am, I was most impressed by three bell clappers that were on the floor in one of the side chapels. I can't help it I love to see what workers in earlier times were creating.   

                                  See the clapper at the base of the sculpture






detail of clapper (2 meters long), with the other ones in the upper left


After another noteworthy lunch, this time at Orphyse Chausette (I'm guessing at this translation: Orpheus Socks), this one rated as one of the top 200 restaurants in Brussels.   And definitely worth a visit, again around 30 places and hard to get a dinner reservation.  But lunch worked out perfectly for us.  We picked it based on a sign in the window that says they are part of the "Slow Food" movement, but pure chance to have seen that.

After lunch, the smaller cathedral was next on the list.  Very old and it's claim to fame is they had a virgin who was delivered to the cathedral by a woman who stole it from another city and floated it upstream without the aid of sails.  Lots of stained glass and lovely side chapels.  We got an impromptu organ recital from the organist, likely practicing before the evening mass.  This has an original Van Der Weyden, but it's extremely difficult to see as it's up high and in an obscured corner. 

The side chapels were wooden with faux stone paneling and quite lovely.

Deb was tired so I went out for dinner by myself, intending to have famous Belgian moules (mussels)and frites.  I researched online and found a restaurant that had a top 10 rating for moules and headed out.  A 15 minute walk had me in and ordering a great beer and moules, only to be told that the season for moules has passed!  Damn these European strikes, even the moules take part!  So I ended up with a nicely grilled chicken and frites.   An easy walk back to the room and the end of another nice day.

Catching Up, our trip to Brussels - pg1 4-21-15

This is our first real trip out of Paris, and we decided to go to Brussels.  In earlier posts I mentioned how our ignorance led us into some questionable decisions; like going mid-week as opposed to a weekend.  Be that as it may, we had a wonderful time. 

Since it's only about 90 minutes from Paris by Thalys, the high-speed train from the Netherlands, we got to Brussels early afternoon and had several hours to begin looking around the town.   We were able to purchase a 72 hour Metro, Bus, and Tram pass for 18 euros each (cheap!) so our transport plans were solidly in place.  We had our hotel reservations at a place that looked quite central, and it was, the Hotel Agenda Louise.  We had a few minutes of disorientation upon getting out of the metro at the stop leading to our hotel, but soon figured out where we needed to go.  A two stop ride on the tram and we were a block away.   Our hotel room turned out to be large studio suite, with a separate sleeping area and a small kitchen, very clean.   Due to it's location it was however pretty noisy at night, but I brought earplugs so no problems there.  I would certainly book it again, if the opportunity arose.

The sight-seeing portion of the day was taken up with a trip to the central square with all of it's 16th and 17th century buildings.  It is eye dazzling due to all the ornate architecture and gilding applied to the decoration of the various guild halls.  The oldest building in the square is the townhall, built in the 16th century, which was the main target during one of the many wars fought in the low countries against Spain for independence.   Interestingly it was the only building that was NOT destroyed, so it's pristine.  The rest were rebuilt in 1695-96 after the siege was over.  So beautiful.





Knowing next to nothing about dining opportunities in Brussels we decided to go back to our neighborhood for dinner.  What a wonderful choice that turned out to be.   We looked at several restaurants and finally decided to try Sale Pepe Rosmarino.  There seems to be a number of Italian restaurants in the area, I suspect because of the Italian Consulate in the next  block.   But back to the one we picked, Sale Pepe Rosmarino.   Perhaps large enough to serve 30 people, but when we walked in all the tables had "reserved" signs on them.   It was 7:30 and a few tables were occupied so we asked the owner if perhaps there might be a table for us.   He gave a small smile and pointed us to a table with a reserved sign.  When we pointed out that it was reserved he replied, "I'm prescient, I knew you would need a table".  
So we sat down and within 45 minutes every seat in the house was filled and they were turning people away.   What a marvelous meal!  I ordered a Buffala Mozzarella with pine nuts as an entree and tagliatella with crimini mushrooms as a plat.  It was the best mozzarella I've ever eaten, it was drizzled in olive oil with pine nuts and parsley as garnish, almost melting in my mouth and so fresh.   The tagliatella plat was just delicious as well.  Deb had gambas in a fresh light tomato sauce, which was equally delicious.  All the pasta is made in house as was the mozzarella.  If you are ever in Brussels, try to make it here for dinner I don't think you'll be disappointed.

*** Before we left, we had read that food in Paris restaurants was going to the dogs, that many places are now serving frozen meals and that quality has distinctly deteriorated. We were preparing ourselves for the worst. Yet again, we seem to be living in some “Parisian alternative universe”, the one that has nice waiters. (we’ve run into several more lovely waiters since I last wrote, and not a single  unpleasant one yet, but that’s for another blog entry.) Anyway, we’ve been on the lookout for frozen food possibilities in restaurants, and instead have found the reaction to the trend. For example, the nearby seafood place, Le Laumiere has a statement in its menu that all of its food is guaranteed to be made fresh, in house  (faites maison) and that they are members of an organization that regularly inspects them to make sure of the truth of the statement. In another little hole-in-the-wall place, the waiter’s first words to us were that nothing was frozen (congelé) and that we could watch the chef cooking our food though the window. A pastry shop window sign near us declares that all their pastries are made on site, and nothing “ordered from a catalog.” So there must be a bunch of frozen things out there, and many of the small businesses are trying to hold out against the pressure. 

 

***Speaking of small business and trends, many years ago Warren & I discovered Kusmi tea, when one of our house exchange hosts recommended it and gave us directions to its store. The store was hidden away in an alleyway off a courtyard. It was a long, sort of hallway with tea on each side in huge canisters. Out in the courtyard a guy was mixing teas in something that looked like a little cement mixer (and might have been.) My how times have changed! There are fashionable Kusmi stores all over Paris now, and their teas are in many of the higher end department and grocery stores. We’ve seen signs in several bistro saying that they serve only Kusmi teas. Ha! We knew them when! But we’re still drinking their excellent tea and grateful for it. (ed. note: I'm champing at the bit to start drinking my 2 Red Gazelles tea)

 

***On a much grimmer note, the effects of the Charlie Hebdo massacre are strongly in evidence. In our culturally diverse neighborhood, military personnel with automatic weapons are stationed around Jewish schools and synagogues. When we walk through areas that are perhaps predominantly Jewish, there are always groups of four or more soldiers visible, moving through the neighborhood, heavily armed. I say “perhaps predominantly” because there are so many ethnicities in the 19^th arrondissement, that we have not yet been able to identify which areas might be which. The streets are vibrant with colorful African and Mediterranean apparel, and there are many groups we can’t identify. The languages we hear on our local busses defy our recognition. About the only uncommon one is English.

 

***On the topic of Jewish relations in France, the French word for the Holocaust is the “Shoah.” France only recognized the part played by the Occupation Government – the so-called Vichy Government – 50 years later in the 1990s. The Occupation Government under the control of the Germans identified and deported nearly 75,000 Jews, almost all of whom died in the death camps. All over Paris, there are now plaques on schools, commemorating the children lost in the Shoah from those schools. There are several parks dedicated to the memory of those killed. France had the highest Jewish survival rate of any European country (~75%) but the number murdered is still almost beyond comprehension. As the massacre in the Jewish grocery store in January showed, the hatred is still alive and virulent, if perhaps from a different source this time.

American Still Lifes at the Louvre 4-20-15

*** We are going to Brussels tomorrow for 3-4 days so entries may be spotty***

Today we went to the Louvre to see a temporary exhibition that will be closing next Monday the 27th, featuring Still Life Paintings from colonial America. Since we're going to Brussels for a few days we didn't want to feel pressed when we got back to see it.  It was very small, about 10 paintings, but quite lovely.   And the painters like: Michael Harnett, and Titian Peale, etc. are very well thought of in American Painting.

The beauty of being and Amis du Louvre is that we can come and go for any length of time without being out of pocket for another entry fee.  And today, just in Louvre visits we covered our original cost of the pass.  Now since we've also gone to several special exhibits that are free to Les Amis we've saved an additional 120 euros.

Did I mention that we will be in Brussels for the next few days and that the blog entries may be a bit spotty?  Good.

Unevents 4-18/19 -15

This weekend was fairly uneventful, meaning we did things but nothing of great note.  On Saturday we decided to go over to the 18th for a Marche aux Biffins.   So we decided that we might like to see what Biffins were selling, (turns out that Biffins are what used to be called rag pickers), and it turned out to be pretty much people with blankets trying to sell whatever they had laying around their houses.  But it is more focused as they seemed to specialize in things like mobile phone covers, or shoes, or kids things, etc.   However we were convulsed by what we turned up on the internet when we tried to find a definition of Biffins; it turns out that another meaning is the area of body between either the vagina or the scrotum and the rectum, called Biffin's Bridge.  Don't know how that got appropriated from the rag pickers but your imagination can run wild.  We wandered around this market for a little while then headed back to our neighborhood for a lovely lunch at Cadre Noir.



 I did manage to find a 60's vintage bicycling race medal which I bought for 5 Euros and just love it.










On Sunday, once again I deserted Deb while she cleaned the apartment.  I went out to try and get inkjet cartridges for our printer.  I knew that there was a large shopping center close to the apartment just off of the tramline and outside the perapherique road, so I jumped on the tram and got off just opposite the shopping area.  It turned out to be about a 15 minute walk due to several high-speed roads that converge just there but I got there without too much ado.  I walked up to the front doors and it was very apparent that they were closed, I had just run afoul of the dreaded Sunday closing laws in France.  Major establishments are by law required to be closed on Sundays,  this is an old "blue law" like we have in the U.S. and they are trying to change it in some instances but not today. Curses, foiled again!  But I did jump on the Metro and take it down to the city center to find a small bistro near the Louvre that is supposed to have good food and reasonable prices.   I lingered in the Palais Royale parc and just people watched and took pics of the blooming flowers.  Then back home for a quiet dinner with Deb. 

I have two more of the dreaded "angel" pictures with my interpretations.

Angels of the Hammock









Angels of the Head Lettuce