Don's last day in Paris, no tango please 6-29-15

Today is Don's last day in Paris, tomorrow we head out to La Rochelle for a few days where he will meet up with his friends, Molly and Charlie with whom he was travelling before he came to visit us. So we headed down to the Louvre to see a few things that were of great interest to Don, like the Mona Lisa, the Victory of Samothrace, and the slave sculptures of Michelangelo.  As one might guess the rooms were packed to the walls. the crowd around the Mona Lisa was perhaps 50 deep and ranged probably 130 degrees around the front.  Rather than add to the melee I told Don to wade in and work his way to the front, see the painting as much as he liked and then work his way out and I would be waiting at the back of the room.   Worked out just fine and he was back in 10 minutes or so.

Next we made our way past the Nike (Victory of Samothrace) and over to the galleries containing the sculptures from Greek, Rome and the later Italians;  where they were showing masterworks by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Canova.  We spent quite a bit of time in these galleries because there are so many beautiful things to be seen.   A bonus is that at the end of the gallery and on the next floor up there is one of the cafes that are placed throughout the museum, so we headed up there and had a very nice light lunch.


After lunch, we worked our way over to the galleries containing the Egyptian and Greek antiquities, we looked through one floor of rooms and called it a day, too hot and crowded to really spend much more time.  It was still a great day to see wonderful art.

We caught the bus back to our neighborhood and spent about an hour sitting in the Parc Butte Chaumont.  Sitting in the shade and eating ice cream, perfect day to be here.

 It will likely be a few days now before another post after we return from La Rochelle, so hoping this will keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

The Paris Observatory 6-28-15

One of the sites that Don particularly wants to see is the Paris Observatory.  It is the oldest still functioning observatory in world and has seen astronomers like Cassini working there.  It is on a direct line with the long tail of the Luxembourg Gardens and can be seen from the palace.  Unfortunately it's also closed for some period of time, for unknown reasons, so we are only able to see it from the outside.

We began our journey by taking the tram lines around the city from north to south and got out right next to Parc Montsouris.  It is one of the gardens in our book, "Quiet Places in Paris" so it was a great place to start.  However on Sunday mornings it is less quiet, with people out enjoying the park,  sun bathing, running, lounging.  Sort of like raisins in a christmas pudding, they were everywhere.   However it was an enjoyable traverse going through.

We then followed a few streets up to the observatory and spent several minutes enjoying the view.




I'm pretty sure we were very close to the apartment where our friends Sunny and Mary Schreiner enjoyed one of their house exchanges several years ago.




After our visit to the observatory we ambled up the esplanade to the Luxembourg Gardens and sat in the shade for a bit to cool down, it has been very warm in Paris for the past couple weeks, with only one day of partially rainy weather.   Deb gave Don a bit of the history of the park and we then headed up to a late lunch at Chartier.

We have been eating here since 1977 and have made it a point to visit on each trip to Paris, and today's visit kept the string alive.   We headed back to the apartment for a early quiet evening.

Jacquemart-Andre revisited 6-27-15

Today we decided to go to the Musee Jacquemart-Andre for lunch and an afternoon visit.   As we headed for the bus stop we came across a marche brocante on Rue de Flandre, just across the canal. So of course we had to make a short paseo of the offerings, just a block in each direction from the bus stop.  I think Don was interested but perhaps a bit overwhelmed by action.  We were early enough that it wasn't a complete stampede but it was still lively.
After the market we headed over to the museum just in time to have a delicious lunch in the cafe. The cafe is decorated with 17th century tapestries of the life and death of Achilles created in Belgium and topped with a Tiepolo mural in the ceiling.  The mural was rescued from an Italian villa that was due for demolition and took over 8 months to get moved and installed in the new setting.  This is one of the really nice museum eating options in Paris and quite intimate.



Today we were able to see a new section of the museum, a temporary exhibition called 'From Giotto to Caravaggio' based on the collection of an early 20th century collector, Roberto Longhi.  He was called the Toscanini of Italian art, because of his dedication to it when it was completely out of style and pretty much ignored.

In Don's Wheelhouse 6-26-15

Today we took Don to see the Museum of Science and Metier, the museum dedicated to the history of Science and Technology.  It's housed in an 18th century Paris mansion and attached to a 15th century church that was deconsecrated repurposed.
Don worked at Honeywell with Deb as a metrologist and after leaving Honeywell studied to become a Land Surveyor.   He has kindly done all the unofficial surveying of our land in Guffey and has helped us down there with a variety of chores.  Anyway he is very interested in the history and application of measurements, and this is the museum that has it.   We spent several hours viewing the displays, then had lunch in the inner courtyard of the mansion before finishing up in the converted chapel.   This is where Foucault's pendulum is currently housed, as well as Bleriot's monoplane in which he was the first to fly across the English Channel.



We finished the day with a little travel gift shopping at BHV, Deb's favorite store in Paris, and then boarded the bus back to the apartment.

A first visit to Sainte Chapelle 6-25-15

Today's adventure took us to Sainte Chapelle and a revisit to Musee D'Orsay.  Don is interested to see Sainte Chapelle and the Musee D'Orsay so that is our itinerary for the day.  Sainte Chapelle is an 11th century medieval royal chapel that has some of the oldest and most beautiful stained glass in existence.  We looked at going yesterday but the lines were so long and the weather hot so we decided today would be a better likelihood. Of course we didn't count on the massive taxi strike against all the Uber cars who are eating into their incomes.   Uber is not regulated and therefore not subject to the same working conditions as the taxis, for instance the license for each taxi is around 250K euros so overhead is pretty stiff.   Then there are the limits on what a driver can charge to take a customer around Paris, Uber is not subject to that as well.  So many times Uber is cheaper, but on many occasions it is much more expensive.   So basically Uber can skim the cream when things are normal and leave the high expense times to the taxis who are regulated.  A very delicate situation and one that has turned violent a couple times, with beatings and overturned cars.
So we took the metro down to St Michel and got of there then walked back to get into the line for Sainte Chapelle.   The metro was very crowded as one might expect on a day where taxis were on the warpath.   But we got there and the line was about 15 minutes to wait and then in, so very reasonable we thought.
Sainte Chapelle is so beautiful, it's not very large and is constructed on a dual level plan with the lower level for the less exalted in French society of the time and the upper level, where all the stained glass is installed, for royalty and high nobility.  While the lower level is sumptuous the upper level is simply spectacular!   So much glass, so many beautiful colors literally a feast for the eyes, there are 13 windows around 3 sides, basically illuminating the books of the old and new testaments with the fourth side containing a large rose window depicting the apocalypse.  Not large but almost overwhelming nonetheless.  We then headed for the Musee D'Orsay with a stop for lunch on the way. Our path took us through the latin quarter and then through the Cour de Rohan, a 17th and 18th century series of courtyards leading into the passage where La Procope is located.  La Procope is the oldest coffeehouse in Paris.  It has hosted Thomas Jefferson, Benj. Franklin, John Adams, and many of the leaders of the French Revolution, such as Robespierre.  It's a little too rich for our blood now but we ate next door at a little cafe serving crepes.
We made our way to Musee D'Orsay and along with Don went through the rooms containing the Impressionists and then rooms containing Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.   Not crazy packed with people and not too hot so very enjoyable.   After the museum we walked over to the Tuileries and sat in the shade for several minutes to get cooled down.  We then made our way to the bus and back to the apartment, where we again cooled off  before going to one of our favorite restaurants, Art et Science Reunise, for dinner.

Orientation: A cruise and a church 6-24-15

Today we headed out to begin to see sites that are on the radar for Don and are still of interest to us. We took our bus down to the Hotel de Ville and walked across the Seine to Notre Dame we thought that we would perhaps avoid crowds at that hour, but alas it was not to be.  Still it took perhaps 10 minutes waiting to get in, not a great inconvenience.  They were holding a noon mass so we were not able to sit in the nave and talk about the building but we did have a nice walkabout and Don was able to read about the history of the construction of the cathedral.  After our visit we headed over to our favorite little Italian osteria for lunch.  It is situated in a little side alley next to the St Michel fountain in the building that was constructed by Francois I for his mistress in the early 1500's. We like it because it has been consistently good and has fair prices especially for the area.   We were able to eat outdoors where it was shady and cool.
After lunch we walked back to the Seine where we boarded our BatoBus boat for a river's eye view of the city.  It allows us to get on at one place and off at another very much like the water taxis in Venice.  So we rode from Notre Dame around to the eastern most stop and then all the way west to the Tour Eiffel where we got off. We did our little walkabout and sat in the shade for a few minutes then back on the boat and returned to the Notre Dame stop where we then crossed the Seine again and on to the bus for home.  This picture reminded me of Denver, I call it DIA meets the Eiffel Tower.




A quiet, and light, snack in the evening finished the day.

A new visitor a new adventure 6-23-15

Today we begin a new adventure, one of our friends from Denver will be coming to visit.  Don Dalby has been a friend for many years, Deb worked with him when she worked for Honeywell.  And over the years we have shared home repair help, gardening help, surveying help, cabin help, etc.   Don has taken care of Mapie (our cat) many times when we were out of town as well.   He is in the middle of a larger trip to visit other friends he has in Ireland and has been to several countries so far, with France being this part of the adventure.

We began the day with a visit to our markets to get provisions.  We needed to re-up our perishables, cheese, fruit & veg, and meat for the next few days.   The back to the apartment for a lunch on the back deck, few last minute cleanup chores and out to the airport to meet Don.


We had to come back to the apartment at the height of rush hour and that was an eye opening adventure for Don I'm sure.  But we made it back without incident and sat down to a nice dinner followed by an after dinner walk.  We walked through our park next door and across the canal past the Museum of Science and Industry (which we haven't been to yet!) and then back in the late evening sun.
We will be touring Paris with Don for the next several days and then we're all off to La Rochelle for a few days to meet up with the Irish friends before he returns to the U.S.

An Auction Junkie's First Fix 6-22-15

Today being Monday it's cleaning day in the apartment, so Deb sends me on my way.  I've been looking at the Hotel Drouot website for a while now and decided that today was the day to take action.
 Hotel Drouot is the major auctioneer house in France, yes there are Christies, and Sothebys but for things within France Drouot is the place to be.   They sell virtually everything and anything, world class art, jewelry, watches, you name it.  And most are catalogued sales where everything is in a glossy printed book, but they also have basically estate auctions where nothing is catalogued and it's catch as catch can.   In these sales it's a shark tank, with people jostling each other for a chance to look at what is in the next box, rushing up to the front as the auction proceeds to paw at the item, then make a bid if they think it worth bidding on.   And I tell ya, they move things through, if you don't pay attention to the auctioneer you will lose a possible treasure in a heartbeat.  I saw the auctioneer telling a bidder a couple times to pay attention when they would start looking at the item, then it sold. You really have to be on your toes.
Being conducted in French, what's that about?, keeping track of the bids is a bit of an effort but by and large not really difficult.  I watched for a couple hours and got jostled along with everybody else. Many of the bidders are the small brocantes and antiquaires that are seen all over town, and they are ruthless when it comes to keeping their stock levels up.  They are also known to the auctioneers and their associates so get, I suspect, a bit of preference now and again.  But the auctioneers are professional and they want their commissions to remain high so they won't sell an item for next to nothing if they can help it.  And of course the small dealers are competitive with each other as well. A real education for me on my first trip.

I did dip a toe in the water however and bought a little thing again just for the experience.  You don't actually sign up anywhere to bid, you just throw your hand up and be recognized.  If your bid is the winner one of the auction helpers brings you a ticket with the item number and takes your credit card back up to the front desk.  When you're done you go to the front and pay then retrieve your item from another attendant in a holding room.
They have at least 13 auction rooms in the main building most of which are going at the same time, so pandemonium reigns if you're interested in more than one sale on the same day.  And they have sales every day!


After it was over I took the Metro back to the apartment, it was PACKED.  Seriously, when I got on there was precious little room and 8 people barged on after me.  It was so tight that I didn't need to keep a hold on one of the hand holds.  Luckily, my closest companions were young women so it wasn't completely unpleasant.   We did however get stuck between two stations for a number of minutes when the train seemed to make a bit of an emergency stop.  No idea why, but we continued after the above delay and I got back to my stop as the rain let up for a few minutes and I got home just a little damp.

Sundays on the bummel 6-21-15

Today we had an interesting agenda, we wanted to see the Grand Mosquee of Paris and have a visit to the Gobelins Tapestry factory.   The mosque is opened to the public most days except Friday and has a beautiful moorish garden enclosed in the compound.   The Gobelins Tapestry factory has been in Paris since the 1600's and was the source for so many museum quality tapestries created for royalty and nobility.  Today it houses the Mobilier National which is a workshop and storage facility dedicated to the preservation and repair of household and decorative items including tapestries, belonging to the French Republic.
With all the negative issues surrounding the situation in the Middle East, sometimes it's difficult to remember that 99% of the Muslims in the world are peace loving and accepting of other religions and lifestyles.  So a visit to the mosque here in Paris is very much like a visit to one of the churches, and just as beautiful.   The tile and stone work reminded us so much of the decoration in the Alhambra, located in Grenada, maybe not on as grand a scale as the Alhambra but certainly a peaceful and beautiful place for their worship.
After our visit we headed out towards the Gobelins Tapestry factory with a stop on the way for a late lunch.





The Gobelins was presenting an exhibit on the techniques and art of repairing and conservation of so many decorative objects.  We watched as artisans went about repairing so many different things. There was a gentleman making repairs to the wooden frames of antique chairs preparatory to having them reupholstered.  Then we watched two people as they made repairs to a 17th century tapestry and yet a third person repairing another tapestry.  There were hands-on examples of wood, upholstery material, yarns, padding, etc. so a person would get a better idea of what they were using.   There were other exhibits of techniques used for repairing ancient iron, bronze, chandeliers, and clocks, they have the capability to restore almost anything that has been made in the last 400 years to 'original' condition.


They also displayed the chair used by the head of the Louvre during the Nazi occupation and the person who was able to prevent so many artworks from being looted by hiding them.  He was featured in the books, "Rape of Europa" and " The Monuments Men"
 Very illuminating and interesting to see.

Deb's scattered comments

***Warren kindly took a picture of yet another Paris coat of arms, this one is from a small customs officer's house down by "our" canal. It's got all the basics - the ship with billowing sails and oars out, and the fleurs de lys topped by the crown. Yet it's still a different interpretation. Vive la difference! (in a different context.)  The most unusual one so far has been this blue ship above the front door to this school.


An additional note, we've mentioned the 'Histoire de Paris' signs that one sees all over town, they
were designed by Phillipe Starck before.  They were designed as an homage to the Paris coat of arms and represent the oars of the boats.

***In addition to the coats of arms, I've been noticing little mosaic street art pieces all over town, usually high up on the corners of buildings. I didn't even know what to call them to try to do a bit of research, but finally found that they are called pixel art. They were pioneered in the 1990's by a street artist who chooses to be known by the name of Invader, and who now  has done pieces all over the world. Others grabbed the idea and there are hundreds of mosaics all over the city. Some have been pockmarked by erosion but they're still adorning or disfiguring, depending on your view of street art, buildings throughout town. Apparently, the pieces are designed on computer, then realized with mosaic tiles, either small or large. And the idea has further morphed into mosaics done with shaped tiles. The subjects range from computer game related themes to sexual and scatological, to witty political commentary. It's fun noticing the various little artworks, and they give me an additional reason to look up at architecture (when I'm not keeping a wary eye out for various street hazards.)

*** Speaking of political topics, we were out flaneuring again yesterday (sounds so much better than "wandering around aimlessly") and I sat down on a bench to watch a canal cruise boat go through a lock. There were two particularly nicely dressed ladies sitting on the bench as well, and I couldn't help overhearing their conversation. Admittedly, I can only catch phrases and the overall gist of conversations (and often not even that) but these ladies were speaking clearly and with lovely "belles accents" so I got more than usual. I expected in my bigoted way that they might be discussing fashion or
grandchildren or travel plans. Instead they were having a spirited discussion of the various merits of the last several leaders of France and the implications of the Greek crisis on the banking system and on social issues like the migration crises. They had a lively discourse, agreed to disagree, and went of amiably to have coffee at a café across the street. The French love animated conversations but manage to tolerate disparate opinions.

***On an ongoing conversation, back to the question of "why we're doing this." We've been asked repeatedly why we're spending this year in Paris. I find that my answers keep evolving. One of my first answers was that Warren has dreamed of travel for as long as he can remember, and that both of us have talked of living abroad since we were first married. Our various stints working abroad and doing house exchanges just confirmed our wish. But I guess that saying that it's an old dream evades the issue of why. So, trying to peel a bit of the why-onion, I'd say that for me living in another culture helps me to open my mind to different possibilities and points of view. Even watching news reporting from a different media source presents new ways of seeing my own culture, and the chance to do more evaluating of my own ideas. The values I don't even realize I have are the ones I most want to examine, and being somewhere new and challenging helps me do that. I guess I want the mental stimulation.

***And to be a bit morbid, or at the very least, realistic, we're here because time is growing short. Whatever time is left to us, it's still growing short and our physical and mental capabilities aren't going to be getting better. Various little nagging incapacities just confirm to us that we'd better make hay, even it the sun does shine for amazingly long hours here (~16.25 hours today versus Denver's ~15). In any case, I'll keep thinking out why I'm here, and let you know what I decide.

***Our friend, Don Dalby, will be arriving in the next few days from Ireland. We're looking forward to seeing some museums and sites with him, and hope we can be good hosts. He's been visiting friends in Ireland since the end of May, and has already visited Mallorca and Edinburgh. He's having a busy trip! We'll try to smooth out some of the Paris tourist hassles, having bought advance tickets for him to Louvre and Musee D'Orsay to minimize time wasted standing in line.

***We'll also caution him about the pickpocket hazard. We've seen several arrests, and interestingly for me, the suspects didn't fit my preconceived notions. They have all been attractive, young women! So much for my expectations of slimy, suspicious-looking characters. We're just keeping our fingers crosses that we'll stay low-profile and lucky.

A stroll along the canal 6-20-15

Well today started with a bit of shopping to top up the larder and a little lunch to follow.  After that we headed down into town to catch a brocante sale and then walk along the Canal St. Martin.  I've made this walk a couple times previously once by myself and once with my niece Elizabeth, both times were very enjoyable so I looked forward to yet another walk, this time with Deb.
As things will go sometimes we were never able to find the brocante even though it was placed on the website so I don't know what was going on with that.  But on our way to the canal we also came across another smaller vide-grenier, which is the French equivalent to a local multiple garage sale. So even though we didn't get a lot to look at it was still fun to see what people are trying to sell.   We spent a few minutes looking and then walked down to the canal, which was several blocks away.
We arrived at the spot where the canal goes underground for quite a long distance until it reaches the basin at the Arsenal just below the Place de la Bastille.  And as luck would have it there was a boat making it's way through the last locks before the tunnel.   We watched that process and then started walking back to our apartment along the canal.  So many people out and enjoying their Saturday visiting and drinking wine and beer.

I mentioned to Deb that I would like to see one of the swinging bridges work as I've not seen that before.  I've seen the raising bridges but not the swinging bridges, so about that time I looked upstream and by golly there was a boat making its way into the basin containing the swinging bridge, so I got back to the bridge area and waited to see it in action.  It's very interesting to see the gates come down to block the street traffic and then see the bridge slightly raise and swing out of the way for the boat to pass.
As we got up to the next set of locks yet another boat was coming through so we sat down and watched them come through as well.   We took our 5:00 rest for a beer and a cider at a little restaurant next to the canal and then headed back along the canal to the apartment.  A nice leisurely day next to the water.