Hear the Slamming of Doors and Closing of Shutters? 7-31-15

Well tomorrow is August 1st, 4 days ago we passed our 6 month anniversary in Paris, tempus fugit!! Deb wanted to continue cleaning so I went out again today, I thought I would go over to the flea market (Marche aux Puces) near Clignancourt and rat around a bit so I grabbed the tram and the bus which encircles the city on the North and West quadrants to get there.

Along the way there is a little park I've seen that has several colorful sculptures surmounting stainless steel pillars they are really fun to see as you come around the corner at the Porte d'Aubervilliers, and so I got of the the tram to explore.  They look to be figures taken from a merry-go-round that have been mounted (rescued?) on the poles to give the little park a whimsical aspect.
After a few minutes of enjoyment I boarded the tram again for the flea market. But when I got there it was only the impromptu sellers that had spread blankets and were trying to sell used clothes, shoes, and odd bits of electronics that were in action.   With two exceptions all the shops were shuttered, in an area perhaps 4 square blocks in size.

Every August a large proportion of Paris, takes flight for vacations out of Paris, the fermeture annuelle (annual closing).   I don't think that all the dealers here will be gone, as many of them live a day to day kind of existence, but I think the market will be drastically cut back.   It will be that way all over the city, things will be closed and tourists will rule for a few weeks.

I meet with my new Doc 7-30-15

I'm going to run out of my prescription meds before the end of this year so before I left I asked my Denver doctor to give me written prescriptions to take along, as I had read that many pharmacies will honor them.   But as a backup I decided to initiate a relationship with a local doctor here, so I made an appointment with an English speaking doctor last week.   I want to have a doctor relationship just in case there would be an emergency some time in the future.  He is located in a very convenient place for us as his office is right along our main busline and only 10 minutes from our subway line.   I took the Metro down to Republic and walked from there as it gave me a chance to see another neighborhood up close and personal.   In the process I found a new passage, Passage Vendome, which I'd never been aware of before.   It has a few business within but by and large it's out of the flow, so a bit rundown.
My doctor's office sits right across the street from a surviving medieval water fountain, not currently working, which we pass all the time and I wanted to see it more closely so I arrived a few minutes early. I edited the pics to minimize the graffiti.














 I also came across an ancient gateway into what is now one of  the national archive buildings. It was built around 1380

by a companion of Du Guesclin, a medieval marshall of France and a very capable field commander during the Hundred Years War.   It was then owned by the Guise family, rabid Catholics, who masterminded the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre killing thousands of Protestants in the 1500's.
My visit with the doctor went very well and we now are aware of each other.  He will happily refill my prescription whenever I require it.   After the appointment I headed back and met Deb at our shopping area to top up our supplies.   Then it was back to the apartment for lunch, some apartment cleaning and laundry, and a very nice dinner on the deck with Deb.

Get Away day - Gail and Peter leave 7-29-15

Today Gail and Peter are leaving to spend the next two weeks in England, they have been with us for about a week and it has been very nice visit.  We always have fun seeing the sites and eating interesting food and we get to catch up. Since they live in California seeing them is more rare than with the rest of the family.

We started the day with a little trip to the wine shop to find some presents for their host in England. Right now each trip out is chancey because our buildings elevator is being serviced again by the company that did the last service, and it's scheduled to continue for another 2 days.  We got lucky and it worked for us when we left to go to the train station where the Eurostar leaves for England so we didn't have to schlep bags down the 7 flights of circular stairs.
 Once we arrived at Gare du Nord getting them to the loading area was very easy as we early in arriving.  We have been here when the line to go through customs is backed up well into the station and winds all around with people waiting to clear.   Things took a grisly tone for Gail and Peter while they were waiting to board the train, when an Egyptian national attempted to stowaway on the top of the train and was electrocuted, he is in critical condition.  It delayed their train by 2 hours while they evacuated the man from the train and took him to the hospital.

We headed home for a quiet afternoon to rest up a bit from the whirlwind of  the last week.

Last full day for Gail and Peter 7-28-15

Today is Gail and Peter's last full day in Paris before they head over to England.  Gail woke up this morning feeling much better so we planned for a day out, walking around the Rive Gauche (left bank).  We wanted to walk through the Cour de Rohan and some of the other interesting streets in that quarter.   But before going over there we took the subway down to Place Bastille and then walked over to see the Marche d'Aligre, it is a brocante market that takes place everyday but Monday. Gail wanted to walk through and see what the dealers and pickers might have that would interest her and Peter had interest in the dealer of mineral and fossil specimens that is always there as well.  So we spent an hour or so wandering about there.   After the market we headed over to our original destination with a brief stop at our favorite Italian restaurant to make reservations for dinner.

That accomplished, we headed into the small streets of the quarter and made our way to the Cour de Rohan only to find that all the gates were closed off.  We speculate that it's likely due to the impending exodus from Paris for the August break, homeowners don't want hordes of tourists and perhaps thieves wandering around their houses while they are away for the month.  So we walked around to the other end on the off chance that it may have been open, but no luck.  Furthermore the creperie where we wanted to eat lunch was also closed, this being Tuesday.  

So we made our way further into the area to another creperie, La Moliere, where we had a very nice lunch of galettes followed by sweet crepes for desert.  Galettes are savory crepes made with buckwheat flour, while crepes are made with white flour and usually contain jams, jellies, or something like Nutella.   Very good eating when pairs with the hard apple ciders from the same region.  After lunch we headed over to the Place Furstemberg, where the Delacroix museum is located (closed on Tuesdays as well) but also one of the two oldest trees still growing in Paris.  Deb and Gail did some wandering through an interior design shop while Peter and I idled outside and read a historical marker about the place and the cardinal for whom it is named.  We then headed into the St. Germain des Pres church, the oldest in Paris where we had a leisurely walk around.

Since this was a day for flaneurs we looked a few more shops and then found a brasserie where we could sit outside and have a cup of tea, followed by a beer and watch the rhythm of the street.  A couple hours later it was time to walk over to our Italian restaurant for dinner.   We had a very nice dinner with some good wine from Sicily.  The owner was on vacation so his manager was manning the front and was very gracious.  A bit of diversion in the form of a pretty loud U.S. party of 4 who must have been on one of the whirlwind bus trips because they came in after us and left before we had finished our main course, telling the manager that they had to catch their bus.  Things were a bit more settled then.

We caught our bus back to the apartment around 9:30, just as the lights were being lit on the Eiffel Tower, the first time I've seen that since we arrived.  Tomorrow we will go to Gare du Nord to see Gail and Peter off on the Eurostar to London.

Around town, no I mean around town 7-27-15

We were planning a trip out to Fontainbleau but unhappily my sister Gail has a cold.  So we opted for a less strenuous day and decided upon a trip to Foundation Louis Vuitton, the beautiful Frank Gehry building in the Bois de Boulogne.  It's all current contemporary art, all the time so we knew there would be new installations to be seen as well as some more permanent pieces too.   To get there we took our tram to the west and connected with the PC3 bus which takes us over to the Porte de Maillot at the northeast border of the Bois.  From there we took a short bus ride west to where the walk to the museum is the shortest.
There is a bus from (???) that will transport visitors right up to the museum entrance, but I think the walk is by far more interesting because the building slowly emerges from the tree canopy as you walk toward it.  Sort of funny, this idea of walking up to a building.  Especially since in Denver a person wouldn't even think of walking any further than absolutely necessary to get to a destination.

Today was a continuation of yesterday's cloudiness so the walking was very pleasant and when we got over to the museum wonder of wonders there was no entrance line so we walked right in.   On this visit we decided to have lunch in the museum cafe and there was no line there either so we were seated immediately.  The food was very good and quite fresh, I had a combination of Salmon and Scorpion fish sushi along with Tempura shrimp, Deb had gazpacho and breast of chicken in mustard sauce, Gail had a Salmon fillet in salad, while Peter had a large salad.  It's not a cheap lunch however, we drank only water and the bill was still 150 euros.  Thanks, Peter.  I would have ordered more if I had known you were paying.

We had an enjoyable trek through the museum seeing the current offerings and visiting the canopied areas at the top of the building.  There were bits of sprinkling but no serious precipitation.

After our visit we walked back to the bus stop and continued out to La Defense, where we strolled along the large plaza in front of the Grand Arch for a few minutes.  On this trip I noticed a monumental sculpture by Miro that is towards the Eastern end.  Ever since our visit to the Miro museum in Barcelona I've been a fan.










After our little stop over we boarded the tram heading to the South and East  and then connected to the tram that would take us further East and then North.  Finally we connected with the tram that goes North and West to finish at the tram stop where we started our trip this morning.  So we literally travelled around the town.  Evening was very quiet with Gail resting a bit.  Deb and Peter picked up some Chinese takeout for dinner, with many little offerings to be eaten with our Tsing Tao beer.

Tour de France Finale 7-26-15

Today we were all going down to see the finale of the Tour de France, but Gail was suffering from the beginnings of a cold.  So she and Deb decided to opt out of seeing it in person.  So on that development it came down to Peter and I making the trip by ourselves.  We jumped on the Metro and headed down to the Musee de Louvre stop which allowed us to come out in the eastern end of the Tuileries.  I had been thinking of where to watch from and this offered a view that was elevated above the street by about 10-15 feet, a great vantage point.  However we were there early enough that we could walk around and see if there was something even more interesting.  We actually ended up at a spot about 600 metres from the finish line right where one would see the riders coming off the long straightaway of the Rue de Rivoli and turning into the Place de la Concorde before making the last turn onto the finish line on the Champs Elysee.  Not too bad a spot, since they have all of the interior of the Place de la Concorde and the Eastern end of the Champs closed for VIPs only.

We had about a 7 hour wait for the tour to come through, but it's the only way to be sure of having a decent street view, i.e. where you can see the approach and exit of the riders.   It was cloudy with a forecast of rain so the temperatures were very pleasant.  Additionally there was a featured women's professional bike race that covered the same circuit of the Champ Elysee as the men would make at the end of their stage.   As luck would have it, bad in this case, it began to rain as the women were beginning their race.  Racing in the rain when it is not cold is more pleasant than a blisteringly hot day so I think they were ok with it.   However there are many stretches of the route that are cobbled and in fact one was right in front of our vantage point.  In the rain these become very slick and unfortunately on the second lap of the race about 10-15 women lost traction and fell when they tried to brake for the turn.  It had to have hurt! But being racers, with the help of their support crews virtually all of them were up and riding again pretty quickly.  However the victims of the fall were then off the back and had to work extra-hard to catch up, and some finally threw in the towel and just took shelter out of the rain.

About 90 minutes later the first part of the tour, the promotional caravan, came through with all the interesting displays.  And then about 30 minutes later the riders appeared and as luck would have it, good this time, the rain stopped




and the riders were able to ride full tilt.  There were a couple breakaways but none were successful, so the race ended with a bunched sprint, which is the most action packed way to finish.  On the last lap there was a flyover of the Red Arrows, the French Airforce precision flying team.

At the end the big winner, Chris Froome, crossed the finish line with his team together in a broad line.  We made it back to the apartment around 8:45pm, so a very long day.

A quiet Saturday 7-25-15

Today we tried to repeat yesterday's agenda with somewhat limited success.  We got out early, we caught the first bus, we made a great connection to the second bus, we got off very near where the brocante market should be, but alas it wasn't there.  We looked around several blocks based on the map showing where it should have been but no luck.  So we cut our losses again and walked over to the Musee Jacquemart-Andre for a visit.  Since Gail and Peter have never visited it will be a real treat for them to see how the very wealthy lived in late 19th century Paris.  I guess we like this museum because we have followed a somewhat similar path, only with very limited resources, sort of like Ma and Pa Kettle at the museum.  Still in all what a worthwhile thing to have done in their time period and with their resources.   We finished our visit with a wonderful lunch at the museum cafe, out on the covered porch.  With Peter and Gail being basically vegetarian this cafe is great because they feature delicious salads for a large portion of the menu and several are without any meat, although Gail will eat fish.



We finished up early afternoon and hastily made our way back to the apartment to catch the last part of the Tour de France again.  We were able to see the race up Alpe d'Huez and watch as the riders attacked the race leader, Chris Froome, and the second place reduce the margin to just over a minute. Tomorrow we will be down on the Champs Elysee to watch the final stage, along with the other several hundred thousand spectators.  It should be great fun.

Happy Birthday Deb 7-24-15

Today is Deb's birthday and we gave her the option of doing anything she wanted to do. She opted for a trip to a brocante and then over to Jacquemart-Andre Museum for lunch at the cafe featuring the Tiepolo ceiling.   Our elevator was still non-functional so we figured, why not have breakfast at home before walking down the stairs (8 floors).  Somehow the decision always seems to lead to a leisurely morning and we didn't get out the door until noon.   As we got close to the bus stop the bus went by and we had an additional 16 minutes until the next bus.  It was packed, like Tokyo, and we opted to skip it, long story short we ended up waiting almost an hour before we got on a bus.
So we scrapped the first plan and went to plan B, which was go to a Thai restaurant we really like and then over to a renowned patissier for birthday pastries and back to the apartment to catch the next installment of the Tour.   A quiet birthday for Deb, but we'll make up for it a little later.

On the hill in Paris and a new museum 7-23-15

Peter mentioned that he had never been to Montmartre and wanted to go there to see it.  On their first trip many years ago Gail and he had been to a street somewhere below and seen it but never actually been up to the summit.  So today we sortied at about a quarter to 9:00 this morning, on our way to one of the breakfast places that was written up in a blog post on Paris.  I plotted a course to get us there and we boarded our regular bus down towards town, but today we got off very early in the route and walked several blocks to get to the street where the restaurant was located.  That was the easy part as we ended up walking the entire length of the street and never did identify the place. But luckily when we got down to the end of the street we spotted 'Pancake Sisters', a little cafe that specializes in pancakes (surprise, surprise).  This being Paris, one views something like pancakes with a somewhat jaded view but this ended up being a very enjoyable place for breakfast.  Each of us had a different dish based on pancakes and all of them were quite delicious.

After breaky we walked up the Boulevard Magenta towards Gare du Nord and caught the bus taking us to the base of Montmartre.  And as per usual it was teeming with tourists, and sharks.  Peter and I stopped to watch a shell game and winced as an Asian tourist parted company with about 150 euros after which the man running it packed up and high-tailed it with his assistants (all of whom miraculously were winning).   The tourist looked stunned and I hope somewhat wiser for the encounter.   We continued up to Sacre Coeur where Peter and Gail toured the cathedral while Deb and I waited outside in the shade.  Our goal for today was the Espace Dali, a museum dedicated to the works of Salvador Dali.  It was quite interesting to see the originals of so many of his works and like our visit to the Miro museum in Barcelona, we came away with a much greater appreciation for his artistic vision and creativity.

Next up on the agenda was lunch which we enjoyed at the Maison Rose, a restaurant that figures in some of Utrillo's paintings.  It was very enjoyable to sit outside and have a pleasant lunch.   After lunch we moved on to the Museum of Montmartre, where once again Gail and Peter went in while Deb and I sat outside in a shady little park.

After they came out we had a bit of a walk down the backside of Montmartre to see various buildings where artists and composers like Renoir and Satie lived and worked.  We also saw the Moulin de la Galette which is one of the last two remaining windmills on the hillside and also the Bateau Lavoir where Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, and Gris lived when they were young poor and starving artists.

We took the bus back to the apartment quite a while after 5:00pm when we thought the elevators would be available for the evening before being shut down tomorrow for more work.  But alas we were faced with an 8 story stair climb.  I'm betting that we will have an 8 story descent tomorrow morning as well.   We still had a fun day and a very nice dinner at home this evening.

We get a bit side tracked 7-22-15

Today we were going to shop a bit and then spend the day in the park.  However we seemed to get a bit side tracked and didn't manage to get out before noon.   Our cheese shop was closed for the mid-day break but we managed to get everything else and had a nice lunch on the terrace.   Of course by the time that was over a decisive day on the tour was taking place (Van Garderen abandons) and we got glued to the TV.   So after that we managed to get over to the cheese shop before their closing time and pick up a few days provisions.   So around 8:00 this evening we managed to get out for our walk in the park after which we had dinner on a barge that has been converted into a restaurant and enjoyed a mild evening.   Back from dinner around 10:30 and headed for bed.   A new announcement in our elevator tells us that the elevator will be serviced for the next two days between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm so we will be out all day, as we live on the 8th floor and stairs become more serious when they are stacked up like that.  You can only imagine what trama getting out so early is going to cause.