A Paris Soiree a Real One 11-29-15

Today was a banner day for us, as we went to our first, honest to goodness, Parisian soiree.  You may remember that a few weeks ago as we were walking in the 14 arr. and looking at interesting buildings we met a man outside his house which was in a crescent of houses where the artist Man Ray lived for a couple years.  He and a woman friend were going to lunch and they invited us to go along.  A little after that the woman invited us to a "vernissage", which was an art opening of her companion's art work.  This was just before Deb went back to Denver.  Well that same woman offers evening music performances in her penthouse apartment, and we were invited.
The offering this evening was a tenor accompanied by piano singe the Liederkreiss by Schumann, and a series of songs based on the poems of Jacques Prevert with the music by Joseph Kosma.  Since we live on rue Joseph Kosma we knew we would have to attend.  There were perhaps 40 people in attendance and judging by the conversation this was a long standing group.  I think the only new people were Deb and I and the performers.  The tenor was perhaps 30 and had a wonderful voice which filled the room with ease, while the piano accompanist was in his early 20's and also very accomplished.  The show lasted around an hour, after which the chairs were all folded up and/or moved to the sides of the room and a light buffet followed.  Since this is Paris and since we had no real idea of what we were getting into, we brought along a bottle of wine which turned out to be a good thing.  Most of the people who came in brought either wine or a potluck sort of entry to be added to the table.
So we had a nosh afterward along with a fair amount of wine and the conversations took off.  We were sort of odd man out at the beginning as we only knew the two people with whom we'd had lunch those weeks ago.  But by the end of the evening I imagine we would have talked with close to half of the people in attendance.  Everyone was quite welcoming and seemed interested in what we were doing there.  We had some spirited repartee on the current refugee crisis in Europe and the early role that the U.S. had in creating it.  All in all I'd say it was just another one of the "Parisian dream" boxes that could be ticked.   We will definitely be attending any future evenings from now until the end of our stay. I took a couple pictures most before anything took place, because after 9 months here I don't want to be a complete plouc, all the time.

Another Quiet Saturday 11-28-15

Deb is still really tired today and wanted to stay in, but I was getting a bit stir crazy so I decided to go to another brocante down in the 14th arr. near Place d'Italie.  It lies down in the southeast part of the city.  The brocante was located at the base of Rue de Mouffetard, a very popular tourist street during the summer filled with small merchants of every sort, clothing, shoes, cheese, wine, small cafes, etc. It is still popular with the residents as well because there are always interesting things to see.
The brocante was the same way, lots of interesting things to see, always a variety of offerings.  This market was larger than the ones I've been going to lately so that was nice.  I found a cute watercolor that had it all, barges on the Seine, a steam powered loading crane, the Parisian quai, but unfortunately it was quite water-stained and I'm sure it would have cost a multiple of the painting itself to have it cleaned, so no sale.  I've gotten quite focused on finding something "barge" related ever since my trip to the barge museum at Conflans-St. Honorine last weekend.  We have a small half-bath in Denver which contains a virtual gallery of small works that represent locations where we have visited in the past and an artwork on barges would be perfect.
In 1977 on our first visit to London, literally on our first night in the city I helped push a car out of traffic along the Thames embankment near Chelsea.  The man with whom I worked was living on a houseboat in the Thames that had been converted from an old barge, The Mallard.  So my attachment to them goes back a number of years, it was a magical evening as an introduction to England.
So really no luck, but as ever with this street market habit the hunting is at least as much fun as the actual finding.  And nothing is, as yet, so serious that a person would question their sanity for buying. Another note, those large paintings I referred to last week as having been purchased at Drouot and then being offered two days later, were at this temporary market this week.
Christmas decorations are going up all around town now.

Deb's First Full Day 11-27-15

Deb is quite tired from her trip to Denver so we're easing back into Paris time.   We got to bed around 10:00 but at 3:00am we both woke a bit.  Her from jetlag and me because I seem to do that anyway.  I drifted back to sleep, while she read a little to get drowsy again.  She'll have a bit of work readjusting to Paris time.
Anyway we had a leisurely breakfast with some new cheese, a seasonal variety that is soft like brie or camembert but is banded in tree bark and has a very pleasurable tang to it.  Along with that we shared a melon and a persimmon.  A nice pot of tea and we were set.  It was quite foggy this morning and so we waited until the sun burned off the overcast to get out.

We took a walk in the neighborhood and went to a speciality shop for cooking to have a look around. Yet a third grapefruit knife and an Eiffel Tower shaped cookie cutter later we exited and walked down Jaures towards town and all of our usual market shops.  We didn't actually buy any food, as I had stocked up a little in anticipation of her return.  There are many street artists in Paris and I have been trying to document some and just capture images of others.  We have one who has been busy in our neighborhood and today we spotted a new one (to us anyway).  He did another one a few blocks away but some unenlightened asshat started defacing it after a very short time.  Sorry about the angle there was a truck parked close to it and I couldn't get a good perspective.
It was pretty cool and I'm glad Deb listened to my advice to wear a scarf, and she is too.  Tomorrow we have plans to get out more, stay tuned.
Also Deb mentioned that several people told her that they were entering comments and never seeing any responses.  This is to the people she mentioned, I've not seen any comments and I'm sorry for that because I like to hear what your thoughts are.  I can't guess why you're not appearing on my comments page, I get comments from several other people.  If you would please send them directly to either me or Deb I would be more than happy to respond.  Thanks.

We are United Again 11-26-15

Spent the morning "tidying up" preparatory to Deb's return early this afternoon.  Two weeks of being by myself had led to a bit of sloth in the maintenance department.  Not a lot, but I did wash down the counters in the kitchen, and make the bed a bit more presentable.
I got out to the airport around 1:15 and Deb's flight was scheduled for 1:45 so a bit of time to wait but not too much.  Once I determined that the flight had landed I walked along the various carousels until I found the one that showed her flight.  They are still in a secured area so I couldn't actually go to pick up her luggage, but I waited until I saw her and then paralleled her walk over to the exit doors and met her there.
Her time in Denver was pretty demanding and she regrets that she couldn't see friends this time, but it was quite important that she helped get a good treatment path for Mary Ann started.  In this she feels as if she had some success, as Mary Ann seems to have stabilized and may be on the road to some recovery.
She was quite tired so we took a taxi back to the apartment, traffic was fairly light and we made very good time going back.  We had a bit of a welcome home lunch and then passed a quiet early afternoon.  She had a bit of a nap and then we had a quiet evening before retiring at a reasonable time.   All in all a nice homecoming to Paris.  The airports weren't very busy, of course this is not Thanksgiving in Europe, and there was a bit more security but not excessively so, at least visibly.

Parc de la Chapeau Rouge 11-25-15

Today I resolved to explore one of the little parks that we have passed by any number of times when we took the tram around to the Porte de Vincennes.  It's only two stops down the line and it faces the tramline so it always looked kind of inviting when we would go by.
It was created in 1939, out of land that had originally been part of the outer Paris defensive emplacements created by Thiers in the late 19th century.
It's not hard to believe that it was part of a defensive ring around Paris because as I was walking around the park I noticed that there were 3 sort of built up plateaus, now planted with trees, that would have been ideal for bombarding down into the valley below.  That is all built up with apartments and buildings now but in the 19th century it was likely all forested.
 It is in a neoclassical design with a wide open lawn going up the hill to the top of the park.
At the bottom main entry there is a fountain created brick and surmounted by a sculpture titled "Eve" that was in one of the Paris expositions contemporary to that period.  As I walked along a thought occurred to me.  How great it is that a society chooses to exalt the beauty and grace of it's accomplishments in the form of Naked Women!

It was nice to finally see the park, but I had to cut it short because it started raining, again, and I was walking home and didn't want to get too wet.

Unfinished Business Finished 11-24-15

But why today?  Why not yesterday?  Good questions that I asked myself.  The only answer I could come up with was I didn't consider it yesterday.   Yesterday was sunny and cool, today is rainy and cold.  So today I should have gone to the Cabinet des Medailles, and yesterday I should have gone up the Eiffel Tower, but NO....  I guess it could be blamed on the television news yesterday where they showed the tower and nobody in line.  They were saying that so many things are slow right now. I caught a bus over to Charles de Gaulle Etoile (Arc de Triomphe) and then walked down to the tower. On the way I passed the Place de Des Etats-Unis where there is a memorial to the many U.S. citizens who volunteered and died helping France in the two world wars.
I figured why not, I always wanted to climb the tower, but the last time I didn't because Deb was waiting for me on the ground and I didn't think I'd have the time.  Today, with the weather I figured that at least I wouldn't overheat climbing the stairs, and I was right. I was winded, and except for my hands, not cold.  I climbed to the second platform, which as it turns out is as far as one can climb, and then rode the elevator to the top.  I stopped on the second platform to get a cup of hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant, to fortify myself for the climb to the top before I found out that one can't make that climb.
I also wanted to go up because they recently finished restoring Eiffel's personal apartment which he built up there as the tower was being completed. It became a sensation in Paris at the time and people were always angling for an invitation, but few actually received one.  One who did was Thomas Edison and they have him, Eiffel, and a woman, shown as manikins,in the apartment visiting.  Of course with the rain and clouds I could only get rare glimpses of the city below, and the wind was at least 40 mph on the top.  I wandered around for maybe 10 minutes and then went below into the covered area at the top before going down the elevator.
I was pretty damp by the time I got down, so I walked over to where I could catch one of my busses and made my way back to the apartment.   I've been snickering at the people wearing the heavy coats, but not today, today I wanted a couple more, over what I already had on.

The Cabinet de Medailles 11-23-15

Richelieu Reading Room

There are not many museums open on Monday, as Deb has alluded to in the past, so today I wanted to visit a museum.  But being Monday my choices were limited, so I found a little known museum called the Cabinet de Medailles which is open in the afternoon every day of the week.
It's a department of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and is located in their main library in the heart of Paris on Rue de Vivienne directly behind the Palais Royale downtown.
It focuses on collections of French nobility beginning in the reign of Charles V in the 1400's all the way up through Louis XIV passing from king to king, and into the 19th century when it became part of the French National Heritage.  It is not very large at all comprising about 4 rooms, but most of the objects are small, small enough to fit into a series of vitrines.

Largest Cameo

One of the really impressive things to be seen is what is reputed to be the largest cameo in the world, 24 figures fully modeled and done at the time of Tiberius in Rome.

Papal Lineup

Another were two trays of papal portraits done in miniature with micro mosaic using pearls, diamonds, gems, etc. from St. Peter forward there must have been 80 portraits.

A side note, Deb is back on Thursday the 26th, not the 23rd I probably said earlier.  Everyday is Tuesday in Paris.

Caesar Augustus
life portrait

Ivory chess set

So coins, medals, precious stones, carved seals, small vessels in silver and gold make up the largest part shown but there are also bronzes and stone sculpture to be seen as well.  It is a charming little museum.  There is currently a temporary exhibit that focuses on red and black Greek pottery dating back to the 6th to 4th century B.C. from the duc de Luynes' collection put together in the early 1800s.

Ivory Knight

Sunny Sunday 11-22-15

No clouds today, it was cold and sunny.  Cold being around 34 degrees, not really cold by Colorado standards but cold here with the humidity.  I decided to go to a couple of brocante markets, one down in the 14th arr. near Denfert-Rochereau and the other in the 4th arr along one of the bus routes that we take when we want to go downtown between the Hotel de Ville and Place Bastille.  It goes through the heart of the Marais, a block from Place des Vosges.
But to the first, I wanted to see how the brocantes were set up, were there very many security changes, etc. and it turns out that it's pretty much the same as before the attacks.  The vendors set up their booths along the sidwalks, with their backs to the traffic and the shoppers all stream by between them and the storefronts.
I also got confirmation of my beliefs on where the brocantes are getting their merchandise.  At least in part they are getting stuff from the satellite auctions of Drouout.  I know this for certain because when I was there on Thursday there were about 20 paintings, all very large, that were offered in about 5 lots and all bought for less that 100 euros each.  They were being offered this morning at the sale, but I didn't ask the price as I didn't want to get the vendor's hopes up.  But an insight on the way this sort of small business works in Paris.
After going through this market in the 14th, I headed up to the one in the 4th.  It was located within a catholic church, interesting in that it's Sunday today and there were services going on concurrently with the sale.  They had strung sheets between the pillars to segregate one side aisle from the rest of the church and things were setup in there.  In some ways this was really a church rummage sale, it had the same feeling.  But to be fair there were some interesting things on sale for brocante type prices not garage sale prices.
After this sale I got on the bus to come home and as we came to a stop called "Richard Lenoir" I realized that the BaTa Clan theatre was only a very short block off the bus route.  There was a small sea of flowers along the fencing next to the bus stop.   I wasn't going to visit these sites but, I impulsively got off to get a feel for how people were reacting after a week's time.  Many people were still in a state of shock, as might be imagined, were visiting the small shrines that had been created with pictures of fallen friends surrounded by candles and flowers.
There were also flags from the countries of the victims, a revealing commentary on the international flavor of Paris.  The ground floor of the venue is still draped in white tarps to shield the scene of the carnage inside.  People just stood in front looking at the white tarps and were wrapped in their own thoughts of what the events meant to them.  A few tears, a few smiles, and an occasional bit of nervous laughter, a city in shock and mourning.  Many signs said, "Pray for Paris", if you do pray then this is worthy of your thoughts.

Threat of Snow and a Day Out in the Country 11-21-15

I got up and saw that Paris had snow in the forecast for today, so I looked outside and saw the sun shining.  I went through a couple of minutes of trying to decide whether I would head down to a brocante in the 14th arr. or what I should do.  I had looked at my book, "An Hour From Paris" earlier in the week and really wanted to go to a town on the Seine at the confluence with the Oise River.  So I went back and forth for a little while and made a snap decision to go out to Conflans-St. Honorine. Since snow was forecast I dressed warmly and checked on the route then basically ran out the door. Of course those of you who really know me, know how half-assed I can really be.  I got to the elevator and realized that I forgot my glasses, so I had to go back to the apartment for my glasses. But no problem, I was able to get to the Metro and get over to Gare St. Lazare in good time to catch the next train out to the town.
The reason I wanted to go to this town today is that it is still a working port on the Seine and it is where many of the barges that we see in Paris moor when they need to stop sailing for whatever reason. So there are a fair number of barges that are moored on the quais next to the town.  Another draw for me was the presence of the Museum of Barging.  It's only open on Saturdays so this is the only day of the week one can get in.  Don't ask why I'd be interested in a barge museum, I have no idea, but I am.  So since it wasn't raining or snowing I thought, strike, while the iron is hot.
I got on the train and headed out, on the way there was a young woman with a baby who was begging and I told her no.  But as she headed back through, I had second thoughts, so I dug into my pocket to give her a little change.  Totally empty, as was my other pocket, I'd forgotten to take the stuff out of the pockets of the pants I wore yesterday and so had nothing except what was in my wallet.  Half-assed I tell you.  Too late to turn back so I kept on and got out at Conflans-St. Honorine and started to follow the instructions in the book.  So I walked through the town and got down to the river where there were a number of barges moored, very cool.   I wanted to take pics since the light was good and even though it was cold it was dry.  Got the camera out and went to take the first pic, 3% battery left, and of course my backup battery was in the bag I carry every day and not in the pack that I carried for today to bring weather gear along.  So I knew I'd have to be pretty careful about what photos I captured.

It also made me decide that I needed to go to the museum immediately since I wanted to get some pictures there before I lost all battery power.  Also since it was inside I figured that the battery would be less stressed in the warm environment and I might get more pictures.  At least that worked.  I really enjoyed the museum, it's quite small but it has so many interesting displays.  Did you know that at one point in the mid-19th century the French laid chains at the bottom of many canals and rivers which they then used as the anchor points for specialized boats that would pull the freight barges up river using the chains.  Where the canals were too small or there was too little traffic they would still use horses or mules.
I loved this little museum, so quirky and really dedicated to this aspect of French life for the last 300 years.
Also in the town is a barge that has been converted to a floating chapel to provide the barge people with a church, it's permanently moored and active in it's ministrations to them.
The other part of the visit itinerary had a number of walks along the river to other little towns close by, so I picked one which featured lunch at an auberge where you have to ring a bell and since it is on a little island in the middle of the Seine they pick you up in a motorboat and take you across.  So I walked about 4 kilometers over to this little town, which ended up being quite a nice walk.  The area was definitely prosperous as there were a number of large houses with large walled compounds, and it was fun to see them.  I'd guess if you could buy one of these for less than 2 million you would have made a great buy.
Anyway it was about an hour's walk over and I anticipated a really fun experience. I got to the jetty and rang the bell, it appeared to be open so I was primed for lunch.  After a couple minutes a man appeared on the other side and got into the boat, started it up and came across.  As he got there he asked me if I was part of the party, if I had a reservation?  I said no, and he said, "desolate" (sorry) the entire restaurant had been reserved for a large party for lunch today and they would not be able to accommodate me.  This is NOT my fault, it's just bad luck.  He said that anytime in the next couple weeks would be fine to come out again.  He was sorry I'd walked out for nothing, but try again later.  So I had to walk all the way back up the hill to the station to catch the train back to Paris, because for whatever reason the rail lines are sited on the ridge above the river towns and not along the river.  As we got back to Paris it really started raining and blowing, so I took the bus back to the apartment and didn't really get too wet.
Had a great day out even if it was half-assed.

A Rainy Day 11-20-15

It rained during the night and today dawned rainy and grey.  I had chores that I had to take care of and so I got out kind of late.  I took the bus down to BHV which is the big department store across the street from the Hotel de Ville.   Of course when I got on the bus I didn't notice that it was a partial service bus and so it stopped about 10 blocks north of the stop I would have used, and did I mention it was raining?  Not heavily, but still it required an umbrella.  However, not to be dissuaded I found a little street running towards the direction I needed to go and headed into the neighborhood.  It took about 20 minutes to get to the store.
When I got there it turned out that they didn't have any of the things I needed, bah humbug! I thought I could find it at another grand magazin (department store) so I found a bus to take me up to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette and as bad luck would have it I couldn't find what I needed there either.  All the while it was raining.
Once out of the stores I headed up to Gare St. Lazare and caught one of the buses I use for the west side of Paris and connected back to the the main northern east-west bus going back to the apartment. About the only thing to really catch my attention was that all of the mobile television trucks are now camped out on Place de la Republique to televise the gatherings  of Parisians around the monument there.  I talked with Deb a bit in the afternoon, her morning, and then went and got a few groceries and a haircut.

It was a rainy day but the positive was Nouveau Beaujolais.

A Revealing Discovery 11-19-15

Today I got an answer, at least partially, to my question of where the brocantes find their stuff.  I've been wondering for quite a while where the vendors at the various brocante markets find the things that they put out for sale at the neighborhood sales that always seem to be going on.  Yesterday I went over to one of the Drouot satellite facilities, but I arrived too late, 2 hours after they started the auction.  These are not catalogued sales, there are no shiny brochures, there is nothing but boxes of items that are put up for sale and the bidders have to paw through them and make lightning fast decisions about what they're willing to pay.  If you know what you're looking at you can make some pretty good buys I think.  I don't think anything went for more than 250 euros and a large percentage were less than 50.  So almost every lot is made up of multiple items and the bidding usually takes less than 3 minutes.  You could by any where from 2 to 5 paintings in a lot and pay perhaps 40 euros, then you clean them up and put them on your shelves at a show and sell each one for between 15 and 80 euros making a tidy little profit.
If your really lucky you get one painting that will sell for a multiple of 40 euros and all the others are pure profit as well.   I saw some interesting strategies at work, for example they were selling small bronze sculptures and there was one man who I would guess buys fairly frequently, he gets first right of inspection and then anyone else that wants to look has to grab and inspect as they can.  If he holds it for a little longer and kinda fools around, then he can almost control the bidding, but since it only lasts for a few brief minutes... you kinda get the picture.   He is subtle in his responses to the auctioneer so unless you know his method you don't know who is in and who is out until the auctioneer points to the winning bidder.  It was winding down after an hour or so and I left.
Since it was raining it was an indoor day, I caught a couple buses and made it to the Louvre in good time.  I wanted to look at their prints and drawings rooms so I headed up to the second floor where they are located.  I have a nose for these things and sure enough when I got there, all the rooms were closed and in the process of being changed out.   You know, hundreds of rooms and I laser into the closed ones like a heat seeking missile.  And of course nowhere does it say that the rooms are closed. But all was not lost as I discovered the only trove of late 19th century painting (think impressionists) in the entire Louvre collection.  
There was a collector, Victor Lyon, who between the world wars, who put together a collection of paintings that commenced with the 15th C. and finished in the early 20th C. When he bequeathed it to the Louvre in his late wife, Helene's, memory the conditions were that it would always be on display and that it would always be displayed together as a single collection.  The Louvre stressed that it was faithfully following the wishes of the donors, unlike the Barnes collection in Philadelphia bless their money grubbing hearts.
Also there was a second private collection that consisted of nothing but pretty first rate portraits, but artists such as Goya, Lawrence, Rubens, and Zuloaga etc. small but very fine.
As I was headed out my path took me past the Winged Victory of Samothrace.  I never get tired of seeing it and today was extra special because there were a few periods of minutes duration where there were fewer than 10 people, fantastic.





It is hard to describe how few people are out and about but here is a view of the courtyard where the pyramid and entry are located.
After that feast for the eyes I headed back to the apartment, as it was still a bit moist out.