Not With a Bang or a Whimper 2-24-14

Our flight back to the US was good for the first leg (business/first) and crowded for the last leg (regional jet).
We flew from Paris to Toronto on the first leg in Business/First on a new Boeing 787 and it was pretty lush. I burned the last of my frequent flyer miles on United for the tickets, since I'm retired the likelihood of me flying enough miles or legs to get any status is non-existent.  So the biggest danger was having them expire and I wasn't going to let that happen.

We're in a bit of jet lag now so the realization of finishing our adventure hasn't fully registered yet. We certainly had time to think about it at 1:30 this morning as we were just laying there awake, it being 9:30 am Paris time.

What should one think when a dream 30+ years in the making has been fulfilled?  Is there a bit of a letdown?  Absolutely NOT, that would diminish the joy of having spent it living the dream.  People are asking, What are you doing next?  In some ways it's like being asked "would you like another dessert?", after you've just had the best one you've ever eaten.  We'll need time to digest it.  It was two years after our 3 month trip to Madrid before we went to Paris.  Many ideas, mental pictures, and feelings have to be incorporated.

Have we lost the interest in travel?  Again absolutely not, but as we age we have to consider what will give the most satisfaction. The cliche, it's not the destination, it's the journey comes into play.

To you, our friends and interested(maybe) readers I would say this,  DON'T WAIT.  It can be expensive, but the memories are priceless and a great source of comfort later on. I was troubled by the shootings in Paris, it was frightening to be in unfamiliar territory when bad things were happening. But there is less chance of being killed/injured in a terrorist attack than in a car accident.
Go out, enjoy, see the world while you can, one of the biggest motivators for writing this blog was to share it with our friends who could no longer join us in person.  I wanted to share it with them as a token of my love and respect for them. It's sort of like fragrances on the wind, a whiff of which will open your mind's eye to many of your own past experiences.  And with luck to future ones.

The world is waiting, you have to provide the animation.

In Transit Gloria 2-23-16

Like clockwork our car arrived and got us out to the airport in good time. We got our bags checked  and they gave us priority passes for security and passport control, so we breezed through there as well.  Since we're traveling business/first they also gave us passes to the elite lounge where we can wait for our flight. If we were paying cash for this likely it would have been a couple months rent here, each.
We're going through Toronto and then on to Denver. Be home soon.

Battening Down the Hatches and Buttoning Up 2-22-16

Today was our last day in Paris and it was spent in final packing, cleaning up, and getting rid of the last of the clothes that aren't coming back.
We did go over to our primary 19th arr. hangout, Art et Science Reuniss, the restaurant on the corner for lunch.  We wanted to say goodbye to Jean-Pierre the waiter with whom we've become friendly, and to have one more goodbye meal.  It was the first restaurant we ate at in the 19th last year and it was fitting that it be the last we eat at just as we're leaving.  
Although one would think that after a year we'd be old hands at the
restaurant game, not so!  We perused the menu and Jean-Pierre told us about the daily specials, a chicken salad that came with vegetables and "stuff" for the entree (appetiser) and a pork sausage with fried potatoes for the plat (main course).  So we both ordered the chicken salad and when it came I noticed that it was larded with betteraves (beets), now I feel about beets like Indiana Jones feels about snakes, and on the last day I bumbled into a dish with beets.  So I picked them out and gave them to Deb.  I ordered a salmon fillet with green lentils for the plat and Deb ordered the pork sausage, so when they came we started in and Deb took almost two bites before realizing that the sausage was andouillette, a sausage that contains a large amount of roughly cut intestines and put her fork down and said she was going to have to put it in a napkin and into her purse.   So it was my turn to man up and I took half of it and gave her half my salmon.  After a little time I took the rest so that she wouldn't be embarrassed and maybe spice up her purse.  So we were two for two today, and truthfully I can say these were the first meals that we've had where the deep end of the pool was a little too deep.   But it wasn't the restaurant's fault, we had a chance to ask questions.  We had a friend who got to the point one time where he felt he could order anything on the menu without fear.  /He didn't recognize anything on the menu so he just closed his eyes and pointed.  He ended up with an esophagus floating in broth, and he said it wasn't in small pieces in fact no pieces at all.  But then that's why we travel isn't it?
We got everything finished and had a very quiet evening, accompanied by a bottle of Veuve Cliquot of course.  The taxi comes early tomorrow so I'll be posting this in the evening. Tomorrow night we sleep in Denver for the first time in a year, at least I do.  Cheers.
I will post one more entry after we get home, thanks for your patience and perseverance in following our blog.

Suddenly Last Weekend 2-20 & 2-21-16

This weekend was going to be a busy one for us but alas I was a little under the weather on Saturday so we stayed in until it was time to go to dinner at our friend's, Renaud & Francine Lambert, house. We were having dinner with them and also Francoise Leenhardt and Pierre-Yves Mauguen our other two friends in Paris.  It was to be an early dinner because Francoise and Pierre-Yves were leaving for a visit to Lapland in northern Finland early the next morning.  When we got to their house we still had about 10 minutes before we were supposed to arrive (damned Americans), so we walked down a couple streets and bought some flowers as a house gift.
Dinner was very enjoyable and the company was stimulating, engaging, and very convivial.  This is something that people who don't know the French can't fathom, they are warm and friendly people. The notion that Parisians are cold and arrogant may be true, but we have yet to see it and frankly we know many Americans who are cold and arrogant as well.   We laughed and argued and had generally a great time.  At the end of the evening we were over an hour later than Francoise and Pierre-Yves told us they had to leave and we could have carried on for a much longer time. Truth to tell I was the weakest link last night due to my indisposition earlier in the day.   We've been to two friends homes this year, Julia and Jose in Raphel, and Renaud and Francine here in Paris and we feel as if we're part of the family due to their many kindnesses.  That is the mark of a wonderful year.

Today, Sunday, we needed a small shopping to get us through Monday so we went over to our markets to pick up a couple things and to say goodbye.   We went to our cheese seller, Ferme de Chloe, where we were warmly wished a 'bon voyage' and  'a la prochaine fois' until the next time. Then we went by the butchers and wished them all the best as well.  Tomorrow we will go over to our baker and say goodbye to them. It's not without some wistfulness that we are leaving people with whom we've become familiars.  There were little gifts all the time, like 'try this little cheese, you'll really like it', that will never happen in the U.S. and we'll miss that.
After shopping we decided that we'd go out with a bang so we headed over into the 15th arr. and went to a brocante market.  The addiction is too great to fight, and we only have a couple days left,  So it was a long Metro ride with 2 connections but we got there relatively quickly.  A 5 minute walk had us at one end of the market, and we started down one side looking in every booth.  Deb came up with another couple couverts right off the bat so she was quite happy.   There was a little antiques shop located along the length of the market and they were open so I went in to look around.  I found a little print of Paris, by an artist whom we already have in our collection, and since it was next to nothing I picked it up as a little present for Deb.
On the way home we stopped to look at a medieval cloister located along our bus route where they were holding a small art exhibition.  We've wanted to see the cloister for quite a while and there was really no time to put if off any longer.

Deb's comments February 20, 2016

* Rainy morning. The days are getting noticeably longer which is lovely for us as we're out wandering around, saying goodbye to the city.
* All the sale signs are down, shopkeepers peeling "solde" lettering off windows. The signs all went up in one night and now they've all come down in one swell foop almost as quickly. I have a hunch a few boutiques are dallying, hoping for some stranglers to come by and relieve them of a bit more stock. The windows are now full of spring and summer clothes, their colors vibrant against the somber winter sky. It makes me think of the Tolkien quote, where Bilbo speaks of "winter coming without a spring that I shall ever see." I'm glad the daffodils and primroses and flowering plums came early this year to give me a taste of a Paris spring that I will not see.
*Our feelings of sadness at leaving Paris are offset by our happiness at going home to see family and friends (and that valuable cat) whom we've missed so much. As always, I have a million ideas of things I'd like to do, people I want to see, projects I want to start when I get home. My energy never quite lives up to my plans, and the discrepancy is growing with the years.
*We're going for dinner tonight at the home of one of the couples we met on a walk. These are the folks who came to our apartment for lunch in January. We'll be joined by the couple who sponsor the musical evenings. It should be fun - they are all great company - and I'll love getting to see one of the houses in that part of Paris. Private houses are just disappearing in Paris as land prices dictate apartment buildings.
*Our 26th and probably final visit to the Louvre yesterday (at least for this trip - hope springs eternal). And, no, we haven't seen it all. Wandered into some lower level rooms of great Coptic stuff that we'd never been aware of before. Like Paris, the Louvre always has more to do, more to see, than we can manage. How much we've enjoyed this year of being Amis du Louvre. Maybe I'll frame my Ami du Louvre card along with my Friend of the Prado one. I think they may be as meaningful to me as my master's degree. They've been just a different sort of grad study.
*One of my very few regrets about this year, which I've mentioned before, is that we didn't get to take language classes. I'd have loved to have worked on my tenses, all of which seemed to trickle ot my years each time I tried to use them in conversation.  But I've got to admit that our stumbling French has served us well. I've been reminiscing about all the lovely conversations and interactions we've had, and I'm glad we persevered, babbling on despite making fools of ourselves and offending the ears of everyone around us. So many locals have complimented us for making the effort - although one restaurant owner chided us for not making more progress in a year (and offered to help) and he was right. All in all, though, we've spoken well enough to get by and well enough to mostly understand what's going on and well enough to make contact with people. Well enough.
* One of the conversations that set off my reminiscences was a quite recent one. We'd just visited our dentist for a last crown height adjustment (just walking through the huge doors into the unexpected tranquility of the beautiful green courtyard of his apartment building would be reason enough) and had asked him for a nearby restaurant recommendation. He suggested a bistro across the street, saying it was not remarkable food, but all made in house and pleasant. We went over and had a lovely time. Warren has mentioned it. It was another in our "rude waiters of Paris" litany. The waiter was our age, dressed impeccably in black vest and trousers with a long white apron. He couldn't have been nicer. When he heard we were patients of Dr. Cohen, he said he was, too, and had known the doc for over 25 years. As we were eating, Madame La Patronne (the owner and another client of the doctor's) stopped by to chat and make sure everything was ok. She was elderly, thin and very active, tweaking table settings and making sure patrons had whatever they wanted. She complimented our "bel accent" and was interested to hear about Colorado, only knowing the usual 3 American destinations, NY, Florida and California. She was pleased that we had enjoyed the bistro's homemade Paris-Brest dessert and assured us that they were made in house that morning. We had no doubt.
*We speculated on our waiter's opinion of the outfit of the only female waiter in the bistro. All the males, young or old were in the traditional - and disappearing - uniform of starched white shirt, black vest, pants and shoes, covered in a long white apron. The young lady was in trendy jeans and a black wrap-around apron that came down just to the start of her very cute bottom. We wondered if her outfit was a concession to a younger crowd, or just a surrender to the folly of trying to dictate female dress.
*Based on the waiter's age, we took a chance and asked if the bistro had Vielle Prune, a very old fashioned plum-based liqueur of which we're especially fond. His face lit up and he said, of course, it was his favorite digestif and that they had an especially good one. He was right and we spent another lazy hour drinking Vielle Prune and watching the only snowflakes of our year drift by the window. In usual Paris custom, if we'd have chosen to sit there all afternoon, no one would have thought anything of it, or even considered suggesting that they needed the table. It was fitting that the name of the bistro was Le Central - linking Paris with one of our all-time favorite restaurants in Denver. Sadly, Denver's Le Central disappeared during our Paris year. We'll just be left with happy memories of both bistros.  That's enough...
*This will be my last blog entry. Mine have been sporadic and disorganized in contrast to Warren's, but thank you for your many comments and responses. We've enjoyed sharing our eccentric Paris year with you, and hope we'll get to bore you with many more stories when we get home. Looking forward to being back! Fondly, Deb

De-librarying 2-19-16

One of the tasks that we have to take care of is to get rid of all the books that we've acquired that we won't be bringing back.  Not wanting to just throw them away, Deb called the American Library of Paris to see if they would want them, either for their regular library or for their annual book sale. The library said to bring the books over and they would decide what they could take, not an overwhelming response.  But of course they may not want 10 year old paperbacks, etc.  We also called our dentist to see if he would be in, we want to take our copy of "1000 Buildings of Paris" to him as a little parting gift.
So we caught the Metro over to the stop near him and walked over.  He was very touched by the gift and even brought his wife out to see.  She was very charming and we chatted just a bit, it would be fun if they came to Colorado.   But he had a patient waiting so we hurried out to get over to the library.
We got over to Trocadero, which is across the river from the Eiffel Tower and walked over to the library which is a very short distance from it.  The day was sunny and there were many tourists, so we opted for going around rather than through the Champs de Mars.  As I was walking across the bridge on the way to the library, I had a revelation, "I'll never be any younger than I am today, so I guess I am young again in Paris".

When we got to the library and showed them our books they were very congenial and took all of them.   No old Daphne DuMaurier for us, nor Fredrick Forsythe, a good French dictionary, a nice art history, and others like those.
At the end of the street where the library is located is one of the best, if not the
best Art Noveau building in all of Paris so we spent several minutes in admiration.  After that, we were hungry so we caught the bus over to within a couple blocks of Chartier and had yet another 'so long' lunch there (that makes two).

Then in an abrupt about face since we're now in tourist mode we went over to the Louvre and spent a couple hours viewing more rooms that have eluded us until now.  Beautiful objects from the

Egyptian Coptic culture, and a partial re-creation of an ancient Coptic church.  Wonderfully carved column capitals and equally wonderful fragments of Coptic weaving.  I was quite amazed at the amount of fabric fragments that still exist in good enough condition to be displayed.







The last part of the visit was to the Islamic rooms that were displaying objects from the medieval period that may have been the high point of that culture as far as artistic creation goes.  Beautiful 

Isnik pottery, great carpets, impressive metal work in utensils, bowls, armements, and carved stonework dating from the time of the Mugal emperors in India (think Taj Mahal).





It was dark when we left the Louvre so a couple shots to remember our evenings in Paris and our visits to the Louvre.

Nissim-Camondo Finally 2-18-16

Well today we finally made our pilgrimage to the Musee Nissim-Camondo, over by Parc Monceau.  I mentioned it several days ago and we focused today and made it.
Also our dentist mentioned that there was a good restaurant very near him so we tried that today as well, since the park is right there.  It's called  Le Central, so in honor of our 30 year love affair with Le Central in Denver we decided that we would continue the tradition, but here in Paris.  It was just the right decision as the restaurant was very good.  We both had soupe de poisson for the first course and it took us back in time to the week we spent in Normandy chasing the soupe
 de poisson from restaurant to restaurant.  Each one as different as the chef who prepared it and each one delicious, it was almost as if we could look out the window and see the waves coming in from the English Channel.  For the next course Deb had Blanquette de Veau, a dish of veal braised slowly in a cream sauce and served with buttered noodles, while I had Gigot d'Agneau, lightly braised lamb in a brown gravy with Scalloped Potatoes as an accompaniment.  Both were yummy.  Then we shared a Paris-Brest for dessert, more like a hazelnut filled cream puff than the traditional round wheel like pastry, but again yummy.   Not a normal occurrence but today we finished with a digestif, two glasses of Vieille Prune, the plum brandy that we both love so well.  Our waiter beamed with pleasure when we ordered it and said that it was his absolute favorite after dinner drink, and that the one they served in the restaurant was in his opinion one of the best. Sort of a last drink in honor of Le Central in Denver.

Then we walked across the park and went to the museum.  I mentioned before that it was a very wealthy late 19th early 20th century Parisian family that left the house and contents to the Museum of Decorative Arts of Paris after the only son was killed in World War I.  The rest of the family perished in the concentration camps of Germany during WWII.  
The museum is a time capsule of what a wealthy person who was convinced the pinnacle of French design for furniture, painting, printing, and sculpture was the 18th century.  He then backed it up with his purchases of significant works as they came to market.  He was also somewhat obsessive about bring together pieces that had been created together and later dispersed.  In one instance he waited 25 years to buy a second matching commode to go with the one he already owned.   He paid close to 1 million francs for a set of furniture that
 had belonged to Madame de Pompadour at one point and he got it from the estate of Richard Wallace before the rest of the furniture was shipped to London as the basis for the Wallace collection.




A new thing since the last time we visited was the restoration of the kitchen and domestics dining room, it looked like it was right out of Downton Abbey.  So beautiful with the large coal fired range and a large cast iron oven against one wall.  Also the two shelves of large copper cooking vessels ranged along one wall.  Totally modern for the time period.  We also spotted one of the copper pans made by the same company that made the one we bought yesterday, fun.

Some Last Maintenance... I hope 2-17-16

Today I finished cleaning the baseboards, not a big deal and it went quickly.  The next task was to remount the ceiling light in the hall.  For some reason the light started hanging down from the ceiling and it turned out that there was a plastic backing plate above the light which deformed from the heat of the light.  So I went to the hardware store and found some pieces that I could use to remount the light.   However one of the supports for the glass light diffuser also broke and so I'm trying to fix that so see if we can get it put together properly again.  So that's a bit of a bummer at the end.
To take a bit of the frustration out of the process we decided to take a bit of a trip to see the artisanal shop of monasterial products.  It's run by some very nice ladies who volunteer to run the shop.  It's very interesting because there seems to be a little of everything: food, wine, jams, fancy dyed papers, clothing, lace, and even a little room of collectibles.  The last time we were here I found a copper
 pan cover and this time I walked in and found a beautiful little copper sauce pan.  Not the same size as the first one but who cares.  It turned out to be a brand from a business that was very popular about 100 years ago, so this pan is quite old, but it's in great shape.  The best part is that it's pretty small so that Deb could use it pretty easily.
We also picked up a pair of antique monogrammed linen sheets which Deb will use as new drapes in our bedroom at home.  Several years ago we got another pair which Deb made into drapes for our family room and she loves them, so now we will have new drapes in our bedroom.

Tuesdays in the Park 2-16-16

We continued with our moving out tasks this morning, Deb doing more deep cleaning while I took another load of clothing over to the community center.
Afterward we took ourselves down to Bouillon Racine, it's another restaurant on our goodbye tour. It has a beautiful Art Nouveau interior and is one of the 4 or 5 surviving bouillons still active in Paris. They we originally created as working class restaurants where one could get a lunch consisting of a large bowl of soup (bouillon) studded with chunks of meat and bread at inexpensive prices.  Of course it's not that way today anymore but the restaurant still serves really good food at reasonable prices in a period correct setting.  For the starter I had a veloute (soup) of Jerusalem artichokes and mushrooms while Deb had a veloute of Chestnuts and smoked lardons.  Then for the entree Deb had suckling pig with a pureed turnip mash while I had a French pot roast with a pureed carrot mash both very good.  We shared a creme brulee which was light as a feather.
After lunch we spent the balance of the afternoon sitting in the sun at the Luxembourg Gardens. I was amazed at how many people were out in the park today as well.  Evidently we're not the only ones that want to soak up a little sunshine.  Lots of tourists, but also lots of retired people.  Many out with what must have been their grandchildren, who were intent on running off all that
young energy and then feasting on goodies provided by grandmama and grandpapa.   None of the little boats out on the pond but that didn't seem to bother anybody whatsoever.   It was nice to sit in the sunshine and watch all the people enjoying themselves.  I couldn't help but think, "Ah to be in Paris again when I was young", and I wonder if there were others thinking similar thoughts, but there was a pretty cool wind that finally won out.  So we walked down St. Michel to the Seine where we could catch our bus back to the apartment.   Another beautiful day, more like a vacation than before.

Monday Monday 2-15-16

We're engaged in the process of getting ready to come back, so each day there are a few tasks that we try to undertake so that we're not going crazy in the last few days.  Today I took several bags of clothing to the community center nearby that is collecting clothing for the local residents.  I told them I would be bringing more next Monday and they said be sure to do it in the morning because the cutoff was noon.   Deb is doing tasks that I'd probably mess up, like cleaning the oven.  So we spent the morning making a bit of progress.  We didn't expect sunny weather but we got it, although it was pretty cold today with the wind coming from the north.  It's supposed to be close to freezing for the next few nights so the cold will persist.
After lunch we caught the bus down to Hotel Drouot to see if there was any little treasure that might be calling to us.  Additionally, going through the sale rooms tunes a person's eye to all the things that are being offered in the Paris marketplace. Some days you'll see something sold in the auction and then come across it again a few days later at a brocantes shop.  It is almost always the case that you an outbid a dealer at auction for something you really want because they have to mark it up to make a profit.  The only problem is knowing what you're buying and being sure you want it.  So we spent a couple hours looking at the rooms.  Today we inspected Rodin sculptures that will be sold tomorrow. The estimated prices ran from about 60,000 up to 2 million. At these prices they only had about 8 items in the auction, but if they all sold there would be a very nice payday.  It was fun to see the sculptures so closely.
After we did our inspection Deb wanted to go to the fabric stores at the foot of Montmartre, so we went over there next.  The weather was sunny so I balked at spending time in the stores and agreed to meet Deb afterwards for the bus ride home.  I took the little cable car up to the base of the cathedral and took pictures of the city and the people in the area.  Afterward I walked down the stairway and met Deb at the bottom.   We headed back to the apartment and when we got in at 6:00pm it was still light!

Valentine's Day? 2-14-16

Well today was Valentine's day but since we've been "celebrating" it since Friday the impact is somewhat less than it might be.  Maybe more like Groundhog day for us, since we started out by going to a brocante.  It may be our last since we have just over a week left.
Deb found another little Paris medallion which had interested her before but not at the prices being asked.  The market was down near Place de Nation, so it allowed us to take the tram around to Porte de Vincennes and walk about 4 blocks to see it.  The rain held off long enough for us to walk through and look in comfort.  However it started, lightly, just as we finished the last booth.
So we took a few minutes to walk over to Place de la Nation, as Deb has never been over to see it.  It was originally called Place du Trone and was the place where Louis XIV's  new queen, Maria Theresa, was crowned after his marriage, but upon the revolution the name was changed.  It still has the columns that were erected in the original place, of Phillip II and Louis IX.  It was also the place where the guillotine was most active during the revolution.
Once the rain got more serious we headed back to the apartment.  Once there I retrieved out luggage from the storage room and we started the process of seeing if we can get rid of enough clothing to offset the number of tschotskes we've accumulated, it's gonna be close.  Stay tuned.

Musee de la Batellerie 1-13-16

Well we have 10 days before we come back to the U.S. and today we continued our goodbye tour. The last time we came out to see the museum we ended up spending the whole afternoon at La Goelette.  That's the restaurant that sits on an island in the Seine and to reach it you have to ring a bell which summons them to pick you up in a speedboat for the ride over to the restaurant.  
We were determined to see the museum today, it is dedicated to all the barges and bargemen that plied the Seine from time out of mind.   It's so little and quirky that I loved it the first time I visited and I was determined that Deb should see it as well.  So although it was raining (surprise surprise) we caught the metro over to St. Lazare and the boarded the RER train out to Conflans St. Honorine.  We got there just after noon, and of course the museum is closed from noon to two for lunch.  So we caught the next train over to Andresy, where La Goelette is located.  This place is one of our all time favorite restaurants in France, bar none.  So along with the Table of Alonzo down in Provence, La Goelette makes two stellar places that I would go out of my way to enjoy a meal.


Deb started out with an entree of escargot ravioli in a light curry, while I had a house smoked salmon with caviar and clotted cream on buttered toast.  For the plat Deb had a Sole Meuniere and I had Lotte with provencal
 eggplant, tomato, and zucchini.  We then shared a house made  coffee ice cream and Pan Perdu that came from the grandmother of the owner.   But we didn't have the vintage cognacs this time and we were able to get out by 3:00.  So we went to the museum.
I can't explain it but I just love this little museum, it's only about 4 rooms but it has art, barge models, scale model reliefs of locks and bridges, bells, cut aways of barges, medals, pottery, an entire small cross section of river life.  We spent about an hour going through and enjoyed ourselves.  It's just
fascinating to me and Deb came away really entertained as well.