A visit to the 15th an almost unloved arrondisement 4-06-15

Today we returned to the 15th arrondisement to follow up on our first trip when we went to La Ruche.   We had intended to go to the Musee Bourdelle, dedicated to Antoine Bourdelle a sculptor who worked with and studied with Rodin.   Rodin thought highly of Bourdelle and felt that he would be his successor, so no small compliment.




 Because the day was so sunny and warm we decided that we would go to a park and have a picnic, so we headed for the park that was originally the livestock auction and slaughterhouses for Vaugirard, an early village to the southwest of Paris, and since annexed into the 15th.  So we packed chicken sandwiches, a bit of wine, fruit, nuts, and a couple cookies, and plunked ourselves down on a bench in the sun.  Watching people is a large part of the appeal of Paris and this parks was certainly no different.  Families with children, joggers, couples, a sunbather, and older people all out for the air and sun.  So good in fact that we sort of frittered the afternoon away, so we walked back towards Gare Montparnasse to catch a bus home.   Once again we'll put the Musee Bourdelle on the itinerary.

 riding ponies in the park

a crazy oyster wholesaler situated next to the railroad tracks

As we were looking for our bus a young man approached and we expected to be hit up for money or to sign a petition.  Instead what we got was a young Irishman who had arrived in Paris last night around mid-night and spent until 3:00am looking for a room.  He was trying to find the train station where he could catch a train to a town where he was scheduled to perform a bunch of volunteer work. Now he was from Donegal, which is a small town in NW Ireland and had never been in a city as large as Paris and had never taken a subway ride.  He had tried to follow the written instructions to get to the train but they were confusing, very confusing.  While technically correct they must have assumed that you either were familiar with Gare Monparnasse or that you had very good French skills.  Long story short we had a short side trip to help him get to his train, we made it with about 7 minutes to spare.   A very nice finish to a beautiful day.  Good Luck, Danny.

Easter Stroll 4-5-15

Today was a quiet day for us, Deb did some housecleaning and I took a morning walk (is there a pattern here?) and then did the vacuuming of the floors and shaking of the rugs.  My walk took me back into town via the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Canal St. Martin, since the weather was bright, clear, and pretty warm I walked all the way to where our main busline leaves the canal and goes up into the 19th, about a 45 minute walk if one doesn't stop and take pictures along the way. 


But of course I did take pictures and I was frankly amazed at how much the canal has changed since we last walked from Bastille out to Parc de la Villette in 2004, I knew how the canal became really popular but the development that has taken place is unbelievable.   New buildings line the canal all along the canal with just a few older ones still in place.  

2004                          2015






I was walking back when I fell victim to one of the two major street issues that I almost always guard against, specifically don't step where the dogs have left presents and don't stand under trees where pigeons roost and leave deposits as the fly off.  While trying to frame an interesting photo, I must have stood under flock of flying cows and bam I was suddenly tattooed.  I beat a hasty, but late, retreat and went back along the canal to a pub where I purchased a half pint and access to a toilet where I could waste about half their towels washing off the biggest part of my mistake.  When I got back home it was into the washer with my jacket and a bit of relief that none had gone down the back of my neck.

Anyway one I got cleaned up we had a lovely lunch on our little kitchen balcony with roast chicken, olives, celeri remolade, wine and bread.  After which we both took off and walked north on the canal into the suburb of Pantin which is just on the other side of the Perapherique.  After going out for about an hour we crossed the canal and headed back towards the apartment.

  As we got into la Villette we came across a little fete where many vendors and artists, both musical and graphic, were displaying their skills.  One of the stalls was a group of young artists and writers who would give you a portrait and an accompanying poem for a free will offering.  They were really charming and so I dragged Deb back to have her portrait and a poem created.  



Here are the fruits of their efforts and I must say they are very dear to me.   I'm sure they expect to get a few euros for their efforts and are having lots of fun, but they were surprised and asked very pointedly if I knew how much money I had donated.  I assured them that I did and I wished that they would have a few bottles of wine in celebration.   After that we walked home and had a very pleasant evening.

A quiet day before Easter 4-4-15

Today was a fairly quiet day with a few chores and a visit to the Louvre. One thing for certain, it seems that each day the Louvre gets more and more crowded and being the weekend as well it was PACKED!  We were looking at a hotel as a possible place to stay for visitors and then walked from Place Bastille to the Louve through the Place de Vosges and along the Rue Francois Miron to get there. 

The Place de Vosges is one of the oldest planned squares in Paris built in 1605-1612 by Henri IV, with the house fronts all built to the same design.  We've stayed at the small Hotel Place de Vosges a few times on previous visits and have always loved the square.





Further along we turned into the rue Francois Miron which is one of the medieval streets right near the Hotel de Ville.  It has two of the oldest buildings still extant in Paris, 16th century half-timber buildings with leaning walls and loads of charm.  On the corner building is the street sign but right next to it is the remnant of the original street sign cut into the stone and all but obliterated.






This trip to the Louvre took us up to look at Northern European paintings by such luminaries as; Rubens, Franz Hals, David Tenniers,  and Van Dyck among others. 





Rene Descartes by Hals

It was a very relaxing group of rooms that we passed through and along the way I spotted a couple of perhaps 8-9 year old girls taking pictures with their smart phones.   I found it to be quite interesting that they were taking pictures and discussing the paintings, at their age I was still trying to learn how to spell painting let alone talking with someone else about one. 




Tomorrow if the weather is nice we will walk out along the canal to the North to investigate what lies beyond our little corner of Paris.

We're so sorry Uncle Albert, but we haven't done a bloody thing all day. 4-3-15

Today was overcast and rainy off and on, we didn't seem to be able to generate much momentum to get out and around.  We had planned to do some marketing, since this weekend is Easter and many things will be closed.  After which we came back had a bit of lunch and then lazed the afternoon away.   We then had dinner at one of our local restaurants which we really like.  

Given the paucity of our efforts today, I thought you might like a few of our 'American' sort of missteps.

A few days ago we went out and after a 15 minute walk we got to a Metro station and I found that I had forgotten my metro pass, so I had to pay for the roundtrip (rats), so the next day I made sure that I had my pass and to my consternation all public transport was free that day and the next due to a pollution alert.

Another little adventure that turned out not quite right, we decided to go to one of the free organ concerts at St. Eustace near Les Halles.  It has the largest organ in Paris and they give concerts every Sunday before Mass.  Wanting to take advantage of a chance to hear Bach on such an organ we headed downtown and half an hour before the concert got to the church. We went in and a mass was in progress so we quietly went to the back of the cathedral and sat down.  We were there for probably 45 minutes and we sort of figured out that it was Palm Sunday so perhaps things were a bit more long-winded than normal.  Deb perks up and relates how it was the first day of daylight savings and we were more than an hour behind, so we beat a hasty retreat flailing ourselves with palm fronds. 

p,s, this is not St. Eustace, I don't have a picture of that, but it is St. Germain de Pres, the oldest church in Paris.

Slipping into our old bad habits 4-2-15

Well once again we've fallen in to our old bad habits, there is an exhibition of some of the very top antiques dealers showing at the Carrousel du Louvre and we couldn't keep away.  It's not often that you get to see things like Renoir, Boudin, Rodin, Masson, and others where if you have the money you can take them home.  However, the tariffs are a bit high for instance there was a perhaps 20 square inch 16th century Dutch landscape priced at 105,000 euros.  A bit out of our league.  

After the show we stopped at the restaurant of a man whom we'd met another night at another restaurant where he was dining with his mother.   Somehow we struck up a conversation with the mother and the next thing you know we had an invite to his restaurant as well.   What a nice little restaurant definitely out of the way on a small place, Place Sainte Marthe, up in the 19th.  Deb had her first burger (a la francais) while I had a bit of lamb that had been slowly cooked for 8 hours which was very tasty, but I tend to like lamb a bit more rare.  Since the owner, Xavier, was not there at the time we will have to reacquaint ourselves at another time, still fun and not expensive.

Musee de Rodan 4-01-15

Today we went to Musee de Rodan, he's a very famous sculptor of the

early 20th century.  It's a fairly small museum on the left bank in the 6th Arr. that has his studio, home, and garden.  We had continuing windiness today so we're still searching out museums where we can be inside or have a sheltered outside area.  The Delacroix museum has a garden like that and this museum has one as well.  I really love his work and he was right in the thick of things with the leading lights in Parisian art and sculpture of that time period.   I've highlighted a few of his works here.   Hope you enjoy them.



Across the street from St. Germain de Pres


















This has been compared to a sculptural Guernica, but made for a town in the Netherlands that was bombed and heavily damaged by Germany during WWII

A couple of his studies for larger sculptures which I don't think were ever cast in a larger format, however I'm not certain.









One more below:





APRIL FOOLS!!!!  It's actually the Musee Zadkine, Ossip Zadkine a very well known Russian sculptor who was active from the 20's through the 60's.

 Rodan is actually a large Japanese monster.  See we're not the only Ploucs

We Three Kings of Rennaisance are ! 3-31-15

We went to the Musee de Luxemborg today to see an exhibition on the Tudor regents of England, from Henry VII through Elizabeth I and I thought how interesting that we have now seen portraits of all three kings, England, France, and Spain from the 15th Century.  Specifically, Henry VIII, Francis I, and Charles V of Spain and Austria.   So here for your viewing pleasure are their portraits. 

Henry VIII

Francis I

Charles V Charles V bis 

 Of course, Charles V was from our trip to Spain a few years back but what the hey....   The two exhibitions here in Paris have been really interesting to see.  Famous portraits of Francis I, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and  Elizabeth I,  all in one place so no need to traipse all over the map to see them.  A big plus was seeing the Holbein drawings which in my opinion are some of the loveliest works on paper I've ever seen.