A BIG Surprise just south of Paree! 5-7-15

Over the years we have been sort of schizophrenic about France.  When we're in Paris we focus on things Parisian, and when we're out of Paris then we focus on the provincial parts of life.  

Today we broke the mold a bit and took a trip out to Fontainebleau, and one word, WOW, describes it.  We started out with a 2 bus line ride down to Gare de Lyon, and then a Transileian (sp?) train out to Avon which is the town that abuts Fontainebleau.  We purchased our monthly passes beginning this month with coverage for all 5 zones around Paris because we will be ferrying out to Chas. De Gaulle airport for visitors a bunch in the next couple months and Fontainebleau is just at the outer edge of the 5th zone so the trip was no extra charge.


This is in the Chateau, so what sort of "serious game" are we talking about here?


We were aware of Fontainebleau but just reading about it doesn't really prepare one for the actuality, it seems to be on a scale of Versailles but without the inevitable tourist traffic that Versailles generates.   Building commenced around the time of Francois 1st in the early 1500's and continued up into the mid 1800's with the last king/emperors of France.   So there is a mélange of styles in architecture and furnishings covering the entire period.  Today we visited the "Grand Apartments" where one can visit without being on a guided tour.   In the course of 4 hours we visited perhaps 25-35 rooms out of the 1900 that are in the whole complex.   The first set of rooms showed the Papal apartments where Napoleon hosted Pope Pius VII for his coronation, the first time and then brought him back as a "visitor" for a few years after they had a falling out (after which Napoleon sacked Rome and the Vatican).  We then saw a beautiful gallery that was constructed by Francois with the requisite allegorical telling of Francois' great virtues (so sunny). 

The next set of rooms were focused on Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and spouses.   It was fun to see Napoleon's throne room, bedroom, and staff planning rooms.  We also saw the Empress Josephine's bedroom, very sumptuous.


We then walked in the English garden adjoining the chateau, probably 60 acres, which is a tiny portion of the overall grounds, it's immense!  We will be taking guests out here as opposed to Versailles because the rooms are more interesting and the tourists are less visible (so far). 

We also reconnected with one of the gentlemen we met in our first week when we went to the Foire au Chatou, the brocantes fair in Rueil-Malmaison.  He has a business that provides carriage rides throughout the grounds, so it will be fun to see them from a carriage next time and save our footsore selves a bit of walking.

Science & Metiers 5-6-15

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Science and Metiers, which is dedicated to all things mechanical and scientific.  It is housed in a 15th century chapel and several other 17th century adjoining buildings.  It has such a wide range of interesting things from models of various old vehicles, locomotives, ships, & buildings to Louis Bleriot's monoplane that was the first airplane to fly across the English Channel and Foucault's pendulum.  It traces optics, steam power, computing, building trades,etc. a wonderful collection of entrancing objects from all the métiers (trades), and branches of science.

A steam-powered bat-winged flying machine

Beginning of the week, 5-4 & 5-5-15

On the 4th, Monday, Deb wanted to clean as we had one more visit from our gardener to finish an installation for a new tree.   So I headed out for a few hours to investigate the brocante market that we visited a week or so back,  the Marche de Biffins.  It is a madhouse on the outer edges, with people of all ethnicities jostling for a spot to display their stuff or for a spot to look at them.  Definitely a prime place for pickpockets if you're not paying attention.  There were two mounted police just on the edge of the melee.   It's up near the Porte de Montmartre on the edge of Paris proper just inside the Perapherique; ring road.  It turned out to be much more extensive than we had imagined when we last visited because right next to it is the Marche Paul Bert. 
We wandered into Paul Bert a bit the last time, but today I turned a few corners and wandered in to Aladdin's chest.  There have to be over 100 small brocantes in small shops under one roof and perhaps another 75 in another covered space.  They offer many levels of merchandise from vinyl records up to original art, antiques, and architectural objects, in all price levels.  WOW it's big I tell ya.




On the 5th Deb and I got out earlier and made our way to the Musee de Marmottan/Monet.  This museum is on the west side of Paris very near the Bois de Bolougne.  It houses the best collection of Monet water lily paintings in the world as well as a collection of somewhat lesser known works by Monet.  Today it also had a temporary exhibition of the role of the "toilette", or bathing in art.  It began with the 15th century and went up through contemporary pieces done in the last few years.  They don't allow any photography so unfortunately there will be no pictures from this museum but suffice to say that it's well worth any time you can spend here.

An issue addressed, so tally-ho 5-5-15

Yesterday 5/4/15 I created a bit of a problem by cleaning up my internet cookies/history etc. in that I couldn't get connected to the blog to do updates.  This cleanup was the result of my not being able to upload pictures.   I spent the better part of the evening and next morning trying to get connected, but to no avail.   So I resorted the google help and eventually discovered that the email address I used to create this blog was not the original one I have for my normal email.  Dummy!  I did this so I could get a new bit of space for this blog.  At some point during the year I'll likely need to have another email address to keep going but we'll address that when needed.

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Weekend of 5-2 & 5-3-15

(Ed. note; I saw a message that the text for the entry "Deb talks about food again 5-14-15" was showing black text which made it very difficult to read.  I fixed this today)

This weekend was a rainy one from Friday until late afternoon Sunday, when it finally cleared up.  But we were undeterred in our weekend quest which was to go to the Brocante market at the Porte de Vanves.  I mentioned before that brocante's are small time dealers of antiques and collectibles, like we did for a few years in the 90's.  They are always a treat to visit because of the wide range of interesting things to look at and in some cases purchase.  This weekend was no different except that it was in a light, and sometimes not so light, rain.   Most of the dealers are prepared and have covered booths so a light rain is not much problem, but the heavier rains are a different story.  Sunday it caused several to pack up really early, I think because things were getting a bit wet but also because the number of customers was fairly small.  And the marches are over at 2:00pm each day leaving several hours of time for seeing other things.

On Saturday after the marche we rode a bus up to the Gare Montparnasse where we got off and made our way to the Musee Bourdelle.  If you'll recall we've attempted to visit this museum about 4 times before and each time we got off on another tangent.   Well today there was no interim interference to keep us from our goal and we made it to the museum.   Bourdelle was at one point a student of Rodin and was hailed by that master as the next bearer of the torch.   He was very prolific and created sculptures from the merely small to the monumentally large for many buildings in France and throughout Europe.  He is also represented in the Denver Art Museum collection.  


Interestingly they have many bronze castings of his work but in addition they have the full-size plaster models from which the castings were created.  All in all a very worthwhile museum to see.







On Sunday, in keeping with the momentum we had following Saturday's success, we made another visit to the Louvre.  On this visit we saw several rooms of paintings from French painters of the 19th century which were donated by two farseeing French collectors.   The Louvre had neglected to collect these artists during their formative years and therefore had no collection to speak of so the donations of the two collectors were very timely.   Basically the painters were painting in the tradition named Romanticism, so heavy on the emotional content.   One of the best known romantic painters was Delacroix but another very important painter was Camille Carot.  Carot was very influential on the Impressionists and his paintings really broke the chokehold of the Fountainbleu school on the usages of light and color.  In addition he made definite moves towards painting, "en plein aire",  outside the studio in the environment.  Those of you familiar with what Deb and I collect will see the affinity with the paintings we collect, just 20 years earlier.

One problem for us is that once it clears up we're completely overdressed,  so Sunday afternoon once the sun came out we turned into sweaty messes.   Layers came off and got stuffed in to the backpack, which helped considerably.

May Day post from Deb, May 1st, 2015

***Today is May Day, one of the most important holidays in France. It is sort of the equivalent of Labor Day in the US, with workers parades and political demonstrations but with lots of other nice, Spring-oriented traditions as well. One in particular is associated with the Ile de France, the "state" that Paris is in. The tradition started when a medieval French king, Charles IX, was given lilies of the valley (muguet de bois) on May 1st, 1561. He found them charming and decided to give bouquets of them to ladies of the court the next May Day. Fast forward to current Paris: florists specially raise pots of muguet, and people in surrounding rural areas go out specially to pick them and send them into Paris for May Day. In the city, charitable and labor groups sell them on street corners to raise money. Their lovely scent was in the air all over today, especially noticeable on the Metro trains, with people taking all sorts of bouquets of them to friends and family. Warren and I bought each other bouquets from a cute elderly couple who swore they had picked them in the woods this very morning. Whether or not that was just good salesmanship, the scent of them in the apartment is delightful.

***Another rainy, windy day today. Our dear landlady, Carol, had warned us that April & May in Paris could be "dreary" so we were forewarned. We just bundle into our rain gear and plug along. Today, since virtually everything is closed for the holiday, we went for a leisurely walk in the huge Parc de Vincennes. This park is a huge, forested area that used to be a royal hunting preserve. As you walk into the walking lanes, the sounds of the city just fade away. The undergrowth of the forested areas is hip-high with ferns, grasses, brambles and young trees. Wild flowers are everywhere, and many, many that I don't recognize. Did see little wild strawberries (fraises de bois) blooming happily along the edge of the path. I'm betting with all the many birds in the park, no human ever gets to taste one. But I have faith that they'll show up in June in little wooden boxes at my fruiterer.


***We finally made our way to the Chateau of Vincennes on one edge of the park, toward which we had been vaguely rambling. We got so turned around on the various pathways, that the Chateau seemed to keep receding link like the legendary grail. After finally asking directions, we found the chateau and were amazed at its beauty and size. It has a moat, a keep, a church - the whole castle-y set of accoutrements. We'll go back when it's open.




***I dearly love the interludes in the parks. The greenery seems to be a "vitamin G" for my mind. But my enthusiasm is nothing compared to the apartment-bound dogs who get to visit on weekends and holidays. We saw three today who were transported with ecstasy at being able to just run and run in a big open field. One beagle-ish youngster was absolutely trembling with excitement as she waited obediently to be unhooked from her leash and freed to join the turn-and-turn-about chasing all over the field. With a lumbering hound of some sort, the young beagle and a lithe whippet there was every range of speed and agility. So fun to see such transports of delight.

***Paris has so many trees in bloom now that whole streets are lined with huge, high flowers and there are petals in the air and carpeting the sidewalks til they clump in sodden drifts, wet from the rain and bruised from feet. About the only blooms I recognize are lilacs, some with bushes as big as trees, others two feet high in pots on apartment balconies. All are luxurious with bloom, and the scent is dizzying. I wish I knew how the French got theirs to bloom so prolifically. I think of my mom, Warren's mom and my aunt Mary and how much they loved the lilacs. A nice remembrance of some nice ladies.

Another day another visit, Carnavalet revisited 4-30-15

Today it's rainy and cool and expected to continue for several days.   We are having a new maple tree delivered by the man who provides plants and maintenance for the patio garden in our apartment.  So while Deb waited I did a little shopping, as tomorrow is May 1st a national holiday.   While I was out the men arrived with the tree.  We expected that they may take a couple hours, but it turned out to be less than 45 minutes.   We are short one washer for the automatic irrigation but definitely one small fix away from having a completed garden.   Deb has been buying plants (surprised?) to complement the flowering bushes and trees, so we'll have a colorful deck through the summer.

After the tree was done we had a bit of lunch and headed back to the Musee Carnavalet, to pick up where we left off yesterday.  So today we focused on the 19th century and the pre-historic and roman times in Paris.

It was very interesting to see the documents that essentially ended Napoleon's French empire and set the stage for the return of the French kings with alternating republics when there would be an internal revolt and the kings thrown out.   











The wanted poster for Napoleon upon his return to France after escaping from captivity



Also very interesting were the artifacts from 4500bce up to the Roman era.   It was a bit disjointed from a temporal approach but who cares, we are after all Flaneurs.



Roman Plumbob