BooHoo We're Derailed Again 8-6-15

Today started out with lots of sun and a little breeze to keep things cool for a bit, so we took our bus down to the Place des Bourse to attend a marche aux brocantes.  But wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be a misprint or something because there was absolutely nothing going on when we got there. We walked around a couple blocks to be sure that the map mark on google maps was not placed carelessly, but still no luck.   But we did have a nice walk through the Passage du Panorama, one of the popular passages (covered alleys) along the Grand Boulevards.

 We had lunch at a new place which we will divulge later after we've had a bit of time to research it.

Then we made the decision to divert to the Louvre for a few hours to see some things that have been bypassed before in our determination to either view other things ourselves or because we've been with guests who wanted to see other things.  Today we spent time going through several rooms of Greek and Roman sculpture.  At one extreme end of this set of rooms is displayed the Venus de Milo, we've taken several trips either to see here or by her on our way to other things but we've never spent time in the rooms leading from the main entry up to her plinth.

It is the case that if you can only see a few top selections you would likely only spend time seeing her, but we have time and membership on our side so today was the perfect day to see it all in detail.  As usual for summer it was crowded but mostly at the end with the Venus, so we had a very enjoyable viewing of the other rooms.   A goodly number of Greek sculpture interspersed with Roman copies from earlier Greek bronzes.  

I really loved seeing the busts of Alexander, Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle done by Lysippus one of the famed Greek sculptors from around 300 BCE.

Hot bus ride back to the apartment.

WooHoo We're on a roll again 8-5-15

Today we took up the challenge and went to a new small museum, the Musee Cernuschi.  It's a small museum abutting the Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondissement specializing in Asian art, specifically, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.  The collection begins with artifacts from around 2500 BCE and goes up to around 1200 CE, but it also has art works from the last 10 years donated by current members of the friends of the museum.


We caught one of our predictable buses across town and when we got into the neighborhood, we got off and found a boulanger where we purchased sandwiches, drinks, and desserts.  Next we went into the parks and found a shady bench to sit and eat (broken record but we enjoy it).   The Parc Monceau is really a little gem of a park because it contains what the British term a "folly",  a modern construction that mimics a ruin from classical antiquity.  As you walk through the park you see many bits of "ruin" scattered throughout the park.   It's also a very affluent part of town so the denizens are more chic than the ones in Buttes Chaumont, lots of joggers and sunbathers in stylish attire.




After lunch we went into the museum for our visit.  It is small but the stuff they have is very impressive.  I loved the rooms of Chinese bronze vessels dating from 2500 BCE up through the Tang dynasty, same thing with the fired clay objects, just first rate.  The surrealists of the 20th century have nothing on the inventiveness of the ancient Chinese in terms of  fantastic beings.  Also almost overwhelming were the large pair of cloisonne vases just inside the entry room, with their handles representing what appear to be bats.


After our museum visit we spent another hour or so in the park just enjoying all the people.  There was another cadre of ponies for the little children to ride around the park on, pretending like they were riders out on the steppes of Asia, or at least the Bois de Boulogne.

Interestingly, this place was the site of the first parachute jump in the 18th century.



Another hot day made us really want to linger before getting on the bus for a hot ride home.
Deb made a lovely dinner of Dorade Royale with a vegetable medley which we washed down with chilled Rose.   Nice day, this.

A Day for Recharging 8-4-15

Since everyday can't be a highlight, even though everyday is like Tuesday when you're retired we decided to spend part of the day in our own park in our own arrondissement.  So we walked over to the Parc Buttes Chaumont, it is the park created in the 1860's by Napoleon III when this part of town was being developed (around the same time as Denver, with very different results).  Anyway the park was build in an old quarry and the butte itself is entirely man-made.   Just across the street from the park is a brasserie, Le Napoleon III, where we had lunch.  It was less expensive and frankly better than the lunch we had yesterday at La Grande Epicerie.   As Deb commented even the water tasted better.   They have an outstanding Tarte aux Pommes (apple tart).

After lunch we walked over to the park and found a bench in the shade where we could sit and read for a couple hours.  These parks are so great because all the people who live in apartments come here to sit out, and picnic or just sunbathe, with their children and dogs.  It is an unending source of visual amusement and pleasure to watch little children playing in the park, no cares, no worries, pure joy. We heard one little boy explaining to his littler sister that those little black balls there in the grass were "poop".  Today we found out another interesting fact about our park and that is; the suspension bridge that connects one side of the island butte to the park was designed and built by Gustave Eiffel.

After our interlude we walked down to our shopping area and bought provisions since we're running low at the apartment.  Our wine merchant is now on the August closing so we won't see him again until late this month.    Our cheese vendor closes on the 15th for almost 2 weeks.  I mentioned that our baker will be closed until the 31st.  Luckily for us, our butcher will be open the entire time, so we won't have to resort to supermarket meat.  The dog days of summer in Paris are here.

And Now for Something New, a day focused on food! 8-3-15

Since we arrived here we have made going to see La Grande Epicerie one of our goals.  So only 6 months later we finally made it.  It is part of the Bon Marche flagship store located in the 7th west of St. Germain des Pres and very close to what used to be our favorite restaurant in Paris, Le Recamier, but is no longer in business.  We passed by the store a few weeks back on one of our walks but it was a Sunday and thus it was closed.  It is one of the premier market shopping experiences in Paris by reputation and I must say it's quite a nice place to visit.   We started out by having lunch in the little cafe in the basement. The appetiser, a riff on tomatoes and burrata, was only mediocre because the tomatoes were barely ripe.  One would think that a French cafe, in a store that hypes it's fresh vegetables, would have a better selection.  But the plats were very yummy, I had a pave which is a small thick rectangular steak, and was cooked just the red juicy way I prefer while Deb had a filet of Dorade, a french fish and it was nicely prepared as well.

After lunch we wandered throughout the store and were quite impressed with it's offerings.  They bring in fresh produce, poultry, and meat from all over France, but they also have offerings from all over the world.  They had both Coors Light and Budweiser in the beer section, of course they also had Budvar Budweiser from the Czech republic as well.   The beers from the U.S. and Mexico are tres cher (expensive) here.   Overall I would venture to say that anyone who enjoys going to a big Whole Foods store in the U.S. would be comfortable here.  
The big difference would be the depth of selection, where WF might have two products, the Grande Epicerie will have 20 to choose from.  And the lower level aside from the cafe is devoted exclusively to wine and spirits, good stuff.

It was another hot day today so we left the air conditioned store and immediately headed for the small park that fronts the building so sit in the shade and acclimatize for the trip home.  A young woman was sunning herself on one of the benches, very chic in her black shift and combat boots, but hey it's Paris.  It's a pretty easy hop with one transfer on the Metro so in a little over 30 minutes we were walking to the apartment.

We had a warm evening to sit on deck and admire the night views.  We also were awakened in the night with a couple energetic rain storms which cooled things off very nicely.

Is that the Fat Lady? 8-2-15

Today being Sunday we decided a more leisurely pace was indicated so Deb put together a little picnic and we made our way down to the Tuileries for a lunch in the shade.   Our timing on the bus was good so we had only a short wait to board and in no time we decamped at the Eastern end of the Louvre.  We made our way through the arches and through the courtyards and into the Tuileries.

As one passes the Arch du Carrousel there are two flanking little areas that are raised above the street level and in each raised area are a border of trees with benches under them so that there is shade to be had throughout the day.  When we arrived many of the shaded benches were taken while the ones in the sun were deserted, so we shared a shady bench with a woman and read until another shady bench was available at which point we moved to our own bench.   We sat for a while reading and then took our pastoral repast (lunch),  sandwiches, wine, and fruit, perfect for a warm day.
There are a number of crows that hang out around this area and they are fun to watch when someone offers them a bit of food, one will be walking around soliciting and if it gets an offering suddenly there are 12 or 15 buddies that are hanging out with him.  I succumbed with a bit of bread and had a good time watching the interactions as they jockied for the food.

After a while an Asian woman came wandering through looking for a place to eat lunch and we offered her one end of our bench.  That started a conversation and we found that she was a citizen of France and had lived here for over 40 years.  Her family is Chinese and had lived in Cambodia, during the Pol Pot regime her parents sent her to boarding school in Paris and she has lived here ever since.   Sadly most of her family perished at the hands of Pol Pot.   She married a Frenchman and has a son of about 25 years old.   She has travelled in the U.S. and has been to California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado.   She works as a tour guide for Chinese tourists and helps them to adjust to French culture.  A lovely person.
After our lunch and visit with Phang, we walked further into the gardens and found another shady spot to sit and read,  interestingly we seemed to be surrounded by Brits, it sounded more like Hyde Park than Paris.  The people watching is really interesting, people in every costume imaginable from just about any ethnic group you could imagine.

A little later we decided to go and tour the Opera Garnier building, a masterpiece of Rococo excess. Completely over the top, there doesn't appear to be a single expanse that is not decorated in some manner or other.  We were able to visit quite a large portion of the public area including the actual theater itself, but nothing backstage.  They have an interesting picture gallery and library, where set designs and musical books are displayed along with portraits of prominent personnages associated with the opera house.  We are resolved to get tickets and see some performance(s) this fall when the season begins again, just for the experience.  And of course, to see the Fat Lady Sing.

Many steps today 8-1-15

Today, being Saturday, we located a Marche Brocante (collectors fair) and took the bus down close to the Paris Observatory.  This one is at the extreme Southern end of the esplanade extending down from the Luxembourg Gardens.  We visited the site when our friend Don was in Paris in July.  This one was smaller than many but still some interesting things to see.  We've decided to see if we can locate some more inexpensive prints put out by Cadart in the late 19th century.  They were an attempt to bring 'fine art' to less affluent citizens of that period and are interesting artifacts of the time.   I ignorantly bought one at a Hotel Drouot auction not long ago and we became interested in them.  No luck today though.   We perused the offerings with limited success, Deb bought a couple spoons to use in the apartment inexpensively.

After our visit we wanted to have lunch, so we looked at the offerings across the street at the Closerie de Lilas, a historic brasserie/restaurant made famous in the 30's by hosting luminaries such as Hemingway.   But we didn't fancy spending 100-200 euros for lunch so we walked up Boulevard Montparnasse towards Gare Montparnasse perusing menus along the way.  By the time we had reached the Tour Montparnasse we decided we would try one of our favorite seafood restaurants,   Of course it was closed for their fermeture annuelle so we had to go to plan B and that is no great hardship.

Just a couple blocks further on is Atelier 102, a small restaurant specializing in risotto, they serve it in probably 15 different varieties, some with seafood, some with meat, and some vegetarian so every taste can be addressed.  And it is much less expensive than our first two investigations.  So we had a delicious little lunch, melon with Jamon Serrano, a risotto with steak, peppers, and mushrooms, and finally a shared Panna Cotta with red fruit.  Couple that with a Cote de Languedoc villages and it makes a satisfying lunch.

After lunch we made our way to the North, up to the Invalides (Napoleon's tomb) and through the grounds to the Seine.  Then over to the Orangerie, a small museum at the Southwest corner of the Tuileries.

This is where, since the early 1900's, Monet's large water lily murals, the Nympheas, have been displayed.  They are in two large rooms and are composed of 8 murals approximately 8 feet tall by from 20 to perhaps 50 feet in length.  They are breathtaking in their composition and serenity. Some of the earliest examples of full on abstraction to be seen I believe, but he added just enough reality to meet the demands of the Parisian eye of that time period.   After an hour or so in these rooms we descended into the lower part of the building to see a fabulous collection of early 20th century impressionist and post impressionist works.   Renoir to Soutine, with a bit of Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, Derain and Laurencin thrown in for good measure.   We will be coming back here for a more indepth visit, since we were booted out by the closing hours.   Great museum and we get in for free because of our Musee D'Orsay membership, Score!

After our visit we took a few minutes to sit in the Tuileries and people watch before heading to our bus to return home.    On the way we had a very nice conversation with a young couple from Madrid who stopped us to ask for directions (HA!) in Spanish, so we ended up spending several minutes in a tri-lingual conversation to help them with answers, lovely people.  We walked quite a fair distance today from the 13th through the 6th and 7th into the 1st arrondissements.

Deb's Six Month Ruminations 7-31-15

Six months already!

*Holy Parisian Cow! We've been here half a year. The time has just evaporated. Yet I look back and we've done so many things that I know we weren't letting any grass grow under our feet. (I'm currently into pastoral motifs.)

*A dear friend, Mary Schreiner, just asked me what we miss, being here. The answer that immediately leapt into my mind is that we miss our friends. Miss just being able to ring you up and go to dinner and spend an evening visiting. Miss knowing what-all you're doing. Thank you a gazillion times for your emails. I love hearing your "voice", however electronic.

*And silly as I'm sure it sounds I miss our cat, Mapie. A house without a cat is soul-less. Elizabeth has been so kind, sending photos of our fur-friend, but I miss patting a furry belly, and miss the thump-thump of her jumping on the bed in the darkness, then a warm purring presence by my side (Warren's purrs are somewhat less euphonious.) Miss her presence and consciousness, especially when I'm puttering with the plants. How can one garden without cat supervision?

*Miss getting books at the library. Books, especially English books, are expensive and not widely available here, and, old codger that I am, I haven't completely adapted to electronic books. Especially for art books. I miss the luxury of getting a dozen books at the library and guiltlessly abandoning any that didn't suit me.

*Miss my yoga class, the discipline and direction of a teacher. I'm sporadic and haphazard in my practice, forgetting many poses.



Warren really misses his bicycling, both the exercise and camaraderie. The biking is one of the areas that certainly didn't work out like we'd thought.

*But overall, that's really all I can think of missing. Perhaps it's because I know this is an interlude. It's not where we live, and soon (much too soon, I'm thinking) we'll be back. So if we miss Mexican food, we make do with spicy Thai. If it's an ordeal to buy a certain bolt, I'm glad it isn't my house and that I only have to deal with trivial home issues here. We're just enjoying the exotic pleasures of being here, trying to drink them in without being totally overwhelmed.

*Among the things I don't miss:

*My asthma. Even though the air here is much dirtier than Denver, my lungs don't recognize this "foreign" dirt and I've had a blessed 6 months without one wheeze, and very few coughs in the morning. What fun!

*Driving as much as I'm used to. All the walking here has just been wonderful. I do have to admit, though, that recourse to a car when you're not up to par is a lovely luxury.

*Watching much TV. We only get news & business channels in English, and they repeat themselves endlessly after about 20 minutes. Watching the French channels taxes our limited language skills and requires concentration. So all in all, we've pretty much eliminated mindless viewing. I did watch an hour of a Harry Potter movie the other evening and it was great sport to be able to figure out almost all of the dialog. Who knew a wand was a "baguette"?