Still Mixing 9-7-15

After the visit to the Railway agents yesterday we decided to see if we could get tickets any more cheaply than what they offered.  Our reasoning being that if we get the passes, believe it or not, our flexibility is somewhat diminished due to where we want to go, plus we have to reserve seats on each train at an additional expense with passes, and finally the prices are so close either way that research may be beneficial. Whew.
At any rate what we found was that by buying the tickets through the German railway system it appears that we can save significant money, like 300 euros, on the first two legs from Paris to Berlin and from Berlin to Prague.  Enough to defray at least part of the cost in Berlin, so we're off to see the DB Bahn agents tomorrow.
After a bit of anguish over the whole process, we grabbed a bus and went to another brocante (aren't you surprised).  This one was on Rue Cler, a street that figures significantly on Rick Steves' travel shows of Paris.  We have had so many good experiences with Rick's suggestions on restaurants that we felt it would be fun to see the street and a bonus to see a brocante at the same time.  When we got to the street we spent a few minutes viewing a few booths and then went to a small brasserie for a spot of lunch, after which we went through the entire market and enjoyed the coolness of the day.

More Mixed Day 9-5-15

Today was another mixed day only more so.  Our goal today was to get a rail pass, if possible and economical, down at Gare de Lyon.   We got a bit of a late start and caught the bus on our way to the station.  However on the way there was a brocante market taking place right next to Pere Lachaise cemetery. Since it was right along the bus route we decided to get off the bus see the market and then continue down to the station.  We walked the market looking at things but only saw a few things really interesting; a sculpture of an artist with a sculpture in his hand, and a plaster casting of a hand that was likely used in a drawing class, interesting but not riveting.  As we finished the market we decided to make a quick visit to the cemetery as Deb had not been here since we arrived.  It is one of the big tourist draws of Paris and there are always people wandering around inside.   But it's not only tourists because many Parisians have their forbearers within these precincts and come to visit their graves.
For years I've been trying to find the grave of Jacob Bronowski, author of  "The Ascent of Man" without success, Deb and I tried several years ago and I sort of tried when Elizabeth and I went last time.  Today I mentioned it and Deb announced that she had been curious some time back so looked it up on the internet only to find that he was buried in London, Hah!  Still we had a pleasant and quiet visit, and we did see the resting place of Camille Pissaro, an early impressionist painter.
After leaving the cemetery we walked down a few blocks and stopped for bit of refreshment at a small brasserie with a good recommendation from our acupuncturist.   Finally around 4:00pm we got back on the bus and rode over to Gare de Lyon.
We went directly to the ticket office got our number, which was about 20 later, and sat down to wait. We waited probably 25 minutes and got called to a kiosk, where the very pleasant young woman listened to our story and then told us that they don't sell passes there, but we would have to go down to another ticket line downstairs, Arg!  So we went downstairs and found the line for another set of ticket sales which we joined.  We waited probably 15 minutes in that line and got a very pleasant young man to whom we relayed our intentions.   He listened very nicely and then told us that the only passes they sell there were of a type which would not be very useful to us and that we would likely have to buy the passes on the internet. So here we are, forced to go back to the first thing we did after talking to the youngster yesterday when he told us to look at the internet to compare prices.  We'll have to price it on the internet and decide whether to buy it or just buy tickets as we need them, did I mention that we're old farts.

Mixed day 9-4-15

Today we were both a bit tired from yesterday's festivities, but time waits for no person and we have begun to work on our plans for our little vacation trip in October.   Due to the issues with Hungary being swamped with refugees from the middle east we feel that we will have to give a pass on Budapest (boo hoo).  In it's place we've decided that we will start in Berlin, then travel to Prague and Czesky Krumlov, and end in Vienna.  To that end we went to the train station to find out what the fares for the trains would cost, we had an incredibly pleasant and courteous man who was very helpful, and the final fares came out to 850 euros for both of us.  When he saw that price he suggested that perhaps we might be better off buying a Eurail pass and so he looked at that and said we could get a pass that would let us take all the legs for about half the price, but he couldn't sell them.  We have to go to Gare de Lyon to actually buy them, and we have to have our passports so that comes tomorrow.
After we finished there we caught a bus across town so that we could go to the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris at the Palais de Tokyo.  This is the museum that we took Jim to during his visit, we wanted to go through again and see things we missed that time.   Last year I took an art class at Metro focused on European art between the world wars, and this museum has many pieces that were created during that period so I was interested to see many of them.  Certainly one of the artists that have impressed us the most is Robert Delaunay, with his bold colors and dynamic compositions we were dazzled.

 I also liked this portrait of Andre Breton, the philosophical 
force behind the Dada movement.

Happy 43rd 9-3-15

Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary and I want to tell everyone how much I still love my wife. We had lunch at one of the restaurants in the neighborhood and then spent he afternoon sitting on our deck.  A glorious day.

Chantilly Lace and Pretty Face 9-2-15

Tomorrow they are forecasting that Paris will be shut down traffic wise due to a large number of Farmers driving their tractors into Paris to protest low prices for their products and the high costs of material and loans, so we headed out to Chantilly to see another chateau within an hour of Paris.  We took the Metro down to Gare du Nord and then an RER train out to Chantilly.
A very interesting day indeed, we tried to buy a ticket from the last station where our passes were valid to Chantilly but the ticket office said they couldn't sell one and that we would have to buy it at the last station.   So we went down to wait for the train, I then had the bright idea that I would try to find out how much it might cost so I went up to an automated vending machine as I was sort of fumbling around a man behind me kindly offered to 'help me'  and quickly navigated through a number of screens.  I tried to explain what I was doing but he sort of ignored me and continued on, then he got to a screen that showed 49.80 euros and inserted his card.   He produced two tickets and told me to follow him which I did but he led me down to a lightly populated part of the station and tried to have me give him the ticked price in cash, whereupon I demurred and explained that I had valid fare almost the entire distance already and wasn't going to pay for another set of tickets, sorry.  He didn't really complain and I walked off, think it may have been a scam?  I do and I think he may have palmed tickets to get me through the entry gate and hoped to make a quick 50 euros.
Later when we were waiting for our train, another train came to the platform and we watched as people got on.  The train sounds a horn and then closes the doors to leave and at this moment a middle aged lady hurries up to the train and tries to board whereupon she slips and falls backward halfway in the train with the doors closing on her midsection.  I ran forward and forced the doors open while some other people helped her up, she had hit her head on the concrete and was a bit dazed but then helped her on the train and were talking to her as the train left.  The two sides of Paris, scams on one side and genuinely concerned people helping each other when in need.


So we caught our train and rode out to Chantilly on a lovely morning, clouds and sun and cool breezes for our walk from the train to the chateau through the forest.  We stopped and had a lunch on a bench then proceeded to the chateau.  It was build by the Duc de Montmorency (Anne) who was also the builder of Ecouen (our last trip out) and is pretty spectacular.

The later family were the Condes, second only to the king in nobility in France, and some were prolific collectors of art.  The chateau is second only to the Louvre in holdings of Raphael, and that only scratches the surface.

There is also an immense stables, looking large enough to be the chateau itself, and next to it a very large horse racing track.  It is host to several large european horse races.   We didn't really have time to go through in depth so we will definitely be coming back in the near future to finish the chateau and to see the stables and museum of horses.

Viaduc des Arts & Promenade Plantee 9-1-15

Happy September, Paris is in the midst of the Rentree (Everyone returning from holiday and kids going back to school) and the farmers are descending on Paris with their tractors to stage a protest or falling prices and rising costs.
But us heedless hedonists plotted out a walk along the Promenade Plantee on top of the Viaduc des Arts.  The viaduct was developed several years ago by closing the arches underneath a spur of the Petite Ceinture railway that gave access to the Bois de Vincennes from Place de la Bastille.

On top of the viaduct was the old railway bed which was converted into an elevated garden called the Promenade Plantee, which we walked along out to the tram that fronts the bois.  There are a host of interesting things along the way.

There are at least two 'split buildings',  three converted railway tunnels, several bridges and a couple parks that are part of the overall development.  Deb and I walked along this promenade several years ago with my English friend, David Head, several years ago but only went as far as the first park that time.  Today we walked the entire length, in a mixture of clouds and sun with a bit of a breeze to keep things comfortable.   It was very encouraging to see how much utilization this walkway receives and how well Paris has kept it in repair.

Chores and Cleaning 8-31-15

Today was chores and cleaning day, I had a list of several things I needed to do while Deb was in hyperdrive mode to clean the apartment.  So it was out the door for me.
I have a pair of shoes that are delaminating between the sole and the uppers, both shoes!  They have some sole wear but not massive amounts and it doesn't seem right that they should be coming apart. So chore number one was to take them to a shoe repair so I walked over to a repair shop and the guy there said he couldn't repair them.   I thought humpf, I'll take them to another shop where I know he only does shoes and nothing else, but it was downtown so I had to grab the metro.  When I got to the shop he was closed for lunch and not back for three hours, so it was on to the next chores.
I was headed for BHV,(Bazar de Hotel de Ville)  our department store of choice and not too far away. Since I was in the Marais, I walked along looking at shops and taking pics of interesting doorways and courtyards. I also spotted a couple of fountains that delivered drinking water to Paris beginning in the 1600's and still flowing today.
BHV has a hardware department where one can get light bulbs and a epicerie where one can pick up tea, food, chocolate, biscuits, jam and the like, so I can get several chores take care of at once.  In the last bout of rain we irreparably damaged one umbrella and another developed holes where the frame rubs on the cloth plus I damaged one of the ribs, so it's not long for this world.  I bought new umbrellas, tea, and light bulbs because, hey it's a department store.

After this I walked back towards the shoe repair, but with more time to wait I stopped for lunch and a lounge in the shade at the Place des Vosges.  It's fun to watch the children playing in the fountain and sandbox while their parents lounge on the grass, kids playing football (soccer), and people enjoying themselves.



After sitting for awhile I walked back to the shoe repair, his store window is pretty definitive that he only repairs shoes so I figured this is the Man.  He looked at the shoes and pronounced them unrepairable by him and suggested I get some adhesive and glue them back together.  I told him that they were pretty expensive and he said too bad, chinese shoe makers made poor products, not like French shoes.  He's right, to my chagrin, so I'll get some shoo goo or something and try to glue them together.  They only have to last for a few more months.
I caught the bus back to the apartment and had a nice dinner salad with Deb and a quiet evening.

BTW - I switched to Windows 10 and am in the midst of a learning curve.  It installed very nicely but I can't find things I used in the past.   I'm also having trouble with loading pics, so stay tuned.