Another First Ever 1-5-16

Today was our first ever visit to Napoleon's Tomb, we've been coming to Paris since 1977 and have never visited it.  This summer we visited parts of the Musee de l'Armee, which is located at the Invalides and still didn't make it, but today we did.
We started out with the intent to see it and to revisit the Orangerie, which is across the street from the Musee D'Orsay.  But when we got off the bus we realized that we were about a 15 minute walk from one of our favorite seafood restaurants, Le Cabanon de l'Ecailler so a quick right turn and a bit of a walk had us up near Montparnasse and sitting in the restaurant.  It had been closed the last two times we tried to eat there, so seeing it open today was a treat.  We both had a fish soup for a starter and then I had a bowl of mussels marinier while Deb had a couple plates of crevettes, one full of tiny little suckers and the other filled with four tails.  Both of us happy to have wonderfully fresh seafood in such an unassuming little place.
Then we walked back down the hill to Invalides and visited Napoleon's tomb.  Since we arrived in Paris we've both been reading books on French history, one of which was a biography of Napoleon. It has caused us to become interested in him and his effect on France.  The book was decidedly an English point of view and not all that flattering, but it still managed to give us a perspective on the man and his exploits.  His impact on the world of that time is immense and I think there is a lingering nostalgia, at least in some French minds, for a time when France ruled Europe.
His bier is almost overwhelming in a red porphyry within five additional separate coffins, it must be 10 feet tall or more. They are made of iron, mahogany, two of lead, and ebony and as they said no expense was spared.   In the surrounding rotundas lie the tombs of many of his marshals and also Vauban, the French military architect famous for so many bastions.  We finished the day at Invalides and then walked back through the 7th arr. to where we could catch our bus home.
On the way back we found a small shop selling prints and think we may have stumbled on a cache of prints by Cadart to bolster our little fledgling collection.  The other thing is that all the January sales are set to begin, Deb has been eagle-eyeing all the shop windows and says that a great many have been putting up the signs.

Our First French Movie 1-4-16

We had a pretty quiet day today, Deb had to get a panoramic xray of her teeth for our dentist, 2 minutes and 20 euros complete.  It took us 30 times a long to get there as it did for the xrays.  So we hopped on the Metro and rode back to our neighborhood and went to the movies.  It's our first French movie experience, very interesting.  The theatres are new and very much like the U.S. and it was not very disorienting dialog or anything.   We saw the new Star Wars in 3D in it's original language version with French subtitles, not very adventurous but then who cares?  It's Star Wars!  
Just an aside here, they have started draining the canal and I saw the first lock with about 8 inches of water in it. I'm kind of bummed that I'll be in Sicily when they really empty the whole thing but too bad.  In case you're wondering, yes there is trash already in the first lock, an empty beer keg.

Rainy Day Visit 1-3-16

It was rainy all day today, not pouring but just pretty persistent.  We were going to another brocante but the rain cured us of that idea, so we visited the Louvre again.  There is another whole floor in one wing that is nothing but Egyptian artifacts and it's too enticing to pass up.
Our trip down was all Metro today and with one train change we were deposited right at the side gate, which leads to the members entrance, so no strain for us.  The Egyptian floor is in the eastern most wing of the museum so it's kind of a hike to get there but we pretty much knew the way and took the elevator up to the correct floor.
What we didn't know was that in our visits we missed half of one floor on the way, in the original construction they built the building only one room wide.  Later they doubled the width of the building by adding a second set of rooms running the length of the northern most elevation of the old building.  So this second set of rooms has a whole series of apartments decorated in mostly 17th to 19th century that have been contributed by citizens who owned chateaus throughout France and donated period rooms.
There is also a set of 3 small rooms that contain a collection of snuff boxes and watches belonging to royalty and nobility from 18th century France and Europe. Beautifully jeweled and enameled creations that are just dazzling in their design and execution; miniature portraits in jeweled surrounds mounted in gold with enameled interiors given as presents between friends.
Finally we made it to the Egyptian halls and they were even more impressive, more hieroglyphic stonework than you could shake a hammer and chisel at.  Beautiful sculptures in stone, clay, and wood that have survived over 3000 years to marveled at today.  The "Seated Scribe" is the jewel of this wing but there are so many other outstanding pieces that you just move from one to the next in admiration for the abilities of those long ago artists.  I think my favorite of the day was another seated figure in black basalt that just captured my imagination.
At the end of the Egyptian section we were in a far corner and had to transit several rooms to get back to a more central part of the museum.  So even though it killed us, we went through the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman rooms full of black on red pottery and small sculptures, pure torture.
The small Greek sculptures are visually stunning, so lyrical and appealing, a pure visual joy.  They were literally closing rooms off after us as we were leaving so we definitely had a full afternoon today.

Deb's odds and ends comments:

*Paris has been responding to the terrorism with an assortment of mottos. One of the most common is the motto from the Paris blazon (coat of arms) Fluctuat nec mergitur (she is tossed on the waves but not sunk). We've seen this and the blazon on street art, but also on the complete huge end of a building near the music site. It was especially poignant with the smiling family pictures of victims put up on the park railings below.

There are other responses including Je Suis Paris, and Meme Pas Peur (Not Afraid). But my favorite still remains Je Suis En Terasse (I'm on the terrace) with
Parisians following their own words, defiantly drinking coffee and wine in the street side bistros in the neighborhoods where so many were murdered.

*Overheard conversations: at the Archeology Museum the other day, an older brother (maybe 10) holding the hand of a angelic-faced, curly-haired younger sister (maybe 4) and trying to explain the Iron Age to her. "Iron is very, very hard and makes great weapons and it changed man's whole history and has to be heated really hot in order to shape it." Sister response "How hot is really hot?" Silence.

Later, holding her up to look at a jewelry display far above her head, he informs "Those are iron earrings." Her response "Don't be silly. Who would wear iron earrings?" It's tough being a tour guide...

*One of the museums we found through the Louvre is the one we just visited, the National Archeological Museum. Besides  having a world-class collection archeology collection, it's housed in a renaissance castle which is just beautiful. Its magnificent chapel was a "Sainte Chapelle" designed to hold a fragment of the Crown of Thorns until the more famous (and derivative) Sainte Chapelle was completed in Paris. As usual, we had no clue about the delights of this museum before blundering off to see it. And it was only because of Warren's determination that we found a way into the chapel which was obscured by conservation scaffolding. The chapel is full of early medieval fragments of sarcophagi and statuary, probably much too recent to impress the archeologists. We had the chapel to ourselves...




*Our year-long Louvre memberships have been one of our best investments. Besides the undeniable luxury of being able to pop into the Louvre for an hour and then leave guilt-free, the memberships have saved us more than $800 above their cost so far on other exhibits and shows. Getting the beautiful glossy magazine each month is a delight and reading it in French keeps us on our toes a bit, plus informing us of many of the arts activities we wouldn't otherwise be aware of. It's also introduced us to a variety of museums we'd have missed. The membership we got to the Prado in our lovely Madrid stay inspire this investment in Paris and it's been a winner.

*Last night as we strolled over for our New Year's Eve dinner in the 'hood, we couldn't help but notice all the dressed-up young people carrying shopping bags and pastry shop boxes and bottles of champagne, all headed to parties on the night of Saint-Sylvestre as New Year's Eve is called here. Everywhere there were groups of laughing people, meeting in bistros or ringing up to be let into apartments. The streets were full as we were headed back at 11:30.

*Our celebration of New Year's Day included going out for a walk along the canals - our Ourcq canal and down to canal St. Martin. Warren is fascinated that they are prepping to drain the St. Martin canal and wanted to take some "before" pics. I wanted to find a boulangerie I've heard of (Du Pain et Des Idees) even though I knew it wouldn't be open. So we just strolled off, flaneuring, and meandering.

It was an especially quiet day. Think most of the young people are still recovering from last night's festivities. But others, older folk like us, or those with children, were out and about, walking and chatting along the canal in the cool, windy, overcast weather. Babies in strollers looked like mini-Charley Browns, all bundled up with just bright eyes showing. The dogs were all exhilarated at being out and getting to sniff all the neighborhood news.

Saw a pair of big waterbirds (cormorants) perched in some high trees. Didn't know they did or could do that. Obviously, no one had mentioned my concerns to them. We had seen a white-winged crow the other day at the Botanic Gardens and a funny, cute little pudgy, red-breasted bird in the park, so I need to do some bird researching on the web.

Got back and had leftovers: Veal Orloff in a fresh tomato sauce and sautéed potatoes. Boy, am I going to miss my butcher.

*Thomas Jefferson: "Every man has two countries - his own and France."

A New Year and Old Habits 1-2-16

Today being the weekend and the weather looking decent, i.e. cool, breezy, and dry, we decided to head over to a brocante market in the 16th arr.  This market was about a block from the Radio France building just south of and across the river from the Tour Eiffel.  We've been over here a couple other times but not enough to say that we're real knowledgeable about it.  And after today's visit I can say that we're still not real knowledgeable about it.  We spent about an hour going through a small market but Deb did find another little treasure to add to her collection of Paris seals.
We did come across a really interesting building however, the "Castel Beranger".  Designed by Hector Guimard, the architect who designed so many of the Art Nouveau Metro entrances, around 1890.  It is a mix of styles, primarily Art Nouveau but also some architectural abstraction.  It was nicknamed, Eccentric House by the painter Paul Signac who lived here at one time, but it was also called the Crazy House and the Devil's House by some neighbors.  Be that as it may it was awarded the first prize in Paris building design in 1898.
Since we still had two bridges to cross and they are both right in the middle of town we jumped on a bus and headed over to the Hotel de Ville for lunch at one of our favorite little jewels, Le Trumilou. The sign on their door said that they would be closed through the 1st of January but when we tried to open the door it was partially locked.  People were inside and I rattled the door a few times until one of the staff came to the door and said they were still closed.  I pointed to the door sign but he just shrugged and smiled when I said bad luck for us, so no lunch there today.  We did find a little tea shop around the corner that had a pleasant little lunch offering and not too expensive.
After our lunch we undertook the two bridge crossings both of which took us from the right bank over on to the Ile St. Louis, just east of Notre Dame.  We did spend time walking several of the streets looking in shop windows and enjoying it's intimacy before heading back to the apartment.  It started to rain lightly as we got back and tomorrow is forecast for rain all day.  But all in all we're down to one bridge left to cross, the one furthest south and east inside the peripherique,  But it's right along the tram line so we can get off at one stop walk across the bridge to the next stop and finish out that little goal.

New Years Walk 1-1-16

After last nights eat fest we needed to get out for a little exercise today.  So we walked along the canal down as far as Place de la Republic.  A few days ago we noticed that there were fences going up along the canal St. Martin down along our bus route and we wondered if they might be safety precautions for the New Years celebration.   But today I was looking at some online article on Paris and I found that they are going to drain the canal for a cleanup beginning in January.
They will put a barrier on the locks of our Basin de la Villette to stop any flow at that point.  It is down at Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad, so there will be water next to us all winter but from Stalingrad down to the Seine it will be dry and they will clean it out.  So they have the barriers from there all the way to where it gets covered over at Oberkampf and Richard Lenoir.  I'm looking forward to being a sidewalk superintendent for at least part of the project.
So our walk took us down about half way along the canal, at which point we veered off into the neighborhood just north and east of Place de la Republic.  We were looking for a highly recommended boulangerie which consistently gets good reviews, but of course today being the first it was closed.  Still it's less than 5 minutes walk from our bus route so it will be easy to get to and sample some of the goodies.   It was overcast most of the day and breezy so it was necessary to keep walking to keep our hands and feet warm, but we did sit for a few minutes a couple times and enjoyed to parade of people and animals as well as the birds wheeling overhead.

The Year's End 12-31-15

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!
So it's goodbye 2015 and welcome 2016.  We hope all of our friends and family will have a safe and sane New Years celebration.  We wish you health and happiness for the new year.
Ours was a quiet day followed by dinner at one of our favorite restaurants here in the 19th arr., La Laumiere.   They specialize in seafood and are in the top 1000 restaurants in Paris, not an insignificant feat in a city with over 12000 documented restaurants.  We have gone there ourselves and with our guests and each time the welcome and treatment by the staff have been exceptional.
But today I got out and did a little year end shopping while Deb did a bit of maintenance to the apartment.  We still have 2 months before we return the U.S. so letting things run down is not really an option.  Today was a few bottles of wine, a little fruit, and a box of tea.

Our dinner reservation was a lesson in French and American diplomacy, in order to make a reservation we could go to the website and reserve a table with a deposit equal to half the price of the dinner.  This was two weeks ago.  Of course our credit card won't work here even though we have a chip because we don't also have the 4-digit code to finish the transaction, ours requires a signature.  So I decided to go in person and make the reservation, figuring I could have them charge my card and I could sign right there.  So I walked in and told the maitre'd that we would like a reservation, he asked for my card which I gave him but when he heard I'd need to sign the receipt he said it wouldn't work on the reservation, so I offered cash; nope.  In the end he just said, I'll just make the reservation and don't worry about the deposit and smiled.   I assured him that we would be in the restaurant without fail, he laughed and said no problem.  Damned nasty French attitudes!
Since our dinner reservation wasn't until 8:30 we had all afternoon to kick back and anticipate our dinner.


So we spent the afternoon with a bottle of Taittinger "Prestige Rose" and a bit of reflection of the past year.  So much has gone on for us, so many new opportunities and experiences.   A cold and windy early spring, followed by early flowers. So many visitors that the summer virtually flew by.  A bright and cool fall followed by a, thus far, cool and relatively dry early winter.  
We have one more planned trip, to Sicily, in January for a bit of the sunny south.  Then February comes and we're down to weeks.  Doesn't your heart go out to us, with only two months left?  More time than most people would get to spend on a trip anywhere, in their lifetime?   In the meantime we'll keep you up to date on all our adventures and hope that you get enjoyment from our musings.