Out and About with Elizabeth 5-19-15

Today we set out to visit some of Elizabeth's must do's in town.  So after breakfast we headed out on the bus to Montmartre.  We had Sacre Coeur and the Place du Tertre as our goal for this part of the day.  Montmartre is very famous as the hangout for many of the most famous artists of the late 19th and early 20th century when it was still a village separated from Paris and thus a very inexpensive place to live.   Today was forecast as rainy at time and blustery with quite a cool wind so we dressed more warmly, and we're glad we did.


On top of Montmartre the wind was howling and cold but we still managed to have our walkabout.  Visiting Sacre Coeur and then Place du Tertre where on our way over we encountered the artist who created silhouettes with scissors and paper as you sat and posed.  So we had him do both Deb and Elizabeth, I will leave it to them as to whether they see the light of the internet.   Interestingly on the west side of the square there were several police who had detained a group of young women, Romanie?, and were searching them.  It was pretty obvious that this wasn't the first time this happened as all were sort of smiling and cooperative.  Lucky for the group of tourists in the square at the moment.

We then walked down the back and west sides of the hill to see well known sites, such as the Maison Rose, Renoir's garden, the Moulin a la Gallette, and the Bateau Lavoir where so many artists kept studios, like Picasso, and Braque.  We had a nice lunch at a brasserie, Le Bruant, where the staff was exceptionally nice and the food was very good, then hopped on the bus towards the Bois de Boulogne and the Geary Museum with a stop over at the Arc de Triumph.  Elizabeth wanted to go to the top to see the view so while Deb waited below we climbed the 294 spiraling steps up to the first level,
 where we took a little breather.  Then two shorter flights had us on top where the view is magnificent, this is the first time I've gone to the top and I was knocked out with the vistas.   All of Paris is in view (other than our apartment which is hidden behind Montmartre) so I took a few pics.  But we could see a squall headed our way so after a few minutes on top we headed back down.   When we got to the bottom the sun was out but we could see wet pavement all over, fast moving squall that one.  We linked up with Deb again and proceeded over to the Geary.  It was closed of course, this being Tuesday, but Elizabeth got some pics of the impressive exterior.

Then we took the PC3 bus to the tram and home for a nice dinner of weisswurst and wine.

Da Louvre 5-18-15

Elizabeth had the Louvre as one of her must see sights, great choice!  We took the bus down from our neighborhood so that she could see what's above ground, riding subways never gives you an indication of the parts of the city you're not seeing.  Along the way we got off the bus at the Pompidou Center so that she could see the exterior of the building, which is so famous.  A few minutes there and the on the bus again to the Louvre.  Before going in we had a small picnic in the Tuilleries sunshine.  Last week I pre-purchased tickets so that we could avoid the lines to get in and it really paid off.  We entered via the Lion Porte which is on the west end of the Louvre well away from the Pyramid.  We literally walked in, no line.

Elizabeth had seen the Mona Lisa before so it was not necessarily on her itinerary, but since we literally walked by the room wherein it's contained we went in.  Packed as usual, but we were able to see all the other great renaissance paintings that are in the same room as well.   Next stop, the Victory of Samothrace, the Nike, at the top of the commanding staircase.  Along the way I caught a glimpse of two Botticelli murals that I'd missed before so some minutes were spent looking at them.  I love the faces of the Botticelli women, they are so beautiful.

We then headed off to see the two Michaelangelo sculptures of the slaves, but along the way of course we stopped to gaze upon the Venus di Milo.  It's so interesting and a bit tension producing to see so many people in hyperdrive mode trying to make sure they don't miss a single thing.  One can't possibly see everything in one go and I think people really miss the experience of the art, while "bagging the big trophies".  Then they go home to see what they've seen, weird!

Elizabeth also wanted to see the big sculpture courtyard in the Richeleau wing, so we started off to go there but I got lost and we ended up seeing another of Elizabeth's goals the original walls and moat surrounding the old bastion.   It was great!

We ended the night having dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Arts et Sciences Reunis.


 So much for 'Modern' art, this is a 10th century islamic plate,

Now we are three - 5-17-15

Today was our first full day after Elizabeth, our niece, arrived.  She stayed up until 10:00 last night and was perky this morning.
Deb made up some sandwiches and packed it into my backpack and we headed off for the day. First stop was the market at Place de Fetes, which is one of our favorite markets to get some fruit which we added to the pack.   The markets are such a combination of things, one can get meat, fish, sausages, fruit, vegetables, clothing, shoes, key made, watch repairs, etc. almost you name it.  After our paseo of the market we jumped on the Metro and headed down to the Brocante Fair at Bastille and the Arsenal Basin.
Elizabeth is interested in looking for a piece of art that might give her a nice souvenir of Paris, so this was a good place to start looking.  This is a high-end fair and interesting pieces are usually priced accordingly, plus it seems when brocantes are involved it means older paintings and usually more muted colors, so we really didn't find anything that could not be left in place.   Since we had our lunch along with us we decided to eat it sitting next to the barges and yachts in the Arsenal basin, so we sat in the grass and enjoyed the sunshine.

After lunch we walked down to the Seine along the basin and across the locks to find the place where we could catch the Bat-o-Bus which is a hop-on, hop-off boat service with 8 stops all along the Seine between Gare d'Austerlitz and the Eiffel Tower.  We found the boarding stop, got our tickets and jumped on a boat.  Since we started at the eastern most stop our itinerary took us downstream and towards the Eiffel Tower,  This is a nice way to see Paris without having to worry about traffic or getting lost.  Since the weather was so nice there were multitudes of people out sunning themselves along the quais, virtually the entire distance across town.  



We got off the boat at the Eiffel Tower and walked over to introduce Elizabeth to it.  While there we sang a happy birthday song to our great-niece and Elizabeth's niece, Zoe, from under the Eiffel Tower.  She is our nephew Michael and his wife Simone's daughter and it was her sixth birthday.  Elizabeth will be seeing them in Germany next week for the wedding.  So after a bit of a wander and ponder we headed back to the boat for a return to where we wanted to get off  to see a bit of the Tuilleries and the outside of the Louvre, to which we'll return tomorrow.

 We caught our bus back to our neighborhood and walked back to the apartment.  An impromptu dinner on the deck, a bit of chat and then to bed.

A down day and our first visitor 5-15 & 5-16-15

On Friday I stayed in without any intent to go out, I've had a bit of a nasal drip since we arrived so I tried some Claritin to see if it was allergies.  After 2 days I had a more developed head cold, so I decided to stay home and rest to see if it would let up a little.   It wasn't a lost day though, as I got to watch a stage of the Giro d'Italia bike race.  It was the day after the leader, Alberto Contador, fell and dislocated his shoulder so I wanted to see if he would be able to race.   He is really a phenomenon on a bike, very strong and determined, and I wanted to see if he would have to abandon the race.  He raced and retained his lead, very impressive.

Today, Saturday, our first visitor from the U.S. my niece Elizabeth flew into Paris for a week's visit with us before going to Germany for the wedding of her sister-in-law Simone's brother.  We are looking forward to our week together which will be capped with us going to Strasbourg for a few days before Elizabeth continues on to Germany.  On the way to the airport we got to see a performance of a fiddler on the train to Chas. de Gaulle airport and his violin was the most unique I've ever seen.

The Musee du quai Branly 5-14-14

Today we visited the new Musee du quai Branly.  This is a relatively new museum which exhibits indigenous artifacts from cultures from all over the world.  It has sculptures, tools, musical instruments, textiles, masks, etc.  Great stuff on show from Meso-America; Aztec, Olmec, Inca, and other cultures.  Also great stuff from South-East Asia and Australia.   As we were limited in available time we focused on the above areas, and we will visit Africa, and North America next time.  This is a wonderful museum.  

One of the most fascinating exhibits we saw was an installation which took some 15000 place-names and ethnologic terms to create an animated river of  projected words that is controlled by a computer program which used fluid dymamics to have the words flow down the long ramp leading from the entryway up to the exhibition hall.  Entrancing.

Interesting acquaintance and our first concert 5-12 & 5-13-15

There is a very large brocantes fair at the Place de la Bastille and we had received some complimentary invitations from some dealers.  So we could come back a second time without having to pay the 10 euro/person entry fee, so we did.   We have see some very interesting things for sale but nothing which is so spectacular that we got out our wallets.  We did however meet a very interesting dealer who has a booth full of old tools and industrial related objects and he turned out to be very entertaining and quite congenial.   His grandfather was one of the ironworkers who worked on the construction of the Eiffel Tower and he had a picture of his grandfather along with the crew of workers who were his companions.   We spent probably 45 minutes in conversation with him and enjoyed it greatly.  Thank you Jean-Claude.  


Jean-Claude and the picture of his grandfather.








Then the next day we had our first visit to the new concert hall that was opened just shortly after we moved into the apartment.  It was difficult to obtain tickets for the concert because when I went to buy tickets the first two concerts were sold out more than 2 month early and we were only able to get the last 2 seats together for a third concert.  The new hall is quite lovely and pretty plush, it was built as a concerthall in the round.  Very much like the old DSO hall at DCPA, which they want to tear down, was Denver 35 years ahead of its time?   Is it really out of date or has Paris just built an obsolete hall?  Only time will tell.  Foolishly I forgot a camera, sorry.

Now to the concerts, as there were actually 2.  We went to a pre-concert prelude chamber concert, a string quartet by Dvorak, which was very well done by students from the Orchestral Academy of Paris.  They were very well prepared!   Since there are no tickets required for the prelude presentations we were able to sit in the very expensive and plush seat around 15 rows from the stage. This is where I got my first big surprise on the seating, very comfortable seats but when a person sat down in the row in front of me and folded down the seat the back of the seat actually came back so far that I had to spread my legs or have my knees really bashed.  Somewhat indelicately put, if I farted then only one person in the hall would have heard it, the guy with his head between my knees! In my opinion this is a major defect and I'm so glad that we didn't have the very expensive tickets for the main concert.
The main concert was another piece by Dvork, a concerto for cello and orchestra which was very well executed.  This was followed by Brahm's first symphony which was very enjoyable as well. The acoustics are excellent and we could hear the music from our seats in the second to last row without any problems.

Out on the bummel 5-11-15

Mondays are Deb's day to clean the apartment and I've been banished.  Oh well, make lemonade that's what I say. I had a chore to pick up advanced tickets to the Louvre so when we have visitors we won't be trapped in line waiting for tickets.  
So I jumped on the bus and headed downtown,  about halfway there I got off the bus to walk along a stretch of the route that I've wanted to explore and to find a new grand epicerie (food store) that my sister Gail alerted us to and told us to go.   I did find it and it is very new and modern, it was fun to wander around the store and see what was on offer.
I then headed down the rue de Rivoli to the Louvre and purchased the tickets.  It was about 10 minutes of effort so I decided to head out to the Tuilleries and take photos.   I have been trying to capture a couple of different types of pics, the first is to capture people who are making their living by working in Paris and the other is to capture pics of people who are taking "selfies" (pictures of themselves using their mobile devices).
  
People who make their living here are interesting because the Paris they see is so different than the one that the tourists and us see.   It's not a never ending procession of treks to see this monument or that museum, but a metropolis with which they have to deal everyday.

 Today I happened to be sitting in the shade when I noticed the impromptu vendors suddenly get very alert and make haste to go into a stairway leading into the Louvre de Rivoli.   This is an underground shopping center and exhibition space just west of the Louvre itself and would be a good place to blend in.  They were very intent on watching the circuit of police which periodically cruise the park keeping the peace.  They also confront the vendors to make sure that they are legitimate, i.e. have a vendors license.  Now these guys are trying to sell trinkets at around 1 euro a piece and a license would be very expensive for them.  So when the police come around they make an exit, only to return when the police leave.

To me selfies represent chance to candidly capture people as they attempt to document their holidays and make all the friends and family at home envious.   Yes it's vain, and in most cases not damaging, but it will help them to validate that they're having a great time if only until the next facebook posting.  



Heck I'm doing the same thing with this blog aren't I?  I'm just limiting the selfies and trying to pass along a bit of what it's like to be here for an extended length of time.