Our day out at Paris Plage and Musee D'Orsay 7-21-15

Today is our first full day with Gail and Peter and it's forecast for hot so we have decided to go to the Musee D'Orsay to be out of the sun a bit.   After a nice walk through the Parc de la Villette we caught our bus for the ride downtown.  Taking the bus from it's terminal point has one great advantage, being able to select our seats.   Since it's their first bus ride I figured it would allow Peter and Gail to see the city without having to be really pressed by the crowded bus, and I was right.  By the time we got to our normal stop the bus was standing room only.  When we got down to the Pompidou Center we got off to look at the Stravinsky fountain with all the colorful moving waterspouts that sits just next to it.  Then we walked across the plaza in front of the Hotel de Ville down to the Seine.

At that point we remembered that the Paris Plage was now in full swing so we walked down to the quai. The first food concession we came across turned out to be 'Lobster and Co', the food truck we discovered last week at the guinguette at the end of the tramline in the southwest corner of the city.  So immediately lunch became the order of the day. Stephan and Lena worked their magic again with our lobster and vegetable wraps and we sat quai side for a great bit of fast food.  After eating we walked the length of the plage then up the stairs to the street level to cross the Seine and finally over to the museum.

Each visit just reinforces our decision to buy a membership as we bypassed what looked to be a 30 to 45 minute wait just to buy tickets.  Once in, we headed off to see early Degas works and some by Toulouse-Lautrec and works influenced by him.  Peter remembered seeing many pastel works by Degas on an earlier visit, but we were unable to locate any traces today.  So we took ourselves up to the fifth floor to visit the main impressionist rooms, which are a visual feast.   It was very crowded as one might expect for a July visit, with people rushing from one work to another taking pictures.  I'm sure they have to go home to see what they visited because they're so busy taking picture that they spend less than 10 seconds on each painting.  One young woman almost elbowed me out of the way in her haste to take a photo, so I just reached up and put my hand in front of her Ipad and smiled at her whereupon she got shy and smiled back. I then got out of the way and she took the shot and then hustled off to another.  I commiserate with people who have only a short time to visit, but good manners don't have to suffer and unfortunately at this time they do.
There are signs all over the museum showing prohibitions such as no food, no flash photography, no cell phones and now this refreshing addition as well, hooray.  People still take selfies but at least there in no more dueling.

The July Reunion 7-19 & 7-20-15

Saturday -
In preparation for my sister & brother-in-law's visit we did a last minute shopping and decided to try the proposed route for getting back to the apartment once we get back to Gare du Nord from the airport tomorrow.  Our metro line (#5) is closed for three days and they have busses running along the route, to a spot somewhere between our apartment and the station.  (In truth I can't understand the logic of dropping people off somewhere without multiple connecting points into the city, like Gare du Nord or Gare de l'Est but then I'm not Parisian or a transportation expert.)  We were able to connect down to the station on the single bus line that serves this stop. Next order of business was to find the bus stop near the station which would get us back to the apartment.  So of course I go to the one closest and it turns out to not be serviced on the weekends, and our return with our visitors will be Sunday afternoon.  We go to the next closest stop and it's packed with people who would normally be taking the Metro.  It doesn't look promising for the trip back.

Sunday -

We get out early since we have to retrace our bus trip down to Gare du Nord to get out to the airport to meet Gail and Peter.  It is very crowded on the bus, we had hoped that people might stay home on Sunday but no luck, but we get to the station within 30 minutes and have another crowded 30 minute ride out to airport but all in all not too bad.  This is the first time we've seen conductors actually checking tickets in the nearly five months we've been here. This is a bit of a joke as well since virtually every day we see people getting on buses and the metro without paying.  I guess it's because they have all the tourists trapped on the train out to the airport and it must be a reasonable source of additional revenue, catching scofflaws.
Once we get there we have a bit of a wait, but the flight was actually a bit early and very soon Gail and Peter come waltzing out of the baggage claim area and we have an affectionate reunion.  We get them Navigo passes and then were off to the city.  Once we get to Gare du Nord we decide that a taxi is the easiest way back to the apartment (good choice) and we get back in about 15 minutes.   We have a celebratory late lunch on the deck, with olives, wine, and cheese in the sunshine and do our catching up.  I've not seen them since our bike trip together last fall and it's been even longer for Deb. We get them a bit situated in the guest room and then sit down to watch the Tour for a while.

After the end of the day's racing we all head out for a walk along the canal to stave off some of the jet lag. Paris in the last few years have converted long spaces along the Seine into a beach, called Paris Plage, by trucking in sand so that people can sunbathe and play in the sand.  It has also migrated up here along the canal, much to our surprise and delight, with the additional bonus of having small boats and floats available for rent.  There is a zip line across the canal, beach chairs, a concession where one can play foosball, and a dance floor where there was a tango session going on.  Also concessions where one can purchase food and drinks to sit out and picnic.   We walked along down to the head of the basin then around and back on the other side, finishing up in the evening around 9:30 with the sun still on the tops of the apartment buildings.  All in all another enjoyable day in Paris.

Summer Doldrums 7-18-15

As it's been so hot lately we've been in a bit of doldrums, not wanting to get out when the temps are high, but also wanting to keep track of the Tour de France (a rite of summer).   In Denver I can bring it up on my computer and follow it live, and it's generally over by about 10:30am, here it starts around noon and usually finishes about 5:30pm which is really the heat of the day so it works out well for us to be inside.
Since there was a brocante fair up at Place des Fetes (15 minute walk) we headed up there to see what treasures may be available (slim pickings) before everyone exits Paris for the August migration to the countryside.   After our stroll through we walked back to one of our favorite restaurants, Art et Science Reunis, for lunch; they will be closing very soon and won't reopen until mid-August.  We found that our boulangerie will be closed beginning July 31st and won't reopen until September, so we're scrambling to find a place that will be able to fill our needs.  Our butcher will be open the whole time so no problems for meat-eaters, we'll have to see what August brings in terms of fruit and vegetable offerings.
Gail and Peter will be arriving tomorrow mid-day so our adventures as city interpreters will begin again for about a week, it should great fun.  We had such fun with Terry and Gina (and the Jeffersons) that we hope to be able to equal it with Gail and Peter.   Shopping tomorrow to be ready for the next visit.

Deb has an Eye Opening day 7-17-15

Today is another hot day so we decided to get out early and go down to the Musee D'Orsay.  My description of the Bonnard exhibition, which closes this Sunday, piqued her interest.   I jumped at the chance to see it again before it leaves.
Her comments during and after the exhibition pretty much summed up the experience.  "I had no idea of how colorful and interesting he was, it changed my entire view of him".  It begins in a kind of subdued manner with almost pastel palettes, but one can see his exploration of composition with nods to the Japanese design rage that was prevalent in the late 1800's, and as you move from one room to the next his palette just gets more and more exuberant.

He also started looking more at interiors and putting together swathes of color and pattern, a bit like Matisse in composition.  There were rooms dedicated to interiors, bathrooms, portraits, and landscapes, finally ending with two rooms of monumental mural paintings done on commission for wealthy patrons of the time.  The range of his painting is very impressive, and a revelation to us both.  
We headed back to the apartment to catch the last of the day's stage in the Tour de France.

A Hot Day calls for early shopping 7-16-15

Today was a hot day, above 90deg f, so being low on groceries we headed out early for our shopping. Since we've never done other than talking about where we shop I thought you might enjoy seeing the shops and people with whom we developed relationships.  Today I'll show our Cheese shop, our butcher, and where we buy much of our fruit and vegetables.

Our Cheese shop

Our Butcher shop

Our Fruit and Vegetable shop

 I'll include pics of our wine shop and flower shop in another post.

Cleaning day and chores 7-15-15

Today is cleaning day (usually Mondays) because we have an appointment for a company to come to the apartment to install smoke alarms.  Our landlady, Carole, had made the appointment before we took possession of the apartment, but for whatever reason it couldn't be scheduled until now.  Do you suppose it's because some of the many calls we received and couldn't understand were earlier attempts?   Who knows, who cares?  It's happening today.

We commence with our next visitors in 5 days, my sister Gail and her husband Peter.  So my chore was to go out and buy tickets to the Musee D'Orsay so that we're not trapped in the line to buy tickets when they are here.   So naturally I headed into town, with a few small diversions, I had to mail the ubiquitous post cards and a small package; then catch the Metro down to Bastille where I got off and walked over to the Marche d'Aligre.   This market runs everyday but Monday and is kind of a fixture in Paris.  If you're short of days in Paris and want to go to a market then this is a good one to see because it's close to the downtown and easy to get to, plus as I mentioned it runs six days a week. After my visit to the market, I headed over to a organic food store very close by and bought a large jar of organic honey, it turns out to be less expensive per unit than the stuff we've been buying in Monoprix.
 
After a bit of lunch I took the bus over to the Musee D'Orsay to buy the tickets.  Once there I decided to take a quick visit and see if they had drawings by Edgar Degas in their collections.  It appears that they don't have a specific collection, so whilst I was there I went in to the special exhibit of Pierre Bonnard, a member of the Nabis, a  post impressionist group during the 20's and 30's.   I've seen some Bonnard work before but I wasn't prepared for the impact of this show.   It is impressive to say the least.  There are a whole range of periods being covered during his career, and a visual feast.
After the exhibit I headed back to the apartment and got there just in time to hear that the smoke alarm had been installed only a short time before and to see the last 45 minutes of today's stage of the tour.


 Bad year for Vincenzo Nibali, last year's winner, who is fading with every stage so far. Chris Froome looks unbeatable but it's a long race and weird things happen.

July 14th

Today is the French version of our July 4th, celebrated to commemorate the revolution of 1789.  It was a quiet day for us.   We watched the national parade down the Champs Elysee on television and that was interesting.   The parade had elements of all the French armed forces, including the Sapiers and Pompiers (the firemen) who are de facto members of the army.  Part of the festivities feature air force flyovers and it was interesting to look out from our deck and see some of the planes flying along before disappearing behind Sacre Coeur. We then watched the next stage of the Tour de France, an obsession of mine although Deb is pretty interested as well.   In the evening we went for dinner at another of the restaurants that were featured when the Parc de la Villette was a major slaughter house.   Deb pronounced the flank steak as the best she's eaten to date.