Last Day in Paris

I’m on the Thalys on my way to Brussels, then on to Brugge. It’s 9:00 a.m. and the trip will be an hour and 15 minutes. Then I change trains for the rest of the trip to Brugge, another hour approximately. I got up at 6:00 which turned out to be just the right time to allow me to get ready, finish packing, and get the apartment shipshape. The taxi I called came right away, the only traffic on the streets were taxis, so I got to the train station early enough to have a croissant and a coffee before getting on the train. The train trip is pleasant but only occasionally can you see anything because of the high banks on either side of the tracks.

Yesterday started out cloudy and turned quite nice in the afternoon, so coats were unbuttoned and scarves loosened and everyone who had been indoors came out to enjoy the sunshine. Don’t we appericiate it this time of year! The Marche au Puces was fun - it was actually a brocante market which is a step up but not as expensive as antiques. I took a couple of pictures of the more interesting things. One vendor was selling the most beautiful Art Deco furniture. I don’t recall seeing much Art Deco in the US., have you? Maybe more on the east coast.

I bought a tiny Limoge pitcher for my collection and some old posstcards with writing on the back. The market was a bit away from the usual tourist areas, so I decided to try my luck with lunch there. I went to Café de la Fontaine, which turned out to be a perfect choice for my last day in Paris. It was turn of-the-century-old, decorated in the Belle Epoch style, with antique posters and menus to match. I was sitting elbow-to-elbow with a pleasant man who was taking his probably six year old daughter out to lunch. We exchanged pleasantries and laughed when my dessert came. I had ordered three “boules” of coffee ice cream and I got three “bols” (Boules are scoops; bols are, well, bowls.) The little girl ordered a hamburger, which looked very much like an American hamburger, served open-faced, with the meat and melted cheese on one bun and the lettuce, tomato, etc. on the other bun. She ate it with her fork and knife. I told her that in the U.S. Americans ate their hamburgers with their hands; wasn’t that awful? So we all, including the waiter had a laugh about that.



For lunch I had confit de canard and fried potatoes in garlic. It’s a southwestern dish and it was delicious!

Then I took a long walk (farther than I thought it was going to be and no pissoirs in sight) to Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate bridge in the city, and went to a real antique exposition, the kind of things you see in museums, except that everything’s for sale and you have to pay to get in. I didn’t buy anything there. After that I went home, went across the street to buy a beer (1664) and say good-by to the grocer. He was such a nice little man. He wished me a good trip and said, “A la prochaine fois.”

A final goodbye to my favorite place to spend time in Paris: le Jardin du Luxembourg.

Le Shopping

So, what do YOU do on a rainy day? Go to a movie or go shopping, n'est-ce pas? Well, that's what we Parisians do, too. And we all shop at the same place at the same time - Galeries LaFayette. They were having an anniversary sale, 15% off of anything. The scarves were flying off the shelves and you'd better stay out of the way because most people were not caring if they snatched a scarf or your wrist. It was a nasty, bloody scene. Reminded me of a Picasso painting. The poor girl in charge of re-folding the scarves was having a nervous breakdown. I managed to get out with one scarf, no wounds. I also HAD to buy a pair of boots. No, I really did. The only closed toe shoes I brought were boots with heels and canvas shoes. The canvas shoes will be ruined in the wet, muddy streets, and I tried wearing the high-heeled boots shopping today, thinking I would be riding the metro more than walking. My feet lasted until halfway through the BHV, a store that has everything from toilets to toiletries, and then I knew I wasn't going to make it all day. I took the metro to Galeries Lafayette and bought a pair of "bottines," low boots with two straps and rubber soles. Very practical but stylish, and definitely more comfortable.

Today is the only day I went without my camera and I really regretted it! I wanted to take pictures of the shoes! Everything is becoming more extreme: the stacked heels are getting bigger and higher, the platform soles had to be four inches high, the tennis shoes high-top, low-top, and in between, and silver, gold, fluorescent, patterned, striped, you-name-it. But, the BIG things is boots. Most of them have really high heels and really pointy toes. A very popular look is the cowboy "bottine." In fact, our "Old West" seems to be "de rigueur" here right now.

When I got really tired and had to rest at Maxim's :) I had a yummy "riz au lait avec son coulis de fruits," in other words, rice pudding. The French make it a little runny and give you a berry coulis to drizzle on it yourself. The problem with dining alone is that you don't have anyone to say "mmmmm" to. And - I washed it down with a glass of champagne! Am I treating myself right or what? Well, I'm having a sandwich for dinner.

Yesterday I went to a movie, American, English version, with Jodie Foster. I had never heard of it before; it was called "A Vif" in French which means sharp, or brisk or lively, and they translated it to "The Brave One." I doubt that it was ever called that in the U.S. It doesn't sound creative enough. Anyway, it was really a gripping movie, not the kind any of you would want to see, judging from past experience, but I loved it. I saw it in the early afternoon so I wouldn't have to walk home in the dark.

Tomorrow, my last day here, I'm going to a flea market on the other side of town. It's supposed to be a once-a-year affair and it's called Marche aux Puces and Jambon (ham). I'm not sure what the significance of the ham is.

I don't have any new photos for you today, so I'll see if I can put together a slide show of pictures I've taken along the way. The first three are for Connie. She'll know why. :)

Louis Vuitton



What's this?



Another face-lift.

A Wonderful Dining Experience!

Thanks, Julie, for making me go to Bofinger for lunch! It was just one of those unplanned things again; I had walked over to the Mouffetard to take a couple of pictures and check out a hotel for Marilyn's friend and decided to walk back to the Seine that I love so much. Paris certainly looks different this time of the year - I've never seen leaves falling and being blown about by the wind. The Seine was dark and gloomy, so I walked on to Bastille and what should I run into but Bofinger - it was just meant to be, I guess. The brasserie is huge; I had no idea how large it was, and decorated in the Art Nouveau style. I was shown to a table in the "non-fumeur" section which was under one of the two beautiful oval stained glass cupolas. The wait staff was not only polite, but friendly! My head waiter looked like Billy Crystal with hair, and he even smiled and made a little joke! I ordered a kir royale (sorry, Connie, but at least it wasn't at Tour Montparnasse)and they brought little dishes with the most delicious olives and tiny pretzels. For lunch I had the sole Meuniere and potatoes Anglais which were both delicious. The waiter, not Billy, but the one who delivers the food, presented the sole, which covered the whole platter, and asked me something which included "couper," so I assumed he was asking if I wanted him to cut up the sole for me. However, he was gone so long with my lunch, I started to worry that maybe I hadn't understood him after all. When he did come back, the fish had been beautifully filleted, and tasted as good as it looked. And the potatoes Anglais were nothing like the boiled potatoes I had when I was in England! For dessert I had the "gourmandise du jour," which, I think he called a "bavartine," something I'd never heard of but would certainly like to encounter again! It was a custard with a touch of cinnamon flavor with occasional little morsels of pear. Then, of course, the French after-dinner coffee, strong and sweet, with a small plate of petits fours. This lunch really gave me the boost I needed - I left humming to myself!

Do you want to hear about the dinner conversation? One thing about French restaurants, you never eat alone. Two businessmen were seated beside me, one French and one English; they were speaking English. Most of the conversation was very banal, but a couple of things caught my interest. They were talking about the exchange rate between the Euro and the dollar and how each of them had traveled in the U.S. recently, and how cheap everything was. They were feeling sympathy for us because of how expensive our weak dollar was making everything for Americans. It was nice to know they could feel my pain! Also, you've been hearing me complain about the food - the Frenchman was saying that most of the brasseries (and there are a lot of them) are owned by the same few people now. Only a few, and Bofinger was one of them, are individually owned and have kept up the standard of quality. I thought Julie might be interested in that. Sorry I don't have any photos to show you - I thought it would be gauche to take pictures.

After lunch I strolled down Faubourg de St. Antoine, a wonderful shopping street. The sunny morning had turned to an overcast afternoon, windy and threatening rain. I only had a scarf, no jacket, so I went into a little shop, Etam, and bought a short trench in beige. It will be very useful back home, and certainly warmed me up at the time. It's the first time I've ever bought clothes in France. That must be another sign that the French are getting bigger. Near the end of the day, I came to the Viaduct des Arts, which is a raised path, planted on each side, along the former bed of a train track. Below are shops of interior decorators, accessories, florists, etc. After window shopping down below, I climbed the stairs and came back along the path. Being up above the traffic and at eye level with the 3rd story apartments gives a whole new perspective. By this time it was raining, but the temperature was mild, and with my new jacket and umbrella, (yes, Connie, I still have it)the walk was very pleasant.

My time is getting short, my countdown clock is ticking fast. Next week at this time I'll be flying home. Back to reality, but also back to friends and dogs. :)

I'm Back!

Had a couple of low days there - nothing serious, just a bit of travel fatigue. On Sunday I went to an art fair and found a couple of things I couldn't live without. I'm trying to buy only flat things this time so I don't have to buy an extra suitcase like I usually do before I come home. I also brought along a few things I can jettison before I leave here, like some old wash cloths. I never have found out what the French wash themselves with...

After the art fair I took the Metro waaay out to a garden called Serres (greenhouses) d'Autueil to hear a free concert. I was very early so I had lunch, which was quite good, by the way, and then strolled through the gardens, still pretty in spite of the lateness of the season. I wandered through the iron and glass hothouses (this construction was very popular the last half of the 19th century; think Eiffel Tower)and "judged" a floral competition, then went to sit in the park outside to get some fresh air and wait for the concert to begin. From where I was sitting, I could hear the orchestra practicing. After about 20 minutes, I suddenly lost interest and got up and went home! Maybe I thought I'd already heard the concert, I don't know. Here's a little slide show of the park:

Monday morning I slept late, lay around in my bathrobe on the couch, and read a trashy detective novel. Finally, about 3:00 I roused myself and went to the new architectural exhibit at the Palais de Chaillot. Am I ever glad I did! Just when I think I've seen everything there is to see in Paris, the French come up with something new. This is a newly refurbished wing of a U-shaped museum that faces the Eiffel tower across the river; the exhibit had just opened three days after I got here. Again, words fail me when I try to describe this exhibit: the portals, columns, tympanum, sculptures, etc. of every major Gothic cathedral or residence or city hall of note in the entire country had been reproduced, life-size, and was on display in this immense building. I just sort of stood there thinking, "This can't be possible. How could anyone do it?" I managed to get one photo before the guard came running over, scolding me in very rapid French. On another floor, the interiors of Romanesque churches, chapels and baptistries had been reproduced to the last detail. Intricacies of sculpture and painting were there, but so was the damage that had been done from war, wear, and use. The colors in the murals were rich, but faded, and completely "worn away" in many places. The noses and feet of statues were missing where they had been broken off in religious wars and the revolution. Every last detail was accurate. The publicity on this exhibit explained that now everyone could tour France without leaving Paris. :)



In the evening I went to a concert in the Church of the Madeleine, a neo-classical style church, very different in appearance from the usual Romanesque or Gothic cathedral that you usually see in France. It looks more like the Parthenon, with great columns all around the building. (Remember the coconut cake, Beth?) The concert was quite varied, a string nonette (is that what you call a group of nine?), a soprano soloist who had a beautiful voice and a competent coloratura, but looked like a wind-up Barbie doll (or maybe more like a street performer miming a wind-up doll)and a virtuoso violinist. Definitely worth taking the late Metro home.

Help, Krysta!

Well, I couldn't get the last slideshow to work, so if Krysta can fix it for me, check back later. I'll see if I can get my little video posted. I took this as I was passing through "my" park on the way to La Grande Epicerie to shop for my dinner. I'll also post a picture of my dinner, if I can.

Dinner: pommes Dauphinois, haricots verts, lapin (not-so-agile) and moka-cafe



Well, only in baseball would .50 be acceptable. Check back later, please.

Strolling around Paris

I decided to walk to one of the few large Parisian parks that I hadn't seen before, Parc Montsouris, which means Mouse Mountain. It's called that, I've read, because it had been a quarry that was rebuilt into a park with manmade hills, gullies, ponds and streams. Apparently, before it was recreated into a park, it looked like giant mice had been eating the landscape. On my way there, which took a long time, not only because it was a long way to walk, but because I always get distracted and go off course when I see something interesting, I met a man walking down this allee with two whippets.

I stopped him to ask him about his dogs (out of my comfort zone, Krysta!) and to tell him that I had a greyhound. He was delightful - we chatted for some time; he was very patient, not in a hurry (he said the outer arrondissements move a little more slowly), and as we talked my French became more fluent. Sometimes he waited while I had to think of a word or a construction, sometimes he would help me. We talked about dogs, about how everyone closer to the inner city speaks English (very annoying), he asked me about where I lived and wanted to know if it was near Boston. He told me about some American friends he had at one time, and that he found English too hard to pronounce. I asked him if my accent was hard to understand, and he said he could understand me very well, but my French lacked "la musique." French is a very musical language, and I've noticed that even Americans whose French is much better than mine lack the intonation and cadence of the French - the music. Anyway, it was a very special moment for me - he'll never know how pathetically grateful I was for his generosity.

I finally made it to the park, a great place for kids with play areas and a puppet theater.

Yesterday I strolled around Montmartre, both the butte and the other side, stopping to look in the windows of a lot of real estate agencies. For a fairly nice, three room apartment here, you would need to pay about a million euros. Today that would be $1,400,000. I didn't buy one. I had planned on going to a concert at the Madeleine church at 9:00, but I hit the wall about 6:30 and came home instead. Today I met the guide for the walking tour I was supposed to have had last week, who didn't show up. The walk was around a very familiar area, so I didn't really learn anything new. Although he was supposed to have spoken French, he decided that since there were several Americans and two Germans, he would speak English instead. I could have understood him better if he had spoken French. We had to help him out several times when he couldn't come up with the English word he was searching for. One of the others in the group was a woman from L.A. who spoke French about as well as I did, who was dragging her husband and teenage son along. They kept drifting farther and farther behind and it was obvious this wasn't their idea. She said yesterday was her birthday and she was still working on credit. We actually had a lot of fun together on the walk once it became obvious the walk itself was worth pretty much what we had paid it - nothing. Here are some photos I took the last couple of days:

Soaring Moments

Well. This day rates, hands-down, the highest on the satisfaction scale. I had a very full day and nearly all of it was successful; the low point was probably the $38.00 lunch at the Louvre restaurant. The best part of that was the cover of the menu. The waiter was one of those who started to speak English as soon as he heard my accent. I had ordered a glass of wine on the menu, but he said, "We dun hov zees one. We hov zees one... zees one... or zees one." I took ze chippest one. I also ordered the chippest lunch, which was penne pasta in a tomato/basil sauce. How can you go wrong with that, but the sauce was watery and flavorless. The only other thing I liked, besides the menu, was the salt and pepper dishes: one salt, one pepper and one mixed, with a little spoon for sprinkling it on your food. Unfortunately, it didn't improve my pasta, just made it salty. Anyway, I digress. The rest of the day made up for the lunch, and at least the lunch gave me time to rest.
I started out this morning by taking the RER to the Paris Nord train station to buy my ticket to Brugge and back to the CDG airport. It was another one of those "Me Tarzan, you Jane" moments, but the girl was very nice, very helpful with advice and suggestions, and didn't start to speak English. So - that went well. I'm all set to leave for Belgium on Sept. 30.

Then I went to the Decorative Arts wing of the Louvre, which has been remodeled and reopened just recently. That I enjoyed very much! It included exhibits of commercial posters and t.v. commercials from different eras and different countries; furniture throughout periods from medieval to today; clothing styles and accessories, and toys and games. Everything was fascinating, and I was surprised to find myself most interested in furniture styles from the 30's, 40's and 50's. I've always loved Art Nouveau and Art Deco, but these were decades I didn't know very much about. It was interesting to see the progression from intricately hand-carved wood pieces of the Middle Ages through the furniture of the 17th and 18th centuries that were so richly ornamented and made of materials like marble, highly lacquered inlaid wood, and gilded bronze; even the Art Nouveau furniture was intricate and sinuous in its own way. But then came Art Deco, and after that, form and design became more and more simplified to the point of being austere (not to mention uncomfortable-looking!) Form seemed to overcome function to the point of almost being sculpture. It makes me wonder what caused this inexorable movement toward simplicity. Did the industrial revolution have something to do with it? And if so, what? Was design inspired by the industrial revolution as art was, or did mass production make hand-made pieces too expensive to own?
In one area you could actually sit in one of a variety of chairs of different styles and watch movie clips from previous decades in which this furniture was used in the set decoration. Great fun!
The toy exhibit was fascinating - one display held tin and plush-covered wind-up toys from I'm not sure when - even before my time! A video showed the toys in action after they were wound up - it was very cleverly done.
Just one more word on the Decorative Arts exhibit: there were two familiar personalities represented - Dale Chihuly and Barbie. :)




In the evening I went to a piano concert in the oldest church in Paris, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre; the smallest, too, I think. The pianist's name was Nicolas Boyer, and he played a Chopin recital. I had the third best seat in the house :), where I could see his right hand and the reflection in the piano of both hands. He was superb! Music is truly a gift from God, and it sounds most heavenly when it's played in a cathedral. It was so beautiful at times it nearly brought tears to my eyes, other times I felt like melting in my seat, and occasionally I just felt so filled to capacity that I would burst - one of Julie's soaring moments that just raises you right up out of your seat!



Someday (before I leave here, I hope): I'm going to find that mouthwatering French food I'm always raving about!