Dinner!

I made wild mushroom soup this afternoon, with the mushrooms I got at the marché yesterday.

It's Not ALWAYS Perfect in Paris

Early this afternoon I took a wonderful walk through the tiny streets of the Marais with hundreds of other people. The sun was peeking through the clouds, the cafes were crowded. There were street artists and muscians, and everybody was happy.

On my way home I stopped at a little café on the edge of Place de la Bastille for a coffee on the terrace. While I was sitting there about fifty demonstrators marched by with flags, screaming about something.  They headed over to the Opera, where all good demonstrations take place. Somehow in the block between the café I was sitting in and the Opera, things became violent.  They were throwing things and had removed the flags from the sticks they were on and were swinging those.  The police (how do they always know?) started spraying tear gas, and the demonstrators started running back past the café.

 By this time they were dumping trash cans and throwing construction barricades from the sidewalk into the street.


The waitors hustled everybody inside and closed the doors, and we all stood at the windows and watched. (This is now one of my favorite cafés) The riot police were chasing right behind the demonstrators in tight formation.

The guy standing in the photos is the bartender, and he had just run out to the curb to move his motorcycle closer to the building.  Smart!

The police started running down the street and it appears that they cut the demonstrators off about a block away.

Five minutes later, other than a traffic jam, the streets seemed to be back to normal.  I was ready to depart the cafe, but a gentleman that I had been talking to suggested I may want to wait another five or ten minutes as there were still police combing the area. So I took his advice just to be safe. And I never found out what the protest was about.

When I got back to my apartment, from which I have a perfect view, I could see that trash cans had been dumped, and the glass windshield behind the bus stop had been shattered.

Another group of demonstrators, waving Turkish flags, had arrived and were chanting and cheering, but never became violent. 

Although they didn't have much of an opportunity because the sidewalk in front of them was lined with riot police carrying shields and rifles.  They have since dispersed and the street cleaners are here, cleaning the streets before the opera crowd shows up. All is back to normal.

And here are some snaps of my meandering prior to the excitement.............

                                                             Playing jazz and the blues

                                                      Classical at the Place des Vosges

                                                     Painting in the arcade...............

                                                             Collecting fall leaves

                                      The line for this falafel restaurant was over a block long.

                                                             Hiding from Mama.........

Art Show in Paris

I spent the afternoon at a huge art fair that is taking place this weekend right across the street.  They have worked for a week setting up white tents all over the square and down the canal.  I had a FREE entrance coupon, but I would have paid. It was fabulous!

There were over 500 boothes and all types of art.  Paintings, sculpture, jewelry, pottery and I even saw carpets. 

The artists were all present, but I found most of them weren't in their boothes.  They were stitting at little tables eating lunch.  After all..............nothing is more important than dejeuner.

It was interesting to see the ones I was drawn to and it did form a pattern.  Unfortunately I didn't feel comfortable taking too many photos so I didn't get some of my favorites.  Nor did I buy anything more than a 2 Euro postcard.  I didn't see anything under 400 Euros.

Love the nudes!

                                                     Both of these were painted by Jean Jouvin.


The next one is a bit blurry, but it is a nude painted on a musical score. I really like it when different materials are incorporated into a painting.  Unfortunately I didn't get photos of some of my favorites.

                                                                Cyril Reguerre

I didn't get any photos of the paintings of restaurant/bar scenes, but I REALLY like those.  What does that tell you?  And scenes of people doing things..........

And this whimsical painting made me smile.

                                                             Marie-Pierre Kuhn

And so did my late lunch, after the show, at one of my favorite neighborhood cafés, Au Bouquet St. Paul.

The salmon was cooked perfectly!
 

Place des Vosges

Just a five minute walk from the apartment, Place des Vosges is a great place to relax.  It's perfect for people watching.

Building began in 1605, by Henri IV, and finished in 1612.  It is truly a symmetrical square, each side being 140 metres long.  The builings are constructed of beautiful red brick with blue slate roofs.

 In the arcade under the houses there are galleries featuring a variety of art, designer shops, L'ambroisie restaurant (reportedly the most beautiful restaurant in Paris, but I haven't been inside..........YET!), cafe's and tea rooms. 

In the past the square was home to a number of French historical figures, including Victor Hugo, whose house is open to the public.... and the permanent exhibition if free!  Although the furnishings, books and written entries, and portraits (How did these people ever get anything done, when they spent so much time sitting for portraits?), and other art work are from different periods of Hugo's life, this is the spot where he wrote parts of Les Miserables. 

I'm reasonably certain that Victor Hugo was not terribly "miserable" writing from this house, with this view of Place des Vosges outside his study window.

The park is filled with people relaxing on benches reading or listening to their iPods, chatting with friends.  There is a little playground full of kids and at least one tour group.  It's clean and peaceful.  The grass is off limits!

Formage! I Love the Cheese!

"Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?"

("How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?")

- Charles de Gualle -

Marché Bastille is just steps from my apartment.  It's open on Thursday from 7:00 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. and on Sunday from 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  On Sunday it's big and crowded, filled with French locals, expats, and tourists, but on Thursday it is smaller and quiet. I try to go on both days for fruit, vegetables, household supplies, and flowers.  I shop around for all of these things, often going to the stand that is least busy, although I'm sure that there is a reason that some stands have crowds. 

The one vendor who I am loyal to is the nice woman selling cheese at La Ferme de Savoie!

She is so patient and always smiles when she helps me.  She doesn't seem at all bothered that there may be a line behind me, as I point at the cheese I want, and trip over my French.    

She has a great variety of cheese, plus eggs and dairy products.  I have three favorites:

Morbier au Lait Cru

Morbier is an "au lait", or raw milk cheese. That isn't mold you see running through it, it's ash. I like it.  It's soft in the center, and has a mild aroma and taste.

P'tit Basque

This cheese comes from the Basque region in the Pyrenees Mountain range between France and Spain.
It's a relatively new cheese, but is made in the traditional method that local shepherds have used in the past.  It's a mild, hard cheese, that is available in the U.S.

Roquefort Papillon

This is a well-known brand from the South of France.  Like Champagne from the Champagne region, only the Rocquefort produced in the area of Rocquefort-sur-Soulzon can be called Roquefort.

It's a sheep cheese with blue mold added to give it that delicious taste. I know not everyone likes it, but I love spreading the moist, aromatic cheese on a baguette.

*****************

And there are still so many others to try! Even more now than the 246 that de Gaulle mentioned.



Laundry - an Ongoing Project!

The washer/dryer combination appliance is small and doesn't hold much. The dryer is quite ineffective.  So I've made a study of how to get the laundry done efficiently.

First I translated the instruction booklet.....

The Post-Its are a gift for the next resident.

Luckily I have good sun exposure and I shift the drying rack around, and sometimes use an electric fan to aid the drying process. Sometimes I place the rack on the very tiny terrace.  But I'm hesitant, not just because people going in and out of the opera can look up and see my delicates flapping in the wind, but there is so much dust (and yes, pollution) coming up from the street below that I'm afraid I will have to start the whole process over again.

I'd write more, but I have to go move the drying rack.

Blvd. de la Bastille

Today for the first time, I walked down Blvd. de la Bastille.  This is the street that the cars' headlights shine directly into my apartment, so it is knd of a surprise I've never walked that way.  And it was a nice surprise when I finally did.

The view of the canal is hidden from my apartment, but I can see it from my Metro stop. What I can't see, or didn't notice, is the lovely little park that runs along the banks of the canal. It will definitely be a stopover on the next nice day - hopefully tomorrow.

If It's Raining it Must be Tuesday

Whenever I check the 10-Day Forecast, they predict rain on Tuesday, and they are almost always correct.

Overheard on the Metro: "Why is a street named Franklin Roosevelt?"

Today it's sunny and mild in Paris.  I planned to walk to the 5th arrondissement, but decided to take the Metro. Since I'm on my own again.......I was afraid if I didn't take it today by myself, I would put it off and lose my confidence.

It was easy - absolutely no problem! 

So I was sitting on Line 1 listening to three American young adults.  They were late 20's or early 30's, I'm sure.  The girl looked at the chart above the door that shows where the line goes and asked the two fellows she was traveling with, "Why would they have a street named after Franklin Roosevelt?"

I didn't say anything, but what I wanted to say is,  "Don't they teach you anything in school?"

Good grief!

I'm hoping, and reasonably certain, that my children know that Franklin Roosevelt was the 32nd president and Commander-in-Chief of the US troops during the Invasion of Normandy,

which led to the liberation of Paris and the end of the war.  But if by chance, they don't (and some of them will be riding that same Metro line), or if that sweet young thing happens to be randomly reading my blog.................that is why there is a major street named after Franklin Roosevelt in Paris.

Versailles Shines!

Saturday was very cold in Paris, so Deanna and I were a bit worried that our plans to go to the Estate of Versailles on Sunday might necessitate some very warm clothing.  But Sunday morning was clear, sunny, and mild.

We had mapped out our route on the metro and train and were pretty confident it would be easy...........until we got to the first metro line and it was "fermez" closed.  But with a little adjustment to line 8, with a transfer to line 4, we got to the RER train at St. Michael that took us to Versailles.

Of course it is stunning and immense!  The Palace of Versailles is one of the most famous world heritage monuments.  It began with an old chateau of Louis XIII, but was transformed by his son Louis XIV.  And after that it continued to be embellished, until the monarchy fled Versailles in the beginning of the French Revolution.

The Palace was beautiful and held exceptional works of art and restored furnishings, but the gardens were my favorite.  And as with so many places like this..............one day was just not enough time to do it justice, although we walked for miles.

 I think I'll go back, but next time I'll skip the Palace and go straight to the gardens.

Au revoir Helene! Hello Centre Pompidou!

Friday morning Deanna and I sadly said good-by to Helene as she headed back to the states.

Then we wandered the Marais area and ended up at Centre Pompidou. With it's escalator, plumbing and air vents visible from outside, the building is a wonder to look at.  It's six stories high and we went straight to the top to enjoy the magnificent view.

We meandered through the modern art museum located in the centre. It houses approximately 50,000 pieces from 1905 onward.  It basically takes off from the Musee d'Orsay.  It includes a great collection of pieces by Henri Matisse.

And then we got lost again in the streets of the Marais, but eventually ended up back at the apartment.

Reims in the Champagne Area of France

On Wednesday, October 19 we got up early and took a train to the city of Reims.  It's a 45 minute train trip from Paris' Gare d l'Est. So we took the Metro to the Gare (and we are getting very proficient at the Metro!) and had time for a quick cup of coffee before our departure.

We had reservations at a wonderful hotel, the Grand Hotel des Templiers, and it turned out to be a great choice.

At one time this hotel was the home of one of the proprietors of a champagne house.
We loved it.

We visited Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral. Twenty-five kings of France were crowned at this magnificent cathedral and the stained glass windows were exquisite. One was created by Marc Chagall.

Next we visited the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. I happen to love Veuve Clicquot champagne, so I was quite excited to get the reservation to tour this house.

Thursday morning we had an appointment for a tour at the Pomerry Champagne House.  I thought it was the better tour.  It was a bit less formal and the guide was very informative.  The Pomerry cellars are made from a Roman limestone quarry.  During the war, 25,000 people lived in the cellars.

Both champagne houses had sculptures carved into the stone. And both of these champagne houses were run by women in the early years.