Kind Parisians and Head-Scratching Art - Wednesday, 5 June

I ordered a G7 taxi for my trip to Accents Table Bourse today (all about that lunch in my next post!).  Normally, the driver can stop right in front of my apartment, but today he called to say that he couldn't get through because of an accident and stoppage on rue de Rivoli, so he was waiting on the corner of Rivoli and rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, just under a block away.  I said I'd be there in a couple of minutes.  He saw me hobbling along and quickly jumped out of his cab to cross rue de Rivoli and help me across the street and into the cab.  If you think Parisians are rude, talk to me!  (And, BTW, G7 is a terrific service https://www.g7.fr/en/ ).

On the way to the resto, I saw this strange sculpture/installation outside the Bourse de Commerce (the former grain exchange, the big round building on rue du Louvre at Les Halles, now the Pinault Collection of modern art).  Boulders in a tree.  Hmmm.  Need to think about this for a bit!

Here's a short blurb about the Pinault from the current issue of a free magazine offered at the airport!  (Note that you can click on any photo in this blog to see a bigger image.)

Gardening, Paris Apartment Style! - Saturday, 22 July

So, this afternoon I was deadheading and watering the geraniums in my window boxes, and I glanced down to see a tourist gawking up at my building (a common occurrence - it's 14th century, one of the three oldest in Paris, about the same age as Notre Dame).  Then she grabbed a camera and took a picture.  Whoo hoooo!  The caption in her vacation scrapbook will probably read "little old building with quaint old Parisian watering her flowers" - at least I hope so!

Entertainment Tonight! - Saturday, 1 October

It’s Nuit Blanche, the yearly (this is the 20th annual) all-night festival of music, arts, performance, etc.  Really - all night - 7pm to 5am.  It’s a balmy dry evening, and the crowds are out in force!  Apparently there’s an event close to me - perhaps at Hotel de Ville - and the lines snake around the block.  I did not join those lines.  https://www.sortiraparis.com/actualites/nuit-blanche/guides/151604-nuit-blanche-paris-2022-le-programme-par-arrondissement-photos-et-video

Instead, I strolled down towards the Seine to find somewhere for a late supper and ended up at Le Louis Philippe.

Can you smell the sweet earthy vegetal aromas of the soupe à l’oignon maison?  And hear the crunch of the crusty bread crusts?  No?  Well, you’ll just have to come here yourself.  I think they used just a bit of beef or veal stock in the soup, mostly the slowly-caramelized onion juices.  Pieces of at least two styles of bread (a rye and a sourdough - interesting!) were floating in the soup as well.  Sure, you have to deal with all that stringy melted Gruyère on top, but it’s really what you came for, right?

An individual Tarte Tatin maison with tart apples, smooth sweet caramel sauce and cool foamy whipped cream was delicious.  Nice presentation.  The crust was just slightly soggy, but it had probably been made in the morning.

Love this late supper thing, and the fact that I can see L'île Saint-Louis and L'île de la Cite and the towers of Notre Dame and the Pont Louis Philippe from my table is just a bonus. Plus the cars, emergency vehicles, scooters, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, pedestrians, and one Pomeranian on Quai de Hôtel de Ville.

My waitress Sabrina was very lively and entertaining, with funny one-liners and quick retorts and friendly banter with the guests, spreading cheer among the neighboring tables.  At least one person at each table spoke English.  Sabrina said she was practicing her English.  “I’ll be famous someday,” she said.  I don’t doubt it!

 

A Good Day for Cocooning - Sunday, 3 October

With a deluge this morning followed by steady rain, it was a good day to stay inside and cocoon!  Leftovers needed to be consumed, clothes needed to be washed, floors needed to be swept, garbage needed to be gathered, suitcases needed to be packed.  Oh, ya, and some work needed to be done for the nonprofits I’m involved with.  And videos needed to be watched.  And a little reading/writing had to happen.  My apartment was just the comfy haven for all of this!  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29841953

It started clearing up around 7:00, bien sûr.  There is a little brewpub/café just outside my door where I’ve stopped for a beer or coffee about every-other day, so I popped down there for a late hot chocolate before hitting the sack in preparation for an early morning departure.  The waiter, who had served me several times over the course of the last two weeks, kept calling me “darling.”  Weirdly, it seemed appropriate.  

Beauty and Generosity - Bakeries, Horses, Frenchmen - Tuesday, 21 September

A beautiful and historic bakery, Au Petit Versailles du Marais at 1, rue Tiron, sits just 1/2 block from the apartment.  It dates back to 1860.  Its paintings-on-glass and chandeliers and racks are stunning, as are its breads, sweet pasties and dishes such as quiche (so far I’ve had just the salmon & leek version - wow!).  Its proprietor, Christian Vabret, is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF), Best Craftsman of France, a title awarded to the highest craftspeople in a variety of professions.  This is a huge honor which comes only to the winners of competitions that are held every 3-4 years in their area of expertise.  Mr. Vabret won the honor in 1986 and built a school of bakery and pastry in the city of Aurillac in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-central France.  He also bought this property and opened his bakery.  I get to eat his handiwork every day.  How lucky am I?  

As I was having afternoon tea across the street from Au Petit Versailles du Marais, groups of two or three mounted police officers clipped-clopped by.  Gorgeous horses, all apparently the same breed, carrying their no-nonsense gendarmes, both men and women.  I don’t think there were any demonstrations in the area - hopefully they were just out to monitor the arrondissement and add their unique touch of beauty and calm.

If anyone tells you that the French are unfriendly or discourteous or uncharitable, send them my way so I can set them straight!  As I was returning home from my wanderings this evening and approached the elevator, a young man came down the stairs and asked me to wait just a minute since he needed to get something out of the elevator.  (My perplexed response told him that my French was, um, rusty, so our conversation continued in English!)  His partner was just behind him, and she held the elevator door open for him while he grabbed several boxes that they had sent down.  One of them was a case of wine.  I said “ooh, party!” and he said “no, we’re moving, would you like a bottle?”  I demurred, but he said “really, take this one, I think it’s pretty good” and handed me a bottle.  It is pretty good indeed, a 2019 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey "Les Mauvarennes" Nuits-Saint-Georges (Pinot Noir)!  It goes beautifully with pretty much all of the cheese, meat, bread, sweets, etc. I have in the apartment, including the aforementioned salmon & leek quiche!  Per an online search, the average price of this vintage is 29 euro per bottle.  Nice guy (and his partner), lucky me (again!).   https://www.domaine-faiveley.com/en/wines/50/mercurey-les-mauvarennes

Airport, Taxi, Real Estate and Roof Guys - What a Great Bunch! - Thursday, 16 September

 

Once again, a Paris airport employee took pity on me when he saw me trudging along with my cane and (relatively small) carry-on near the end of my long walk and tram ride from the arrival gate to passport control.  He was on the other side of a big glass barrier and beckoned me over to ask if this was my final destination.  He asked why I didn’t request a wheelchair to meet me at the plane and pointed to the LONG line snaking around in front of the passport windows, adding that I could avoid that line almost entirely if I had someone pushing me.  (Which I knew of course, having been through this process many times and always deciding to walk it to get the kinks out after a long flight.)  He said “wait there for me, and I will take your bag and walk you through the handicap line.”  So I let him!  He walked me all the way through passport control to baggage claim, grabbed my suitcase for me, and walked me to the taxi area.  During our time together, I’m sure he told me 25 times that on my next trip I should tell the travel agent that I wanted a wheelchair to greet me - that it was free - that I could avoid the long line - that it would be much easier for me - that on my Paris departure I could go to the Delta desk and ask for a wheelchair - etc. etc. etc.  On repeat, I swear, 25 times.  I’m not complaining, though, this nice man went way out of his way to help me.  And this is not, in my experience, a rarity among CDG employees and among Parisians in general - they are, on the whole, most gracious to strangers, especially those who are a bit mobility-challenged! 

Traffic into town was bad this morning - some accidents along the way clogging things up, and there seemed to be a larger-than-usual number of giant trucks.  So it was a 90-minute ride, but I had a safe and efficient and helpful G7 taxi driver, and his car was very comfy, enticing me to doze off a couple of times!

I texted my Airbnb host, Julien, along the way to let him know my ETA.  He was right at the front door of 26 rue de Rivoli when I pulled up in the taxi. A really nice guy with impeccable English.  He handled my bags for me and walked me through all the features of this small but very comfortable 6th floor apartment (yes, there is an elevator!). 

And Julien provided me with a plain and a chocolate croissant, orange juice, jam, and Keurig-style coffee pods to tide me over until I could hit the grocery.  Aahhh…just what I needed!  Then a long nap on the very comfortable bed.  Life is good.

Check out this view of lovely Paris rooftops from one of my windows.  Just to the left of and above center you can also see a couple lovely Parisian roofer dudes!  They're in dark clothing against a white chimney.  (Click on any photo in this blog to see a larger version.)  

The Kindness of Strangers - Thursday, 26 September

Early this morning as I was leaving the apartment with a suitcase, a carry-on, my purse, a bag of garbage, and my cane it “just so happened” that a gentleman in another apartment on my floor was leaving too. This actually is rather remarkable since there were only three apartments on the floor.

He pushed the button for the elevator and nothing happened. Sometimes the exterior door can get stuck on another floor or someone can push the “stop” button to give them time to get things off the elevator and forget to turn it back on. Anyhoo, he ran up the stairs to the 6th floor and sure enough, with jiggling the door the elevator started working. After walking back down to the 5th he held the door for me, loaded my stuff in the elevator for me, and indicated that I should use it while he took the stairs. [It’s an elevator with an indicated capacity of 4 people, which means me and my two suitcases!]

I beat him down to the ground level, and started pulling my bags out of the elevator. He came along and helped. Then he took my garbage to the bins for me. Then he wheeled my cases outside for me.

I could have tugged and shoved and taken things one-at-a-time and managed, but God bless this stranger for helping a damsel in mild distress.

Craftspeople and Artisans and Passages, Oh My! – Saturday 30 September

It’s amazing the craftspeople and artisans you find joyfully doing their work and creating beauty in the 200-year-old glass-roofed “Passages” in Paris. Just two stories from this morning….

About a year ago I read about the only umbrella repair guy in France, Thierry Millet. His tiny almost-50-year-old shop called PEP’S (where he also sells a vast variety of regular and folding umbrellas and canes) is in the ancient stone-paved Passage de l'Ancre in the 3rd arrondissement, about a mile from my apartment. I also read that he fabricates an Eiffel Tower umbrella of his own design, and I just had to see it for myself! So I shuffled over there this morning and was smitten! He doesn’t take credit cards, but I had just enough cash in my purse to buy one of his masterpieces (with enough left over for a coffee on the way home!). A charming 2-minute video about him was produced this summer – check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNsrU-t0lf0
And here are his website and Facebook page:
https://www.peps-paris.com/reparateur.html
https://www.facebook.com/maisonpeps/

On my way to PEP’S I walked through the Passage du Bourg l'Abbé for the first time. At its eastern end I found big slabs of rough-hewn tree trunks outside the atelier of the last cabinetmaker in central Paris, Ivan Lulli, who has worked in this shop in this location for 30 years. He studies a slab or chunk of wood to discern its characteristics and then designs a piece based on what the wood tells him. Sometimes he collaborates with architects on custom pieces and takes commissions from individuals. Golly, I wonder what it would cost to have him make something for me? Of course I’d have to factor in the shipping, and I really can’t think of something I “need,” but ….

A group called “les Petits Frenchies” did an article about Mr. Millet this spring.  Read it here (it's in French but you can easily run it through Google Translate):   https://fr.petitsfrenchies.com/ivan-lulli-dernier-ebeniste-du-centre-paris/

About 20 “Passages” remain in Paris (many have been destroyed). I’ve visited only five of them, and some fairly superficially. Some are rough-and-tumble like Passage de l’Ancre and some of them quite elegant and fabulous and haute-everything like Galerie Vivienne. Maybe I should organize a future trip around studying (and shopping! and dining!) them all, one or two a day. I’d better get to work on that plan!

Like the Olden Days – and the Kindness of Strangers – Friday, 29 September

So, after my euphoria-inducing French “lunch” at Alliance (perhaps I could just call it “déjeuner” but that wouldn’t really do it justice either!), I decided to take a little walk to my favorite church, Saint-Séverin, which was only a few blocks away in the heart of the Latin Quarter. The scale, the quiet, the beauty, the “sacred grove” created by the double ambulatory, the height, the Chagall windows, the peace amid the rampant noise and tourism of the quartier – it’s my favorite place to just sit and be still.

And then, since this was St. Michael’s Day (or Michaelmas, as they say in England), I had my heart set on getting a selfie in front of the huge fountain at Place Saint-Michel just down the street. Unfortunately, when I got there my phone decided to go into whacky mode, phantomly pushing its own buttons and wearing down the battery. Oh, well, you’ll just have to enjoy this photo I found online featuring the same perspective I was aiming for!

So with my phone on whacky mode I couldn’t get an Uber either. But there was a taxi queue at the intersection, so I went and stood over there, just like in the olden days. For 15 minutes. And there was an old guy in line before me who had been standing there even longer. Apparently early rush hour on a Friday isn’t the best time to catch a cab!

But, harkening back to even oldener (!) days, there was a bus shelter right there where the #85 stopped (a route that goes within a block of my apartment). And I had a ticket in my purse. And the bus that arrived 5 minutes later wasn’t already full, so I could get a seat! Yippee! However, the yippee factor muted a bit at every stop as more and more people got on. By the time it reached my stop the bus was packed, and I couldn’t use my patented rock-and-lurch method for getting up (it takes some room to get the inertia going!) and there wasn’t anything close to push against for the leverage I need. But a couple of sharp-eyed passengers (both women, of course!) saw my dilemma and helped me up and made sure the driver saw that a slow-poke was trying to get off. God bless these strangers and their kindness!

My ‘Hood – Tuesday, 26 September

Hey, look at who’s at the end of my street! I choose to take this as a positive sign!

Oh my goodness, texting while walking seems to have taken over the town! Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any collisions yet with distracted walkers, but I have had to “yield” to some of these kids. My message to them: “Don’t text and walk or I might have to hit you with my cane!”

The building that the apartment I’m renting is in houses mostly doctors’ offices. It is next door to a big sports center https://www.evous.fr/Centre-sportif-Jean-Dame,1117300.html. There are a few cafes and bars on the street, and one hotel, but overall it’s pretty quiet. My windows face an inner courtyard, so really about the only noise comes from the slight rumble of trains running in the Metro deep underground. I think I’d prefer just a teeny bit more of the lively street sounds typical in this neighborhood!

The apartment is in the 2nd arrondissement, just on the north side of the "Les Halles" area of the 1st arrondissement. For centuries (really - since the late 12th century) this was the central market where farmers, fishermen and producers brought their meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, grains, poultry, mushrooms, eggs, dairy, honey, nuts, herbs, spices, preserves - you name it - to sell to restaurants, shops and individuals. Émile Zola wrote a novel featuring the market and its merchants called Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris). In the 1850s enormous glass and iron buildings were erected to house the daily markets; they were all torn down in 1971 when the wholesale market was moved to the distant suburb of Rungis.

But during the time it operated as a market area, scores of food-related cafes and shops opened to support the suppliers, customers, bakers, chefs, etc. who shopped the markets. Many of these still operate in this area, making it a cook, baker and foodie haven! You can find anything you need (and many things that you had no idea you needed until you saw them!) in the shops that specialize in kitchen equipment, porcelain, baking supplies, spices, silverware, pots & pans, candymaking supplies, chocolate, etc. And there are plenty of bars and cafés in which to rest your weary legs and have a drink & a bite to eat!

My street, rue Léopold Bellan, intersects with one of the great Paris food streets, rue Montorgueil, which is three blocks of bakery next to wine shop, next to vegetable stand, next to fish/seafood market, next to pizza joint, next to butcher, next to florist, next to cheesemonger, next to dry cleaner, next to olive oil purveyor, next to deli, next to foie gras & preserved food vendor, next to tea supplier, next to chocolatier, next to café, next to supermarket, with some hardware stores and tobacconists and locksmiths and pharmacies and toy/novelty shops thrown in for good measure – all up and down both sides of the street – if you can’t picture it, you should just come here and see for yourself!

Confiture artisanale
du Morvan from Burgundy,
found at the
cheesemonger - wow!

My afternoon "coffee break!"

I stayed in the ‘hood today, stocking up the larder (including the best strawberry jam I’ve ever had – one of life’s not-so-small pleasures!) and buying a few essentials and watching the world go by from café chairs when I needed a break. This is an amazingly diverse area – teenagers, business people, moms & nannies with strollers, little kids with big dogs, big guys with little dogs, skateboarders, bicyclers, beggars, tourists, street entertainers, the elderly, the handicapped, the fit, the hip & fashionable, the shabby & not-so-chic, teachers leading long lines of schoolkids, artists, hawkers, flâneurs – you really can sit in one place and watch the world go by. So I do!

Time to Use Up the Leftovers, and Mariellen in Julia's Corner! - Thursday, 30 March

(This post from Provence)

No trips to the Super U for tonight's supper! We leave Julia's home tomorrow morning, so it was time to clean up everything we could.

We still had eggs, so by popular demand we had an encore of "omelettes fines herbs" with fine strips of last night's leftover pork loin, green salad, Madeleines and ice cream. Simple but satisfying, as we had to hit the sack early - three of the gang had to leave by about 4 am for early flights on Friday!

In the kitchen there's a great photo of Julia presenting a platter full of goodies on the center island. Here's the photo, here it is in context, and here's yours truly posing in the same spot! I'm sure that our meals didn't approach hers, but we did try to do her proud in her kitchen!

Log live the memory and influence of Julia Child.

Street Scenes and Other Fun Stuff - C'est la Vie! - Wednesday, 2 November

It’s a wrap for this trip! Just a few more photos and brief explanations….

The sculpture “Écoute” (“Listen,” or as I like to call it, Big Giant Head) sits just outside Église Saint-Eustache a few blocks from the apartment, and it’s been a favorite of mine since my first solo trip to Paris in 1989 when I stayed in the cute little Hotel Tonic on rue du Roule. There are always little kids climbing all over it – into the hand, then up on the nose, then to the eyebrows, then to the top. No soft landings on nice grass if you tumble – the sculpture has always sat on stone pavement. I wonder how many arms have been broken there over the years!

Fashion!  I wish I had been quicker with my camera to get a better picture of this woman’s outfit – the skirt had pieces of fabric of various shapes and sizes sown onto a few petticoats.  And the fake fur shawl! And the hat!  And the boots! Loved it!

Checking out the architecture? Contemplating profound truths? Wondering how soon I’ll be in a café with a decent … um … water closet?

A little silverware sculpture for all of my bass player friends!

The late-night crowd on our street – it’s a lively part of town, and the partying often continues until about 2 am!

A new vehicle for the conveyance of packages – trucks get stuck in massive traffic jams, and this thing could slip between lanes. Have nerves of steel? You too might be able to get a job like this!

There are specialty shops for everything, including rodent traps. Here’s one that displays taxidermied rats caught at Les Halles in the 1920s in its window. Charming. But there’s no doubt what kind of store it is! (The building across the street is reflected in the top portion of this photo.)

How I spend half my day, it seems, at least when I’m not in a café watching the world go by! But since my legs can’t handle a lot of walking, and since technology allows me to work anywhere, I really don’t mind spending time in the apartment writing blog entries, reading emails & Facebook & news articles (given my hand-on-hip posture here, I’m probably reading an irritating article about a certain Presidential candidate!), doing work for various nonprofits I’m involved with, etc. And back in my pre-retirement years I was even known for participating in the occasional work conference call via Skype. Of course, my habits can be a bit irritating to my travel companions!

Driving through the northern part of Paris in an Uber one night, we saw lots of little tents and groups of people standing around. These were likely migrants who had shifted from Calais to Paris, according to this NY Times article (photo from the article). So sad:  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/world/europe/paris-migrants-refugees.html?emc=edit_th_20161104&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=25767547

The weather was great the whole 10 days – this might be a record – just short spurts of drizzle a couple days. I did carry an umbrella in my purse the whole time, so I’m sure that that’s what kept it sunny for everyone! It was in the 60s F. most days.  (P.S. the forecast for the week after we returned is highs in the 50s F. and rain most days!)

This was the scene walking home from Maison Eric Kayser with our morning baguette and croissants one day. C'est la vie!

Patronne de Paris and Some Other Patroness - Tuesday, 1 November

Sainte Geneviève is the Patron Saint of Paris (or, as it says on her statue, Patronne de Paris, 423-512). A peasant girl from Nanterre, she saved Paris from Attila the Hun. And she influenced subsequent marauders to show clemency. Impressive. She deserves a visit to her statues at Jardin du Luxembourg (at the top of the stairs on the east side of the big pond) and other locations (I just learned that there’s one on Pont de la Tournelle – next trip!).

the Patronne de Paris
and one of her big fans

Here’s her story (my summary from a Wikipedia article and other sources):

A peasant girl born in Nanterre, Geneviève became a nun at the age of 15 and moved to Paris to live with her godmother Lutetia upon the death of her parents. Later, the bishop of Paris appointed Geneviève to look after the welfare of the virgins dedicated to God, and by her instruction and example she led them to a high degree of sanctity. In 451 Attila and his Huns were sweeping over Gaul; and the inhabitants of Paris prepared to flee. Geneviève encouraged them to hope and trust in God; she urged them to do works of penance, and added that if they did so the town would be spared. Her exhortations prevailed; the citizens recovered their calm, and Attila's hordes miraculously turned off towards Orléans, leaving Paris untouched. When Childeric I besieged the city in 464 and conquered it, she acted as an intermediary between the city and its conqueror, collecting food and convincing Childeric to release his prisoners. Some years later Merowig (Mérovée) took Paris; during the siege Geneviève distinguished herself by her charity and self-sacrifice. Through her influence Merowig and his successors, Childeric and Clovis, displayed unwonted clemency towards the citizens. It was she, too, who first formed the plan of erecting a church in Paris in honour of Saints Peter and Paul. It was begun by Clovis at Mont-lès-Paris, shortly before his death in 511. Geneviève died the following year, and when the church was completed her body was interred within it.

Now, that's what I call a Patronne! Her feast day is January 3. She was a vegetarian and fasted all but a couple days a week, but let's not hold that against her, OK?

Here are some other photos I snapped at Jardin du Luxembourg today:

La fontaine Médicis

plantings at la fontaine Médicis

Le Palais du Luxembourg (le Sénat)

just two little boats on the big pond today

but plenty of waterbirds