Paris Impressions

Big Update - Lots to See

2011-10-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

Huge Paris Update for YOU!

It’s been a while since my last entry but now I have manyphotos to share and some comments, too!

Since the last entry I have happily finished my lastchemotherapy treatment YAAAYYY!!!!and am doing fine and certainly enjoying being in Paris. I cannot say enoughgood things about the French healthcare system, even from the point of view ofan “outsider” and one who must pay completely out-of-pocket. I must also add that I cannot say enough good things about the French people I have met and the people I consider my friends here. I have experienced nothing but kindness, generosity and such support that had made this sometimes challenging journey, actually enjoyable.

Heartman is happy, too!

And he is READY to out adventuring again!

What has broughtme here is a shortage of the critical drugDoxil (marketed as Caelyx in Europe and Canada) that is the best treatment, withless severe side-effects, for my particular situation. We have a serious drugshortage in the U.S. that is leaving people without the lifesaving drugs theyneed for various cancers, particularly ovarian cancer, cures for some childhoodcancers, and many others as well as anesthesia drugs and drugs to treat manychronic diseases that people can live with, if given the treatments….evenTylenol and Benedryl!

I am so very fortunate to have found a way to get the carethat I needed here in Paris.

So, what has been happening besides the medical stuff?

EYE CANDY!

I have been a very good girl and mostly only LOOK at these!Oh that is torture!

But pure visual pleasure at the Lanôtrewindows...............................and the treats at La Durée

La Nôtre Check out the real GOLD LEAF on the strawberry tips.

La Durée - one wonderful source of the artistic sweets

Mont Blanc - chestnut dreams

BUT, I have toadmit that I did indulge with an Angelina hot chocolate! OMG!!!

Oh, and one other time, the “Paris Brest”

But these were eye candy for me only..les macarons!

LIVING HERE

Mid-September I moved into my friend, Inda’s apartment inanother part of Paris from my own. Inda is in New Zealand now and generouslyoffered me the use of her apartment while I got chemo treatments and to stay ona little longer to enjoy Paris. This neighborhood is lively, diverse and veryconvenient to everything one needs; grocery stores, pharmacies, boulangeries,Métro stops and bus.Oh, and there is a Vélib station just outside the door. More about that later.

A Heartman is beside himself with this wonderful sounding piano! I can hardly keep him away so I can play. I do like his periods of silence he puts into his music though. Inda, he is amazed that he is actually in YOUR apartment!

I, too am enjoying the piano with the beautiful sound inthe living room. It gives me the illusion that I can play, even though I amonly improvising…and missing notes and getting the timing all wrong. It isenjoyable nonetheless! You can hear some of my "noodlings" at my YouTube site - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

The apartment is beautiful with lots of light, high ceilings, these lovelyhardwood floors and Inda has it sparsely furnished so there is this feeling ofspaciousness.

And the views...

The views from apartment. I admit I have cropped this photo of Sacre Coeur but it is apleasant sight.

And one night, when I hear this boom, I looked out and sawthis! Fireworks, in celebration of le vendage, the grape harvest in Montmartre!

And out the front window,across the Avenue Parmentier…..

Views out the kitchen window into the interior courtyard.

THE METRO

Clean. Safe. Convenient. Inexpensive.

SEATS! Each station has its own complete design. Here are a few of the seats that Isat on.

OK, this one is a bus seat. Buses are pleasant and you cansee the city while you are traveling, but they can be slow, especially at rushhours it can take forever to reach your destination.

This beauty, all lined with copper, is Arts et Metiers, onethat I use a lot.

Métro Info:

Historiic info,

Don’t smoke,

Emergency button?

Hold on to your ticket.

This Line Number 9.

Information, etc., etc.

Oh, and a place for your cigarette butts. I wish there weremore of these on the streets!

And loveis still alive on the métro!!

GOING TO PARC FLORAL will be part of the NEXT installment of Paris Impressions... stay tuned. It's coming soon.

Happy Fall,

Wendy

In Paris and Roaming

2011-09-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

There has been some roaming and wanderings going on here. All good. But before we go out, Heartman reminds me about the trash and recycling that goes out for pick up. The streets get washed every day too, but we don't get up that early to show you the "green men" working.

With Navigo pass in hand, unlimited use on metro, bus, and train, there's no problem getting around and enjoying the sights. So, come with me to see some of what I have seen thus far...and let me know what you want to see next! I'm game for finding it here for you!

The Paris parks are always inviting. They are very much in use by people of all ages, every day of
the week and for all different

kinds of activities...walking, running (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSupv5hV_R0), "scootering" or just strolling among the flowers.

Entrance to Parc Monceau, near my apartment.
Fancy gate, eh?

What ARE these f lowers? What IS she doing??

Parents get a chance to rest in the shade ...

....while the little ones run and climb on the climbing equipment. And they DO run and climb, a lot, more that I see in the U.S.!

Here below, it is the nanny's who get to socialize while the little ones run, kick the ball, and ride their little scooters. It seems that as soon as a little one can walk, the are experts on their scooters!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzT2lJGm6UQ

Beyond the parks, it's off to the streets where the greenery and flowers are still very much in view.

Rue Cler is a long pedestrian street lines with oodles of specialty shops and open markets.

I search for the organic, or "bio" goodies.

Voila!

All creature great and small love "bio"!

So, fruit in hand, off to Champs de Mars, the park by the Eiffel Tower.

It is a hot hot day, so a good one to be in the shade.

He is cool in his own way ...

... and I'm way cool doing a little watercolor painting, in the shade, too.

So, now it is time to work my way back home, but first...a cool drink.

My refreshing fav is a "citron", a glass of fresh squeezed lemon juice on ice, accompanied by a carafe of cold water. Just a little sugar added does the trick.

And when sitting, resting, cooling, at a cafe, you can take all the time in the world to drink, rest, talk, write, and take photos of the cafe across the street!

or the one behind...

or these people resting, too.

How do these people know it is cool to hang out here? Everytime I walk by this cafe during the after work hours, it is absolutely jammed with people who stand very close, take up every table, and drink and talk. No loud music here, just lively conversation, kisses on the cheeks, and laughter. It is so contagious, many passersby stand across the corner to watch.

And then there are the more
pensive cafe visitors..

But rested or not, pensive or not, it's time to go home now, 'cause I've got a dinner date with dear friends tonight!

Fortunately, my metro Périre stop is just around the corner from my place.

I'm fortunate to have an elevator in my building!

Granted, it fits only one person
and perhps a package,

but, hey, if you start here..

and have to go here,

and your feet hurt,

it is REALLY nice to have an elevator
to take you to here.

À bientôt,

Wendy

Wendy (& Heartman)

First Week's Adventures

2011-08-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

This was the week to settle in to my comfy quarters and get things ready for the coming week's adventure.

May I give you a little tour?

Entering the building and then into my apartment was a nice feeling of "coming home" to my place in Paris.

Our building at 6 Villa Monceau is always kept in such nice condition and the neighborhood is welcoming and quiet.

I gave Heartman and myself time to get settle in.
The first thing I did was move the furniture around.
How do you like the diagonal look?

Kitchen was the same, with a few more little conveniences added by the thoughtful previous owner, like some cereal, butter, crackers and condiments, tea, sugar, etc., already in the cupboard for those first moments. A chance to sit with a cup of tea.

So as to help get onto this time zone I didn't want to go to sleep yet, although I sure felt like I could, it was time to get unpacked, take things out of the "cave" (storage area) and walk around the neighborhood....

... A dangerous thing to do if hungry!

But I resisted. My new mantra is "It is artwork! And I don't lick paintings or bite sculpture in museums and galleries, so this is like that...it's artwork!" And it surely is. More photos later.

Finally, time for a shower ...

...and a good night's sleep in my comfy bed.

The view of the ceiling ends the apartment tour:-)

Oh, if you come to see me, here is a beautiful Murphy bed...

ready to accomodate!

I love the diversity of Paris.
You are never too old, or young to ride a scooter
around the city.

And this cute guy on the metro was so conscious of his hair, he kept twirling it. I didn't catch the side that was bleached blond. Quite stylish.

During the early part of the week, I had to go to my bank to withdraw some precious euros.

BNP Paribas is my bank at Place de L'Opéra. Impressive.

Check out the garden ON THE WALL in the lobby.

And opposite the bank on the Place is L'Opéra Garnier, a magnificent building; worth taking the inside tour.

Chemo Adventure comes in next post

Thanks for checking in!

"Chemo in Paris" - hear the music?

2011-08-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

"Chemo in Paris"- hummed to the tune of "April in Paris" although quite a different experience.

You may be aware that we have a serious drug shortage in the U.S. For what many say about us have the best health care system in the world, there are shortfalls. This is one of them.

After my 4th of 6 scheduled chemo treatments for recurrent ovarian cancer, my oncologist told me that he could not assure that I could get the remaining two treatments. Why? There is a drug shortage of Doxil (the treatment of choice for my situation) and many other drugs and anesthesia agents widely used in treatment and surgeries.

So I was not ready to just sit back and take the second choice with more side effects and less effectiveness. Afterall, I have been doing really well on this current combo of chemo drugs and wanted to continue feeling the good energy and sense of wellness that I have been feeling.

So I got on the phone to large and small treatment centers in the Northeast. I researched availablity at places across the country. Same answer. No Doxil for me. Then on a longshot, I asked some friends in Paris if they knew of someone I might contact to see if it might be available here or elsewhere in Europe? (I learned that Doxil is marketed under the name of Caelyx here.)

I am so fortunate that one of my dear friends contacted an oncologist they knew, who pointed me in the direction of a gynocologic oncologist at the leading cancer treatment center in Europe, just south of Paris, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy.

I gathered up my courage, my French-speaking brain cells (and there are not a whole lot of them!) and called the secretary of the doctor who I believe is the head of the ovarian cancer section of the IGR. After faxing a description of my situation to her, a telephone interview was arranged (with an English-speaking doctor as intermediary) and I was accepted for treatment! What a relief I felt!

So after wiring the upfront payment amount, I was given two treatment dates.

The first one was last Wednesday, August 24th.

Just a note about the payment. The doctor actually apologized for having to charge me, because, as she said, if I were a French citizen, there would be no charge. And despite the fact that this charge is a fraction of what insurance pays in the U. S. neither Medicare nor my back-up Cigna will pay any reimbursement because it is "out-of-country." Nevermind that "in- country" treatment that I had already been on was not available for me to be able to complete my prescribed treatment.

There will be hearings on this in Congress in early September to try to get behind what it is that the pharmaceutical companies and distributors are doing.

More about that later.

Wednesday arrived and I set out on the metro at 7:30 am!

Tuesday, the day before this, was the day for the "dry run" so that I would be sure I could easily make the trip both ways and know how to get back! It was actually quite easy and convenient. Paris public transportation is a dream! Inexpensive and easy connections.

Check in at the Welcome desk was at 8:30am where I got a form or two to complete. then off to wait for another administrator/admissions person.

I have to say at this point that every person I had contact with was so pleasant, attentive, and unhurried when they listened to me and my bumpy French. We usually were speaking combos of French and English and it all worked just fine.

There was a bit of a waiting period during which I had lunch, (was given a free voucher) ...

...and browsed the gift shop. Wow! Heartman loved that! He found some new friends!

After the consultation with the gyn/onc that would oversee my treatment, I went for a blood draw before the chemo.

Soon I was seen by Phillipe, the infusion nurse. Very sweet man, explained everything he was doing and attended to my comfort. I was in a room with 3 other chairs and Phillipe said that they had 3 other rooms like this and they see about 150 persons a day for chemotherapy in that part of the L'Hopital du Jour, Day Hospital!

Despite all that, I always felt well attended to throughout the whole chemo treatment.

So here we are now, 4 days after treatment #5, and all is going quite well. I've had some nice walks around the neighborhood and plan to go farther afield tomorrow. I have some errands and some new places to see.

I feel very fortunate to be here, to have dear friends here, and of course, you dear friends at home.

No reason for this photo except that I like the colors and light. Chemo can do that to you. :-)

New Arrivals in Paris - Wendy and Heartman!

2011-08-20T06:51:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my Paris Impressions! PLEASE, if you would rather not receive email notification when I put up a new posting, just let me know and I will gladly and quickly remove your name. No problem. You can come here anytime by going to www.parisimpressions.blogspot.com

What an amazing opportunity I have to be able to get the chemo I need, and of which there is a shortage in the U.S., to be in this beautiful city, see some dear friends who have helped me sort things out in order to get treatment here, and the culture and environment within which I get to play with my new camera. Many of the photos here on these blog entries will be from my iPhone though.

May I introduce you to my companion on this trip? (Drum rollllll please......) Heartman!

I captured this image of Heartman waiting eagerly for our Paris flight from Chicago.

It was a great day to fly as the weather was clear and the airport was not overcrowded at all! I even had an empty seat beside me for the long flight to Paris. We even arrived 40 minutes early, which was nice.

Oh no!
He got hold of the camera for an airport shot...

and one of passengers waiting to fly to Paris.

Then he was happy to just wait for the flight, too.

Heartman was out of his mind at getting a window seat that was in an Exit row where he could really jump around. (Ted would understand this, after their wild party that tore the place up at the condo in Mougin!)

The flight was smooth, arrived early, and Heartman was all caught up on the French news upon arrival. I didn't know he could read French! And see how safely he is all buckled in?

Friday, August 19, 2011

The Air France bus left us off right here by the Arc de Triomphe. It is a very short taxi ride to the apartment from here, but since it was a gorgeous day in the low 70's, and I had managed to get 3 months worth of clothing, etc, in one 19" bag (very proud of that), I decided to take the 15-20 minute walk to the apartment.

OK, Let's Jump to the End of the Trip - Vienna!

2010-06-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

After 2 months in Paris, then a week in Budapest, Leslie and I made our way to Vienna for a brief stay before flying back to Paris to catch our flight home to Vermont.

Only a day and a half in Vienna, we walked our little tootsies off, enjoyed some modern art (and a special show by her long ago professor at Pratt, Alex Katz!) in the architecturally gorgeous Albertina Museum. Let us not forget the lunch in the museum's excellent restaurant (not to mention the "not to be missed" bathrooms!). Oh, and the first night, we enjoyed a show that gave us a fun sampling of classical music, opera, and ballet, and great fun with the camera.

I will go back one day. For now, enjoy some photos. Please note that for some idiot reason, there is a big black blank spot in the middle of the slide show. When you reach that point, please just put your cursor on the slide button and advance it to about 3 min 30 second spot and view the rest. I will get better at this. I promise. Budapest and Paris is yet to come!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca6Zc30KhVg

Wendy

2010-05-25T01:35:00.001-07:00

Very simple post, thanks to Marcella, about just one little piece of our day yesterday.
Check it out: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/24-1

We would do well to do these kinds of events in the U.S. to help bring people into closer touch with the sources of good food.

I'll add more later. xxoo Wendy

Paris - From a New Point of View

2010-04-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Bonjour et Bon Paques, even though a bit late! There are little Easter eggs and bunnies in all the shops...mostly chocolate bunnies in the patisseries. Delightful.

Arrived on April 1st. No fool here. This IS the place to be this time of year!

My trip was smooth and lonnnnng. Pleeze! remind me to NEVER again get a flight from Burlington to Chicago to Frankfurt to Paris. What was I thinking??

Amazingly all the last minute snaffus at home got worked out, the tank from the solor hot water system, is now fine. The security system got installed. The locksmith got me back into my house ($95 later) and all the tax forms got completed and mailed in, both for Dan's estate and my own taxes. Whew.

The BluVan connection went just fine. Because of traffic, I probably waited about a half hour to 45 minutes. There were a few others waiting, too. It was funny to see all the people on the side walk holding their computer printed confirmation email in their sweaty little hands. So, I knew I was in the right place.

The apartment was a welcome site, although getting settled was strangely silent without the bit of hustle and bustle that would happen when Dan and I would be unpacking, sharing excitement, and deciding how long we would nap before walking out into the neighborhood to get reacquainted with the place. Comfortable and beautiful, though. A nice place to be.

Paris has been cool, although pretty mild today. I'm glad I took my raincoat liner.

This first week is a strange, take-it-easy kind of week as I feel the absence of my very best friend and love, Dan. After much consideration, working to get details attended to around his estate, I decided to move forward and do the trip that we had planned to do together. I am in the process of finding a new rythym and a new way to be "myself," and no matter where I am, that process will be going on. So being in Paris feels like a good place to be to continue the discovery and finding a new peace.

My friends Véronique and Frédéric have been very welcoming with their emails, Skype calls and then invitation to their home on Easter Monday. And I got to meet my "new French boyfriend," Clément! Pétit Clément is now 3 months old, and what a handsome boy he is! Of course, he has just the perfect parents to help him grow into the healthy baby he is.

Véro prepared a lovely dinner for us all and I contributed a chocolate fish fill with goodies from the nearby patisserie. From what I understand, the fish in April has a special meaning. Well at least it does on April Fools Day, or Poisson d'Avril. The prankster will stick a paper fish on his unsuspecting friend's back then delight in the trick he has just played. The friend walks around unsuspectingly while the others can just laugh. Fred and Véro and I could just laugh at the silly chocolate fish all tied up in a bow.

Wendy

Saying Goodbye To Paris - Au Revoir!

2009-02-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Au revoir Paris!

Paris Notes 0809 #7

February has turned out to be a pleasant time to spend time in Paris. At least this February. It has been much milder than January with no snow, daily highs mostly in the upper forties or higher, and more sunshine.

January and February are supposed to be similar weather-wise but that has not been the case this year. Also, I have noticed an appreciable drop-off in tourists at the major sites since mid January. While there are still enough tourists to go around, it isn’t overly crowded. There were no lines at Versailles last week and only a relatively short one at Musée D’Orsay. Part of the reason is many of the special exhibitions ended early this month and the new ones start in March.

Highlights have been visits from Chris and Marcella, friends from Vermont, and Colleen and Lisa, my daughter and stepdaughter. Chris and Marcella came early in the month and stayed with us for several days before the four of us took the TGV south to Mougins, a small and ancient hill town in Province just a few minutes bus ride north of Cannes.

Before Chris and Marcella arrived we anticipated them getting to our apartment around 9:30 am based on their flight schedule. Imagine our surprise when we were awakened by the doorbell. The alarm glowed 8:30. I rushed to push the button that opened the entryway door, then quickly dressed. Still, nice to see their tired faces when we opened the door. Their plane was early and they avoided the time-consuming baggage claim by having only carry-on. And there was no waiting time for the Air France bus to Place Etoile.

While here the four of us walked around some neighborhoods, saw the rue d’Aligre street market

and a few museums, ate some good food, and enjoyed some fun and stimulating conversation. Marcella was a French major and had spent a year in Paris studying so we didn’t need to be tour guides all of the time.

After three days in Paris the four of us took the TGV to Cannes. It was a pleasant 5½-hour trip with a quick, non-stop portion to Aix-en-Province and a slower part with more stops along the coast to Cannes.

The trip to Mougins from Cannes was more trying since we picked the wrong bus to take. We ended up being deposited beside a road that wasn’t on the Mougins area map that we had. We followed the bus driver’s instructions as to how to walk to the timeshare but it soon became apparent we weren’t headed in the right direction. We finally stopped at a restaurant and called a taxi. The cab was more than a half hour coming and took more than a half hour to find the time share because the GPS system she used did not account for a one way street required to get where we needed to go. Mougins is spilled all over a hill filled with a maze of narrow, mostly one-way roads and it took her time to sort it out. When we finally arrived it was well after dark and we were lucky to get something to eat at the development’s restaurant that was in the process of closing.

The next day we walked up the hill to the old town. High scale touristy.
This is where Picasso once lived as did other notables.

Lots of narrow streets limited to pedestrians only. Plenty of art galleries and nice shops.

After asking, we found a small plaza filled with enticing restaurants where we had a very nice lunch in one of them, Le Petit Fouet. Cassoulet is a southwestern French dish of beans (usually white) and meat (duck in this case) and occasionally other ingredients slowly baked together and served in individual crocks. Ours was excellent. As was the wine.

The following day we took the bus to nearby Grasse. This is a much larger city spilling all over a ridge. It has a rather large and lively old town but the place is mainly known for the Fraganard Perfume Factory. Wendy and Marcella toured it while Chris and I walked the streets of the old town.

Interesting place to wander around. Not dominated by tourists but a vital city of and by itself.

On our last day we were scheduled to leave from Cannes at 5:30 so the four of us took the bus into town around noon. By the way, all of these local bus trips cost only one euro or about $1.30 and they were heavily used. We underwent a thorough security check (locked doors, detectors for both us and our baggage, interview with the caged attendant, lockers with numeric keypad locks) and left our small bags at the train station. The Mediterranean was only a short walk away and we watched some teenagers playing on the beach.

And a further walk down the beach was the walkway where the handprints of numerous movie stars were embedded in concrete. Interesting.

From there we walked around the old town and up into the hill section and had a nice lunch. Again not crowded.

Sunshine and high fifties during the day the whole time we were in the south of France.

A few days after returning to Paris Colleen and Lisa arrived. This time we were awake and dressed. Lisa had never been to Europe and it had been over twenty years since Colleen had spent a few days in Paris. Both had studied French in high school and Colleen in college and they did remember some of it so they weren’t totally lost. They had spent some time planning what they wanted to do and asked me to put it together for them - and for us to be with them and show them around as much as we wanted. It turned out to be a busy week.

Petit arc in front of the Louvre. The Arc de Triomphe.

Day 1 (arrival day) – the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysée, and a crèperie for dinner.

Day 2 – St Chapelle, the Conciergerie,

Notre Dame,

a walk through the Marais,
then dinner at a café on Place du Maréchal Juin near our apartment.

Day 3 – the Louvre,

sipping the heavenly thick hot chocolate at the nearby Angelina’s , dinner at another nice restaurant on Place du Maréchal Juin.
Day 4 – the Musée D’Orsay,

coffee and beer and the Sartre/Hemmingway hangout Café de Flore, and a nice dinner at a restaurant nearby.
Day 5 – easy trip to an uncrowded Versailles via the RER (the metropolitan Paris short distance train system).

Then a special dinner at Le Petit Troquet

followed by a short walk to the Tour Eiffel which looks spectacular lit up at night, especially up close.
Day 6 – a Day for the Dead; the Pierre Lachaise cemetery

and the Catacombs with its ossuary of one to two hundred year old bones lining the underground passageways. Plus walking through several different areas, watching a long line of protesters waiving signs and singing while passing by, shopping, and dinner at Peperoni where we had fun interacting with the members of the Bigoti trio.
Day 7 – l’Orangerie with its massive Monet water lily paintings that cover the walls,
another dessert treat at Ladurée,

a shopping walk for them, and a very nice dinner at M comme Martine near our apartment.
Day 8 – the BluVan picks them up at 5:30am, Ugh! Wendy and I go back to bed.

Some other scenes:

While out walking by myself early one morning in Mougins a three legged black cat sauntered across my path. What does that mean?
One night in Mougins looking up a stairs framed on either side by walls and seeing in the street above two large orange iron beams lit from beneath by a pulsing red light. On climbing the stairs the beams turned into a cherry picker being used to remove the very last Christmas decoration spanning the street. Very Felliniesque.
At Peperoni Café one night watching the bearded male drummer playfully dance with an older man while an attractive black woman from the audience courageously tried to sing "Killing Me Softly" a la Roberta Flack, in an entertaining Karaoke kind of way.
Passing the window front of a closed upscale women’s shoe store and seeing a blond woman in her late forties singing with two men slightly older, one of which was playing the guitar. She gave me a very embarrassed smile when she caught my eye.
Coming back to the apartment by myself after a very long day walking around with Colleen and Lisa and saying very clearly to a seated Wendy, “UNCLE!”
Having a thoroughly enjoyable teatime at Collette’s with her sister Jeannine. It was early in the month and we all still had the inauguration on our minds. They both had watched it on TV. Wendy said she was particularly taken with Aretha Franklin singing “God Bless America”. Collette mentioned the tune was the same as the British “God Save the Queen”. Wendy sang a little of the American version, then they sang the British version. And, yes, the tune was the same.
Having Inda over to the apartment one afternoon. She was back in Paris for a few days and was very excited that some musical possibilities might be opening up.
Peter and Duffy coming to our apartment for dinner the night before they were to leave for their home in California. Again good conversation and a good time all around. Two interesting guys.
Passing in front of the salon a few days ago where we recently had our hair cut. The people in the shop that trimmed our hair waved to us. We waved back and Wendy
fluffed her hair. The man that trimmed it gave her two thumbs up. Nice to be noticed.

We leave Paris on Saturday, but before we leave, we are looking forward to dinner with Véronique and Frèdérique one last time tomorrow night. Then off to Vermont and our new house!

Dan and Wendy
2/27/09

P.S. For "Adventures of Heartman in Paris", check out www.sveltie.blogspot.com - W.P.

Around The Town..err...Ville

2009-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Paris Notes 0809 #6

(For those of you who see this first in your "Inbox", for the FULL experience, click on
http://www.parisimpressions.blogspot.com) and read it there.
Comments welcome!

Barack Obama’s inauguration was a big deal in Paris. The mayor of the city sponsored a major shindig at the ornate Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, that accommodated only 800 hundred lucky people. Demand far exceeded space available. In addition to private residences about a dozen bars and cafés with giant screens also sponsored gatherings, the feature being the large TVs and just being in a crowd of people sharing similar ideals. We opted for Carr’s Irish Pub on rue Mont Thabor not too far from the Louvre.

We reached the pub more than an hour before swearing in time and managed to get the last available table in the place. A few minutes later Steve and Sue (www.parishomeshares.com ) joined us. As 6:00 p.m. approached (Paris is 6 hours ahead of Washington) the place was crammed with people standing elbow to elbow in the aisles to get a glimpse of one of the four giant screens showing CNN International.

Those of us seated had to stand for a decent view.

The crowd was reasonably young with the average age probably in the thirties and from all over the world.
In our immediate area Steve and Sue were from the Denver area, two men next to us were from California. A guy behind us was from Louisiana while the two women he was with were from Bosnia and Turkey. To my right was a man from New York City, two from England, and one from Australia. Not to mention that this is an Irish bar in a French city. And it was a partisan crowd. When Obama first appeared the crowd cheered. Bush was booed and Cheney even more so. A few people booed Rick Warren when he began his invocation.

When Obama started to speak the place fell silent. Tears flowed freely. I peeked outside and noticed a crowd three deep peering through the pub’s windows to see the action on the screens. Wendy and I were very moved.

And the Guinness on tap was great.

Some of you probably have heard about the big strike, or grève, in France this past Thursday. People here are referring to it as Black Thursday. One to two million French workers mainly from the public sector were on strike. We didn’t use public transportation that day and felt no impact. We only learned of the massive demonstrations in other areas of Paris later. The only thing that inconvenienced me personally was the newsstands were closed the following day as a consequence of the strike and I couldn’t get my favorite paper for two days. People who were dependent on the metro, buses or trains to get into the city had more problems, as did those traveling by air.

In the last note I mentioned the biannual sales, or soldes, which are currently being held all over Paris. As the end of the month approached we noticed more and more signs posted in storefronts advertising the dernier démarque, or final reduction. Because prices are so much more reasonable, I can understand why many stores seem to be as busy or more so than before Christmas. We also are noticing the dark colors of winter fashions

fading into the brighter hues of spring as the storefronts undergo their seasonal turnover.

Some impressions (with some emphasis on food as requested):

We went to the restaurant Le Soufflé with Steve and Sue after experiencing the inauguration. Wendy and I both had a special three-course meal consisting of three very light and fluffy soufflés washed down with an excellent wine. Imagine working through a tasty cheese soufflé only to find your empty dish replaced with one overflowing with the fluffy mixture floating on a succulent meat sauce. And following that was an intense citrus flavored Grand Marnier soufflé. Delicious even for one who isn’t addicted to soufflés?
Le Soufflé is "dining on a cloud."

Le Soufflé-Restaurants Paris 75001 - France5
Le Soufflé-Restaurants Paris 75001 Situé entre les places Vendôme, Madeleine et Concorde, le restaurant Le Soufflé est fidèle à sa cuisine française traditionnelle, complétée et est teintée d'originalité par ses nombreux soufflés.

The atmosphere and service matched the food.

We invited Fréderic and Véronique to our apartment for tea and they brought a bottle of champagne. Rosé champagne! I had never heard of it. They buy it by the case at the Bigard winery in the Champagne district. It was brut and very easy to drink. We spent a pleasant time chatting away the afternoon with our French friends.

To get to the Bibliothèque Nationale to see a photo exhibition we took the Metro to the Bourse stop.

Upon exiting the station we found ourselves facing that old stock market with its massive pillars

We found ourselves standing in a small street market in the square in front of the building.

Wendy was hungry and bought some kind of Middle Eastern sandwich I had never heard of from one of the stalls. The bread was similar to thick pita dough and the filling was veggie mixed with a spicey chicken mixture in some kind of sauce. We waited a few minutes while the man behind the counter grilled it. Very, very tasty.

Embedded in a corner of the Louvre is the separate Musée des Arts Décoratifs. We went there to see a special exhibition devoted to the fashion designer Sonia Rykeil. She is famous for innovations such as ready-to-wear, horizontal stripes, and the wide use of knits in high fashion. Interesting show. Afterwards, we crossed the rue de Rivoli and had a light lunch at Angelina’s. This place is renown for its hot chocolate and we soon discovered why. We each were served our own pot of chocolat chaud along with separate bowls of slightly sweetened whipped cream for us to mix in as desired.

This thick dark chocolate beverage came close to moving out of the liquid category to syrup. But not quite. And it was supremely delicious, even to those of us who aren’t quite chocoholics.

We had a delightful luncheon with Colette, Inda's aunt, at our apartment one afternoon. It was enjoyable to connect with her once again and engage in our free-flowing conversations ranging from her travels in Bhutan to a discussion of the use of the Celtic language that is enjoying resurgence in Brittany.

After going to the Highlander Pub near Pont Neuf for a political discussion on the economic crisis we stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Fajitas just down the street. I occasionally like to eat Mexican and after more than four months it was time. We had a decent plate of nachos and a good conversation with our waitress. She is from Western Massachusetts and owns the place along with her Mexican husband. She came here for college over ten years ago and liked the city so much she stayed. The place is not upscale at all but the food was good and we very much enjoyed our meal.

Duck is very popular in Paris, appearing in some form on most French restaurant menus in the city. One of the more common forms is as confit de carnard. This is duck that is cured in salt then poached, sealed and stored in duck or goose fat. There is an art to preparing it just right, frying it lightly until the outside reaches the right degree of crispness. At Peter and Duffy’s apartment near Place de la Republic for dinner one night Duffy had the duck preparation down to perfection. Excellent meal and conversation with these two men we met at Carr’s Pub while watching the inauguration. We are awakened to the fact that not everyone flies on an airplane to get to Paris. Duffy and Peter often enjoy the leisure of traveling on the Queen Mary when crossing the Atlantic.

Wednesday we went to a panel discussion on US/Russian relations at the American University of Paris (or AUP) sponsored by Democrats Abroad and the AUP. It was a very engrossing and educational discussion moderated by a professor in the Russian Department. The panel consisted of a Counselor from the Russian Embassy, a political science professor specializing in Russian relations, and a homeland security specialist who had worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and later Obama’s. I left with a deeper understanding of some of the problems and the feeling that with time and intelligent diplomacy most of them can be resolved adequately. OK, I can’t leave out the food. Later, we ate at a very nice Thai restaurant near our apartment. It was a tasty meal in a cozy atmosphere. Most notable was the three-tiered tower of various appetizers we shared.

Yesterday we went over to where the side-by-side department stores Printemps and
Galeries Lafayette are located.

It was the last day of the January sales and we wanted to check out the scene. And it was just as crowded as before Christmas, both inside and out. Inside Galeries Lafayette is a humongous upscale food gallery – from chocolates to cheeses to fresh cherries.

And in the middle of this store is an immense, intricate stained glass dome.

People come to gape.

Dan and Wendy
1/31/09

Paris in January

2009-01-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

Paris Notes 0809 #5

You probably heard that Europe suffered a cold wave this Winter. All things are relative, though. On Christmas Day temperatures dropped to slightly below freezing and the daily highs remained around that level until a few days ago. And one night we had a dusting of snow that accumulated on car tops and park grass and other thin surfaces but quickly melted on the streets. On the plus side it was consistently sunny throughout this cold spell. But now that the temps have returned to the mid to high forties, the clouds have returned and there has been a sprinkling or two of rain.

The nice scarf and black cashmere sweater Wendy gave me for the Holidays helped to keep me warm, and fashionable, too, I might add.The second day of the New Year we moved back to our fractional ownership apartment on Villa Monceau. And we looked forward to it. While our place in the Marais for December was OK, our Villa Monceau apartment is more comfy and the neighborhood much quieter. We both feel that while being in the thick of the action is convenient for a short stay, when you are here for a month or longer, being in a more serene neighborhood is preferable.

Some impressions:

• A delicious galette (buckwheat crepes) dinner on New Years Day while looking at the ice on Stravinsky Fountain.

• The view of the Eiffel tower a few days into the New Year where its nightly display of colors changed from a deep blue back to its usual off white. The blue lights were used only for 2008 to symbolize France having the presidency of the European Union for last year. The EU and goings on around it are a big deal here and, I would suspect, in much of the rest of Europe. Much more than in the US.
• Tea with Inda at her very nice Parisian apartment near Place de la Républic and looking at the great view of Sacré Coeur out her window. Lots of interesting conversation as usual.
• A classical concert (two trumpets and an organ) at the very modern Cathedral St. Marchel near Place d’Italie. The musicians were in a balcony above and behind us while we watched their performance on a giant screen.

• Coffee and conversation after the concert at the nearby and very comfortable Café La Manufacture on rue Gobelins. We talked for well over an hour which led to us having a pleasant dinner there. With the mixed old/new décor, interesting people watching, good food at very reasonable prices, and the relaxing atmosphere I would be a frequent customer if it were closer to our apartment.
• The various versions of SALE signs (SOLDES). Lots of creative window displays. By law stores are limited to the months of January and July for having sales. Prices can be discounted anytime but advertising sales for other than these two months is forbidden by law. And today we saw several signs advertising le deuxième démarque, or the second markdown. I am a poor estimator of value but with 50% off some of the prices are approaching rationality.

• Musée d’Orsay on the free, first Sunday of January only to find the mob scene from Hell just to get in. We bagged our plans and wandered around the area. We ended up going to the delightful Musée Maillol, a place we had visited on earlier trips. Glass stairwell in Musée Maillol

No lines to enter to see the fabulous paintings and sculptures of the standard exhibition as well as several special showings.
• Musée d’Orsay a few days later. The lines were shorter to see the special “Picasso and Le Dejeuner sur l’Herb” exhibition. This work by Édouard Manet marks the transition from more tradition painting to impressionism and is a very, very interesting painting in it’s own right. Alongside this large canvas was displayed about a hundred of Picasso’s paintings and sketches that were inspired by Manet’s work. This showing along with a special exhibition of pastels that took this medium to a totally new level took up most of our time at the museum.

We also had a very nice late lunch at the museum restaurant with its classy and graceful décor.

• The marching band we heard one night parading up the Champs Elysée. The band was followed by three teenagers carrying a large floral spray, then a large number of older veterans covered in medals. They were walking in formation and many were carrying flags. Bringing up the rear was an ensemble of family members of veterans. They marched up to the Arc de Triomphe,
apparently for a wreath laying ceremony to commemorate some occasion of note. It was moving and we both felt a wave of sadness.

• Eating dinner and listening to live music by Le Trio Bugatti (keyboard and vocals, sax, and drums,) at the café Peperoni just a few minutes from our apartment on Avenue Wagram. Entertaining pop/jazz (about half American music), ok food, good service and people watching made for a nice evening.
• Small Christmas trees lined up along the sidewalk of Villa Monceau awaiting garbage pickup. Our stairwell was littered with needles for a few days until the routine vacuuming picked them up. One couple in a third floor apartment next door avoided this problem by tying a strap to their larger than normal tree and pushing it through a front room window. As Wendy and I left our apartment, we noticed the tree dangling from the strap that was held by the husband. The young wife outside was there to help place the tree on the street. But the strap wasn’t long enough so she could barely reach the tree. Being the good guy I am, I helped her get the tree onto the pavement and then we went merrily on our way.
• A talk sponsored by Democrats Abroad, on the current economic crisis. The speaker, Paul Horn, is past equities management director for Smith-Barney/Citygroup Europe and now a private equities advisor. My net was that the situation is beginning to show some signs of stabilizing but we are in new territory and don’t know for sure what’s going to happen. He considered himself an optimist but still thought there would be a three years plus recovery time.
• A nice late night dinner after the talk at a Korean restaurant we passed on our way to the Metro stop at Place de la Républic. We had a good feel about the place as we had passed a number of almost empty establishments before spotting this crowded restaurant. The specialty was Korean barbeque and each table had a grill in the center. We opted for some miso soup, two unique and tasty appetizers, pork barbeque (accompanied by several sauces), some special Korean wines, and two prepackaged desserts typically found in Asian restaurants in Paris. Good service and décor and reasonable prices. Wendy is ready to go back.
• Yesterday Steve and Sue Navaro stopped by the apartment. Steve was the developer of our Villa Monceau LLC. He has developed two other apartments and is now in the finishing stages of his fourth fractional ownership apartment. Check out his site at http://parishomeshares.com You too can make your Paris dream come true! We had a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant that lasted several hours. Good conversation with interesting people.

As most of you likely know we sold our house in Hinesburg before we came to France. While here we are having a house built for us in the same village that will be ready for us upon our return in March. We have been following the construction closely via the pictures and commentary on the web site provided to us by our builder and have been happy with what we’ve seen. This is turning out to be a satisfactory process and our house-to-be is essentially complete. We hope to close within a week of returning to Vermont and move in a few days later.

Dan and Wendy
1/16/09

PS On the first Sunday after the first Saturday of January, or Twelfth Night, a special cake is eaten to celebrate this night of Epipheny. This yummy traditional sweet is seen in the windows of almost all of the patisseries these days. The "galette du roi", or "Kings Cake", is a sweet flakey pastry cake filled with almond cream and baked inside is a "fève", or bean. Nowadays the bean is replaced by a little ceramic trinket.Heartman had another adventure recently! He got the FÈVE, a little ceramic square with the French "fleur de lis," in his piece of galette du roi! So he gets to wear the little paper crown that came with the cake. Yay, Heartman!
Wendy

Feet at Musée D'Orsay

2009-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Dan & I went to see a couple of special exhibits at Musée D'Orsay today. "Manet/Picasso-Dejeuner sur L'Herbe" and Masques.

One thing that happens after several hours of getting lost in wonder of these things, is feet start to speak to me. So I sat down, let mine rest as I marveled at all the other ones passing by. You can see them here too (you may have to wait for all the feet to load for them to pass by at a quicker pace):

Heartman Meets Inda

2009-01-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

We have a had a couple of delightful meetings with our friend, Inda, who was our French conversation teacher last year. It was especially nice that Heartman could finally meet Inda because I'm sure he had heard us saying all kinds of nice things about her. He especially likes her colors! Here they are when we met for tea in Paris recently:

Heartman is excited to meet Inda

Inda asks Heartman, "What are your intentions?"

Ah, Inda thinks Heartman is very charming!

Christmas Time in Paris

2008-12-26T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hotel de Ville, Paris City Hall

Paris is in full Christmas bloom.

Tree in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Each of the 20 arrondissements, or districts, of the city identifies several business districts for street lighting. Hovering over the selected boulevards and rues are small, twinkly lights in various shades of red and blue and gold and white. Very subdued and tasteful, almost quaint in some cases. But at several locations scattered around the city there are far more spectacular displays of Holiday lighting.

The most impressive is along the Champs Elysée. The trees lining both sides of this wide boulevard for its two-kilometer length are covered with tiny, blue lights, many of which are twinkling. At the top, the Arc de
Triomphe is bathed in floodlights.

At the bottom, in front of the Tuileries Jardin, a mammoth Ferris wheel covered in white lights is surrounded by Christmas trees also lit up in white.

A more brilliant wall of light is found along the kilometer stretch of Boulevardd Haussmann occupied by the adjacent Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores.

It’s a madhouse of Christmas lights and of people that have come to view the clever animated window displays and to shop

Even the news last week of a bomb threat (and the finding of a stash of dynamite, minus any detonator, in Printemps department store) hasn’t seemed to make a dent in the throngs.

Then there are the
smaller scenes that linger. Like seeing Santa Clause driving a big delivery truck this morning. Or watching several people transporting their newly purchased small Christmas trees on their rented Vélib bicycles. Or salivating over the special Bûche de Noël cakes and gourmet foods displayed in the windows of pâtisseries and specialty food shops. Since the last note the weather has been very cooperative. Mostly cloudy with an occasional shower and highs in the low forties. One late morning last week we had a brief, heavy, wet snow shower which melted as soon as it touched the ground. This past week, though, it has warmed up about ten degrees and there have been a number of mostly sunny days.

Earlier this month we made a special four-day side trip to London. It had been over 20 years since we were last there. The Eurostar train by way of the chunnel is the way to go. It takes about 2 ½ hours to go from the center of Paris to the center of London.

Spectacular St. Pancras Railway Station from our Hotel in London

Customs is very simple and you need arrive at the station only a half hour before departure. Although the air travel time is less, the trip by airplane can take twice as long when you add in the transport time to and from the airport and the time to clear airport customs and security. And the price was cheaper by train. It cost us about $80 round trip each.

Heartman check into hotel.

Heartman visits Trafalgar Square.

While there we visited the British Museum (twice) and the National Gallery, both outstanding museums. We were especially impressed with how the paintings in the National Gallery were displayed and how they had been carefully restored to their original vibrancy. We spent far longer in both museums than we normally last. I think being able to easily read the English descriptions helps with this. Several things stood out:

Meeting with our friend Inda for coffee near museum closing time and chatting away for almost three hours. She was our French teacher in Paris last year but moved to London this summer.
Striking up a conversation with a host in the National gallery who gave us some insight into several of the paintings. She had complaints as to the arrangements, made by a new “American” curator, of some of the paintings– like two Vermeers that she thought should be side by side as opposed to be hanging in separate rooms.
A special Babylonian Empire exhibition in the British Museum that was exceptional. Lots of very well preserved items including many cuneiform tablets. It’s the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the Tower of Babel, the Jewish captivity, Daniel and his interpretation of dreams, the lion’s den, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and much, much more. Yet the Empire lasted less that a century.
Two long “tapestries” of pills representing the 14,000 pills taken on average during a lifetime by each man and woman going through the British Public Health System. They were accompanied by photos and brief descriptions of major health events in the lives of the man and the woman.

Heartman tries to make a phone call in a London phone booth. (See him pulling on the handle?)

All went well in London with one minor exception. We stayed at the modern Hotel Novotel next to the downtown St. Pancras Station where our train arrived. When we went down for our buffet breakfast our first morning, the lobby was dotted with many buckets catching the dripping from many locations in the ceiling. We were guided away from the hotel restaurant to a temporary location, a conference room, for our meal. A few days earlier someone had stuffed a towel down a toilet. This had precipitated in a cascading series of events that resulted in pipes being popped in numerous locations on the main floor. The buckets did not disappear not did the restaurant open until the morning of our departure. The complexities of a modern, large scale plumbing operation!! Some highlights of our past month:

November 30 we moved out of our Villa Monceau apartment and temporarily relocated to a comparably sized apartment in the Marais for the month of December. This place, only a few minutes to Hotel de Ville or the Centre Georges Pompidou, is centrally located and much closer the city’s hustle and bustle. Although adequate, it is not nearly as well equipped and the internet access is more limiting. But it is nice to be able to experience a different neighborhood.

Our friend Trish is here in Paris for three weeks and we have connected with her a number of times around meals, walks, and visits to various places around the city. We had a nice dinner with here in our apartment tonight, Christmas Eve, and tomorrow she leaves for Boston.

There were several thought-provoking exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo. One that stood out was a photo of a handwritten poem in English titled “The Rampton Drip”. The page was covered with the words “drip-drop, drip-drop, drip-drop, . . “ written over and over and over again. At the very bottom of the page the words “will it ever stop” were written. Rampton is a prison in England.
The Petit Palais was a pleasant surprise. It was closed for a number of years and I thought it was used only for special exhibitions. It turns out it has a permanent collection that covers twenty centuries of art and was well worth the visit. And interspersed with the permanent collection of the objects in the museum, mostly paintings, was a great contemporary photo exhibition. Nice juxtaposition of the old and the new. Since we did not see all of the permanent collection or the special exhibitions that were there, we’ll return for another visit.
We took a trip out to see Musée Marmotten again. We last saw it about 4 years ago. This small museum, in Paris proper, but off the beaten path, has the world’s largest collection of Monet paintings as well as a number of works by his contemporaries, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Definitely worth a visit.

Enough for now.

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année! Wendy & Dan December 24, 2008

Some Paris Treats

2008-11-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

Paris Impressions 08-09 #3

Because of questions from the homeland I am starting with some comments about the weather in Paris this time of year. Most of the leaves have dropped since the start of the month and, although we have yet to have a frost, outdoor displays of flowers are not as plentiful. We still have some bright red geraniums surrounded by vibrant green leaves in our flowerboxes overlooking Villa Monceau. Since our last note about three weeks ago it has been mostly cloudy with an occasional patch of blue or a few drops of rain. Until Sunday the temps have hovered in the mid fifties during the day and low forties at night. But then they dropped 10-15 degrees and I shifted from a fall jacket to my winter coat. I maintained my cool appearance, though, since both are black. The up side is that there has been more sunshine.

A few weeks ago we got out a box of City Walks: Paris cards someone had left in our apartment. There are fifty cards in the box and each card describes a walk though a different neighborhood of Paris. One side of the card contains a description of the walk and the other a map of the route. And the card fits nicely in your pocket or handbag when you are out exploring. We picked the one that went around and through Luxembourg Gardens. These formal gardens cover several blocks and are attached to the Luxembourg Palace.

Luxembourg Palace

The palace was built long ago by Marie de Medici but now serves as the home of the French Senate and of the Luxembourg Museum.

The garden is edged on one side by a 12-foot metal pole fence painted black with gilded pointy tops. Temporarily attached to the fence were over a hundred large poster-sized photographs of the Artic and Antarctic. Compelling shots of scenery, polar bases, wild life, and, in the case of the Artic, small villages and towns accompanied by great photos of the people living there. One was of a boy playing with his dog outside of a hut in the snow. He lived with his parents alone at a remote weather station in the Russian Artic. He was always required to keep the dog with him when outside because polar bears are ranging farther a field to feed because of the melting ice.

One shot that was particularly moving to me was a photo of a group of Emperor penguins huddled together on a small ice floe surround by a vast expanse of ocean.

At the entrance to the gardens an older woman wearing an apron blackened with soot was roasting chestnuts over an open fire.

Fresh Roasted Chestnuts, ummm

She turned each of the roasting chestnuts with her coarse, blackened fingers with their heat resistant skin. We bought a bag and found them to be warm and soft inside and tasty.

The park was jammed with people of all ages;

families, dog walkers, couples, singles sitting on a bench reading a book or a paper, kids playing with their remote controlled boats on a large pond, joggers, tennis and petanque (bocce) players, and, just before closing time, a number of policemen. At 5:00 several dozen seemed to appear out of nowhere loudly tooting their shrill whistles and ushering us all out of the park. They were polite but efficient. Probably they didn’t get to go home until the park was cleared.

We have recently made several trips to the upscale area around L’Église de la Madeleine, the massive church built like a Grecian temple over 150 years ago, and the much older nearby Place Vendôme (with its six digit priced jewel encrusted necklaces).

Place Vendôme

Most of the higher price gourmet food, jewelry, fine art, and clothing stores (minus some devoted to high couture) have locations here.

Caviar at more than 200 euros for a small tin was on display in several windows along with small inlaid pearl caviar spoons. Sorry, but we weren’t Christmas shopping.

Caviar for your Sweetie

Lots of Choices of Caviar (for a price)

We stopped at Ladurée, a very nice patisserie and salon de thé.

It’s an old and almost over-the-top place with its mirrors and fancy molding and murals on both walls and ceiling.

It is famous for its macarons but we opted for a fancier sweet that was topped with gold leaf (!) and some out of this world hot chocolate.

And best of all the prices were reasonable. Speaking of macarons, Wendy and I have developed a liking for these delicious treats.

They should not be confused with the American macaroon, a confection of coconut, sugar and sweetened condensed milk. The original French macaron started out in the 17th century as a baked dome shaped mixture of sugar, egg whites, icing sugar, and ground up almonds. Over time they have morphed into a thick delicate cookie sandwich with various flavors and fillings between the two halves. For instance, today we purchased two from a nearby chocolate shop, one violet (color and flavor from the flower according to the clerk) and one chestnut. We passed on the licorice, the chocolate, and the lime. They vary in size from quarter to slightly larger than a silver dollar with the larger size being the most popular. And in price as well with the more expensive usually having a more tasty filling (like a good ganache for the chocolate ones) and the top and bottom crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

And they can appear in shop windows in creative displays, like arranged on a cone sticking out from a frosted cake in Christmas tree fashion

or covering a ball that dangles from the ceiling or is balanced on a thin stem or,

more commonly, arranged in a colorful assortment of flavors in an attractive box.

From what I have read on the Internet they are labor intensive to make and aren’t the easiest thing to make properly. The best place in the world to get them is Paris. Although you can buy them in the U.S. they are not common and, in many cases, are only average in taste. This is likely to change, as they are fast becoming an “in” thing. Once you taste a few well-made ones, you will understand why.

Starting two weeks ago Christmas decorations began to make their appearance. Each day a few more seem to go up. Compared to when we were here in December four years ago there are many more of them.

Usually understated with small lights and not with the traditional deep red and green you see in the U.S. Various shades of pink with white are the most popular colors.

No Christmas music heard so far. Good!

The center of the mass-shopping universe in Paris is the two long blocks along Blvd Haussmann occupied by the side-by-side storefronts of the large department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.

The weeknight we were there the entire two block length of sidewalk in front was mobbed with shoppers and the curious.

Crowds were huddled around each window looking at the animated displays. There were platforms in front of each window where small kids could step up and get a better look.

The outside of both buildings and some across the street as well were brightly lit with changing patterns of colored lights.

We spent some time looking at the window displays but decided not to go in. Instead, about 15 minutes later we were eating dinner in a small and plain Vietnamese restaurant called Pâtes Vivants located on a nearby narrow side street, rue du Montmartre. At this place, the window display was a cook making noodles for the various dishes served in the restaurant.

The food was quite good and very reasonably priced and we would go back again if in the area.

There are several special exhibitions we have seen since the last note:

The major special show in Paris right now is “Picasso and the Masters” at the Grand Palais with minor offshoots on the same theme at the Louvre and the Musée D’Orsay. We braved the lines at the Grand Palais just off the Champs Elysée late one morning and were well rewarded. Picasso is famous for lifting segments or themes or techniques from the masters (like a face or a lighting situation or the draping of a dress) and incorporating these elements into his own paintings. But no way can these paintings be thought of as copies. It was very special to see the original of a Rembrandt self-portrait or a Goya nude or Degas’ painting of a woman drinking absinthe adjacent to one of Picasso’s showing his borrowing. Even if you weren’t excited by Picasso’s work, most people would find this exhibition informative and illuminating.

This is Photography month in Paris and there are a number of special photo exhibitions throughout the city. We went to the Jeu de Paume exhibition space in the Tuileries Gardens to see one of the more heavily promoted ones. Lee Miller, an American originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, started as a model and was on the cover of Vogue magazine by the time she was 20 (1927). Later she went to Paris, interned with Man Ray, and later opened her own studio in New York City. She lived in Cairo for several years while married to an Egyptian businessman, and then moved to London. Her photography is categorized as surreal, carefully composed photos where the real is contrasted with the absurd. By far the most moving part of the exhibition to me was the section devoted to her experiences as a photojournalist for Vogue magazine in France and Germany during WWII. Seeing her well-written text and excellent shots side-by-side was very moving. Her description of her early arrival at a concentration camp, her anger expressed in her writings from Germany, and her description of Hitler’s Alpine retreat, Bergestgarten, and one of the photos showing her bathing in Hitler’s bath tub were especially powerful. An interesting woman.

At the Musée Moderne de la ville de Paris we struggled through two rather large exhibitions, the first being of the Dusseldorf school of photography. Interesting, but because of the massive number of photos the exhibition registers of my brain soon became overloaded. After a well-needed lunch break we entered the Rauol Dufy section. Dufy painted in the first half of the 20th century and is know today mostly for his simple watercolors with colorful shapes partially outlined with black lines. The paintings are generally light and happy and easily accessible. Very commercial but enjoyable to see.

One of the more interesting restaurants we visited recently was one off rue Poncelet specializing in dishes from the Savoy region of France called Le Relais du Cha. Our intent was to go there for fondue. It took us only a few seconds of looking at the menu to realize that our stomachs weren’t large enough for both the cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue for desert. We opted instead to reserved the desert fondue for later and ordered a cheese raclette with salad. Our past experience led us to believe we would be served a dish of sliced potatoes covered with a thick, tasty raclette cheese sauce. To our surprise we were served a bowl of bubbling cheese on a warm stone and a bowl containing four ample sized, whole boiled potatoes. We each put a potato on our plate, cut it up, and scooped some of the melted cheese over it. More scooping followed. When our reservoir of cheese began to lower the waiter came over with a bubbling pot and refilled it. And when the potatoes vanished, four more appeared. Needless to say, we did not make it to the chocolate fondue.

Maybe the next time.

Dan and Wendy 11/25/08

Some Paris Sights

2008-11-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

PARIS NOTES 2008 - 2009 #2

Paris definitely has different customs from the US.

I was sitting in a Salon de Thé on Blvd. Malesherbes slowly sipping my café crème

and picking at a pastry when I noticed a young, late twenties couple sitting at a table directly in my field of view. They both were quite attractive and were stylishly dressed. The man, with his dark completion and unshaven look, was totally dressed in black, including his black sports coat. The woman wore tight fitting jeans, black blouse, and a light jacket with a colorful blue scarf. Throughout their lunch they leaned in and talked to each other with their faces only inches apart. Occasionally, I could hear gentle laughter. When they finished eating he reached over, grabbed her scarf in both hands, and pulled her face close to him until their lips were softly touching – and held her there for a prolonged kiss. Just as they were about to get up she grabbed him by his coat lapels and pulled him to her and repeated the lips just touching exercise.

Last week we kicked into full tourist mode when Leslie, a friend of Wendy’s from her dancing past, spent six days with us. We took it all in (or almost all) – the Arc de Triomphe and busy Champs Élysées, the Musée D’Orsay with its impressive hoard of Impressionist paintings and more, the Musée L’Orangerie with its wrapped-around-the-wall paintings of Monet’s water lilies, a corner of the Louvre (limited by the combination of leg and eyeball fatigue), Notre Dame, Le Tour Eiffel now lit up at night with soft, blue lights and for 5 minutes each hour by twinkling white lights, a contemporary art exhibition at Place de la Bastille, the colorful,inside-out designed Pompidou Center with its modern art collection and its fantastic view of the city from the top floor, and many, many points in between.

She had never been to Paris and, with her background as an artist, was totally taken with the city. It was fun to share her excitement.

The weather wasn’t at its best but that did not dampen her enthusiasm in the least. That, coupled with tired feet, just meant we spent more time sipping café crème or tea or thick, dark hot chocolate in interesting cafés.

Yummy Dark Hot Chocolate!

A few Sunday’s ago we had lunch with Frédèric and Véronique at their apartment. This is a young couple we met on the train on our last trip to France. They both are interesting and speak good English. We had a wonderful luncheon accompanied with great conversation. A delicious Quiche Lorraine, salad, two desserts (one of which we brought), apps, and my first experience with escargot that I enjoyed (lots of garlic and butter did the trick). All of this was accompanied by several types of good wine. A very filling and enjoyable time.

Some other scenes since our last note:

• Listening to four violins and a cello in the beautiful Chapel Ste Chapelle. The lead violinist was outstanding and very moving. This is an impressive site for a concert both visually and acoustically, the only thing missing being the sunshine beaming through the site’s spectacular stained glass windows (it was after dark). (See our previous blog entry with 2 YouTube videos of this.)

• After a satisfying dinner at the nearby Villa Péreire biting into a chocolate moelleux, a crusty, circular individual chocolate cake with the inside filled with hot, melting dark, dark chocolate which was served on a white plate with strings of a raspberry sauce reduction arranged around the plate.

• Being totally exhausted after staying up until the wee hours of the morning watching the election returns – and going to bed totally satisfied – and having trouble keeping my eyelids open the next day. Note: Paris is 6 hours ahead of Vermont.

• Realizing that one can spend a lot of time standing in lines if one chooses to. I’ve bagged it several times recently – like the long line at the Musée D’Orsay’s special showing of their portion of the “Picasso and the Masters” exhibitions going on in the city or the long line at the nearby FNAC to get tickets to the Ste Chapelle concert (and going back a third time when the lines were shorter) or trying to get into a movie at the wrong time or avoiding the lines at Monoprix (the local grocery store) on a late Friday night where the lines cue because it is closed on Sunday or trying to get something to eat at the nearby boulangerie/patisserie at prime lunchtime hours or skipping the line waiting to climb the Arc de Triomphe when we were there. This turns out to not be a big thing since you can avoid the lines if you pick your times right.

• Enjoying the special exhibitions at the nearby Musée Jacquemart-André (Van Dyck) and the Musée de Luxembourg (“From Miro to Warhol”). Nice mix of the old and the new between to two sites.

Another “Paris is different” scene:

After leaving the Musée de Luxembourg we stopped for a café crème at the nearby Brasserie Au Vieux Colombier on the busy shopping street, Rue de Rennes. Seated behind me, and in Wendy’s line of view, was a very disparate French couple. The man appeared to be in his late 60’s, was bald, and was wearing a light colored hounds-tooth-check sports jacket. Very professorial looking. His companion was under 30 with long brown hair, wore minimal makeup, and was dressed in a tight, aubergine knit dress that dropped down to almost meet her boots coming up. The only thing we could hear from their focused conversation was her high pitched, coquettish laughter and, occasionally, his deeper chuckles. She was very flirtatious, frequently reaching across the table with both hands and slowly stroking his shoulders and arms and face.

After leaving we walked over to Rue Princesse near Cathedral Ste. Sulpice (a neat area to walk around) to hear a reading by the author David Sedaris at The Village Voice, an English bookstore. We missed him when he was in Burlington earlier this past summer. Despite getting there 45 minutes early the place was packed so we took the bus back to our apartment. C’est la vie.

A bientôt,

Dan and Wendy

11/07/08

It's a New Time in Our History

2008-11-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

Post Election Day

What an historic time! Late last night we watched with great anticipation, the election results coming in over CNN, CNBC, and BBC. So poignant was the image of Jesse Jackson standing still, in the sea of celebrants, with tears just streaming down his face. What must he have been feeling, having seen the assasination of Martin Luther King, and made the historic run for the Whitehouse himself just 20 and 24 years ago? Now to finally see a man of color be elected by a landslide by our diverse population, to lead our country out of the huge problems we must now face. Together. Amazing.

At noon today, the fire sirens rang in our neighborhood for 5 minutes. I was thinking it was for the promise of a new day for international relations.

On the front window and door of an English speaking bookstore, here in Paris, was a big sign that read "Thank you Obama. Thank you America."

And I say Thank You, Marcella (and Chris) and Thank You, Karen as it was you and all the thousands and thousands of other individuals who left the comfort of their homes and took action to help our dreams to begin to come true again. Here they are in ACTION

Now the work begins-to end the wars that are draining our economy; to restore our economy for our children and grandchildren; to reverse climate change that threatens our earthly home; to become directly involved with our communities to start small actions that add up to big change, together.

Wendy

Vivaldi's Four Seasons in Sainte Chapelle

2008-10-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to a concert in Sainte Chapelle.

Check out the interior of this place where we heard a beautiful rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons! The second video of the music we heard shows some renovation that was being done at the time, but is completed now. Enjoy!

Getting Settled

2008-10-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Paris Impressions – 2008 – 2009 #1

October is a nice time to be in Paris. Not too hot and not too cold with light jacket weather for the most part so far. No frost yet. Not even close. There have been a number of sunny, perfect 10 days and a few overcast days with an occasional drizzle, but mostly it has been partially cloudy. The geraniums in our window boxes are still in full bloom and most of the leaves on the ubiquitous plane trees are still managing to hang on to their branches. Just right for exploring a city designed for walkers.

We have been living in an unusual state, for us, for the past year. Between 10 months living in a house in a constant state being ready to be shown and temporarily living with Rick and Sally, our very gracious hosts for 2 months, there has been a feeling of being unsettled. Lots of meals out or very simple meals in. Walking into our Villa Monceau apartment we felt immediately at home. Because of that, the dollar to euro ratio, and just what you do when you are somewhere for an extended period of time, we have been eating in most of the time. We will eventually “do it all” but stretch it out over a longer period of time.

We haven’t exactly been confining ourselves to our apartment, though. Some impressions/things/whatever:

• The United el cheapo sardine can treatment getting here. Our worst flying experience yet. And cutting my finger on a tiny knife I carry on my key chain (hush) while removing an excess prong on the headset provided – the stewardess ran out of the correct, one pronged version by the time she got to me.

• La Nuit Blanche, a one-night dusk until dawn series of artsy exhibitions (performances, art installations, etc.) at well over a hundred locations scattered throughout the city. Like a Cirque du Soleil ballet style performance by a man/woman (?) completely dressed in black moving slowly and smoothly up and down a long, narrow strip of white cloth dangling from the very high and ornate ceiling of the Cathedral St Merri. Or viewing brightly lit, life-sized sculptures of mannequins made of large salt crystals while my shoes were covered with cloth booties as I walked over the floor covered with several inches of salt. Or being jammed into Notre Dame Cathedral, not being able to see the stage because of
intervening columns and only barely being able to hear
the medieval music being performed there.

• Sitting on a park bench watching a budding tightrope artist honing his skills on a stretchy rope tied between two plane trees in Parc Monceau – until a park official politely made him pack up his equipment and move on.

• A few minutes later watching a completely baldheaded, very muscular man in his late twenties do warm-up exercises, then segue into shadowboxing under the tutelage of his similarly aged coach. Very graceful and fluid motions.

• Still lots and lots of black worn by Parisians of all ages and by both sexes, occasionally accessorized with splotches of bright color. Also the prevalence of high heels (la mode du jour) in non-tourist areas.

• The smell and taste of shrimp covered with grated ginger in a slightly sweet sauce having a hint of lemongrass and cilantro in a well appointed Vietnamese restaurant.

• Lunch at our apartment with Linda Quinet, a friend from previous visits to Paris. Nice to reconnect.

• The exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, a frequent stop on our visits to Paris because the exhibits change frequently and are always interesting. Photography in a very broad sense here. Like a pair of simple women’s shoes made of soft leather with the soles cut out so you can see the bottoms on the wearer’s feet and the high heels bent at an odd angle so the wearer could not stand on them. A statement of some sort.

• And speaking of art, the many watercolors Wendy has been
turning out, especially one of a little girl and a woman strolling in Parc Monceau and the one of the first croissant we bought for breakfast.

• Hearing a voice behind us as we were walking just outside the Tuileries saying in Franglais, “Is this yours? I think you dropped it.” We turned and saw an attractive young woman holding out a large, plain gold ring toward us. We said it wasn’t ours and told her she should keep it. She talked with us a while, said she was from Croatia, and that is was her lucky day. As she started to move away from us she noticed some inscription on the inside of the band, then said she couldn’t keep it because she was Moslem, or something to that effect. We didn’t want it either (besides it was too light to be gold), but she kept insisting. When she finally got around to suggesting we needed to give her money for lunch or something like that for “good luck”, it finally dawned on us what was going on. And we walked away without the ring.

• Listening to the clear notes of a flute and a cello echo in the small Armenian Church in the 3rd arrondissement. Two talented musicians giving a very worthwhile performance.

Dan and Wendy
10/19/08