Thursday, July 31
Our limo arrived coming at 9:20 AM, right on time. The driver was great, helping with bags right up to the entrance to security. He also provided great conversation and some insight to living in Paris. Unfortunately, the nice part ended there. getting bags checked was long and arduous (partly due to our flirting with weight restrictions, partly to understaffing). The terminal was very hot and crowded. The staff was indifferent. The bus to the gate was hot and crowded and they left us stewing on it for a long time.
Our plane left Charles de Gaulle for London at 12:20, then left London at 1:50 for SFO, arriving at 4:40 PM where our daughter picked us up. The flight itself was better than the airport experience; British Airways seems to be one of the better carriers as far as the flight itself is concerned).
One back in the Bay Area after a LONG flight, we ended up at Cathleen's house in San Jose. We were asked what kind of food we wanted to go out for and we immediately responded MEXICAN. It's been a long time.
Our four month trip to Europe was great. But it's also wonderful to be back home.
Of course, home is Gualala. We have stacks of accumulated mail and other details waiting for us, but it'll be nice to be back there.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Some Commentary on Paris
Some commentary on Paris
Speed of life. This is a real contrast. You see people rushing around madly and then they stop and enjoy a coffee and croissant or a glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe. Overall, they seem to enjoy life.
Drinks. Tea is more expensive than coffee. Cups of coffee are VERY small, although some cafes will serve Cafe Americain in larger cups. There is no such thing as the bottomless cup, you pay for each serving. Wine is also served in small glasses (often 12 cl). Beer is much more expensive than wine and is sold in 8 oz. bottles or 25 cl on tap (the 50 cl glasses cost as much as 8 Euro). It's easy to run up a big bar bill in a short time. Street theater is great from the cafes on the major streets so the higher price of the drinks is like an admission fee.Food. At the first, we weren't impressed. But we were eating at places on the main streets which tend to be frequented by tourists. Once we discovered the places on the side streets, it got better. One block off St. Antoine and St. Paul on rue Caron is a square with eight restaurants; and the side streets off that have several more. This is typical. The Marais is the place to go for food. The tables tend to be small and the restaurants are crowded. The noise level in generally high. Most places have outside tables on the sidewalk, but often just a few as space is at a premium. Service can be a bit slow at crowded times as the waiters are really hustling. At first it seemed to take forever to get the check until we learned that the French consider it rude to just put the bill on the table (like they're trying to hustle you out); you have to ask (l'addition, sil vous plais).
Free. The American concept of "free" has not taken hold here. Nothing is free, there's a charge for everything. They don't do loss leaders or things like the "bottomless cup". Of course, as previously mentioned, everything is expensive, sometimes due to being in a large city and some to the poor value of the dollar.
Sales. It's July and just about every store has a SALE (SOLDES) sign out. They try to sell out before going on vacation in August and stocking their Fall and Winter items.
Women. It is said that Parisian women are beautiful and that seems to be true. In general they seem to be slimmer than British and US women are. And they generally dress with style. They carry an aura about themselves that says "I'm sexy and desireable, so eat your heart out!". Sitting in a sidewalk cafe and watching them is a definite pleasure.
Traffic. Parisian drivers are very aggressive but you can see a definite pattern in the traffic; once you acclimate to it you can see that it's a working system. The traffic moves very rapdily on the boulevards and it is very noisy, but the people in the sidewalk cafes just ignore all that. There are scooters everywhere and they are parked at what seems like random, but there's probably some kind of system that we don't see. Add to this the bicycles and it's a great mix that somehow all comes together and works. Because of all the traffic, Paris is generally pretty noisy; we've never heard so many sirens anywhere else. Cars tend to be smaller than in the US because of gas mileage (gas is around $10/gal) and space considerations; scooters are popular for the same reasons. The SmartCar (picture here) has become very popular in western Europe. Manufactured by Mercedes and designed in collaboration with Swatch, it is small, economical, and cool looking. Just right for this environment.Cleanliness. Over the years, I've heard from friends who visited Paris (and other European cities) about how dirty they are. Our experience here is that, while there are still dog droppings and trash around, they are making a strong effort to clean up. Smoking, while still common, is under serious attack. Trash recepticals are everywhere and there are a lot of free (gratuit--hey, there's something that's free!) public toilets. You also see a lot of street cleaners around, however it is odd to see a one of them flipping a cigarette butt into the street after he just cleaned it. Also there is graffiti everywhere and that makes things look messy.
General: Speaking English has not been a problem in Paris; you can usually make yourself understood. Tourists abound this time of year, so try to travel here in late spring or early autumn. There is free internet available all over Paris, usually in parks; just find one and use your browser, then click on the search for other sites.
Paris is a wonderful city and everyone shoud visit at some time in their life; maybe twice, once when young and again when you're older. But we would recommend that you wait until the dollar improves significantly against the Euro; it's prohibitively expensive right now.
Last Day in Paris
Wednesday, July 30
On our last day in Paris, we loafed. Most of the morning we spend reading in the studio. Then it took way too much time to get online to reserve our airplane seats. We had lunch at Cafe March on Place Marche St. Catherine (the square on rue Caron we previously mentioned). On a hot day, a bowl of gazpacho hits the spot.
In central Paris, most of the buildings have shops on the ground floor and apartments above. Many were at one time city houses which were subdivided. The building walls allow for a narrow sidewalk and have very unimaginative but large doors leading inside to a courtyard and the entrances to the individual units. Seeing Paris from the air shows how this system looks. Italy is very similar. On rue St. Paul, they have turned the ground floor of the interior courts of the buildings on an entire large block into shops accessible from the court, Villages St. Paul. These shops are mostly design studios and decorator items with a few cafes. Today, most were closed. We suspect the owners were either getting a jump on the annual holiday season (starts August 1) or they left early on Bastille Day (July 14) as many do.
Claire was tired and stayed in for dinner. Bill went down the street and had a burger at a Scottish pub, The Auld Alliance at 80 rue Francois Miron, just off Rue Rivoli. Great Scottish ale (Caledonia 80, really smooth and only 3.4%, better than any continental lager) and good conversations with other English speakers (American, Australian and Scots).
On our last day in Paris, we loafed. Most of the morning we spend reading in the studio. Then it took way too much time to get online to reserve our airplane seats. We had lunch at Cafe March on Place Marche St. Catherine (the square on rue Caron we previously mentioned). On a hot day, a bowl of gazpacho hits the spot.
In central Paris, most of the buildings have shops on the ground floor and apartments above. Many were at one time city houses which were subdivided. The building walls allow for a narrow sidewalk and have very unimaginative but large doors leading inside to a courtyard and the entrances to the individual units. Seeing Paris from the air shows how this system looks. Italy is very similar. On rue St. Paul, they have turned the ground floor of the interior courts of the buildings on an entire large block into shops accessible from the court, Villages St. Paul. These shops are mostly design studios and decorator items with a few cafes. Today, most were closed. We suspect the owners were either getting a jump on the annual holiday season (starts August 1) or they left early on Bastille Day (July 14) as many do.
Claire was tired and stayed in for dinner. Bill went down the street and had a burger at a Scottish pub, The Auld Alliance at 80 rue Francois Miron, just off Rue Rivoli. Great Scottish ale (Caledonia 80, really smooth and only 3.4%, better than any continental lager) and good conversations with other English speakers (American, Australian and Scots).
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Montmarte
Tuesday, July 29
A little seedy around the edges, packed with tourists in the main square, Montmartre is actually a pleasant place once you get off the beaten track and stroll its pretty cobbled streets in search of the homes, studios and hangouts of the artistic and literary lights of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They're all there, from Renoir & Van Gogh to Hemingway, Picasso and Gertrude Stein. Parts of Monmartre are reminiscent of Berkeley, North Beach in San Francisco, and Venice Beach in LA.
We took the Metro out to Montmartre, it's too far to walk. Through the early twentieth century, it was an outlying village and not part of Paris (it still has its own small vineyard, with an annual production of around 300 litres). Our nice weather returned today so it was cooler with a lovely breeze, perfect for hiking the hilly streets.
We started at Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) high up on the butte, overlooking the city. The domed Roman-Byzantine basilica looks old but was actually built over a period of 44 years between 1875 and 1919. The interior is lovely, the most impressive feature being the beautiful blue, white and gold mosaic above the altar of Christ with outstretched arms and exposed heart. Mass was in progress when we were there and a nun in a white habit and black veil was softly playing the lute. The tourists present actually remined silent through the service and it was the nicest church experience we've had in Paris.
The main square is as you'd expect, jammed with tourists and artists, lined with cafes, shops and galleries. We had a delicious lunch at a small quiet cafe off the main square (a street cellist provided a nice accompaniment to the experience).
Highlights of the rest of the afternoon included a stop in the Musee de Montmartre, in a 17th century manor house, featuring paintings, original posters, photos, music and memorabilia recalling the traditional Montmartre scene. The museum was featuring an exhibit on Absinthe, the inspiration and downfall of many creative Montmartre residents.
We also saw (in addition to artists studios & homes) the original La Maison Rose Restaurant, Au Lapin Agile Cabaret, Moulin Rouge, and the Moulin de la Galette, the last being the location where Renoir's painted his masterpiece, en pleine aire--what some call the quintessential Impressionist work. A glance up some of the streets (with the basilica dome in the background) recalled paintings by Utrillo, who lived most of his life in Montmartre (when he wasn't in rehab!).
Dinner was at Pitchi Poi, a restaurant specializing in Eastern European Jewish food on Rue Caron.
A little seedy around the edges, packed with tourists in the main square, Montmartre is actually a pleasant place once you get off the beaten track and stroll its pretty cobbled streets in search of the homes, studios and hangouts of the artistic and literary lights of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They're all there, from Renoir & Van Gogh to Hemingway, Picasso and Gertrude Stein. Parts of Monmartre are reminiscent of Berkeley, North Beach in San Francisco, and Venice Beach in LA. We took the Metro out to Montmartre, it's too far to walk. Through the early twentieth century, it was an outlying village and not part of Paris (it still has its own small vineyard, with an annual production of around 300 litres). Our nice weather returned today so it was cooler with a lovely breeze, perfect for hiking the hilly streets.
We started at Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) high up on the butte, overlooking the city. The domed Roman-Byzantine basilica looks old but was actually built over a period of 44 years between 1875 and 1919. The interior is lovely, the most impressive feature being the beautiful blue, white and gold mosaic above the altar of Christ with outstretched arms and exposed heart. Mass was in progress when we were there and a nun in a white habit and black veil was softly playing the lute. The tourists present actually remined silent through the service and it was the nicest church experience we've had in Paris.The main square is as you'd expect, jammed with tourists and artists, lined with cafes, shops and galleries. We had a delicious lunch at a small quiet cafe off the main square (a street cellist provided a nice accompaniment to the experience).
Highlights of the rest of the afternoon included a stop in the Musee de Montmartre, in a 17th century manor house, featuring paintings, original posters, photos, music and memorabilia recalling the traditional Montmartre scene. The museum was featuring an exhibit on Absinthe, the inspiration and downfall of many creative Montmartre residents.We also saw (in addition to artists studios & homes) the original La Maison Rose Restaurant, Au Lapin Agile Cabaret, Moulin Rouge, and the Moulin de la Galette, the last being the location where Renoir's painted his masterpiece, en pleine aire--what some call the quintessential Impressionist work. A glance up some of the streets (with the basilica dome in the background) recalled paintings by Utrillo, who lived most of his life in Montmartre (when he wasn't in rehab!).
Dinner was at Pitchi Poi, a restaurant specializing in Eastern European Jewish food on Rue Caron.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A Walk Around the Faubourg St-Antoine
Monday, July 28
Our guidebook has several guided walks, so we decided to try one today. We relaxed for a lot of the morning then took a walk around the Faubourg St-Antoine area. Starting at our studio, we walked (sauntered, actually, the weather has been quite warm the past few days) to the Bastille, or rather what used to be the Bastille. Since the prison was torn down to start the Revolution in 1789, there's nothing there but a tall monument in a big roundabout. We then walked along the Port de Plaisance, location of the Paris yacht club and docking place for lots of pleasure boats, and the Paris Arsenal garden with its pretty flowers, cobblestone streets and antique lampposts.
We then proceeded to the Avenue Domesnil and the Viaduc des Arts. This looked to Claire like Paris' version of Showplace Square, the "to-the-trade" interior design shops of San Francisco. In 1859 the Paris Viaduct was built to take a railroad line that linked this district with the suburbs. In 1994 it was revamped to house 50 shops and studios devoted to all sorts of arts and crafts--everything you need to decorate your home in style, from hand-woven fabrics, rugs, furniture designer/makers and restorers, to floor coverings & decorative tile, kitchen & bathroom items, plus fine painting, sculpture, glass, porcelain, as well as more personal items like jewelry, lace, leather bags, ribbons, embroidery thread, buttons. The window shopping was fantastic.
After a delicious lunch at the Viaduc Cafe we retraced our steps back to the Bastille (two stories up this time) along the Promenade Plantee, a lovely rooftop walkway landscaped with roses, lavender, bamboo, hollyhocks and more. Because of the heat, walking back required another cafe interlude for Perrier and a teensy weensy cup of French cafe.
For dinner we returned to Cafe Framboisy, where we had such a wonderful lunch last week. The dinner was as good as we expected. It was a hot and humid evening, so sitting outside was comfortable and people watching was fun. Just as we finished eating, a thunderstorm hit, cooling things off considerably. We walked home (2 blocks) in a lull of the storm and only got slightly wet. The cafe's owner, Francoise, speaks excellent English with a slight German accent. We asked her about this and found that she went to school in Germany and spoke lots of English while there. Also, her partner is an American from the LA area and we had a nice conversation with him.
Our guidebook has several guided walks, so we decided to try one today. We relaxed for a lot of the morning then took a walk around the Faubourg St-Antoine area. Starting at our studio, we walked (sauntered, actually, the weather has been quite warm the past few days) to the Bastille, or rather what used to be the Bastille. Since the prison was torn down to start the Revolution in 1789, there's nothing there but a tall monument in a big roundabout. We then walked along the Port de Plaisance, location of the Paris yacht club and docking place for lots of pleasure boats, and the Paris Arsenal garden with its pretty flowers, cobblestone streets and antique lampposts.
We then proceeded to the Avenue Domesnil and the Viaduc des Arts. This looked to Claire like Paris' version of Showplace Square, the "to-the-trade" interior design shops of San Francisco. In 1859 the Paris Viaduct was built to take a railroad line that linked this district with the suburbs. In 1994 it was revamped to house 50 shops and studios devoted to all sorts of arts and crafts--everything you need to decorate your home in style, from hand-woven fabrics, rugs, furniture designer/makers and restorers, to floor coverings & decorative tile, kitchen & bathroom items, plus fine painting, sculpture, glass, porcelain, as well as more personal items like jewelry, lace, leather bags, ribbons, embroidery thread, buttons. The window shopping was fantastic.
After a delicious lunch at the Viaduc Cafe we retraced our steps back to the Bastille (two stories up this time) along the Promenade Plantee, a lovely rooftop walkway landscaped with roses, lavender, bamboo, hollyhocks and more. Because of the heat, walking back required another cafe interlude for Perrier and a teensy weensy cup of French cafe.
For dinner we returned to Cafe Framboisy, where we had such a wonderful lunch last week. The dinner was as good as we expected. It was a hot and humid evening, so sitting outside was comfortable and people watching was fun. Just as we finished eating, a thunderstorm hit, cooling things off considerably. We walked home (2 blocks) in a lull of the storm and only got slightly wet. The cafe's owner, Francoise, speaks excellent English with a slight German accent. We asked her about this and found that she went to school in Germany and spoke lots of English while there. Also, her partner is an American from the LA area and we had a nice conversation with him.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Musee Marmottan
Sunday, July 27
We can't get enough of Monet, so we thought that today we would expand on yesterday's Giverny adventure by viewing some of his actual work (the "Monets" on the walls in the Giverny house are copies--some good, some not so).
Paris has three major museum collections of Monet: L'Orangerie, D'Orsay, and Marmottan. Musee Marmottan is located on the far west side of Paris, almost to the Boulevard Peripherique, and an hour's walk from the Eiffel Tower. So we tried public transportation again, this time the Metro. The Paris Metro is similar to the London Underground and the New York Subway; it is very extensive and will take you close to almost any destination in the city but it is aging and showing the results of deferred maintenance. It is also complicated but can be very effective once you learn the details of the layout; the stations where several lines come together can be confusing and exiting on the street you want can be difficult if you're not careful. We got on Line 1 at St. Paul, transferred to Line 9 at Franklin D Roosevelt and got off at La Muette. The trip was fast, efficient and cheap.
The museum is housed in a mansion built by Jules Marmottan. His son, Paul, was a friend of Monet and other painters and he collected their works. When he died with no children, he bequeathed the house as a museum. The basement gallery is entirely Monet. The ground floor has some more Monet plus other Impressionists (Sisley, Renoir, etc.) and other artists (Claire epecially enjoyed getting to know the work of Berthe Morisot, Manet's sister-in-law and a skillful Impressionist painter); it also has a collection of medieval religious illuminations and period furniture. The top floor usually has more Impressionist paintings on exhibit but today there was a special exhibition of some modern artists.
On the way back to the Metro station, we walked through a very pleasant park where families were picnicking and we bought some panini at a stand. The Metro brought us back to St. Paul quickly (we're old hands at this now). We bought a Sunday Times (London) to read, first in the studio then in a cafe on St. Antoine. We didn't get much reading done in the cafe as the street theater was too riveting.
Bill took a walk to Place des Vosges; there is a free internet signal available there so being online should become easier.
We went to dinner at Arirang in the square at rue Caron. This is a Korean barbecue; Bill had shrimp and Claire had beef, with vegetables an sauce; quite good.
We can't get enough of Monet, so we thought that today we would expand on yesterday's Giverny adventure by viewing some of his actual work (the "Monets" on the walls in the Giverny house are copies--some good, some not so).
Paris has three major museum collections of Monet: L'Orangerie, D'Orsay, and Marmottan. Musee Marmottan is located on the far west side of Paris, almost to the Boulevard Peripherique, and an hour's walk from the Eiffel Tower. So we tried public transportation again, this time the Metro. The Paris Metro is similar to the London Underground and the New York Subway; it is very extensive and will take you close to almost any destination in the city but it is aging and showing the results of deferred maintenance. It is also complicated but can be very effective once you learn the details of the layout; the stations where several lines come together can be confusing and exiting on the street you want can be difficult if you're not careful. We got on Line 1 at St. Paul, transferred to Line 9 at Franklin D Roosevelt and got off at La Muette. The trip was fast, efficient and cheap.
The museum is housed in a mansion built by Jules Marmottan. His son, Paul, was a friend of Monet and other painters and he collected their works. When he died with no children, he bequeathed the house as a museum. The basement gallery is entirely Monet. The ground floor has some more Monet plus other Impressionists (Sisley, Renoir, etc.) and other artists (Claire epecially enjoyed getting to know the work of Berthe Morisot, Manet's sister-in-law and a skillful Impressionist painter); it also has a collection of medieval religious illuminations and period furniture. The top floor usually has more Impressionist paintings on exhibit but today there was a special exhibition of some modern artists.
On the way back to the Metro station, we walked through a very pleasant park where families were picnicking and we bought some panini at a stand. The Metro brought us back to St. Paul quickly (we're old hands at this now). We bought a Sunday Times (London) to read, first in the studio then in a cafe on St. Antoine. We didn't get much reading done in the cafe as the street theater was too riveting.
Bill took a walk to Place des Vosges; there is a free internet signal available there so being online should become easier.We went to dinner at Arirang in the square at rue Caron. This is a Korean barbecue; Bill had shrimp and Claire had beef, with vegetables an sauce; quite good.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Giverny
Saturday, July 26
We decided to do a day trip to Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, about 50 miles west of Paris. After a week of walking, city bus-catching and organizing our own itinerary, it was nice just to plop down on an air-conditioned bus and be given background info by a tour guide, dropped off right in front of our destination, not have to wait in line to buy tickets, and then be driven back again. There's definitely something to be said for organized tours!
The bus went past the Eiffel Tower, down the Champs d"Elysee past the Arc d'Triomphe, onto the ring road (Boulevard Peripherique) and out of the city into the Seine Valley. It was nice to see some of the French countryside, including fields of lavender (if only whizzing past the window) after a week in the crowded bustle of Paris. We had plenty of time to enjoy Monet's two lovely gardens and farmhouse.
By the time Monet, his second wife and blended family of eight children moved to Giverny in 1890, he was a successful artist with the time and money to spend the remaining 36 years of his life landscaping his gardens and painting them. The house itself is fun to go through--the decor is just what you imagine "Country French" to be, with soft pastels on the walls, lace and gingham curtains on the windows, blue-and-white patterned tiles and polished copper pots in the kitchen, potted geraniums and hydrangeas everywhere--plus, Monet's wonderful collection of Japanese prints adorning the walls in every room. But of course the gardens are the best part of the experience, and delightful to see and photograph. The Impressionists very greatly influenced by Japanese art and used ideas gained from it in their new art form. One of Monet's gardens is a Japanese garden with the famous lily pond and bridge.
After the bus ride back into Paris (with a stop at Versailles to drop some people off), Claire went to the Museum of Decorative Arts (not Bill's thing so he returned home and published yesterday's blog). The museum covers the history of interior design from medieval times to the present, of course with an emphasis on the French influence.
For dinner, we went to Cafe de Musees on rue de Turrene (just off rue St. Antoine & St. Paul, a ten minute walk). It was recommended by a good friend, Charles Mills. We shared a gazpacho and both had sea bass; it was excellent. After a nice dessert, we walked home in the warm evening past numerous cafes that were still going strong.
We decided to do a day trip to Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, about 50 miles west of Paris. After a week of walking, city bus-catching and organizing our own itinerary, it was nice just to plop down on an air-conditioned bus and be given background info by a tour guide, dropped off right in front of our destination, not have to wait in line to buy tickets, and then be driven back again. There's definitely something to be said for organized tours!
The bus went past the Eiffel Tower, down the Champs d"Elysee past the Arc d'Triomphe, onto the ring road (Boulevard Peripherique) and out of the city into the Seine Valley. It was nice to see some of the French countryside, including fields of lavender (if only whizzing past the window) after a week in the crowded bustle of Paris. We had plenty of time to enjoy Monet's two lovely gardens and farmhouse.By the time Monet, his second wife and blended family of eight children moved to Giverny in 1890, he was a successful artist with the time and money to spend the remaining 36 years of his life landscaping his gardens and painting them. The house itself is fun to go through--the decor is just what you imagine "Country French" to be, with soft pastels on the walls, lace and gingham curtains on the windows, blue-and-white patterned tiles and polished copper pots in the kitchen, potted geraniums and hydrangeas everywhere--plus, Monet's wonderful collection of Japanese prints adorning the walls in every room. But of course the gardens are the best part of the experience, and delightful to see and photograph. The Impressionists very greatly influenced by Japanese art and used ideas gained from it in their new art form. One of Monet's gardens is a Japanese garden with the famous lily pond and bridge.
After the bus ride back into Paris (with a stop at Versailles to drop some people off), Claire went to the Museum of Decorative Arts (not Bill's thing so he returned home and published yesterday's blog). The museum covers the history of interior design from medieval times to the present, of course with an emphasis on the French influence.
For dinner, we went to Cafe de Musees on rue de Turrene (just off rue St. Antoine & St. Paul, a ten minute walk). It was recommended by a good friend, Charles Mills. We shared a gazpacho and both had sea bass; it was excellent. After a nice dessert, we walked home in the warm evening past numerous cafes that were still going strong.
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