We Almost Made it Out
Last night I after running home in the rain and only wear jeans and cashmere sweater. I think I caught a bug. I woke up this morning feeling really under the weather. Clem got up early along with me and we headed out to our favorite little Patisserie to get my favorite Turkey Panini. I am in love with this place – not sure why there panini’s are so good. This will probably be our 10th visit in over 2 weeks. Of coarse this morning was no different, perfection.
After a quick breakfast we walked down the Montogieu and headed back over to the Marais district in search of some presents. Today was going to be all about buying presents and find gifts for us. We walked about 4 blocks and that icky feeling fell on my like a pile of bricks. At first I kept my mouth shut and kept walking. We stopped at the Les Halles center and took a few pictures. What’s really great about the center is they have Kids Park that is huge, I’ve never seen anything like it. Sadly I have no picture of it, every time we walked by it was closed.
We stopped at Starbucks and ordered some more coffees. I know, how American can we get? But its worth it – the flavor satisfies some itch for American. But, yet again, ordering at a Starbucks is ten times more difficult than any other café or brasserie. What’s interesting is how they correct us or the tude the throw when we ask for something they are not familiar with or we ask for it differently. I’m sorry in the states there are so many ways to order a Large Non-Fat Latte…so ordering it their exact way is just silly. Now, just to clarify, we were ordering in French. At a regular café on the street it’s so much simpler to order, and when you say something incorrectly they correct you with such a kind demeanor.
So we hit the road and headed over the Marais district. We were about two blocks into our shopping and the sick feeling was turning into a throw up feeling. I was getting worse! I tried to keep my mouth shut but I finally told Clem I was not feeling that great and I might need to head back to the apartment. We found this amazing teashop, which is a 300-year-old tea company. The store had been open for over 200. As we left the shop I decided I needed to go home. Clem walked me back to the apartment, the sky was starting to get dark again, and we had no umbrella.
On the walk back to the apartment we stopped at the Pompidou center and watched a couple of performance artists at work. One guy was doing a one mad stage play and the other was playing music on a boom box and playing a fake cello. Tied to the bow was a paintbrush, he played along with the music blind folded and painted a picture. It was pretty cool! I found this great artist and fell in love with two paintings….I procrastinated about buying one and now I am kicking myself I didn’t. I need to make that a golden rule from now on. The clouds over the Pompidou were starting to converge, I took several great shots.
We made it back to the apartment and I went to bed right away. Clem headed back out to walk around and hit a Irish Pub that Eric suggest he stop by for some better beer. Poor Clem has been drinking piss beers during most of the trip. One can only drink so much Heineken before getting sick. But then again, I don’t drink beer – It has such fowl taste, before, during and after. I told Clem it’s going to pore like crazy soon – so he should take the umbrella – he doubted me! But did take it, Not 10 minutes after he walked out the door – It started to pore like cats and dogs.
I slept for several hours luckily. Clem came back and we just hung out in the apartment for the rest of the night. Eric meet up with Chrystelle and her mother for little while and then headed back to his apartment to get some work done. Clem and Eric were up pretty late. Eric was working on a major article for Newsweek on the mayor of Paris. We stayed in for the evening and Eric brought us some Chinese food. It was pretty good; I got some simple chow mein. I am heading off to bed real early. I hope I feel better tomorrow.
How About Some Duck…..In Your Lap
We made it back to the apartment last night and made plans to do dinner with Eric and Chrystelle. Eric gave us the option of either French or Italian. Since we had some poor Italian the last two times, we opted for French. Eric suggested a famous Art Deco designed restaurant that has been open since the 20’s. The interior was amazing but yet simple.
We didn’t have reservations so we were seated in the bar area. Eric was telling us how a corporation had bought all these restaurants that were classic deco designs and long histories. So far there are about 7 in all that the company owns. When we sat down we were greeted by an older gentleman who very friendly and brought us water and our drink pretty quick.
After about a half an hour and an attempt to ask our waiter to take our order., we find out his not our waiter but runner. Finally our waiter appeared, and proceeded to take our order. I ordered a Caesar salad and a beef medallion. What was rather odd is that the waiter never looked at any of us in the face every time he talked to us or brought something. Each time he seemed to be staring off in the distance.
Our waiter seems to get worse and worse as the evening progressed. But luckily our runner seemed to be around a lot more than the waiter. Sadly our starters seem to come and numerous issues arise. We hoped the entrée’s would prove hopeful. But alas it was not in the cards, the entrée’s were worse, especially when the waiter served Clem’s Duck Entree and almost had it land in his lap. For some reason the waiter thought it necessary to serve across the table. So we were a little over it but the company was great – we chatted more and more about Paris and asked Chrystele a plevy of more questions.
Now you can always depend on dessert, I mean can anyone mess up dessert. To my surprise, this French restaurant would make it happen. I hoped ordering a crème Brule would be a sure thing. In the middle of conversation we were served, and I dipped into the Crème and took my first bite. And how can you ruin Crème Brule……..By breaking the Crème…….meaning it was over whipped and now little bubbles have for tough air pockets. It was terrible, Clem felt bad and said well send it back, I opted to not send it back because if you fail three times the pleasure to improve should not be granted! But of coarse I am going to point it out at bill time~!!!
So we left the restaurant and to our surprise the rain has come! It was nice, but I was wearing my cashmere sweater so I was being a little baby walking along the storefronts of the Champs Elisee. Sadly this was last night we were going to see Chrystelle, her mother was coming to town tomorrow and heading off to London together for holiday. We said our goodbyes and they headed back to Chrystele’s apartment and we headed back to Eric’s place. We made it an early night.
Ballerinas and Bugs
The Musee d’Orsay has its own complete collection of the Degas ballerina casts and bronzes. This collection is one of four complete collections in known existence. I have now seen all 4 collections. The other 3 collections are located at MET in NYC, National Gallery in DC. The third is still in private collection, which did tour the US 2 years ago. I took my sister and niece to see the private collection that showed at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. So I have completed another adventure in my life. I grew up loving Degas and his work and made it a mission in life to see all 4 completed casts of the Degas ballerinas.
In the third section of Musee d’Orsay, we ventured to ground level galleries. We decided to skip most of the contemporary works and explore more of the impressionist exhibits. In the lower levels there were a number of Manet’s on exhibit. Including “Le Balcon” (The Balcony) and the “”The Picnic”. What was great to see was the number of students camped out in front “The Picnic”. Working on sketches and drawings.
At the Louvre we only saw about two people working on something. In front of the picnic alone there was about 6 people. Across from “The Picnic” was a contemporary sculpture of “The Picnic” which also had 5 students sketching it. Also in this section there were a number of Degas sketches and drawings. There were a number of amazing pastels, one was a side profile of woman with the most striking red lips.
Mixed into the third section was the Art Nouveau furnishings exhibit. Let first start by saying I fell in love with all the beds. They were simply jaw dropping, from room to room the pieces were getting better and better. What I found really interesting were the fixture and hardware on show. A number of the doorknobs were in some beautiful colors not to mention shapes. Simple but very unique!
After the Art Nouveau section we finished up the remainder of the impressionist galleries. At the end were a number of Van Gough pieces. What was interesting was all the Van Gough pieces that the d’Orsay had exhibit were from a certain time frame. Van Gough was in prison right before died. When he was released he worked like crazy cranking out a number of paintings. He was averaging over 5 paintings a day and was selling that at the fraction of his normal commission. You can really see how these works were quickies! Especially compared to his earlier work that I have seen.
We finally finished our adventure in the d’Orsay. As we made our way out of the museum we glimpsed at some the sculptures in main area. We were not that impressed of the selections they made. Then at the back of the museum, hidden in a dark and poorly light area. There were a number of large-scale models showing architecture in Paris. The most amazing piece was the scale model of the Grand Opera. It was flawless, even the gilding in the main entry and parlor was authentic. I was able to get a couple of great shots.
After the d’Orsay we headed across the street to brasserie on the corner. I ordered a simple Croque and salad, while Clem ordered some soup. The weather was beginning to change today. Our clear skies and warm temps, was slowly giving way to clouds and cold gusts of wind. The waiter seemed to be on a rampage. He was running all over the place and even taking out garbage right before he serves our food. EEEK!
Then I got my Croque, which was cold and made on white sandwich bread. Then I took one bite of my salad and then went for second and I noticed little red bugs on my lettuce. I showed the waiter, and he brought me a new salad. This time I examined it and of coarse there more bugs than before. EW!!!!!!
MY PAINTING!!!!! STEP OFF!!!!!!!
After a fail attempt to see the d’Orsay gallery yesterday, we made the trek back to the left bank once again. And this time we were greeted with a rather long line. On the way to the d’Orsay we walked through the Galarie where I fell in love with the two paintings. To my surprise, I did not recognize it before! I have seen the space many times before, as it was used in several Jean Paul Gaultier shows. For those of you who do not know that name, his a fashion designer here in Paris.
As we exited the Galarie we noticed the cool staircase we saw last time we were there. This time I noticed gentleman walk into the entrance dressed in head to toe Gaultier. As we approached the entrance, to our surprise a plaque read Jean Paul Gaultier Atelier. Right outside the main entrance was the Gaultier flagship store. We continued our journey to the d’Orsay while passing through the Toulouse gardens. As crossed the left bank we came across this small apartment with it big blue door. When I say small it was tiny and skinny, I don’t think I have ever seen something that small even in New York City.
The d’Orsay is amazing; it’s a converted train station. After you have entered the front entrance, you walk into the actual train track area. Which is now the main room for the museums sculptures. I love how they created different levels to room, which lead you into a maze of galleries. We opted to start from the top – we learned our lesson over at the Louvre. Here is my advice, stop for a minute and look at your map to the museum and focus on the parts of the museum you wish to see. The d’Orsay is on a grand scale even in its collection.
The d’Orsay is a Impressionist lovers dream museum. Everything from Renoir, Degas, Monet, Cézanne, Manet, the Piszarro’s even to Lautrec. I was excited to actually see so many pieces by Toulouse Lautrec. In the first section of paintings we saw everything from Renoir to Degas, A number of the Degas were outstanding, like little girl sitting and the widow in the park. I was excited to also see Claude Monet’s “Woman with Parasol”, it was breath taking! As moved more into the collection we noticed this man completely enthralled in Alfred Sisley painting, I think walked around the room twice in 10 minutes and he was still there. And if you got close to the painting he stared you down, in a back of you bitch look.
In the second section of the d'Orsay we got to see several sketches and drawings. What is interesting is how the d’Orsay shows these pieces. They show paintings in the large rooms with natural light. While the drawings and sketches are in low light rooms with low ceilings. That’s why my photos are so dark. Clem and I came across an artist neither of us had seen before. Lucien Levy-Dhurmer painted from 1880-1920’s; the museum had 5 drawings by the artist. Two entitled “Medusa” and “the Sorcerer”, plus a portrait of “Georges Rodenbach” which is really ghostly. I think the reason we love Dhurmer’s work is its so dark and dead like.
There were two Lautrec paintings hanging before we went into the drawing and sketch rooms. The two paintings were actually billboards that use to hang in Paris. Sadly after their use, someone had chopped them up and framed them. Luckily someone went through the painstaking work of recovering all the pieces and put them back together. In the smaller rooms there were several sketches and drawing by Lautrec. Including my two favorite pieces, “Le Lit” a sketch of two kids sleeping…the colors were amazing. The second was “La Femme au Boa Noir” (Woman with Black Boa). Lautrec did very little paintings in his lifetime; most of his works were in the form of sketches and drawings.
My favorite at this point of the collection was the painting by Jozsef Rippl-Ronai entitled “Un Parc La Nuit”. I know this painting has been copied a number of times by many great impressionists. A true inspiration! I want it! LOL……..
Shakespeare & Co.
After lunch in the Jardin de Luxenbourg, we headed over to the fountain. In the fountain swam about a dozen mallard ducks and in the middle near the water spraying up was a little house with little decks for the ducks to jump up on and they could go into the house as well. We finally found a spot to sit down and enjoy the clear sky and the late afternoon sun. Everyone was facing the sun so we joined in the soak it up! We have seen several tanning salons on the right bank. I am sure this good weather is eating into their profit margin.
We hung out at the fountain for a good 2 hours. Clem stated reading his new book and the Guardian we found at a restaurant. I decided to pull out my sketchbook and give it a whirl. I started sketching Clem a little, which was starting to look good until I attempted to shade it. I am very rusty at sketching. I think this is the first time in over 7 years since I’ve picked up the pencil. After about an hour of drawing, I pulled out my laptop and worked some more on our blog entries.
This man stopped in front of us with his son in his stroller – it was too cute how he just sat in his stroller for a good 15 minutes just staring right at us. One would think this was a little creepy but check out the photo I took of him – it was too adorable. As we made our way out of the Jardin, we came across this amazing fountain. I got two great shots of it, you can see people sitting on chairs around the fountain – shield from the sun and enjoying the peace and quiet. Then out of nowhere another little boy, blond hair and all came running up behind us and screamed BOO! I laughed, I was laughing more because he had a plaid shirt and plaid jumper on and some how it was working! LOL
We finally started heading back over to the right bank and then home. While walking through the left bank, we walked the outskirts of the Latin Quarter. It was like we were in Union Square in SF. Junk shops selling cheap products and fast food restaurants. We also noticed the abundance of Greek restaurants in the area as well. There was nothing worth stopping for until we hit the river. As we are about to cross the bridge to Notre Dame, out of the corner of my eye I see the Shakespeare & Company bookstore. We walked over and started taking a couple pictures and then checked out their selection.
I asked one of the ladies working there if the had seen a certain book I had been search for in the last couple of years. (A limited edition of Alice & Wonderland with drawings by Salvador Dali.) She looked at me and says; “No we haven’t”, now mind you this store is over 200 years old and everyone working there is younger than me! Hmmmm.
Clem and I walked across the bridge to Notre Dame again. We wanted to light two candles for my brother and his wife and the twins…of coarse we light them under Joan of Arc. After we light the candles we headed back out onto the square and made our way back to the apartment. We were getting tired pretty quickly this evening. Not sure, but I was feeling a little under the weather.
On the way home we made a little pit stop. I was not about to spend 2 weeks in Paris and not find Alexander McQueen’s atelier. After wondering around the Marais for a while, we finally came to no.6 rue de Braque. As most modern designers today they ateliers are unmarked and hidden from the world. I was gitty like a little boy when we finally found it. The lights were on up in the studio and huge dark green doors were closed. It was an amazing moment. I should have knocked and asked for a cup of sugar. LOL
As we made our way back to the apartment, we stopped at some local shops and got some bread, ham and cheeses. We headed up to the apartment and started eating off and on. Eric came home and we sat and chatted for a while. He shared with us how no one really goes to the Latin Quarter anymore. It’s become the fisherman’s wharf of Paris. A huge tourist trap! So we scratched it off our to do list since we only have a couple more days left in Paris. Maybe next time, although Eric says we can die happy not visiting it ever!
I headed to bed early while the boys stayed up late catching up and of coarse talking politics. Eric has been writing a number of stories on Chirac and some well-known officials in Paris. If you’re ever interested in reading some of his work, go to the Newsweek site and search for Eric Pape. Night night!
Ooooooh AGA!!!!!!!
We set off this morning early again. Had a good night sleep over at the apartment for the first time. Our plan today was to hit the d’Orsay and then the Jardin de Luxenbourg. We hit Starbucks and then over walked down Rue de Rivoli. We stopped at a clothing store I had seen last week, called Zara. Clem found some killer leather sneakers and I rummaged through some things for my niece and the two little one’s along the way.
We got back onto Rivoli and walked up to an American bookstore for Clem to get a new book. So far he has finished two novels on the trip. My guess is if he was trying he could be done with four by now. Then we arrived at the Musee d’Orsay. Sadly the museum was closed on Mondays. We were out of luck.
So it was now onto the Jardins. We tried to walk around a little along the way, but unfortunately that area is covered with high stores and dealers. I did find a AGA store, which I was surprised to find out that they also make there own cookware and bake ware. Of coarse I took several shots of the store – even the pink range. We continued on but many stores were closed, which even in SF is typical. Most of the area around the Jardin de Luxenbourg was high-end shops and restaurants. And when I say high end I mean high end, even the one kids store we walked into was too pricey. A baby one-piece jumper was over 65euros.
Right before hit the Jardin’s, we saw a patisserie we had been to before (chain) and I said lets see if there is something closer. We made it all the way to the Jardin’s and low and behold no patisseries or even a restaurant outside of the gates. Unfortunately for us we planned on grabbing some panini’s and drinks to eat in the Jardin.
For a Monday afternoon the Jardin was bustling. I noticed less tourists in this area compared to others as well. We walked through all the chess players and cards. I think there are more players at Washington Square in NYC compared to here. The trees were slowly becoming bare sticks in the sky. Mounds of tree leaves on the ground were beginning to mulch.
Out of the corner of Clem’s eye he spotted a little restaurant in the park. We walked over to check it out. The menu was a little pricey but looked delicious. We sat down and ordered different Croque’s. When they arrived they were more like Bruchetta than croque’s. But it tasted great and it hit the spot. We made our way over to the big fountain finally and saw everyone sitting on chairs around the fountain and the outline to the Jardin.
What is amazing is there are several places in Paris where people have access to chairs to sit in, parks, water fountains and even little We have seen these places at night and the chairs remain unlocked all night. The American’s we are – we first notice how this would not happen in America. Primarily, on the fact that they would be stolen, damaged or defaced the first night. There are so many things in Paris that would never happened in America.
Clem and I chatted over it at lunch and we think the rote of the problem is that parents do not instill or teach their children how respect others and property as a whole. Now one thing that I have noticed in Paris is there is a definite problem with graffiti. It’s everywhere, store fronts, subways, untouched walls the same in America. The graffiti versus art topic has come many times during the trip. That happens a lot when we are visiting NYC as well, Sorry Shanon!
Crepes & Rembrandt's
When someone tells you need several days to do the Louvre, they are not lying. Yesterday Clem and I got up early, around 930am, the earliest yet. We stopped by Starbucks and then headed over to the Louvre right away. We decided to start from the bottom and work our way up. Viewing the French sculptures first and then on to paintings then interiors. Well the French sculptures took us over 3 hours alone.
When we arrived at the museum they were having a special exhibit of work by Gidoet, a French painter our the school of David. He was well known for his works done during the Napoleon Empire. The collection as a whole was okay, but they did a great job with the larger pieces. Two pieces I just fell head over heels with. One was of Jude being taken up to the heavens. The facial expression and body language was so powerful.
The second painting was one of Artemis (Diana) in the woods and a nymph is moving the branches of a tree to shed a beam of light down upon her. Now this is what’s interesting, Gidohet painted Artemis as a Man rather than a woman. One will notice that she is naked with no breasts and she has a wee wee. Questioning the gods sex as well as sexuality. After viewing the remainder of the collection you see how Gidohet focused his energies on the subjects eyes, facial expression and hands. In some paints the hands were almost as big or bigger than the subjects head.
In the French sculpture section I did like a few of the pieces. I loved the Saint Valarie sculpture with her holding her decapitated head and two angels on either side of her. Sadly the museum has no record of what year it completed. I also found the sculpture of a dead Catherine de Medicis by Della Robbia very striking. She is lying on her back and naked. The detail of her lifeless body is amazing, I know it sounds morbid but it was interesting and something I have never seen before. Its something you won’t see in your art history textbooks for sure.
In the garden sculpture sections there were a lot of sculptures of Artemis (Diana). Now in the museum they recognize the Roman name for the goddess, I only recognize gods as their Greek name. But every so often I did see a Greek name listed on a piece. Like the Zephyr & Psyche piece by Rutxhiel, completed in 1813. This piece was amazing, the ability to cut the marble so thin to allow light to come through the garment. Artemis was everywhere; it made me home sick to be honest.
After the Gidohet exhibit we heading up to the second floor to see more paintings. We decided to knock off the European painters from Germany, Holland, Flanders and Netherlands. Unfortunately this is not a period or countries I studied in school. Although most of the Ruebens and Vermeers. What was interesting, there were a couple of Rembrandts here and there. Definitely out of place.
After we left the Louvre we had plans to have dinner over at our friend Chrystelle’s apartment. She has told me so much about how she over looks a convent and its huge private park. When we arrived she immediately showed us the view and the sunset. It was beautiful, an amazing view, but I noticed that the garden was not well kept at all which is rather sad. No perennials and the grass was sparse or dead. But the view was amazing. Unfortunately a huge apartment building blocks her view of the Eiffel tower.
For dinner, it was going to be a crepe party. Chrystelle has this little hot plate designed for making 6 crepes at one time. And of coarse there were six of us. Chrystelle’s sister Valerie joined us and another friend of Eric’s who does photography and is an editor. We had a blast and me being the American I made a big mess. I’ve never made crepes before – well maybe back in college.
After dinner we headed back to the apartment with Eric and he showed us the Gates of Paris. Which are two enormous pillars with bronze statues on top. Flanked by two building which are now apartments. The sad part is the gate is not presented as landmark rather it just sits there unattended. Its really sad. They were beautiful.
After a quick breakfast we walked down the Montogieu and headed back over to the Marais district in search of some presents. Today was going to be all about buying presents and find gifts for us. We walked about 4 blocks and that icky feeling fell on my like a pile of bricks. At first I kept my mouth shut and kept walking. We stopped at the Les Halles center and took a few pictures. What’s really great about the center is they have Kids Park that is huge, I’ve never seen anything like it. Sadly I have no picture of it, every time we walked by it was closed.
So we hit the road and headed over the Marais district. We were about two blocks into our shopping and the sick feeling was turning into a throw up feeling. I was getting worse! I tried to keep my mouth shut but I finally told Clem I was not feeling that great and I might need to head back to the apartment. We found this amazing teashop, which is a 300-year-old tea company. The store had been open for over 200. As we left the shop I decided I needed to go home. Clem walked me back to the apartment, the sky was starting to get dark again, and we had no umbrella.
We made it back to the apartment and I went to bed right away. Clem headed back out to walk around and hit a Irish Pub that Eric suggest he stop by for some better beer. Poor Clem has been drinking piss beers during most of the trip. One can only drink so much Heineken before getting sick. But then again, I don’t drink beer – It has such fowl taste, before, during and after. I told Clem it’s going to pore like crazy soon – so he should take the umbrella – he doubted me! But did take it, Not 10 minutes after he walked out the door – It started to pore like cats and dogs. 
