old family blog

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!

posted by turlie @ 4:11 PM