Parting shots

Well, Paris is a city. One homeless person actually has a rabbit for a companion.

A shop on Ile de la Cité, near Notre Dame.

On the left, Notre Dame, on Ile de la Cité, taken from Ile St. Louis.

Tomorrow is day 31 and we're out of here. The leaves are coming out on the trees, daffodils are blooming and we're ready for springtime in New England. Thanks for checking out the blog. C'est fini. -Ellen and Andy

The curious case of Mr. Dovale and the dead window

The Seine from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Rodin's "The Thinker". (31 days in Paris in March-what the hell were WE thinking?)

Problem solved.

Arc de Triomphe from the Eiffel Tour.

Knowing a little French is never really enough when unusual situations arise. Recently, Ellen had gone to the market and forgotten to take her key so she had to ring the bell of the concierge, Mrs. Dovale, to get back into the building. Mr. Dovale let her in, and leading her into the courtyard, he keep saying something in French, pointing to our bedroom window and dropping his head to one side with his eyes closed. The most Ellen could understand was "dead window", which made no sense to either of us. All Ellen could do was apologize and keep saying that she didn't understand.

Yesterday, as I was taking a nap on the couch, the doorbell rang. I answered the bell and found a very nice neighbor from the floor above us who introduced herself and told me she had been asked to pass on a message. She was from Iowa and had been deputized by Mr. Dovale because of her fluency in both French and English. She explained that there was a dead pigeon on the ledge below our bedroom window, off to the right such that we could not see it without opening the window and leaning out. Mr. Dovale wanted us to either retrieve the pigeon and put it in the garbage or flick it off the ledge, down four stories, onto the courtyard so that he could dispose of it. Dumping it into the courtyard seemed a bit indelicate. I couldn't reach it by leaning out the window so Ellen got the Swiffer handle and I leaned out, pulled it closer along the ledge, then reached down and put it in a plastic bag, of course never touching the dead pigeon in the process. I double bagged it and put it out in the garbage can.

We then wrote a note on a piece of paper so we could tell the Dovale's all was well. "l'oiseau morte c'est fini", which I think means "the dead bird is over". I showed it to Mrs. Dovale and she was very thankful. -A.

On the Lam at La Défense

Mac person with early Mac.

La Défense business district.

View from La Grande Arche, the red object is an Alexander Calder stabile. "Sandy" lived in Roxbury, CT.

Note: If you are tired of hearing about our adventures with public transportation, please skip to the next paragraph. Go ahead, it's OK. . . . No? OK. So this morning we take the RER to La Defense. The RER is like the Metro but faster because it has fewer stops. To exit the station we go up two floors, by escalator, head to the exit turnstiles only to find out that our monthly passes don't work. We go back down two levels, ask questions at the newsstand. Language difficulties, confusion, etc. Bottom line: we can not exit the station. We can ask the people at the info counter but we can't get to the info counter because it's beyond the turnstiles. Interesting. As we're considering getting on the next train back, which is all we can do, we see people coming in through the special side doors for people with strollers, luggage, etc. So we darted through before the doors shut. Luckily the three soldiers with automatic weapons that were patrolling the station missed our little maneuver. A side note: earlier, at a different station, as I stood checking my notes on which train we wanted, a nice young Frenchman stopped and made sure we could find our train. So much for the anti-American stereotype.

Optional start point -- La Défense a.k.a. "Le petit Manhattan", is the skyscraper area of Paris. The most notable landmark is La Grande Arche (picture a squared-off arch with no curves). We took the elevator to the top where they had an exhibit of computers throughout history. Andy and I got to relive our chiphead days.

Yesterday I was on the DL with a cold so Andy went to the Picasso Museum by himself. When we're not out riding on buses, we read, and read. TV only has a few news channels, but on Saturday and Sunday nights, they have Jay Leno! Jay is like our USO show. Comedy, music, audience participation -- I half expect to see Ann Margaret shimmying around in tight Army fatigues. They run two current shows, back to back with only two commercial breaks. When he does those newspaper headlines with the ridiculous typos I just die laughing. Now I know why the troops found Bob Hope so funny. They loved Bob just like we love Jay.

Happy spring everyone. -E.

Travelogue Update -- Just Photos

Detail from a Raul Dufy painting at the City Museum of Moden Art. They claim it is the largest painting in the world. I'm a Dufy fan, so we had to check it out.
Taken from a boat ride along a canel. One of those C-list things you do when you have the time. Although it's not true here, most of the surrounding buildings are contemporary, a nice change from the inner city. We lost count of the number of locks we passed through.

Orsay Museum, housed in a converted train station -- a beautiful building with mostly impressionism. My favorite Paris museum.

Paris Vignettes

One of the best things about any trip is the little moments when you really love being in a foreign place and you just enjoy the moment. Here are a few that come to mind--

§ Entering the subway my magnetic card works and Andy's doesn't. So now we're on different sides of the turnstiles. A passerby takes Andy's card, and using a kleenex, attempts to clean the magnetic strip. No luck. Next a woman who is with her family comes over and motions to Andy that they will both go through together, on her card, but they must be quick, and stay very close together. Victory! "Charlie on the MTA" disaster averted.

§ Shopping on RooMoo on Sunday morning while being entertained by two American jazz musicians performing "It Must Be Love"; a five-piece band, complete with a tuba player; and a French trio (with accordion, of course) playing traditional French music while some couples dance and people sing along following the printed lyrics that are passed out to the gathered crowd.

§ Spotting a Bassett Hound on RooMoo!

§ In a park in the middle of Paris, seeing a great blue heron and being reminded of last March in Florida.

§ Hearing some commotion in the boulevard and stepping onto the balcony to see hundreds (400? 500?) of inline skaters rolling down the street with a police escort. Does this happen every Friday night? It's clearly well organized. As the light turns red, they back up like a river behind a dam until the floodgates open and they flow down the to the Seine.

§ The novelty of having so many things available within a block or two -- patisseries, great Vietnamese takeout, pharmacies, small markets, wine shops, cafés, newsstands, crepe stands, fresh produce, a jazz club, and right next door, a shop selling cheesy lingerie and baby clothes (I guess one leads to the other).

§ Walking down to the Seine after dinner and just lingering on the bridge, looking at the lights and remembering why we came here.

The Longest Day

Invasion landing point at Pointe du Hoc.

The American cemetery. The beach is below in the distance.

A bombed out bunker.

Yesterday we took an all day (and part of the evening) bus trip to Normandy. The whole tourist bit -- the two-story tour bus with over-sized windows, even in the ceiling, in case you want to bird watch perhaps. The tour guide was French but the tour was in English only, thank heavens. She talked almost the whole time, 7 am 'til 9 pm. I napped a lot. The first stop was the Memorial museum in Caen, which was packed with school kids, but after that we went out to the beaches and saw bunkers and the cliffs at Omaha beach, plus a few other stops. The American cemetery was very impressive and beautifully maintained. I enjoyed seeing the countryside which is mostly flat with green farm fields, cows, sheep and stone farm houses (refer to Bourne Identity, farm house where he shoots the other agent in the field).

Today the country had a general strike, but the buses were running so it didn't effect us. The students did march past our apartment but that's become the norm. Worked on our face tans while reading in the park and added two more churches to our impromptu tour of churches -- we spot a church and stop in and take a look. No churches have pews. They all have rigid little straight-back chairs with cane seats. That plus the chill must keep the faithful wide awake.

My godson wants a T-shirt that says something in French but so far our search has only turned up T-shirts with English on them. "I love Paris" won't due for a teenage boy. The search continues. -E.

Military History vs. Shopping

Today we went our separate ways. (But we're still married! -E) I went to tour the Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb while Ellen went shopping. I wonder why she didn't want to see Napoleon' Tomb. It was very interesting and the Army Museum went on and on and on. Plenty of displays of guns, uniforms, knives, hand grenades and bombs. Not to mention short films of WWI and WWII action. Also paintings of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Did you know that Hitler only visited Paris once, in 1940, for 3 hours (and that was before double-decker tour buses -E). In the afernoon we again went to Luxembourg Gardens for the sun, fresh air and people watching. It really is a lovely park, though not too much in bloom yet. -A.

Springtime in Paris

Sunday in the park with everyone.

Bridge over the Seine.

Today, five or six days before the official beginning, spring arrived, and on a Sunday. It seemed that the entire population of Paris took to the streets, bridges and parks today. After two weeks of frequently damp and cloudy weather, it was such a treat. We strolled along the banks of the Seine, listened to street musicians, had coffee outdoors at a cafe and walked for four hours. After a mid-day R&R session we went to Luxembourg Gardens. There were so many people there! After a bit of scouting around, Andy snagged two of the metal chairs that are scattered all over the park. We read our books and did some people watching. Fewer scarves today, but black coats still prevail. The French actually do wear sneakers but only Converse All Stars. Little girls never wear pants, only skirts, and black opaque or lace tights are still in style with women of all ages.

For dinner we picked-up Lebanese takeout. Different. Luckily a customer there spoke English and she basically picked out everything for us. (Claire, we didn't have a copy of your email -- could have used it).

We also went to the Institute of the Arab World. Don't ask. It's a long story.

Should be sunny tomorrow but we have to pace our selves as we prepare for "The Longest Day". More on that later. -E.

Getting out of town

French country architecture in Chartres

Chartres town square with Bellagio-style fountain show and carousel. Carousels are common in town squares.

These two kids preferred the WWII tank to the pretty ponies.

The Bistro/Tea Room where we had lunch.

Today we took a train trip to Chartres to see the cathedral. We got our tickets at Gare Montparnasse and rode the upper deck seats through the countryside. Nobody collected our tickets in either direction. I guess France is mostly on the honor system. We never saw a conductor in either direction. We took a tour of the cathedral given by an Englishman named Malcolm Miller (I kept thinking of him as Marvin Miller, former president of the baseball union) who has spent his life in Chartres studying all aspects of the cathedral. It was fascinating to hear about all the religious symbolism incorporated into the stained glass windows, some of which are originals dating from the late 12th century. Inside the cathedral it was so cold we almost passed out, although it was sunny and pleasant outside. No central heating for them. There was a labyrinth on the floor of the nave, and one outside in the garden. Restoration work in was progress, cleaning etc. so you had to look beyond the extensive scaffolding.

Later, back in town, we went to a Tibetan restaurant for dinner. Ellen had Marmot(?) for dinner which we at first thought was a dish made with cooked marmots. But it turned out to be a chicken dish. At least it tasted like chicken. -A&E

Japanorama!

In Luxembourg Gardens

Boulevard St. Michel from our balcony

This a.m. we took a walk down a side street off Blvd. San Michel just to see where it went. Turns out we were in the Japanese restaurant district of Paris. There must have been 10 of them on Rue Monsieur le Prince. My favorite was Japanorama; (in fact, there were two Japanoramas on the same street). We noticed a bookstore selling used books in English, went in and bought a few. Paris has more bookstores and pharmacies than you would think possible. Parisians must read constantly and take a lot of medications. This street also has a Moroccan and a Lebanese restaurant, plus those little neighborhood markets with the produce out front on the sidewalk that are found on every street. We bought a sandwich from a street vendor which was delicious. The bread here is great. After lunch we took a walk through Luxembourg Gardens continuing through R. Cavelier De-La-Salle Garden and Marco Polo Garden. We then explored the streets on the opposite side of Luxembourg Gardens, finding yet another tasty bakery. At least we walk, not drive to the bakeries. That must count for something. -A.

churches+museums+buses=daily life

Pantheon with Foucault's pendulum

The building across the street from us

Also pastry, cafes and lots of walking. Since Sunday we've been to the Sacre Coeur Basilica and St. Etienne church, the Orangerie Museum which features impressionism, the Pantheon which is right around the corner and has a series of large canvases and Foucault's pendulum; plus we've spent a lot of time riding on buses with occasional Metro rides thrown in. Was that a run on sentence? I guess that's the travelogue side of things.

The everyday living side of things includes daily food shopping, getting brave enough to try the oven (NO type at all, just icons, like an Ikea instruction sheet), fighting with the combo washer/dryer which I swear will run for 3 hours and produce wet clothes, and marveling at the amount of police activity. I think when a call comes in they just decide that everyone gets to respond. There are no patrol cars. There are white vans that look like a cross between a Humvee and a panel truck and they all ride around in convoys from 3 to 15 vans or more. Nobody pays any attention.

Yesterday we went to Bon Marché, a Nordstroms-type store. Really beautiful. The lingerie department was endless. The home furnishings made me want to redo my house. They also have a Whole Foods-type market, which has sections, by country, for imported items. What do you think they would import from the US? Hershey syrup, marshmallow fluff, microwave popcorn and Ocean Spray cranberry jelly! That's sad.

The weather is getting warmer, but scarfs haven't disappeared. The other day there was a toddler in a stroller looking quite charming in his neatly tied, powder blue scarf, having a peaceful nap. -E.

Photos of Our Apartment Building

The stairs looking down fron the 6th floor, right out of the Bourne Identity. Actually, I half expect to find a dead body everytime the elevator doors slowly open. I watch too many movies.

Entrance to the elevator which is about 22 inches deep and 33 inches wide, very intimate. I road it with the postman. We felt such a connection to each other.

Andy on our little balcony

Our apartment building

Sunday at the Museum

On Sunday, we decided to go to a museum of the WWII occupation of Paris by the Germans, located above the Montparnasse railroad station. We found the correct bus stop and waited for 12 minutes. After getting on the bus, we decided that it was headed in the wrong direction. It was cold, so we went for a ride anyway to the other side of town. We then came back and continued to our destination. The museum was very nice with a film of the Paris Occupation years. My favorite part was a fork with Adolph Hitler's initials on it. We then went back to Rue Mouffetard for some food shopping. We now refer to this street as "Rue Moo" and to Boulevard St. Michel as "B.M." We get 5 English language tv stations. They talk about soccer continually. They give the weather for the entire globe, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North and South America. Does rain in Indonesia really effect my day in Paris? -A.
My favorite part of the museum was the benches. But seriously, the film was a series of images that encircled the seating for about 270 degrees, so you're wrapped in the experience. It was well done. I call the avenue Boul-Meesh, by the way. -E.

The Definition of Vacation

Above, Carnavalet Museum

Below, Andy and I in the mirrors at the Montparnasse Tower

Last night, trying to fall asleep, I realized that the true definition of vacation is sleeping in strange beds. It's the one thing that all trips have in common, isn't it?

Yesterday we went to the 56-story Montparnasse Tower. As I've heard said of the Harkness Tower in New Haven, it's said that the best thing about being in the Montparnasse tower is that you can't see. But the best thing, is of course, the view. Studying books, photos, maps, doesn't come close to seeing a city from high above. Not only is the Eiffel Tower very tall and graceful, but the Champs de Mars (the park at it base) is very expansive. Les Invalides (built as a veterans hospital, has Napoleon's Tomb), is a lesser known landmark, but is the next most striking from that height. The streets are in anything but a grid -- it's all diagonals and angles coming in to circles. Strangely, it was cold and windy on the street, but not on the 59th floor open terrace on top of the building. I have no explanation.

Today we went to the Marais, a neighboorhood on the right bank (with no bus mishaps!). City museums are free, so we checked out the Carnavalet Museum. Quite nice. Had trouble finding the exit though. I was beginning to feel like I was in Ikea, at that point when you've had enough but you can't seem to find the checkouts.

Strolled Luxembourg Gardens in the afternoon. The forsythia is in bloom. Pretty cool. There were many young families and young couples in their matching black, tailored, three-quarter-length coats, walking arm-in-arm.

Remembered that tomorrow is Sunday and stocked up on breakfast pastry for two days, as the bakeries are closed on Sundays. Heaven forbid that we should be forced to eat something healthy for breakfast. -E.

In Search of Jim Morrison

Went to Pere LaChaise Cemetery today. It's where tourists go. Picked out what we thought was the quickest route. Ended up changing trains in a very large underground station. I can't even guess how many turns we took,tunnels we walked through, stairs we climbed, and escalators and people-movers we rode. By the time we got to the cemetery we were ready for a long rest. We did find Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Jim Morrison and Molier. The monuments are large and elaborate.

There was a lot of police activity (about 30 vehicles and a major traffic jam) near our apartment (no one tell my mother). We are right near the Sorbonne and the students are protesting some new policies. As our waitress in the cafe said "The students are on strike. The French love their strikes. In Paris, there's always a protest". One reason may be that the students, chanting, with hands joined to form a long chain, seemed to be having quite a good time.

After today's Metro adventures I found a website that is the Mapquest of public transportation. Enter your starting and ending point, specify bus or Metro, shortest route or fewest connections, and it tells you what to do. Why isn't that in the guidebook? We have no printer so I photograph instructions right from the screen.

A Guest Blogger!

Rue Mouffetard

Part of the atmosphere is, of course, the sounds of the city. Besides the hum of the traffic, which isn't a problem since the windows are closed, there are the occasional sirens (think Jason Bourne, Paris car and motor bike chase scenes), the underground rail and a piano. The rail (the RER) appears to run right under our building, but it's not a 3rd Avenue El situation, with knickknacks falling off the shelf. It's a gentle rumble that can only be heard in the quiet of the night. The piano music comes from one of the apartments, each day in the late afternoon. We really enjoy it. Haven't you seen that in French movies? For some reason I picture a young woman in her twenties who's living a bohemian lifestyle on the Boulevard Saint Michel. It's probably a twelve year old boy who hates to practice. -E.

And now a few words fron Andy . . .

Weather today (3.4.09) is rainy and cold. Many raincoats and umbrellas out and about. People still walking their dogs in the park despite the rain. We found the local patisserie and everything in it looks great. We are headed out for a stroll in the rain. Mon Dieu, this is beginning to sound like a Twitter! -A.

Walked over to Saint Sulpice, a Church mentioned in the Da Vinci code. It's a massive stone structure where the panhandlers outnumbered the tourists. When I told one of the them (a panhandlers) that we didn't speak French, hoping to discourage him, he simply switched to quite good English. There are many large frescoes that are so darkened and in need of restoration that at first we didn't even notice them. Nice shops in the area including a large GAP. What a surprise. -E.

We [heart] Rue Mouffetard

(I don't know the PC key combination for a heart so please bear with me.)

After just a few days of eating every meal out we were ready to stock the pantry. On the advice of our leasing agent, Thierry (short, slight, very short hair, stylish clothes and glasses, wears scarf, travels by motorcycle -- the very model of a modern busy Frenchman), we walked a few blocks to Rue Mouffetard. The street probably hasn't changed in 100 years if you look past the Starbucks and electronic gadget shops. There is a wonderful choice of shops each with their own speciality, be it cheese, produce, pastries, bread, fish, cooked chickens, meats, sweets, etc. Mixed in are pharmacies, boutiques, bookstores, cafes and restaurants. All this with a intimate neighborhood feeling. We strolled around and just took it in. The sun was out, the shopkeepers were friendly and we bought as much as we could lug back.

For lunch we split a crepe from the crepe stand a few doors down from where we are staying. The crepe rounds are pre-made. They add whatever you want (we had cheese and mushrooms) and then cook on a small grill. Fast, inexpensive and tasty.

A word about buses and the Metro. At every stop, an LED display tells you how long until the next bus or subway arrives. And it's accurate. I like that!

Heard about the storm in the Northeast. Hope everyone weathered it without too many problems. -E.

Settling In

It wasn't until about 3 hours into the flight that I realized that I'm too old to fly coach on longer flights. The leg room has shrunk. My legs have not grown. We survived.

We got in at 11 am local time and splurged on a cab to the apartment. (I should explain now that the keyboard layout is different in France so expect some q's for a's.)

The apartment is as expected based on the website photos, although the bed is not a queen and the bedroom is very small. It is however a classic French apartment with high ceilings, a herringbone hardwood floor and floor to ceiling windows. From one we can see the back courtyard and from the other we can see Luxembourg Gardens that are across the street and the Eiffel Tour in the distance -- very nice at night when the lights are on.

Electronics do make life easier but not in a foreign country. The stove, the cooktop, the microwave and the combo washer/dryer are all in French or just have cryptic little icons. So, when we get back and all our clothes are too tight we'll blame it on the dryer, not the French food. Sounds good, eh? Then there's also the TV, DVD player, CD player and the cable box -- each with it's own remote.

Today was devoted to public transportation orientation. It went pretty well. We bought our 30-day metro/bus passes and took the Metro, which is pretty easy, especially when you have no set destination. So OK, we just went somewhere that we could find. We also tried the buses and got a bit off course. When you don't know the streets, it's hard to tell when you're at your stop. People are helpful when we ask for directions although we can't follow much too of what they're saying. But hey, we did manage to go to Notre Dame and stroll a bit of the Champs Elysées (please note that I found that accent mark).

The weather was nice but I could only tell you the temp in Celcius. -E.