Paris — more of April 2017

I probably should say a word or two about transport in this city. In 10 years we’ve only taken a cab twice (not including airport trips) and once with Uber.   Public transportation is so good that there is no reason to use taxis (which are so bad unlike those in London). We have heard, though, that with the competition from Uber an effort has been made to improve service but we still don’t use them.

We travel by bus unless we are in a big rush to get some place. Now, those of you who have been to Paris are probably more familiar with the metro, which is fast and reliable and of course, avoids above ground traffic. But buses are wonderful. After a bit of stumbling around getting buses figured out, we almost never venture underground. First, we learned how to use the buses that run through our neighborhood. Once mastering that, it is easy to find ones that link to these that we can transfer to and from.

What is so interesting, too, is that there are two distinct populations that travel by bus vs. metro… The metro is for the young who are in a rush, with their earphones plugged in at all time, and the bus is for us old folks who have the leisure to put up with traffic and like to look all around while traversing the city.

But let it not be misunderstood – a bus ride in Paris is not for the faint of heart. These bus drivers give no quarter – ripping down the narrowest of streets, leaving inches on each side between them and parked cars. And, as was the case yesterday, leaving me breathless as a car and a cyclist were just inches away as the bus made a left turn. Wow! Amazing. No one seemed to notice but I was stiff up in my seat trying to prevent a potential accident through telepathy.   Buses are good place to learn French. I sit quietly hoping that the people behind me will carry on about something or other so that I can practice my listening skills. It would be interesting to know if what I understood was what they were really speaking about!

By the way there are two important little guides everyone in Paris must have:Paris Pratique (which has maps of the arrondisements and keys to every street), and Le Bus Parieien (all 109 lines with their routes, stops, and links to transfers). Don’t leave home without these!

Sometimes George and I have a good laugh at ourselves when we are sitting at a bus stop – like two old people—waiting for the bus. We look at each other and have a good chuckle… “So this is what it is like… “   At least we can make it to the bus stop.

Yesterday (April 26)

 We left the apartment again quite late and hope despite the predictions and the thtreatening clouds we would avoid the rain. We walked to the #70 bus headed once again to the Musee de Monnaie with the hope we would see the exhibit we couldn’t get into the other day.  As we got on I noted that this bus’ last stop was not the usual ‘Hotel de Ville’ (the city hall) but  ‘Seine – Buci’, which would leave us a few stops short of where we were going.  We decided it was actually good in that we’d have a chance to walk on of our favorite streets,  Rue de Seine.  It is a long narrow narrow lined with art galleries. It is always of interest – to just meander down looking in the windows and occasionally going into one of the galleries. One is always made to feel welcome and sometime if the artiist is a big name, there will be an impressive book prepared for the exhibiton. Not infrequently, we’ll be given the book – gratis. We never quite understand how these galleries survive with such enormous overhead costs.

Sometimes the art is ugly — can’t figure this one out at all.  Quite the contrast to the beautiful store window above which was across the street — all made of macarrons.

We reached the river – the book stalls closed (not sure why)– as the skies were threatening and made our way to the museum. The guard said something which I didn’t understand and which I thought meant ‘the museum is closed.’ I was horrified – “the exhibition est fermée? “ to which he replied, “Oh no madame, l’exhibition est overt mais la musée est fermée” The museum is under renovation but we could see the exhibit. Relief! We paid 5 euros each and entered. The first room was a magnificent Versaille-like room, with a balcony all around, a high painted ceiling, chandeliers, etc. etc. Beautiful to see but the art on the floor was disappointing – 1000 glass balls in a serpentine pattern. We werent’ sure what it meant. And from that point on the exhibition continued to disappoint. It was all about artists who decided to put their sculptures on the floor rather than making them vertical. Well – it didn’t get to us at all, even the 1000 red glass balls. We went through… searched for some meaning and eventually just left not feeling any reward for the art or the artists or for having made the trip twice to see this exhibit.

Fortunately our bus stop was on the corner – and the bus came just in time before a lightening storm started. At our stop, we shopped for dinner — frozen fish and veggies from Picards – the place all good French housewives shop – amazing stuff with a variety to wow you.

April 27, 2017

 Thursdays and Saturdays are market days – street market days – ‘le marche’… This is always a special event whether marveling at the variety of foods available, at the vendors themselves, and the customers, etc. we always seem to have a good time. Today, I bought lettuce from a stand that I hadn’t seen before. There was a long line – a sign that this is a good stand to buy from. I took a basket and filled it while holding my place. The line moved quickly and as soon as the woman saw me, (and I expected a gruff welcome) she said, ‘Good day, madame’ with a big smile. I greeted her back, gave her my basket, she asked if I wanted anything else, I said no – and then she asked if I had a bag – I indicated that I had a cart (which George was pushing). She was pleased, filled our cart,, I paid her and finished with a warm, “Bonne journée, madame” and we moved on. I was so taken by her smiles and jovial manner. She looked like someone from a farm in the countryside who was all about business. How wrong I was. Everyone today had smiles. It might have been because the market was empty. Thursdays are a light shopping day and it was very cold this morning. The market starts at about 8 a.m. and by 1 p.m. it is almost all dismantled with little sign that there was anything there just an hour ago.

There are two long rows of stalls selling everything from soup to nuts and then some.  It is a sight for feasting and hard to resist buying too much. 

Scallops are usually sold this way or out of the shell with the whole scallop, the orange part and all.

Have you ever seen these in a market?  

Buying lettuse from a friendly vendor…. she looked gruff but was so nice… c.

Tanslation is:  “Each of these baguettes is unique just like the hands that have made it. ”

Our day ended with an 8:30 pm dinner at a good friend’s home.  We left at 11 pm hoping to get an uber ride back, but interestingly there were none available.  We walked to the Garnier Opera, got the #8 metro to our line, #10 and were home in 1/2 hour.  Buses stop running by 10:30 p.m. unfortunately — the one big disadvantage to them.  Stay tuned…. Carolann