pianomd

The weather has been wonderful but not all our body parts have been as agreeable. First let me go back a couple of years when my cousins were here and rented a car. They were asked for their names and that’s about it. I think the rental company took a look at my cousin’s driver’s license but not much more. The process was so easy that it was the topic of conversation for several days. Well- today I had a similar experience. I went to the local pharmacy where I have gone periodically over the years. The pharmacist knows me – sort of. He speaks excellent English. I wanted to buy an anti-inflammatory ointment and to inquire about where I could find a wheelchair for George who is having difficulty walking. He showed me one he had tucked into a corner and said I could rent it. Oh- great! And how much would that be? 60 euros a week? No- 16 euros a week. Well that was certainly doable I told him. He asked me for my name and telephone number. I started to get my credit card out- he said”Not now. You pay when you return it “. I asked about a deposit – he said it wasn’t needed. My ID? That wasn’t needed either. Wow! I walked out with the wheelchair and promised to bring it back in two weeks. He waved. Just as with the car rental- this is a level of trust with which we are no longer familiar.

Since so many of you write and tell me you love the photos of the food we are enjoying I’ll be sure to send more (means I have to eat more,too)

We went to brunch yesterday at Les Editeurs- a very popular bistro with foreigners, especially. The brunch was interesting- served in small dishes on a big plate which barely fit on the table. Despite it being a bit awkward, we had a very nice time. This was my first croissant since we’ve been here and it was delicious

Dinner at our local bistro the other night was fun. George took my picture. He thought it was pretty funny.

Yesterday after our brunch we went to an open house for a Hilton 5 star hotel opening up a few blocks from us. It has taken 5 years to construct. Below are some of the rooms we were shown and the spectacular roof top terrace.

The terrace restaurant and bar are elegant with fantastic views capturing all of Paris’ main iconic sights- including the Eiffel Tower, Nore Dame, Le Sacre Coeur, Les Invalides and the Pantheon.

In the way out, we skipped the champagne and nibbles since we had just had lunch, but accept s these cushy slippers which I immediately made use of upon arriving back home.

We have been here for 10 days and just getting over jet lag and the fatigue from traveling. that’s what aging does- everything takes longer.

We have been out a bit- lunch with friends and enjoying the mild spring weather. We’ve had sunny pleasingly cool days which make being outdoors extremely pleasant.

The usual routine of going to museum exhibitions will be curtailed this time though we are schedule for one next week. (More about that next week)

We spent a little time in the St. Germaine area yesterday which was packed with people. I couldn’t tell if this was a mostly tourist crowd or not but it seemed most were not.

We had lunch in a favorite fish restaurant- Georgettes- on rue de Seine. It’s a fun place where the food is excellent, the service is friendly, and the atmosphere convivial.

And here is another kind of dessert which I love- café gourmand. This is a little espresso (on the right) and three samples of this restaurants desserts- chocolate mouse, rice pudding with caramel sauce, and custard with cassis sauce. Yum!!

Our last week is here already. We all know it but I have to say it- how time flies!

Last night we had planned to have dinner with our neighbors at 7:30, but we had not made a reservation any where. About 6:30 pm we started texting back and forth about where we should go. Our friends were still at work while we were having a very lazy day at home. Back and forth- how about this one or that one? And finally Caroline suggested Localino- an Italian restaurant in the 6th. She called them and texted back to us—.”Quick- get in a taxi- they have a table for us until 9.00pm. We will meet you there. “. She sent the address. Roland rode his bike from work – Caroline grabbed a taxi from her place of work and we called an Uber. Within 20 minutes we were all at the restaurant -though I couldn’t find it first thinking the wine bar next door was the place – but how could it be. It got sorted out and we settled into a corner table in a tiny restaurant that wasn’t more than a hole in the wall. But OMG!!!!what a meal we had!

George and I had the best ravioli we’ve ever eaten – homemade pasta stuffed with spinach in a butter sauce. The chef took this simple dish to a new height.

It was so good that we made reservations for the following Monday- our last night- to sit at the bar and have their tasting menu.

I should back track a few days to the weekend when good friends visited for the weekend. As it turned out the annual event “Le Weekend L’Est” which celebrates a different city each year was celebrating Yerevan. What a coincidence—. Lots of events highlighting Armenian artists were scheduled all over Paris. We got to two concerts at the church St. Germaine des Prés – full house both nights despite freezing temperatures and even snow!!

Walking around the neighborhood we came across a place where ouds- the Middle Eastern instrument is made. Very unusual to see this here. Across the street is a shop where shoes are made to order ( no photo)

Thanksgiving was upon us and despite my tiny oven I once again cooked a turkey. it was delicious! Our neighbors joined us as well as the granddaughter of US friends who is studying in Paris.

The next night we had our semi-annual. Featuring of friends. The Seven of us get together when we are in Paris. They surprised me with an early birthday celebration.

See you all in a couple of months if health holds up and circumstances permit. Happy holidays and happy New Year. Love, Carolann

A few more photos below—

I made cranberry sauce with organic cranberries from Orleans which I had brought with me.

…still- paris is Paris despite the very gloomy weather. A sunny day is predicted for tomorrow— we shall see. I’m going to go back in time and catch up with a few things I haven’t mentioned before. Photos will tell the story—-

When Jeanne was here we had our first lunch at our all time favorite restaurant. It is our favorite because it is reliable, service is always friendly and the soufflés are the best.

Above us George preparing to eat his pistachio soufflé topped with chocolate sauce. Unbelievably delicious.

A word about canes. Priority! A person with a cane receives priority along with whoever is with them. That means we don’t wait on any lines even for a taxi at a train station. The only place I’ve not been given preference is at the outdoor market where lines in front of certain vendors can be very long. Everyone must wait their turn- maybe that is because there are a lot of old ladies with white hair with canes out food shopping.

We went to the Marmottan – a museum housed in an old mansion which has the largest collection of Monets. What a delight- but some of the paintings I as hoping to see weren’t on exhibit.

And to add to our cultural experiences we attended a string quartet recital in our building hosted by a wonderful couple who do this to support the arts.

Beethoven and Mozart were performed for a very appreciative audience.

See you in a few days. I’ve stopped reading the US news. Maybe you have too. C

So much has happened since I last wrote. Our friend Jeanne came for a visit and together we went to Lyon. Since a picture is worth a thousand words – here goes.

Lyon is two hours by train from Paris. Since we had so little time and since walking any distance is a challenge for George and me we took tours. We did a dinner cruise on one of the two rivers that go through Lyon – it was nice but nothing I’d recommend. The next day we had a private driver – English speaking- who gave a great tour of the city including some of the areas out of the downtown. First we drove up winding roads through Lyon to the cathedral Notre Dame.

From here we made our way winding through narrow roads to the old silk production area of the city. The first place we stopped was one of hundreds of passages that connect streets passing between apartment buildings. There are more than 600 such passages in the city. This one below is in the old silk manufacturing area and was used by striking workers who fought to get better living conditions. These workers are credited with start of social security benefits in France.

As part of a tribute to Lyon’s silk production history (which is no more) these murals were painted depicting the life of a silk worker. When you look at these remember that everything you see is a painting or frescoe.

In the evening we went on a food tour walking through the old city. First we went to a cheese shop, next a charcuterie, and then a bouchon- the famous family eateries of Lyon

We arrived in Paris a few. Days ago and have been mostly asleep since then. The older we get the harder jet lag seems to hit us. Nonetheless we’ve managed to settle. All seemed ok until we discovered that our tv wasn’t working. Well it was partly working as we could get Apple TV but not any of our cable channels. Panic set in as we absolutely need to watch election reporting over the next few days. After a lot of head scratching trying to figure out what to do I went on line and checked out the biggest appliance store in our area- Darty’s. I searched for TVs and the first one that came up I liked and bought it especially when I saw that delivery was included. After the next few steps making the purchase – to my absolute delight – there was an option to have the tv delivered the very next morning. The most helpful delivery man showed up mid morning and set up the TV. CNN international to the rescue!

These first few days have been occupied with stocking up on staples and going, of course, to the market and local patisserie. I actually had to stand in line to get my two cereal baguettes.

Standing in line wasn’t so bad – waiting in front of the pastry window was.

Several months ago I saw that our favorite choreography’s works were being performed on Nov 3 at the Palais Garnier. Excited because we would be in Paris- I immediately went on line and bought two tickets. I’m always worried that I won’t be able to download the tickets properly or find them on my phone when I need them. Fortunately, it worked out well. We took an Uber and got there early enough to avoid long lines at security or the ticket takers. My phone worked perfectly and we were seated with 20 minutes to go. You can see we were quite early. The performance was sold out.

The performance made us speechless. Thus- I have no words to describe how beautiful the dancing was.

Now the Garnier is really built like a palace wits big winding staircases everywhere. But I knew there was an elevator which we took upon arrival but after walking up a few flights. What I didn’t know is that there is a secret side entrance with direct access to the performance hall. We made the discovery when an usher – seeing our canes— pointed us down the corridor and told us to wait there with two other people also using canes. After a few minutes a door opened and another usher came out and escorted us into a beautiful elevator covered in red velvet. We were let off on street level where a guard escorted us out to the street through the massive gates that surround the Garnier. Who knew?

Tomorrow is travel day and so today will be spent tidying up – make up the bed with clean sheets ready for the next trip and clean out the refrigerator. We are packed already and having just finished breakfast, with my feet up, I thought to send out my last post from this trip.

Inside view of this complicated structure by architect Frank Gehry.

We visited the Louis Vuitton Foundation museum to see Ellsworth Kelly and Henri Matisse. The Matisse was a small exhibit concentrating on his Red Room period.

Parisupdate.com has a nice write-up on the exhibit which I’m trying to link here but haven’t figured out how to do. (I’m sure a quick search will bring it up. )

Can’t get more abstract than Kelly – color and shapes.

That exhibit was combined with Matisse. The Red Room painting is of interest because Matisse, after painting it using objects of he had created, left it and then months later painted over the entire painting with red leaving the objects floating in space. In this exhibit, for the first time, the curators brought together the original objects in the Red Room canvas .

Above and below are close ups showing the detail of the overpainting outlining the original painting. Only recently was this technique Matisse employed here discovered.

Mori Yashida is a Japanese pastry chef here in Paris whom I’ve mentioned before. Her only patisserie in the whole world is a few blocks from us. Lines form out the door around holidays and most Sundays. I bought some goodies to take to a friends the other evening. Here is a sampling—-

Almost next store is another bakery with the more usual pastries for dessert. (sorry for the glare.)

On the way from our dinner on the other side of Paris I managed these two photos out the taxi window.

I just came back in from the market and wanted to shared some of the sights with you. Walking down the aisles the aroma of flowers and sweet strawberries permeated the atmosphere. I’d never quite experienced it that way making shopping an experience that tickled me the senses.

Can you smell the flowers? I posted photos of the fish, meats and cheeses stalls before.

Thank you to all of you who have dropped me notes – it is encouraging and keeps me going. I’ll have one or possibly two more posts before we leave.

It is hard to believe that our departure date is approaching. Before we leave I wanted to fill you in on a couple of things we’ve done that haven’t made it into my ramblings until now. A few days ago we headed over to one of our favorite museums- Musee d’Art Moderne – which is a free museum except there is a fee to see special exhibits. There are two special rooms that if you come to Paris you should see- one is the massive mural painted by Duffey called the history of electricity. The other are the Dancers- the original studies by Matisse which he used for his installation at the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia. We came, however to see an exhibit of a French artist we’d never heard of – Jean Hélion- who painted in the 1920s-50s. He was in the French army, captured and held prisoner by the Nazis for two years until he escaped in 1943. His work encompasses a wide variety of techniques – some of which we liked a lot. He could never quite find his place in the art world which I think was a source of frustration. His wife was Peggy Gugenheim’s daughter.

We had lunch one day at a very French and popular restaurant, Le Petit Lutitia, on rue Sèvres. The bar tender, with a mustache to match his bow tie gave us some hearty smiles. he could have been a model for anyone of French painters

My main course was a delicious filet of dorade- a white fish we don’t have on the Cape.

Another blog will follow soon.

Before I tell you about our trip to Bordeaux there are a few things I want to mention which have taken our time and energy. First there has been a leak from upstairs into our kitchen causing warping of two cabinets and wet walls. A few days ago the plumbers came, located and fixed the problem. Insurance will cover the damages but getting the work done is another problem. Next- our electricity kept popping off for seemingly no reason. Online I found emergency electrical services. I called. Within two hours an electrician was here, identified a very serious problem with old breakers that were burning – requiring replacement of most of our breakers. With the help of our neighbor managed to sort it out, approved, the estimate on the spot, paid by card and within two hours another electrician came and made all of the necessary repairs. We are greatly relieved. Thus- our time has been taken up with a lot of “housekeeping “ issues.

Nancy came for a week and together we went to Bordeaux, two hours southwest of Paris by high-speed train. What a fabulous city with wide boulevards, great architecture, good food and wine. The main purpose of our trip was to visit the prehistoric caves in the region -Lescaux and Rouffignac.

Because of damage caused by people the caves of Lescaux were closed to the public and over several years replicated. – exactly- in a close by site. That’s what we visited. It was amazing.

The first 10 days in May are almost all holiday days in France so everywhere we went was crowded. It was nice to see so many families out and about with their kids- touring and having a great time.