Le Marche des Enfants Rouges and the neighborhood

Decided to stay around here today and explore the neighborhood since it’s now cold and windy again – making me think yesterday was a figment of my imagination. Besides I had errands to do – my prescription sunglass lens fell out and had to be replaced but an optician over on Rue Bretagne put it back together again in seconds with no charge. Then to an ATM to acquire some more euros – miracle of miracles my Debit Card worked without a hitch and out came the bright, crisp, shiny Euros! (“Bright and shiny” is quite appropriate since they have a silver foil strip along one edge.) Then it was off to the Copy Shop to enlarge my Metro map, but alas, the proprietor was not in again today. When I was there the other day, he was on his way out to lunch with an “I have to eat Madame!” as he left. By the time I get this teeny tiny map (with a font of about 2) enlarged, I’ll be on my way home again.

Next I stopped by Le Marche des Enfants Rouges to buy some flowers and fruit. Le Marche des Enfants Rouges, literally the “Market of the Red Children”, is the oldest food market in Paris, built in 1615 under the rule of King Louis XIII. The name comes from a nearby 17th Century orphanage where the children wore red uniforms. It’s a compact indoor market that sells all types of produce, flowers, olives, wine, meat and fish. But many of the stands also sell fresh prepared foods from various cuisines including Greek, Asian, French, Chinois, and Mid-Eastern fare. There are cute wooden tables located throughout the market so people can devour their purchases immediately if they so choose. I picked up some fresh strawberries for breakfast and some white sweet-peas which will go well with my white candles, further enhancing my little habitat.

Then it was on to lunch at the Cafe Chanlot on rue Bretagne. Of course when I saw “cheeseburger and pomme frites” on the menu, I had to have that – along with a diet Coke of course. It was delicious, I must say, but I hope I’m walking enough to cover all those calories! I presumed correctly that the wait-persons spoke English. Seems there were many children present with their parents enjoying the American fare as a treat.

I took the long way home and made a stop at my neighborhood church, Église Sainte-Elisabeth. It’s located at 195 Rue de Temple, and was built around 1648. It’s very similar to other French churches in the area – some pews but mostly crude wicker chairs as the main seating arrangement. One can walk about and see the various side vestibules with statues and paintings, light a candle for someone near and dear, or of course pray. There was no one about today except what appeared to be 2 American tourists – oh, make that 3 if you count me but since I’m living here for a month, I now consider myself part of the community rather than un touriste.
au revoir

Shopping and the Musée d'Orsay

Today I awoke to sunny blue skies and a temperature of 74, so of course I immediately thought of shopping. I ate a quick breakfast and was off to Boulevard Haussmann to visit Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette – two of the best known and largest department stores in Paris. There are others now as well – such as the new BHV [a bit upscale from Target], H&M stores [same as in the US], and a fairly new C&A store which is described in Frommer’s Guidebook as the Dutch version of “Walmart”. A very wide range indeed. Surprisingly I just took in all the sites and didn’t purchase a thing, but window-shopping in Paris is better than in most places, and one need not make any purchases to enjoy the scenery. For instance, the beautiful balconies and dome ceiling in Galeries Lafayette are beautiful to look at and I wasn’t the only one there shooting pictures instead of shopping[see above].

Next it was lunch at Le Saint Amour café down the street, and then on to the Museé D’Orsay. I found out that one could save 2 Euros [or more than $2.60 with today’s exchange rate] if one showed up after 4:15 pm on Thursdays when the museum is open until 9 pm. After navigating yet more metros, I found the area and simply followed all the people to the museum. Luckily the line was not long and it took only 10 minutes to actually enter the museum and begin my tour. [I hear the line is around the block during the summer months]. At the far end of the great central hall [see photo above], there is an escalator to the 5th floor where the great Impressionist paintings are located – Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugin, Manet, and Renoir to name just a few. Since Van Gogh has always been a favorite of mine, I took a few photos of his work. It’s just amazing that one is so close to these priceless paintings that it's possible to just reach out and touch them, and yet everyone seems quite well behaved. We are even allowed to photograph them as long as we do not use a flash. Fortunately, the lighting in the museum is excellent, so not using a flash did not seem to have any affect on the photos. Some of the lower floors are dedicated to either a later era of painters, or special exhibits that come and go. The great Central Hall is devoted to a sculpture gallery. A few hours at the museum, and then 2 metros to home and dinner. All in all, a very good day!

A Day on the Left Bank

Pony-riding in the park!
After dilly-dallying a bit too long this morning, I was finally off on to my exploration of the Left Bank, specifically the St Germain-de-Prés area. But my first stop was lunch at a nearby restaurant in the area called Bread & Roses Patisserie and Café recommended by a good friend of mine. It was just as good as proclaimed and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch before starting my walking tour. After lunch I happened upon Le Jardin du Luxembourg which is the largest public park in the 6th arrondisement comprising 22.5 hectares (about 55 acres) of land. It’s actually the garden of the French Senate which is housed on the grounds in the Luxembourg Palace. Since this was not on my “to do” list for this day, I didn’t spend a lot of time here, but did take a short video of the darling little French children enjoying the sunny afternoon riding ponies. Somehow I just couldn’t resist those adorable little faces!

Next it was off for a walk down Rue Bonaparte to see the dwelling of the author Diane Johnson. As I started off I realized that I was at 96 Rue Bonaparte and Ms Johnson resides in number 5, so I stopped at Café Le Bonaparte for a quick espresso and to admire the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés across the street. The Abbey de Saint Germain was founded in the 6th century around 511, and was later almost destroyed by fire in 1794. But the church remains today as the Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I took a picture of the beautiful steeple from my table at the café.

I was then on my way down Rue Bonaparte with it’s many interesting shops and various other establishments until I finally came to 5 Rue Bonaparte and the Johnson residence. A sign on the brick wall near the gate states that Edouard Manet was born and lived here from 1832-1883. Per the book, Into a Paris Quartier, this street has a rich and lively history which includes queens, kings and their various offspring. It's a very ancient building but a picture of the author's apartment in her book looks absolutely charming.

By then I had reached the Seine and crossed over the Pont des Art which links the L'Académie Française on the Left Bank, and the Palais du Louvre on the Right. I walked along the quay a bit and came to the Pont Neuf, which is the oldest standing bridge across the River Seine in Paris. Construction was begun in 1578 by King Henri III, and was completed under the reign of King Henri IV in 1607. It boggles the mind as you walk the streets here and realize that there is nothing in the United States to compare to the long, interesting history of France.

By this time I was tired of walking and ready for dinner so I took the metro back to 5 Cité Dupetit Thouars where I now reside and snuggled in for the night!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 2100 Paris time

Well, just as I thought, by the time I arrived yesterday morning I was way too tired to write anything coherent in a blog! The trip started out great – the flight to Chicago arrived 45 minutes early, so I spent 4 hours relaxing in the United Airlines Red Carpet Room before leaving on the flight to Paris. Then the flight to Paris arrived 1 hour early – unheard of! As many hours as I’ve flown, both as a passenger and a stewardess [or more politically correct these days: “flight attendant”], I have never had a flight to anywhere arrive an hour early.

However, that was where the good luck stopped – or should I say was temporarily halted. No problem getting through Customs, but my bag was the very last bag off the plane. Then I called the Paris-Shuttle which was to take me into the city from CDG Airport, and the woman said to meet the shuttle in 15 minutes at Exit 12 on the Departure level. Well, let me tell you, finding “exit 12” was quite the experience. My French is not the best, and it seemed no one in the airport that day spoke any English. So I went down to departures and was given at least 4 different directions as to where Exit 12 might be found. Someone said Gate 12, but no, it was really at Gate 2. Trying to find it reminded me of being on the Great Race. (Actually I think I might do quite well on that show after the last 2 days.) Needless to say by the time I found the exit, two Paris-Shuttle vans had gone by so I needed to call for yet another. While waiting I called Joe. Joe was to meet me at my apartment and give me the keys and explain how everything worked. Well, it seems the phone number I had for Joe was wrong. But all was not lost, the Paris-Shuttle driver whipped out his own cell phone and called Joe for me. How was I to know that my ATT phone already knew it was in France and I didn’t need to dial the international prefix as I had been told? Anyway, finally got into Paris, the shuttle driver left me off at the end of my street (because it’s too narrow for even an ox-cart), and I trudged down the street with a huge (47-lb) suitcase and a smaller roll-away duffle bag along with my laptop. By the time I came to the gate and “courtyard” of my apartment building, I was very discouraged. It would have looked pretty much like a slum in any neighborhood in America, but of course this was Paris so it just looked “quaint”. I punched in the gate code I had been given and entered the door of the apartment house. Then, with some misgivings as I viewed the rickety, dirt-stained staircase, and wondering what in the heck had prompted me to come to Paris for a month, I started up the stairs and began my Paris adventure.

Joe did indeed meet me at the door and helped me into the “lift” with my bags. That was more of a feat that it sounds -- the elevator is only big enough for about two midgets, so getting myself and 2 bags in there was impressive. Joe then ran up the 3 flights of stairs – I could hear his footsteps as my elevator was ascending – and met me at the top and let me into the cutest little French apartment ever! Whew, was I ever relieved. I’ve added pictures of my street, the great courtyard, and the front door of my apartment so you can imagine my trepidations before he opened the door. Seems the French don’t like to spend money on repairs for the common areas, and would rather spend it on their dwellings. So now I just ignore l’extérieur and enjoy l’intérieur.

After being up for 28 hours, I finally fell asleep at 8 pm last night and slept for 12 ½ hours. Felt much better today and was off to get my 1-month metro ticket – now called a Navigo-Decouvert card. All one has to do is swipe it on the purple circle and the gate to any metro in Paris magically opens. So now I’m mobile and ready to go anywhere. Still a bit jet-lagged today, so I limited my adventures to shopping. First in the nearby Monoprix which has everything from groceries and pastries to clothes, shoes, and handbags. After buying some staples there so that I could eat properly, I took the metro out to La Defense, the end of the “yellow” line on the Metro, and shopped around for a few other necessities such as flowers, candles, and croissants. I remembered there’s a great mall out there as well as a “hypermarche” – meaning a large supermarket with 3 floors of everything one can imagine – hardware, clothes, video games, toys, kitchen-ware – you name it, they have it. Reminded me of a store I saw in Tokyo once named "Everything in the Whole Wide World" store, and it was! I then took two metros back home again during rush hour and arrived back here at 8:30 pm having no sense of time here yet.

Tomorrow it’s off to explore a neighborhood I just read about in a book a good friend gave me for my birthday called “Into a Paris Quartier” by Diane Johnson, apparently a well-known travel writer who lives between San Francisco and Paris. She lives on the Left Bank in the St Germain-des-Prés area and I can’t wait to explore. Will try to take some more pictures to add tomorrow.

Ready to go........

Well, hard to believe but all the planning for this trip seems to be complete at last. I have a plane ticket, a shuttle from CDG airport to the apartment, travel insurance, a place to live and I'm almost packed. You will notice I have no return plans -- only plans to get to Paris. However when I got out my passport the other day, I realized that my passport expires in November. So will either have to visit the American Embassy in Paris before then [I do have the address written down!], or return sometime before then. I leave on Sunday, May 3rd, at 7:38 am, and am currently scheduled to return on Monday, June 1st, at 7:30 pm.

I've added more pictures of my apartment -- hopefully it will live up to the pictures. Apparently it was just featured on a TV show on HGTV called "House Hunters" but I haven't been able to find that particular episode as yet. Hope to start my real blog on Monday, May 4th, but we'll see how coherent I am after a 17-hour trip across the pond.

Ah, where to live in the great city of Paris?

Well, seems my month-long Paris get-away is quickly gaining recognition amoung my peers, and most people I've talked to would love to be going along as well. Of great interest lately is where I'm going to live? A weighty decision at best in this beautiful city with an abundance of apartments tucked away in quaint little corners and crevices. Which arrondissement to choose? Well, I finally decided on the 3rd arrondissement, better know as Le Marais district. I've been Googling it lately -- street view of course -- and it's a great district and looks like a happy place to live. I'll settle down there for a month and use it as home-base for all of my day trips and museum-hopping. There's a Brasserie right at the corner of my street -- great for that morning café and croissant avec confiture de fraise. And as you can see I've added a picture of mon appartement towards the bottom of this blog.