Around Town

At first I didn't think we were doing much since arriving in Paris, but as I look back, we've been pretty busy with lots of activities.

Since the Nabis exhibit and Jacques birthday lunch we've been out with our sister, Carol, covering a lot of territory. After returning from Nabis on the bus, we ran into our friend, Paul, from Le Peloton, along with his kids. We told him we were on our way to get a chicken at St. Paul and he reminded us not to forget the roast potatoes... we didn't.

On Sunday, we decided on one of the Paris Discover Walks free tours. These are conducted, on a volunteer basis by the Pink Vests.The timing was right for the tour of Montmartre. We met the guide at the Blanche metro stop and he had to split the large group into two groups of 15.








We began our tour in the doorway of the Moulin Rouge. He would take us on a back road tour climbing up to the top of the area giving us a great insight into who lived there and how the area evolved into what it is today. It is more than Pigalle and more than Sacre Coeur. There was a suggested "tip" to cover all the expenses that made this free tour just a little bit cheaper than a paid tour. But very good.


After the tour, we made our way down the hill to a restaurant we had noticed on the way up, Le Sancerre. As we like Sancerre wine, we thought this was a good spot. After soup a l'oignon , salads, profiteroles and a bottle of wine, we were ready to make our way  to the metro and back to our apartment.

At 8pm we were hungry enough to go to out for dinner at Au Petit Fer a Cheval one of my favorites.

That night we went on line to get tickets for the Van Gogh exhibit at the Atelier des Lumieres (ADL from now on), We got tix for the 12:30 entrance. This was an amazing exhibit of a multi-media film that displays much of Van Gogh's work via multiple projectors on the walls, floors and objects in the large open space. Click HERE for lots of pictures of "La Nuit Etoilee - Starry Night".


From there we walked to a meeting spot for another "free" tour by the Pink Vests. This was through the Marais. Although we had spent a fair amount of time in the Marais section of Paris, we found this a very enjoyable and informative tour. We met at a metro stop at the edge of the Marais and worked our way to the Place des Vosges and finished at the Hotel de Ville.
On this tour we  met a woman about our age from Australia. She had come to Paris for a 30th birthday party for a young woman whose van broke down in Australia in front of this woman's house. She ended up staying with the woman for 3 weeks while the van was prepared. They  have kept in contact and the Aussie decided on the spur of the moment to be a surprise guest at the birthday party. Nice story.

But the day didn't end there as Carol and I took the 6:45 Seine river tour. The timing was just about right as the sun set and the City of Light came to life.

We capped things off with a late dinner at Les Philosophes. Unfortunately some of the specials were no longer available.

We had a good night sleep and a light breakfast the next morning then walked Carol to the metro station with a direct line to Charles de Gaulle airports. We really enjoyed her company and her help around the apartment and her spirit of independence.

Speaking of Old Friends

On the 16th, the day of the Big Demonstration, we attended Jacques Bornstain's 80th birthday lunch with  his family. In France the "birthday boy" treats his guests instead of the other way around.

So, he and Claire picked us up at Port Maillot, a few blocks from the riot and drove out to the restaurant, Le Chenoy, in their neighborhood. After a few minutes, people started to straggle in. Son, David, and wife ,Camille, arrived with their kids, Yael, Elisabeth and Matthieu arrived (along with Arris in the photo on the right) and were on their cell phones immediately.

Caroline came with Elias and Arris. Two of Jacques old friends, Jean Pierre and Blanche arrived. We met Jean Pierre and Blance about 40 years ago and see them from time at Jacques' place. Finally, another couple arrived who have been Jacques' friends since the French equivalent of Jr. High.

We all sat together and after a champagne toast by Jacques we all enjoyed reconnecting with everyone.

Then it was time for the cake...

Here's Jacques getting a little bit of help from 4 of his 5 grandchildren.

After the dinner Judy and I piled into Caroline's car with the boys and had a fun time on our way back to Paris. Congratulations to Jacques and here's to another great year.

On a Lighter Note

There seemed to be an interesting exhibit at the Musee de Luxembourg. It was a show on the "Nabis".

The museum is a small one on the edge of the large Jardin de Luxembourg. It was the perfect size for an exhibit.
As we did not have tickets, we had to wait in line and 5 people at a time were allowed to enter. It took us 45 minutes to enter and we were done in about 30 minutes.
What or who are the "Nabis"? The Nabis were a group of painters who came after the Impressionists. They thought that the Impressionists were too realistic. Imagine that! Their name is hebrew or arabic for "Prophet" as they were going to show the world what the
true art was, an Art Nouveau. The most well know were Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis and Serusier.


As we had already been to an exhibit of Bonnard in London, Judy was looking forward to this show. The paintings were from private collections so  none  of them had been exhibited before. The show was organized by how the paintings were being used in the decor of a home. Some were for the walls of a living room, some for a bedroom, some as panels in a room, some to cover all the walls in a room and even lampshades.

Here's Judy with one of her favorites. Young kids in a park in subdued colors.

Here are a couple which were meant for a living room. The patterns in the women's clothing almost matches the patterns in the wallpaper. This was typical of many of the Nabis' paintings.




















Here is a large painting by Vuillard that was meant to cover a whole wall.

This was a small but very interesting exhibit. There were about 90 pieces but that included manuscripts and sketches, etc.There were about 25-30 painting which made it well within my normal attention span for a museum.

Day of Demonstrations Updated

Today was a day for big demonstrations in Paris. Although one could be called a demonstration, the other more like a riot.

The size of the crowds varied depending on whether one got the estimate from the organizers or the police but they were still pretty large.
A huge group rallied around the Place de la Republic to demonstrate in support of initiatives to stop climate change. These people were called the Green Vests (Gilets Vertes). Their demonstrations seemed to go on without too much problem.




The 18th in a series of weekly demonstrations for the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) was a different story. This was planned to be the "mother of all" demonstrations. The demonstrations originally started out as a protest against rising taxes of gasoline and were organized to take place along the elite Champs Elysees. It turned into something much more as time went by.
Coincidentally we had to cross the length of the  Champs Elysees to meet our friend Jacques to attend his birthday lunch. BUT, we were going underground and passed by all the activity above us. All six metro stops from the Place de la Concorde to the Arch de Triumph were closed due to the rioting on the streets above. When we came out of our metro stop just beyond the Arc de Triomphe, we saw many police on motorcycles and in cars heading toward the 'Arch. When we arrived at Jacques' place we saw on TV that the Champs Elysees was like a war zone with broken windows and fires in the streets.

The amazing part was that life just went on in Paris except where the action was. Although a lot of action, it was concentrated in a few spots. Our metro was on schedule. It just didn't stop at any of the stations along the Champs Elysees. On the way back it was the same, no stops. When we finally did stop, we could smell the smoke infiltrating the metro station from above.

The organizers of the Yellow Vests say that they do not encourage the violence but the won't do anything to stop it. They say the next "Manifestation" could be more violent. That remains to seen.

Update to Demonstrations

This morning, on our way to Montmartre on Line 1, we Judy, Carol and I decided to continue on the train til we got to the George V stop. We got off there an,d exited onto the Champs Elysees. We came out of the metro to see a large newspaper and book kiosk charred to its bones. Inside most of the inventory was burnt and some of  the plastic had melted.

Across the street, the well known restaurant, Le Fouquet had been burned and looted. Not much left there. There were broken window and some glass on the street. Many of the businesses had boarded up their windows before the demonstration..

One of the Yellow Vests said she was glad the hoodlums came out otherwise they would not get enough publicity.

There were many people like us with their cameras taking pictures of the damage. But life was back to normal on the Champs Elysees.

Reconnecting with Friends

As this is the 5th year we have rented in Paris and the 4th in the Marais, we have become friendly with some people around the neighborhood.

We ate breakfast at the Breakfast In America (BIA) in the Marais and left a message for Julien that we had arrived back in Paris. He and Craig contacted us and we made plans to meet over the weekend. Judy decided to make her Chick Pea Stew and have them to dinner.

She had a vegetarian version and a meat lovers version (adding chunks off a ham-hock she bought). Both versions were delicious. They brought a nice bottle of Syrah and dessert and we chatted til late a night.



We made plans to visit Julien's Rooftop Garden

in the 5th Arrondissment. This is a plot of land on the roof of a gymnasium near our first apartment on Rue Descartes. The gym was built into a hill so the rooftop is only up one level from the street. Julien runs the cooperative membership. They have about 40 members who are in teams of 6-8 who are responsible for their plot. As it is early in the spring, there is not much happening. But later in the year, the garden will explode with flowers, vegetables and berries. Here we are with Julien, Craig, Judy and Julien's mother, Elisabeth. She is a Professor of French Cooking and a sommelier.

Yesterday, we visited with a friend at her restaurant, PH7. PH7 is a vegetarian and mostly gluten free restaurant where the food is intended to provide a balanced meal.

We met Claudia, the owner of the two PH7 restaurants, when she acted as an agent/go-between for the owner of our first rental on Rue Descartes. She and her mother started the restaurants since we first met.






Jacques and Claire came into Paris and, despite the drizzle, we walked the length of the "Old" Temple street to Temple street to find the restaurant.

Even though we hadn't seen each other for a couple of years, Claudia greeted us very warmly with a smile and kisses on both cheeks. She is a hard working and entrepreneurial person who will make a success of the two restaurants.




It was great to see her again. Here she is between Judy and Claire.

Paris Music Scene

We were looking forward to our night crawling in and out of a number of Parisian Jazz Clubs. We knew that we would be doing a fair bit of walking, so the biggest decision for Judy was to what shoes to wear. 

What a great Christmas gift we received from the Noble "Kids", a musical night on the town. We love music and we love Paris, so , good combination. Our guide, Danilo, texted us to set up our rendez-vous spot. We were to meet at a restaurant near Au Pied De Cochon. We took the metro to the Louvre-Rivoli station and walked up Rue du Louvre to meet Danilo. We had no problem spotting him as he arrived wearing his traditional scally cap. He gave us an idea of our evening, starting with something "chill" and moving on to something more lively.

Our first venue was downstairs in the restaurant, Baltard du Louvre. We felt like we were descending the stairs into someone's converted basement. Converted into a night club. Low lighting, lots of couches and low tables. A small trio was setting up in the corner while many of the patrons milled around talking as if they knew each other.  In fact, they did know each other and tonight was going to be a vocal jam. The trio warmed up and then people in the crowd got up to sing. An older woman got the best response from the appreciative crowd while and Asian woman sang an American song, in a French jazz club, in Japanese. Quite a unique experience. Live Jazz Karaoke.

We left there after a few numbers to make our way to another club on Rue des Lombards, well known for its clubs and rowdiness. While walking the 10 minutes, or so, through the new mall at Les Halles, Danilo explained to us why he ended up in Paris. As a musician, he needs to grow and play with good and better musicians. In Paris, there are many jazz clubs and many opportunities to jam with great players. Of course, one needs to have a certain proficiency to play but the environment encourages all levels. He plays in many clubs around town. Unfortunately, his sax was "in the shop" for some repairs this night.

We worked our way through a small, crowded bar at the Sunset/Sunside Jazz Club to make it into the back room. The place was mobbed with fans but Danilo managed to squeeze us around a small table a few rows from the front. This trio, piano, bass and drum, were doing an Hommage a Gershwin, so we could actually recognize what they were jamming to.



The piano player was fantastic. She was in complete control of the chaos of a jam. With a quick look or a nod she could initiate the next solo from the bass or the drummer.

She seemed to have the best rapport with the drummer. Just a little eye contact and he was off on his own for bit.

Coincidentally, we had attended a concert at a church where the pianist also played Gershwin. Both were equally great in their own way.

After a break, they came back to play one song. The pianist asked the crowd, " Do we have a pianist? Bassist? Drummer? in the audience? Slowly a few people made their way to the stage and took their place for the jam. Here's a sax player who jumped in and a guitar player who actually went to school with Danilo. 

From there, we walked about 5 steps to the club next door, Les Basier Sale

We passed through the cafe part and up the back stairs to the explosive sounds of a Jazz/Latin/African/Fusion/Carib/Rock band (or something like that) blasting through their version of (Living My Life Like It's) Golden (cick here for Youtube version by Jill Scott)

There was so much energy in this club. Everyone was into the music and that was reflected in how the musicians performed. Here's the club owner who joins in on the bongos He was pretty good at it.

The drummer was terrific and the bass and keyboard player worked well  together.

Next, another guest from the audience came on stage. She did a great job on Michael Jackson's Pretty Young Thing (maybe they hadn't heard that even the Simpsons had dropped the Michael Jackson episode after the HBO special). After some long jams, she finished with a series of runs that the piano player imitated exactly. Not sure if they had done this before but the pianist answered all of her different runs perfectly on the keyboard. Pretty amazing.







At this point, it was almost 1am and the Metro would stop running soon. We worked our way out of the club and Danilo walked with us a bit til we came upon a rack of bikes for rent. He grabbed one of those Velibs for his ride across Paris while we walked the half-mile or so on Rue de Rivoli to our apartment. Except for a few homeless sleeping in doorways, we had the road to ourselves.


This was a fantastic evening. Danilo was very personal, as if we had been friends forever. He shared his love of music with us and we talked about our common interests. The conversation flowed very easily

He opened our eyes and ears to the music scene in Paris and suggested a number of other places for us to try. This was just the impetus we needed to explore  more of the exciting Parisian Nightlife.

Thanks so much to the Nobles for this very unique and thoughtful present.

Random Photos Around the Neighborhood

Since arriving back in Paris, the weather has been a bit cool with pretty good chance of rain every day.Despite that, we've been out every day to grocery shop or just walk around to some of our favorite places.

The Place des Vosges not far from our apartment is one of our favorite places. The best way to enter the Place is by way of Hotel Sully on Rue Saint-Antoine. First you see the arched walk-way.

Then you grab a bench in the park to soak up the beauty and a bit of history.

As the weather has been a bit off, it is keeping the crowds down at the outdoor cafes. This one on Ile St Louis is usually mobbed.

But the weather has not stopped the tourist from some iconic sites as Notre Dame. It is spring vacation for parts of France and probably other countrys, so lots of tourists.

Here a bunch of cute children having lunch at the side of Notre Dame. They have scooters, but not the electric kind.

We've taken a couple of walks to the Enfants Rouge market, one of the oldest in Paris. We usually get flowers but on Friday we made sure to be there at lunch time, for our first Couscous of the season.

First you line up along the counter making your decision from all the choices.

Then you order your meal and find a table at the edge of the market.

It's sort of communal eating, but really a fun experience. All of the people we interacted with were super nice.

Speaking of walking somewhere, it looks like the electric scooters (trottinettes) are taking over from the bicycles. They are every where now, at least in the 1st and 4th Arrondissments (where we are). They hope to expand to all over Paris. People can pick them up anywhere and leave the anywhere. Could become a problem...

There is a bit of a vermin problem here as can be seen by the sign below. We saw one crushed on the street. Then while waiting to enter an old church for a concert, we saw a rat scurry across the courtyard. then a bit later another one ran into a crack in the wall. Was it two rats or the same one twice? (not a problem that is unique to Paris)

To be cont'd