First Days on My Own

Tags

Apple charger cable, Canal Saint-Martin, coquilles Saint-Jacques, FNAC, Invader, l'Oasis d'Aboukir, La Grande Canopée, meals, Montorgueil, Oasis d'Aboukir, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Piscine Georges Hermant, poissonnerie, Rosa Bonheur, Saint Eustache, sogusa, Space Invader

It’s a big change when I go from sharing space in Paris to living alone, and even more so when I’ve been part of a four-cousin family for two weeks. Also, there’s a lot of bustling around the first day or two settling in to a new apartment. So I spent most of Saturday around the apartment and its charming neighborhood.

Saint-Eustache, the magnificent 17th-century church at the bottom of rue Montorgueil, has been obscured by construction for most of my visits, but it has emerged triumphant:

My apartment this year is in the first block of rue Montorgueil, just above the church, while in other years I’ve always been at least several blocks higher. I confess to having had a mild prejudice against the lower part of the street, since it seemed a bit more touristy, but I now see that this block is almost as charming as the rest of the street (and that tourists are everywhere).

Up at the top of the street is the Oasis d’Aboukir, which appeared in 2013 and has continued to bloom and grow ever since. The last few years I’ve opined that was looking a bit shaggy, but now I think it’s broken through to an altogether new category: a vertical botanical garden!

A few steps away I noticed this piece of street art, on a restaurant’s metal door. This artist is very active in the area, and I’ve admired his work before.

La Cantine des Mama’s Street Art

On Friday night, as previously noted, I made my “standard meal” with a delicious (and expensive) piece of lieu jaune from the cute little poissonnerie on rue du Nil. I thought about doing exactly the same again on Saturday night, but I didn’t feel that 15 euros was a sustainable price for a single ingredient of a home cooked dinner. In prior years the poissonnerie on rue Montorgueil proper, Sogusa, has been looking increasingly sad and decrepit, but this year, unexpectedly, it had a good selection and seemed to have gotten a new lease on life. I took a chance and bought this shiny dorade (sea bream) from a genial new salesman.

I would have had no clue how to clean and de-bone it but that service is included, so I walked away with two very fresh filets for 10 euros, one-third the price per meal. I happily made my standard meal the next two nights, this time remembering to start with garlic and onions.

One of my errands on Saturday was to get a few Apple-related items I had unaccountably failed to bring along. Conveniently, everything I wanted was just five minutes away, at the the FNAC store under the Grande Canopée. A lightning-to-phone plug adapter to let me use my old earphones with my new iPhone was 10 euros, about what I expected. But I did a double take at the cost of a long charger cable:

I didn’t need it that much!

While I’m talking about stuff I’d like to mention three special purpose items that I bring when I travel. All three have seen valuable use this year, as they do almost every year.

WD-40 quieted a squeaky door in my first apartment and eased a sticky window latch in my second. The multi-tip screwdriver, the size of a pen when assembled, enabled me to change the bulb in the toilet of the first place. And doorstops (I actually bring two) were needed in both places to prevent interior doors from slamming when the breeze caught them.

Sunday was still intermittently rainy but I did take a nice walk over to the Canal Saint-Martin. There was a mini-festival along the banks with a drumming corps.

This is one of the 19th century buildings along the canal, usually relating to opening and closing locks or draw bridges. I’ve walked by this one many times over the years but this time I noticed a bonus from Space Invader.

On Monday I decided I needed some aerobic exercise and after researching the dozens of public swimming pools in Paris I went over to Piscine Georges Hermant above the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to swim some laps. It’s a nice, clean pool with a retractable roof. I didn’t think too much about the logistics of retracting such a big roof until I left the pool and noticed this impressive scene.

I decided to walk down through the park and was rewarded with this view of flowers and distant picnickers:

I had a late lunch at a restaurant across the street from the park (My old favorite, Rosa Bonheur, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.) Coquilles Saint-Jacques has become a quasi-generic term for all types of scallops, but I was pleased to see that Le Napoleon III served up the real thing:

I’m happy to report that the meal was just as good as it looked.

Last Days with Andy

Tags

art, au-delà des limites, Beyond the Limits, contemporary art, decanting, Design et Nature, Egon Schiele, food porn, Galerie Vivienne, Hundertwasser, Il Tre, Klimt, La Grappe d'Or, La Régalade Conservatoire, L’Atelier des Lumières, meals, Montorgueil, Palais Royal, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris, Paris food porn, Passage des Panoramas, Passage Jouffroy, passages, Rosa Bonheur, Schiele

On Wednesday we went to one of the two immersive light exhibitions currently on view in Paris. Since I had previously seen Au dela des Limites, we went instead to the Klimt/Egon Schiele/Hundertwasser show at L’Atelier des Lumières. I thought this would be interesting because I like all three artists (yes, even the relatively obscure Hundertwasser). Both exhibitions use hundreds of video projectors managed by a massive computer system to create an immersive environment, with light projected on the walls and floor, as well as on visitors. This exhibition is made up of several shows, one mixing Klimt and Schiele, one on Hundertwasser and one that just plays with digital motifs.

Klimt show at L’Atelier des Lumières

Death at the Klimt Show at L’Atelier des Lumières

We both enjoyed this exhibition, but it’s different in several key respects from the other one:

• This show is based on classic fine art, so at times it offers an intense shock of recognition. The other one has many lovely artistic elements, but all newly created by the developers.
• The space is a former foundry, retaining many architectural elements. These can be interesting but also distracting. There also seem to be more awkwardly placed exit lights.
• Basically the same video shows on all the walls at the same time, so you only move around to get a more interesting angle.
• The video isn’t interactive.

Bottom line, if you can only see one go to L’Atelier des Lumières if you are strongly attracted to the artists, but go to Au dela des Limites if you want to have a more stunning immersive experience.

After the Klimt show we had reservations at La Régalade Conservatoire, which I had enjoyed earlier in this stay. So … stay tuned for more food porn!

We were ready for the restaurant with time to spare so I took us on a circuitous route, down rue d’Aboukir to see Design et Nature, the most famous taxidermy store in Paris that allows photography (Deyrolle does not).

Which is fiercer? At Design et Nature

Our preprandial walk continued to the nearby garden of the Palais Royale, then through the series of passages (covered arcades) that start with the 1823 Galerie Vivienne, continuing through the 1799 Passage des Panoramas and the 1836 Passage Jouffroy. We arrived just in time for our 7:30 reservation. We were the first patrons, but the restaurant quickly filled up. There was a bit of language confusion at the start, but otherwise I enjoyed the meal almost as much as my earlier one there.

My octopus appetizer at La Régalade Conservatoire

A waitress decanting a bottle of red for another table at La Régalade Conservatoire

Andy at La Régalade Conservatoire

My delicious strawberry rhubarb dessert at La Régalade Conservatoire

On Thursday morning we started with breakfast and people watching at La Grappe d’Or on rue des Petits Carreaux, which is the name for a segment of the same street between rue Montorogueil and my current rue Poissonière. I’m glad that Andy enjoys the passing show here as much as I do.

Breakfast and people watching at La Grappe d’Or on rue des Petits Carreaux

Andy had wanted to see the Catacombs, but they were closed due to a strike, so on Thursday we went instead to the other light show. We both enjoyed it, even though I had been before. Instead of posting separately I added our pics to my earlier post: Au dela des limites.

After the light show we walked up to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont and each enjoyed a beer at Rosa Bonheur.

The suspension bridge at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

I was puzzled at first by the calmness and peacefulness of both park and ginguette, but then I realized that I have always been there on Sunday, when the park is filled with families and the bar is filled, by early afternoon, with gay men.

We had a quick Italian dinner at Il Tre and made it an early evening since Andy had to be up at the crack of dawn the next morning to catch his flights back home. It was a pleasure to explore Paris again with him, and we agreed that next time he should plan to stay longer!

Friends and Family

Tags

Arooshee, art, Aya, contemporary art, Jackie, Lisa, Metro, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Zoologique de Paris, Paris, Rosa Bonheur, temple de la Sibylle, weather, zoo

The gorgeous weather has continued: sunny and warm during the day and pleasantly cool at night. One of the best runs of fine weather of any of my Paris stays! The rhythm and energy of our household has been the main theme, except for Sunday afternoon, when I went my own way.

On Friday Lisa and Aya visited friends so Jackie and I had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant which I found on The Fork — with a 50% discount! It was about a mile away but we both enjoy walking so we strolled over and back. Not only did we get a good meal but we took home enough leftovers for Saturday lunch, after which we checked out the Salon de Montrouge, an annual contemporary art show that I have enjoyed in prior years. It was about half the size of the 2016 exhibition, but enough art for the time and energy we had.

Jackie and Bob reflected in “Your Infinity” by Roland Burkart at the 2018 Salon de Montrouge

That evening we hosted Ali for dinner. Lisa and I had seen him on several casual occasions this trip, but it was a particular pleasure to join him for a proper event. Our conversation was trenchant and engaging as always!

Bob, Ali, Aya and Lisa at our dinner party. Photo credit, Jackie.

The fruit tart which I slaved over a hot cash register for several minutes to acquire.

Sunday was so lovely that I took the métro up to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, one of my favorite spots in fine weather. The trip was from one corner of Paris to the other, so it required three subway legs. The last one, on the funny little 7 bis line, was the most amusing, since almost everyone was more or less obviously heading for the same place.

Sunbathers enjoying a perfect day at the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Bob at The Temple de la Sibylle, in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Exploring the park was thirsty work, so I stopped by Rosa Bonheur for a beer (or two). As always on a fine Sunday afternoon, the always-mixed crowed tilted in a decidedly gay male direction by 4 pm, when the barriers went up to limit the size of the crowd. I have sometimes had wonderful conversations there, but it’s hit or miss and this afternoon I was more of a sightseer than a participant.

Boys, and girls, on a Sunday afternoon at Rosa Bonheur

Through a mutual friend I had met Arooshee, a junior at University of Michigan who is finishing a semester in Paris. We met that evening for dinner, at Phở 14 in the 13ème, with her college roommate, who had just arrived to join her on a whirlwind European tour.

Dinner in the 13ème at Phở 14

Jackie had business to attend to on Monday, so Lisa and Aya and I went over to the fully modernized little zoo in the Parc de Vincennes. The highlight for Aya was the lions, and by happy chance she was able to turn into one herself!

The zoo features big outdoor enclosures that allow the larger animals to roam around, rather than being confined in cages. I heartily approve, although this can also make it hard to get good photos. As it happened, Aya was more interested in an indoor giraffe than the fourteen others that were outside.

Over the next two days we will wrap up our stay together in the 15ème and I will move to my own Airbnb in the 2ème. While I’ll be living alone for a while plans are afoot with Zhizhong and with my cousin Brian and his wife Sheila, so I won’t be lonely.

On My Own Again

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Aarchna, art, banlieue, Belleville, clouds, Danube, Eiffel Tower, flâneur, France, Il faut se méfier des mots, Ivy covered cottage, Jordain, Kristoffer, la Mouzaïa, Nausicaa Favart Amouroux, One must mistrust words, Opéra, Opéra Garnier, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris, Pré Saint-Gervais, quartier d’Amérique, Rosa Bonheur, rue de Belleville, rue de Crimée, rue du Télégraph, semaphore, Télégraph, Un Tapis de Poésie, villas, Water towers, weather

On Sunday morning I saw Kristoffer off on the Roissybus at Opéra. The ticket machine at the bus stop was broken but he was able to buy a ticket from the driver (since he had prudently saved 11 euros in cash).

Opéra Garnier looking lovely, in a rare moment of sunshine

Paradoxically, you have to stand at a traffic island in the middle of rue de l’Opéra, where the sides are blocked by other buildings, to see the full dome, and the pitched roof over the main theater.

In prior years I’ve just sent departing guests out the door with detailed instructions, but a Boston friend has taught me how nice it is to see someone off. This is especially true when I’ve been handling navigation issues for my guest while we’ve been together, so he may not have gotten particularly comfortable with the métro, etc. How I have remained oblivious to this all these years is a mystery, but it’s not too late to teach this old dog a new trick! (Though note that I didn’t go all the way to the airport and back; let’s not get carried away here!)

This year’s sojourn has been very sociable. A series of old and new friends have stayed with me for several days each: Jared R, Sherard, Omar and Kristoffer, and I’ve spent a lot of time with other visiting friends, including Jared W, CN and Arturo. As in other years I’ve seen a lot of Zhizhong, and I’ve started catching up with other French friends as well. Earlier in the trip I stayed with Charlie and Markevin near Toulouse and spent a couple of afternoons with Grégory in Bordeaux, not to mention my new Korean friends. This has been great fun, but it has also left me with less alone time than in prior years, and has greatly changed the blogging dynamic. From a discipline that I followed (almost) every evening in 2010 it has become a binge project that gets a week or two behind, then takes me a day or two to catch up! All a long way of saying that it’s different, but quite OK, to now spend a few days alone.

Sunday afternoon I headed over to Rosa Bonheur for old time’s sake. The weather has continued to be a mix of sun and rain, but there was a pretty good crowd on the terrasse. I didn’t get into any deep conversations but I did exchange a few nice words with a young woman who was there with her young son and older mother.

Rosa Bonheur, finally open and busy

After finishing my beer I strolled over to the area of little “Villas” to the west of the Park des Buttes Chaumont, which I now see is called la Mouzaïa or the quartier d’Amérique. I added a few shots to my Picasa/Google photo set on la Mouzaïa then continued on to see some of the open studios in an area I had not previously visited, the city of Pré Saint-Gervais, a banlieue!

As usual there was a lot of so-so art, but I really liked several pieces by Nausicaa Favart-Amouroux.

Painting by Nausicaa Favart Amouroux

I also enjoyed a poetry reading accompanied by violin at Un Tapis de Poésie.

Pré Saint-Gervais itself seemed to have something of a Turkish tilt, but otherwise seemed quite Parisian and not scary, except for an abandoned building, covered with graffiti.

Scary abandoned building covered with grafitti in a banlieue!

Somewhat less scary in the context of its spanking new neighbors

I had actually encountered a scarier scene earlier within the city limits at Danube.

Bucolic scene at Danube. Oh, wait…

I had a nice Indian dinner at Aarchna, on rue du Télégraph back in Belleville. I was interested to learn that the « télégraph » was actually one of the earliest lines of visual semaphores, which in 1794 allowed a message to be transmitted from Paris to Lille in three hours that previously took three days on horseback. That’s why it was placed on the highest hill in Paris, also why there are now water towers on the same spot.

Water towers on rue du Télégraph

After dinner I walked down rue de Bellevile as the sun went down (around 10 pm!). Here are a few atmospheric pictures from my day as a lone flâneur.

Ivy-covered cottage on rue de Crimée, near sketchy Place des Fêtes

“Beware of words.”

Doorway at Jordain, rue de Belleville

The other Paris: the Eiffel tower from rue de Belleville

Lovely clouds behind a dome on rue Réumur

All day Monday and Tuesday morning I did literally nothing but catch up on my blog. Enjoy!

Mot du jour: banlieue, literally, “suburb,” but many of the inner ring of cities just outside Paris are ethnic, depressed and at times dangerous so in France the term has a sketchy resonance.

High, But Not Dry

Tags

art, Bastille, Belleville, Canal Saint-Martin, Comptoir General, flâneur, France, Ghetto Museum, La Bocca, Marais, meals, parc de Belleville, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris, Place des Vosges, Point Ephémère, Rosa Bonheur, rue de Mouzaïa, Sherard, villas

Thwarted by the closings of the the Louvre and the Musée D’Orsay, I promised to take Sherard on Sunday to one of the highest points in Paris, which I guaranteed wouldn’t be affected by the floods. I was right, but … read on.

We walked across the Marais — where Sherard saw a small painting he liked — via the Place des Vosges (mentioned in my French Linen post) to the trendy area east of the Place de la Bastille, then over to the Canal Saint-Martin, which was interesting as ever.

Street art along the Canal Saint-Martin

I showed Sherard Comptoir General but realized, seeing it through his eyes, that it was no longer the astonishing art-intensive Ghetto Museum that Alexis had introduced me to several years back, but had become just a big hipster bar with a few bits of African decor.

We walked the length of the canal up to Point Ephémère, a hipster bar in part of an old fire station that I had been reading about. We stopped in but it looked too sketchy for our bourgeois tastes. Sad for me since I like to think that a flâneur can appreciate all aspects of the city. There was a leftist political rally of some sort on the plaza between the canal and the Basin de la Villette. We stuck our heads in but it wasn’t our scene either.

Not having had much luck thus far I directed our steps to my ace-in-the-hole, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which never fails to charm. Imagine my chagrin when it too was closed! Not of course due to flooding — it’s one of the highest places in Paris! But it seems that the rains that preceded and caused the flood had soaked the soil and rendered certain trees unstable. There was a sign at the main entrance, however, saying that one of the ginguettes in the park was still open, accessible presumably by a safe route. There was no mention of my primary destination, Rosa Bonheur (which usually has a terrific gay scene on Sunday afternoons) but since it was close to an entrance at the top of the park I hoped it might be open as well. I checked its website and phone message and there was no mention of it being closed so we walked up along the outside of the park to the highest point, where a sign informed us that Rosa was closed. We got a quick bite at a restaurant across the street, where our only cold comfort was schadenfreude as we watched families and gay guys come up to the locked gate to discover — as we had — that both the park and Rosa were closed.

Not-terribly-good lunch on rue Botzaris

Our luck turned at this point, however, as Sherard enjoyed the little pedestrian “Villas” off rue de Mouzaïa, which led us up to the completely non-touristy Parc de la Butte du Chapeau Rouge, with a commanding view of the northern suburbs.

Flowers on Villa d’Alsace, off rue de Mouzaïa in the 19th

We walked back via the Parc de Belleville, and Sherard really enjoyed that area, especially appreciating a rug in a Muslim shop we passed by at some point in our meanderings.

Crowd at an impromptu concert at the Parc de Belleville

That evening we had a late dinner at an old favorite, La Bocca on rue Montmartre.

Seafood pasta dinner at La Bocca. The long thin shells are clams, although I’m not sure they are the same species as we get in the U.S. since I’ve never seen a shell like that at home

 

On My Own Again

Tags

16 Haussmann, art, Carol Rama, contemporary art, crêpe, crêperie, Délices de la Lune, Eiffel Tower, fun house, funhouse, gallette, Henry Darger, House of Horrors, La Fourchette, Markus Lüpertz, meals, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, pur, Rosa Bonheur, Rosa Bonheur sur Seine, rue Lafitte, Sacre Coeur, Sturtevant, The Fork, Tour Saint-Jacques, traveling alone, traveling with friends

I’m on my own for a few days between house guests. I’m always struck by the difference between traveling with friends and traveling by myself.

When I’m with others a large part of my consciousness involves my companions. I’m making sure we’re together and everyone is happy, or if not trying to figure out how to do better. Decisions require discussion, but they also also have the potential for a more interesting choice than if I followed my usual preferences. I don’t spend as much time absorbing my surroundings, but by seeing the environment through the eyes of others I often perceive something I would have missed. And being with friends is cozy and comfortable.

Alone again, however, it can feel as if curled-up antennae open out; even that a third eye opens! Suddenly I’m more aware of everything around me, and of my own thoughts and feelings. Acute self-consciousness was sometimes a problem when I traveled alone before I came out, but in recent decades it’s been stimulating rather than excruciating. Safety is another aspect; there’s a greater need to be aware of your surroundings when you’re alone (and I’m afraid that as I age I am becoming an increasingly attractive target). Loneliness and horniness can also be factors, causing me to pay more attention to those around me than when I’m already with a nice or attractive guy. On the other hand, being alone is more stressful, and I can run out of steam more easily on my own than when I’m swept along by the enthusiasm of a group.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have no clear preference between traveling alone or with friends. They are simply different experiences, both of which have their pros and cons.

On Tuesday, after Matt and Chris left, I did laundry and reorganized the apartment, met a promising young man for an afternoon drink, then had dinner with an old friend, Larry Tu, at 16 Haussmann, in the Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel. As Larry says, it’s a calm and elegant room, and both service and food are good.

My delicious salmon appetizer at 16 Haussmann.

Larry and me at 16 Haussmann.

To put the cherry on top, by reserving through The Fork (which I heartily recommend) we could order from the regular menu for half price! Yet it somehow seems off kilter to come all the way to Paris and eat at a Marriott. I tend to prefer places that are more crowded and noisy, but also hip and trendy. On the other hand, this meal has me wondering whether it might sometimes be more pleasant to have a good French meal in a lovely calm room — especially at half price!

After dinner I strolled back home along the Grands Boulevards. At the end of rue Lafitte, right next to the hotel, Sacré-Coeur loomed like a Disney castle, or a hallucination!

When I was almost home I noticed that Bonne Nouvelle, the little bar on Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière across from the Grand Rex, was overflowing with gay men. Lisa’s Geoff had introduced me to it last year, but it had been dead every time I’d seen it this year. Tuesday seems to be its big night! I had a beer there just because. The owner greeted me warmly — possibly even remembering me from last year? — but I didn’t strike up any other conversations.

Wednesday I had lunch at Pur, a trendy locavore place on my own street that I had discovered with Matt and Chris last week. I really like the experience but I have to agree with one reviewer that you’re still hungry when you leave: the portions are tiny.

Lunch at Pur. Tasty and healthy but not filling.

Then I went over to have a look at the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris in the 16th arrondissement. It’s overshadowed by the Pompidou Center, but it’s much less crowded and I quite enjoy it. I’ll put up a photo set of my favorite pieces from this year’s visit at some point, but for the moment here are a few glimpses. There’s a truly bizarre “House of Horrors” in the basement, a scary two-person ride in the dark with strange creatures popping out at you. The ultimate convergence of fun house and contemporary art!

House of Horrors at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.

In the House of Horrors at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.

And here’s a video panorama of the Surrealism Room.

Wednesday night I made and enjoyed a home-cooked meal with fresh pasta and pesto sauce (left by Matt and Chris), green beans, salad and a pain de tradition.

Home-cooked meal at 12 rue des Jeûneurs.

For Thursday lunch I tried out a Bretonne restaurant a few blocks away that I have walked past many times, Délices de la Lune (“delights of the moon”). The staff were friendly and professional, and the food was delicious and seemed authentic.

Lunch at Délices de la Lune in the 2ème.

I had not allowed enough time on Wednesday afternoon to see the three exhibitions that had just opened at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris so I went back on Thursday afternoon to take them in. All three showcased eccentric artists somewhat out of the mainstream: Markus Lüpertz, Carol Rama and Henry Darger. They were all intriguing, but of the three I preferred the Lüpertz show.

Markus Lüpertz exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris.

Rough sculptures depicting characters from Greek mythology were my favorites. Much of Carol Rama’s work is lesbian porn, which can be stimulating but isn’t really my style. Henry Darger’s work is profoundly weird. His entire ouvre was discovered in his cluttered apartment after his death. Most of it depicts a grisly war between imaginary countries involving a group of girls, who are usually depicted naked, with immature male genitals. The progression of drawings might well be as interesting to an abnormal psychologist — or a child molester — as to an aesthete.

After the museum I strolled across the Seine and took a photo of the new Rosa Bonheur floating bar. I have been skeptical about this, since part of the charm of the original Rosa is its relative inaccessibility. Most of the patrons seemed straight — which is also true of the original guinguette, except on Sunday afternoons — but after taking the photo I did notice a table of four young men who seemed friendly.

Rosa Bonheur sur Seine. Bobo going posh?

On Friday morning, before Yunpeng arrived, I climbed the Tour Saint-Jacques in the Marais. You have to reserve on line several days in advance, and only 17 people are allowed up at a time. It was an interesting tour and a breathtaking view. Here’s a sample photo, and you can see the full photo set at: The View from the Tour Saint-Jacques.

Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower and the Musée d’Orsay from the Tour Saint-Jacques in the Marais.

A Long Weekend

Tags

An Hour from Paris, Chris, Jamie, Jardin de Luxembourg, le Musée des Tramways à Vapeur et des chemins de fer Secondaires français, Little Italy, Marais, Matt, meals, Montorgueil, Morton, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris, Place des Vosges, poularde, Rosa Bonheur, rue Montorgueil, Seine, Steam Trains, Tramways

Chris and Matt have been great friends for many years with Jamie, an American who now lives and works in Denmark. Jamie and his Danish partner Morton arrived late Thursday night from Denmark. We all met up for breakfast on Friday, at a café on rue Montorgueil.

Morton, Jamie, Matt, Bob and Chris at breakfast on rue Montorgueil.

We then strolled down to the Seine and over into the Latin Quarter. As we arrived at the Jardin du Luxembourg Matt suggested a picnic. I ducked into a crisp-looking wine store and asked the friendly proprietor whether it is permitted to have a picnic with wine in the park. He said yes, then directed us to a nearby cheese store and boulangerie and suggested two refreshing rosés. When we asked for plastic cups he offered to loan us real wine glasses! Our compliments to the Cave du Senat.

The proprietor of the Cave du Senat.

Our picnic was lovely, although there was a glitch. We had invited Antoine to join us but just before he arrived he suffered a wardrobe malfunction and had to hightail it home, then off to his tutoring gig. As we finished exploring the park Antoine suggested that we meet him before dinner at Rosa Bonheur in le parc des Buttes-Chaumont. I had been planning to take Matt and Chris there on Sunday afternoon, which is the gayest time, but the weather seemed perfect so we set out by bus — despite my ignorance of the need to flag it down — and métro. We got there in time to see the last few sunbathers, and to get a photo in the late afternoon light.

Morton, Jamie, Chris and Matt at le parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

By the time we circled back to Rosa Bonheur the crowd was growing — perhaps 1/3 gay even on a Friday — and we arrived just as the crowd-control barriers went up. We bought our third bottle of rosé to toast the moment, then … umm … perhaps one or two more, while we waited for Antoine (who arrived a few minutes later) to get to the front of the very slow entrance line. We had saved a few glasses of wine to help him catch up, but just as he was finishing it started to rain, and everyone headed for the interior of the little guinguette.

Rosa Bonheur after everyone took refuge indoors from the rain.

While the rain was annoying I was glad that Matt and Chris got to see the indoor scene, which can be quite fun. Fortunately the rain stopped fairly quickly, and we were treated to a lovely sunset.

Sunset at le parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

Antoine had made reservations at Le Baratin, a restaurant in the 20ème that is frequented by the chefs of other top restaurants.

Morton, Jamie, Bob, Matt, Antoine and Chris at Le Baratin.

It’s quite an appealing place, but it caters more to French patrons than to tourists. Our experienced and persuasive waiter commented, for example, that I was “as bad as the Chinese” when I took a snapshot of my meal.

My tender poularde at Le Baratin. NOT to be called « poulet ».

As we left I noticed a mature woman having a smoke outside the front door. After she confirmed that she was the chef, she agreed to let me take her photo.

The chef outside Le Baratin.

On Saturday Matt, Chris, Jamie and Morton went off to Versailles, which I have visited several times. I did laundry, ironing, grocery shopping, and, just for you, gentle reader, wrote a week’s worth of blog posts.

Sunday morning we all caught up again for breakfast, in the Haut Marais, then wandered down to the Place des Vosges, and finally back to the 2ème, where Matt, Chris and I said our farewells to Jamie and Morton, then set off to le Musée des Tramways à Vapeur et des chemins de fer Secondaires français (the Museum of Steam Tramways and Secondary Railroads of France), about an hour from Paris by train. This proved to be a charming little museum, with the additional benefit — only two days a month — of a ride on a steam-powered secondary train!

We got to ride on this working steam tram from the turn of the last century.

Not only were there no other foreign tourists there, but the friendly volunteer staffers told us that they get almost no foreigners ever. I trust that our train-loving friends will fix this on their future visits to Paris!

Bob, Chris and Matt with Bob’s new French bff.

We had neglected to eat lunch, and nothing was open in the vicinity of the museum, so we were starving by the time we got home. A restaurant on rue Montorgueil that I have turned my nose up at many times because of its English name — Little Italy — satisfied our hunger rather well.

Travel Note: I realized half-way through the trip that I had made a 6 euro travel error. I had purchased one-way tickets to Valmondois for all of us, forgetting that my monthly Navigo pass includes the entire Ile-de-France system on weekends and holidays. We only bought two tickets back to Paris after I confirmed this with the clerk at the train station. The monthly Navigo pass for zones 1 and 2 now costs 70 euros. It’s fun to just slap your wallet on the métro gate like the cool kids but it doesn’t really save money unless you use the weekend deal a few times a month. Note also that the weekly Navigo does not include the Ile-de-France deal.

After several busy days we were happy to make it an early evening.

Mot du Jour: poularde. According to Antoine, a “young fat chicken.”

Paris – After the Top Ten Sights

Tags

Alcohol, An Hour from Paris, Arc de Triomphe, Bastille, Bercy Village, Bois de Vincennes, Canal Saint-Martin, Catacombs of Paris, Château de Vincennes, crime, day trips, drinking, Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, Institut du monde arabe, Jardin de Luxembourg, Jardin de Reuilly, l'Oasis d'Aboukir, Latin Quarter, L’Étoile Manquante, l’officiel des spectacles, LB Café, le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, le musée du quai Branly, le Musée Jaquemart-André, Marais, Metro, Montmartre, Montorgueil, mugging, Musée Carnavalet, Musée d’art moderne, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Musée Rodin, Musee d'Orsay, museums, Opéra Garnier, Open Café, Palais de Tokyo, Palais Royal, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Floral, Parc Monceau, Parc Montsouris, Paris, Pariscope, Passy-Auteuil, Petit Palais, pickpockets, Place des Vosges, Pompidou, Pompidou Center, Promenade plantée, Public Drinking, Rosa Bonheur, rue de Charonne, rue Montorgueil, safety, Seine

The Top Ten Sights

[If you just want to see what my life in Paris has been like you can skip this post.]

On your first visit to Paris, like everyone else, you will go up the Eiffel Tower.

Iconic!

You will go to the Louvre and take a snapshot of the Mona Lisa.  You will gaze in awe at the facade of Notre-Dame. You will have an ice cream made by Berthillon on l’Île Saint-Louis. You will take a Bateau Mouche tour of the Seine. You will stroll along the Champs-Elysée up to the Arc de Triomphe.

Arc de Triomphe

You will eat a soggy crêpe at a stand in the Latin Quarter. You will climb the south slope of Montmartre up to Sacré Coeur and be dazzled by the view.

In all of those places you will be surrounded by other tourists doing exactly the same things, clutching their maps and mobile phones to ensure that they never stray from the well-worn Tourist Track.

Not only will you do these things, you must do them, and you should do them. Why? Because these places are iconic, and your friends would never forgive you if you didn’t. Because that’s what it means to go to Paris for the first time. And, last but not least, because they’re fabulous. It is not tragic that everywhere you go those first few days will be excruciatingly touristy. It’s normal.

Every travel book will tell you how to see the top ten tourist spots over your first few days, and I leave this task to them. But when you have gotten this out of your system — after your first few days, or on your second visit — read on. This post is about what to do after you’ve seen the top sights.

Getting Ready for More

First off you will need some technology. Get the RATP app, the Métro app and the TripAdvisor City Guide app that I describe in my Getting Into Paris post. These will help you get around and enable you to stray as far as you like from the beaten path without anxiety. And if your battery runs out just stroll for a bit until you run across a métro station. They all have detailed maps with a red dot labelled « Vous Etes Ici » (You Are Here). While you may have to change lines once or twice there will always be a station within a few blocks of your hotel.

Next, find out what’s happening in Paris. One excellent resource is the City of Paris English web site at this link (and there’s lots more on the French language site). For under a euro you can pick up a copy of Pariscope or l’officiel des spectacles at any newsstand (they come out on Wednesday). The text is in French but you should be able to puzzle out most of the listings even if you don’t read the language. Look in particular for exhibitions at the Grand Palais and Petit Palais.

Last but not least, shift gears. You are no longer checking off “must-see” sights. It is not important that you see the eleventh through twentieth best things in Paris. What you want now is to have some personally rewarding experiences, connecting in one way or other with this big, complex and fascinating city. Slow down, let your blood pressure drop a few points, and look up from your maps! What aspects of the city do you want to explore over these next few days?

Indoor or Outdoor?

The first big question is whether you’ll be exploring outdoors or looking for something under a roof. This obviously depends on weather as well as your own preferences. My one additional observation is that Paris can be lovely in the rain if you have the right gear to keep warm and dry, and you’ll want that gear anyway to get to an indoor destination if it’s raining.

Indoor Options

These are just a few suggestions out of a myriad of wonderful indoor options. Do two things in each case on line before you set out: Check the opening days and hours, and see what special exhibitions are on offer.

• Musée d’Orsay
  This wonderful museum is on many top-ten lists, but if not it certainly deserves top consideration as your next indoor destination. Buy your tickets on line or at a travel agent to avoid the ticket line, which can be more than an hour long. When you enter go left and take the elevator or escalators up to the fifth floor, to start with the Impressionist masterpieces. There’s plenty more on lower floors but you don’t want to risk getting tired before you reach the top.
• Pompidou Center
  The Pompidou is fun to look at since its structural elements and mechanical systems are on the outside, color coded. But it also has a great collection of modern art, an ok collection of contemporary art, and interesting rotating exhibitions. Your ticket also lets you see whatever is going on an the French first floor, opposite the escalators to the main floors. And whatever you do, check out the view from the top floor.
• Musée des Arts et Métiers
  If you like machines and technology allow a half-day for this enormous grab-bag of mechanical stuff, ranging from tiny scientific instruments to giant steam engines.

Musée Carnavalet

1. This is the museum of the history of Paris. It’s also a marvelous grab-bag — of art, furnishings and memorabilia. Like all the City of Paris museums, it’s free, and closed on Mondays. But note that until the end of 2019 collections from the French Revolution, 19th century and the Belle Époque are closed for renovation.

• Opéra Garnier
  Strangely, I’ve never taken the tour of this utterly gorgeous building, but friends tell me it’s excellent. (I have been to several performances in the new opera building at Bastille. It’s a great space but you must reserve in the first few days tickets go on sale to get affordable tickets.)
• Catacombs of Paris
  These vast underground tunnels are where the bones are stashed when construction work wipes out a cemetery, most notably by Haussmann’s renovation of Paris in the mid 19th century. It’s ghoulish but fascinating. I’ve described the experience thusly: Ten minutes of “When do we get to the bones?” Ten minutes of silence. Then half an hour of “When do we get to the end of the bones?”
• Other Museums
  There are a hundred museums in Paris!  Among those I’ve enjoyed are le Musée Rodin (which needs good weather because at least half the masterpieces are in the extensive gardens), the odd and wonderful le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, the informative Institut du monde arabe (which offers a great view from the roof even if you don’t want to buy a ticket to the museum), the primitive-art-museum-that-dare-not-speak-its-name le musée du quai Branly, one of several house-museums, le Musée Jaquemart-André, the city’s answer to the Pompidou, the Musée d’art moderne, and the adjacent — wild and wooly — contemporary art museum, the  Palais de Tokyo (but confirm first that the exhibitions are open). Some are quite obscure, but nearly all will reward your time. How about trying a museum that isn’t in the guidebook, or even in this post??  A full list is at this link.

Outdoor Options

• People-Watching from a Café
  This is one of the most delightful things you can do in Paris. You can do it almost anywhere, but here are some of my favorite spots.
  • My favorite street for people watching is rue Montorgueil in the 2e, and my very favorite table is at the LB Café with a view down rue Tiquetonne as well as up and down Montorgueil. You will see all sorts of people, from stylish youths to women pushing baby carriages, to still-elegant retirees. Some foreign tourists — increasing every year — but still mostly French. Order an expensive coffee or kir and nurse it for an hour or two as you take in the passing parade!  Then become part of the parade yourself as you stroll up to the top of the street, beyond the arch, to check out the L’Oasis d’Aboukir.
  • A close second, though much more touristy, is L’Étoile Manquante on rue Vielle du Temple in the Marais, at the intersection with rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie. Or if you want a stronger gay flavor, the classic Open Café on rue des Archives.
  • Another busy and stylish place is Bercy Village, a posh shopping area at the Cour Saint-Émilion métro stop.
•  Stroll Along the Promenade Plantée
  This is a linear park along the top of a disused railway viaduct – the (earlier) Parisian version of New York’s High Line. Depending on the season it has beautiful flowers, and always offers commanding city views. The elevated portion ends with a pedestrian bridge over the green center of the Jardin de Reuilly, a favorite sunbathing spot. You can plan lunch at le Janissaire, then continue another mile or so along a portion of the tracks that ran through a depressed cut. Or you can window shop your way back to Bastille by dozens of artist studios and art-related stores that have been created in the arches of the viaduct.
• Have a Picnic
  There are so many great parks to choose from!  A few of my favorites are:
  • the lovely little Place des Vosges and the similar garden of the Palais Royal
  • the big and beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg
  • posh little Parc Monceau
  • large and hilly and un-touristy Parc Montsouris
  • spectacular though somewhat remote Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which has the wonderful ginguette Rosa Bonheur in the top corner (near métro Botzaris), and the delightful little Temple de la Sibylle overlooking its man-made lake.
  • The Bois de Vincennes on the east side of Paris (like the Bois de Boulougne on the west) is dauntingly enormous, but there are great things to do there: rent a boat on the lake, visit the gorgeous Parc Floral, go to the brand-new zoo, tour the Château de Vincennes, etc. Just make sure the métro stop you go to is within walking distance of the part of the park you’re aiming for!

  But don’t limit yourself to parks. There are other lovely spots to picnic.

  • The banks of the Seine are classic spots for a picnic, especially around or in the vicinity of the two islands at the city’s center. Just go down one of the flights of steps and find your perfect spot.
  • Another favorite place to picnic is along the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10e. Most charming is the section from rue du Faubourg du Temple (where it emerges from its long tunnel) up to the bend when it turns towards the east.

  Everyone seems to have wine or beer with their picnics, except in parks where a sign specifically prohibits alcohol, but the legal picture in theory appears to be quite complex. My thought is that if others are drinking in the same area and you aren’t rowdy you are unlikely to get more than a warning. In particular there doesn’t seem to be an “open container” law like in the U.S., just prohibitions on actually drinking in public.

• Take a Walking Tour
  Strangely, I’ve never taken an organized tour, but it should be worthwhile. There are good self-guided walking tours in the TripAdvisor City Guide app mentioned above, and if you speak French and have data on your mobile there are fascinating (albeit uneven) self-guided tours at ParisInconnu.com that I enjoyed in 2014.
• Get Lost on Your Own!
  This is my favorite thing to do in Paris. You always find something interesting, especially if you’re willing to divert from your original plan to do down a curious alley or investigate an attractive patch of greenery. Here are some possible areas to try, but don’t let this list limit you. In each case zig-zag through the area, exploring side streets, arcades (passages) and alleys as well as the main street.
  • Le Marais, 4e
    The lower Marais, the 4e arrondissement, is a classic area for strolling — and getting lost. There are plenty of restaurants and shops, open even on Sunday. The busiest and most touristy area is north of rue de Rivoli but I recommend a quieter stroll also on the other side of rue de Rivoli, including the little pedestrian area called Village Saint-Paul.
  • Montorgueil, 2e
    This is a nest of narrow pedestrianized streets chock full of shops, restaurants and bars.
  • Latin Quarter, 5e and 6e
    There are curious walking areas in every direction from the fountain of Saint Michel. Notice the throngs of tourists to the east. Check out the many bookstores downhill from Odéon. Stroll up past the Sorbonne to the Panthéon, then continue down to the charming old market street rue Mouffetard.
  • rue de Charonne, 11e
    This is a hip and slightly edgy area. Be sure to go up and down the side streets!
  • Montmartre, 18e
    Lots of tourists, but also lots of fun windy streets. Be sure to explore the north side of the hill as well as the busier south side.
  • Passy-Auteuil, 16e
    Yes, this is where the rich people live. And indeed there are sterile canyons of wealthy apartments. But some of those buildings are gorgeous, and there are some nice restaurants and bars there if you can put up with locals dripping with money and privilege (and English). Start at with a coffee at posh La Gare, at métro La Muette.

  I never worry much about safety in the daytime – you can basically go anywhere within the Peripherique highway (which you can’t cross without noticing!) At night you might want to ask your hotel if you plan to stray far from the touristy zones, but even in the dark much of the city feels quite safe. The type of crime you’re more likely to encounter is a pickpocket or mobile-snatcher on the métro, at a railroad station or in a crowded museum or other tourist area, though kids from the rougher suburbs are reputed to go in for street robberies now and then. There are also scams such as petitions, shell games, gold rings, etc. that you should just ignore. Paris is beefing up its police presence to reduce crime against tourists.

Day Trips Outside of Paris

In the unlikely event that you run out of things to do in Paris proper I am a big fan of the guidebook, An Hour From Paris. I’ve done a dozen day trips from it over my years in Paris, each accessible by train:

• Chantilly
• Château d’Écouen – Musée national de la Renaissance
• La Ferté-Milon and a 4-1/2 mile walk along the Canal de l’Ourcq (wonderful)
• The Jean-Jacques Rousseau museum in Montmorency
• Parc de Sceaux (only 15 minutes from Paris)
• Crécy-la-Chapelle (wonderful tho requires a train change)
• Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and Andrésy (wonderful)
• Champs-sur-Marne (where the château has now reopened)

Eating!

Last but not least, Paris is a paradise for food. My own forays have only scratched the surface but you can check out Dining Off (and On) the Beaten Path if you like. The TripAdvisor City Guide has suggestions and reviews. You might also like the The Fork site or app, which allows online reservations and also offers discounts.

Summer in Paris

Tags

graffiti, l'Ile Saint-Louis, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Petite Ceinture, Pont Saint-Louis, Rosa Bonheur, rue Ordener, street art, street musicians, sunbathers

The first two days of summer have been gorgeous!

On Sunday, after blogging, I headed over to my old favorite, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. I got a picnic lunch at the boulangerie on the corner. Naturally I ordered in French but I was bemused to see that the sign describing their sandwiches was in English. I asked the clerk about it and she said that they get a lot of tourists. At one of least-central parks in Paris? Hélas!

I got a little sun myself but I’m afraid that I mostly soaked up ambiance.

Sunbathers on the field below Rosa Bonheur in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont on a sunny Sunday.

Sunbathers on the field below Rosa Bonheur in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont on a sunny summer Sunday.

When I was sated with the field I had a drink at Rosa Bonheur,. It was a lively scene, as usual, but I didn’t know anyone, and unfortunately I left before Sylvain arrived. Sunday evening I took a walk down to the Seine and came across a mellow trio on the Pont Saint-Louis, which was just what the doctor ordered.

Street musicians on Pont Saint-Louis, between L’île Saint-Louis and L’île de la Cité.

This morning I set off once again for Senlis, and once again was discouraged at the railroad station by the continued disruption of schedules due to various transport strikes. I finally decided to instead do the next walk from ParisInconnu.com. This started at Batignolles, where I had left off the last walk, so I took the métro to Brochante. This gave me another opportunity to explore that neighborhood. While I still think it will get a big boost from better métro service I also noticed a lot of run-down real estate, and run-down folks. So I’m not in a particular hurry to live there after all.

Today’s walk followed the northern arc of the Petite Ceinture (little belt), a circular railway line around central Paris that was built in 1852 but was abandoned in 1932. Two sections of it have been turned into linear parks, but most of it is just an abandoned strip of extremely valuable land.

The Petite Ceinture, an abandoned railroad line that circles Paris.

It will be very interesting to see what Paris decides to do with the Petite Ceinture in the next few decades. I predict that much of it will be developed but that the neighborhoods will have a significant influence on what happens to their segment of the old line.

In the meantime, the Petite Ceinture is a wonderful place for street art. Here’s a photo of one abandoned station, and I’ve posted a video clip of the same spot.

Street art at an abandoned railway station (gare de l’Avenue de Saint-Ouen) on the Petite Ceinture in Paris.

Another abandoned station also appealed to me. It would make someone a great pied-à-terre, though it’s something of a fixer-upper.

The abandoned Pont-de-Flandre railway station on the Petite Ceinture in Paris.

The walk also took me along rue Ordener, where I had been for dinner with Darko last year. In daylight I got a better appreciation of the marvelous street art on the wall alongside the adjacent railroad yard.

Street art on a wall along rue Ordener in Paris.

I made a video clip of rue Ordener street art by walking along the wall, although I should caution you that it’s still pretty busy even after YouTube did its best to stabilize it. Both videos are HD so make sure to select that option.

I’ve been pretty happy overall with the ParisInconnu.com walks, but this particular one (Parcours 9 – Evangile) became very inaccurate towards the end. Obviously the person who wrote it up made sketchy notes, then didn’t cross-check with an accurate map before publishing it. I’ve been messaging them on Facebook with my corrections but I haven’t yet gotten a reply. I do wonder, however, whether nobody else has tried to follow the walks, or whether others have encountered the same issues but not reported them, or whether others have reported the same issues and the organizers are incompetent. All options are a bit sad in one way or another.

Less than a week to go in my petit séjour. It’s normal, towards the end of a long trip, that one’s thoughts begin to bend towards home. But there’s also always sadness in the endings of good things.

Mot du jour: Vous parlez très bien le français. A comforting thing one says to a foreigner who is struggling to find the right word or phrase; the equivalent of saying “there there” to a crying baby.

More Friends and Flânes

Tags

Albert Kahn Museum and Garden, Bastille, Belleville, Boulogne, Bullet holes, Décapsulateur, Deux Fois Plus de Piment, Elliot, Japanese garden, jardin à l’anglaise, La Pelouse, Le Siffleur de Ballons, meals, Montorgueil, Mustafa, Opéra de Paris, parc de la Villette, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris Then and Now, Pause Café, Ravel, Rosa Bonheur, rue Montorgueil, Yunpeng

I’ve fallen behind! But it’s cloudy and cool for a change so I’ll do my best to catch you up on my Parisian adventures.

Last Thursday I decided to visit the Albert Kahn museum and garden in Boulogne, a suburb at the end of the 10 métro line. Apart from driving through in a rental car I had never been to Boulogne. It would have been a lovely day for Senlis or another An Hour From Paris day trip, but train schedules were still disrupted by the strike so it seemed best to stay within reach of the métro.

Albert Kahn turns out to have been an interesting character. He made an enormous fortune as a speculator and banker in the 1890’s, then became a philanthropist, both as a donor and as founder of various projects designed to increase world peace and happiness. He never married, and the museum commentary takes pains to explain that his heart had been broken by a young woman in his youth, and that he maintained a secret mistress in later life. One of his eccentric projects was buying up dozens of parcels in Boulogne and turning them into a series of gardens – French formal, wild and natural (which the French call a jardin à l’anglaise), and Japanese. My favorite was the contemporary Japanese garden (a 1989 replacement for Kahn’s original version).

The Albert Kahn Japanese Garden in Boulogne, near Paris.

I wouldn’t put the Kahn museum and gardens on a must-see list, but you can spend a few relaxing hours there.

On Friday I finally caught up for lunch with Elliot Marks, a friend since his undergraduate days at Harvard who lives here with his French partner. We ate at a sort of deli-that-serves-food called Le Siffleur de Ballons. It was a casual and enjoyable meal.

Elliot at Le Siffleur de Ballons.

On Friday afternoon my friend Yunpeng arrived from Norway to stay with me for a long weekend. We had met on line several years ago, and had become comfortable with one another over Facebook, but this was the first time we had met in person. In retrospect this was quite a risk, but in this case it worked out beautifully. He had been to Paris once before so he had already seen the top tourist sites. This allowed me to guide him to some more typical and less touristy areas. His first evening we ate at my old favorite Le Loup Blanc (which closed in 2014), which was as usual pleasant and good value for money. On Saturday we started with a look around the trendy Bastille quarter, then had lunch at Pause Café. Yunpeng loved his Asian salad but my pan-fried salmon was just ok.

Yunpeng at Pause Café on rue de Charonne, Bastille.

We strolled up to where the Canal Saint-Martin comes out of its tunnel, then (again!) over to my old favorite Montorgueil neighborhood, which was exceedingly lively. We had kirs at my favorite table on the terrace of the LB Café, which has a view down rue Tiquetonne as well as up and down rue Montorgueil.

An aria from The Marriage of Figaro on the terrace in front of the (now closed) Compass d’Or on rue Montorgueil.

Yunpeng is from China but there is no good Chinese food in Bergen, Norway, where he is working on his PhD. Consequently, he had a hankering for a really good Chinese meal. Based on online reviews we ate on Saturday night at a Szechuan restaurant, Deux Fois Plus de Piment (“Twice the Spice”). Yunpeng enjoyed ordering in Mandarin Chinese, and to cater to my tender palate he requested spiciness level two on a scale of one to five. That worked out well for me, but Yunpeng, who is from northern China, found the food too spicy!

On Sunday morning we had an impromptu picnic at the parc de la Villette. My plan had been to take a leisurely stroll from there over to the parc des Buttes-Chaumont, but it was chilly in the wind so we took the métro home again for more clothing (which as it happened we didn’t need). My Boston friend Mustafa joined us — one of the “expected surprises” of this year’s sojourn — and the three of us set off for the parc des Buttes-Chaumont, and the Sunday afternoon scene on the terrace of Rosa Bonheur.

Mustafa at the temple de la Sibylle, in the parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

Handsome young men at Rosa Bonheur.

Yunpeng at Rosa Bonheur.

After a bottle of rosé and various other beverages we shared a nice, casual meal at a neighborhood French restaurant, La Pelouse, which has the great advantage of being right outside the park, at the Botzaris métro.

Yunpeng left on Monday morning, after a lovely visit. That evening Mustafa and I went to a concert at the Opéra de Paris at Bastille. It’s a stunning 1989 building, and the theater itself offers excellent sight lines, even for the (relatively) cheap seats in the second balcony that I had reserved. My favorite piece was La Valse by Ravel. I knew that following Bizet French music had emphasized tonal painting rather than traditional melody, but I hadn’t appreciated how radical Ravel was. This piece toys with and demolishes the very idea of a waltz. It was too hot even for Diaghilev!

I’ve been working on a project which I’d like to invite you to have a look at. I took a dozen photos of historic paintings when Jason and I toured the Musée Carnavalet a few weeks back. Since then, in my spare time I’ve been taking photos of what the same scene looks like today. The resulting pairs of photos are in this Google+ album: Paris Then and Now. Some scenes are almost identical, others very much changed, but I enjoyed the excuse to explore this lovely and historic city.

One of the paintings I couldn’t match was on Passage Piat in the diamond-in-the-rough neighborhood of Belleville. I was comforted, as I walked up a slightly sketchy street, to see a police station in the next block. My comfort level was somewhat reduced, however, when I noticed that there were bullet holes every few feet in all of its windows!

Belleville police station, with bullet holes every few feet in each of its windows.

Mot du jour: décapsuleur. For once your guess would probably be correct.

Décapsuleur, at Flunch.