Paris Journal, Part 8
Thursday 6/26
Today we took a long walking tour of Pigalle (where it proved easier than expected to keep Nicholas from noticing the racy stuff) and Montmartre, led by a group of Suzanne's students, who did a nice job of point out the notable sites. We walked by the sex shops and strip clubs in Pigalle, of course, but also saw: the Place Andre Breton and the building housing Breton's old apartment; the Moulin Rouge; an avant-garde building designed by Alfred Loos for Tristan Tzara; Salvador Dali's old apartment, the Lapin Agile, and the Bateau-Lavoir (Picasso painted the "Third Rose" portrait of Gertrude Stein here, and also Les Damoiselles d'Avignon. Montmartre is the highest point of elevation in Paris, and some of the streets are San Francisco-steep. It was another hot day, but the air was noticeably cooler and fresher here. The combination of hilly terrain, narrow streets and picturesque old buildings meant that we got our exercise and some lovely views at the same time.
We ended up at Sacre Coeur, which shines whitely at the top of the hill. This church was the only one we've been in so far that asks for silence inside and prohibits photographs, though they still have a gift shop selling religious icons, and a vending machine for Sacre Coeur medallions (Nicholas got one for his collection). Outside, on the steps overlooking the rest of the city, was gathered a mob of tourists, a couple of musicians playing sacred music for spare change, and a few beggars asking for alms. As we left we were happy to discover the funicular, which allows you to avoid the long set of steps down the hill, and then to come across a very lovely and elaborate old carousel, on which the three of us took a ride. We decided we needed to stop for something to eat on the way home, so we stopped for a relatively simple dinner at Parnasse 138. I had a very good fish soup as an appetizer, and Nicholas had his first grapple with an appropriately cheesy bowl of French onion soup. In a first for the trip, Suzanne and I skipped dessert even though it was included in the "formule." Nicholas, on the other hand, decided that he did want to have some ice cream.
Friday 6/27
Slow day with all of us tired from the last three days of big expeditions. I was due for some time off from daddy duty, so I went to the Jardin du Luxembourg for some reading and reading.. There was an excellent youth orchestra in the park playing Hello Dolly, the theme from Jaws, It's a Wonderful World, the Star Wars bar theme, and other crowd-pleasers. Suzanne and Nicholas went back to the American library for a new Hardy boys mystery (The Mystery of the Flying Express), getting another choice view of the Eiffel Tower in the process.
Saturday 6/28
There was an extremely large, loud, and raucous Gay Pride parade today that started by late morning not far away (it was loud even in our apartment) and snaked through the city for a good six or seven hours. Since the normal bus from Glaciere wasn't running, we discovered, happily, that we could walk without too much difficulty to the Jardin du Luxembourg, and in fact we even detoured a bit to take in the Pantheon, though we decided not to pay the entrance fee to go in. Once we got the Jardin the big treat was that we finally got a boat for Nicholas to sail in the central pond! He had a blast running around for a solid hour with all the other kids, the main task being to shove one's boat off from the side of the pond with a long wooden stick whenever it nears shore. Each child notes the number of his or her bateau and then eagerly follows its course as it tacks hither and thither. A moment of suspense comes if one's boat is sucked into the vortex around central fountain, but somehow all the boats manage to break free in the end. Whenever a French child's boat approaches the shore and is in need of a shove, one is likely to hear the excited cry "Il arrive! Il arrive!"
After the boating, we took Nicholas to the very cool playground I had scouted out on a previous visit. It was closed when he and I came to the Jardin for the first time but since then I had noticed that it seemed to be open for the season. It has great climbing structures, with tunnels and rope ladders and swinging bridges and everything one could want, and Nicholas checked out most of what it had to offer. All in all, it was a full afternoon of Luxembourg fun.
For dinner, we finally went to Bar a Huitres for the oysters I've been anticipating. I ordered the house specialty, a quite large platter of mostly raw seafood served on a bed of ice. Eating it was an invigorating and challenging experience even for a veteran Maryland-born crab-eater. In addition to the oysters (which were very good), the platter came with one small blue crab, a large spider crab, clams, mussels (discovered I don't really like these raw), shrimp (steamed), whelks, periwinkles, and some very tiny prawns. I skipped the periwinkles and the tiny prawns, since these were a lot of effort without much pay-off, but enjoyed all the rest, and was pleased to find out that I like whelks quite a lot. The seafood was served with three condiments in small pots--one was mayo, one was a very tasty and somewhat spicy creamy sauce, and one was almost like a vinegar dressing. I found myself really missing the cocktail sauce (the kind with lots of horse radish) for the oysters.
Sunday 6/29
Today we took a long, sweaty trek to and around and through the Chateau Versailles and its grounds. Alas, the Chateau itself was a bit of a bust for us--it was simply too mobbed with tourists (we waited in a long line just to get in, even though we bought our tickets in advance) and we didn't enjoy shuffling along with the crowd looking at a lot of not particularly interesting paintings of French kings and queens. To be sure, the whole affair was notably lavish and indisputably shiny, but it left me cold, or rather, hot and sweaty and irritable. We didn't really begin to enjoy ourselves until we got out to the grounds, and even then we still faced the problem that there were too many tourists and too few bathrooms and places to get refreshments (long lines for both). Things picked up by 3:30 when Les Grands Eaux Musicals began. This is when they begin piping classical music through an extensive speaker system while also turning on all the many fountains, which feature impressive statues of galloping horses, leaping dolphins, cavorting gods and goddesses, and so on. All of this was very pleasant, and the day began to cool, with some help from the misting fountains. We watched a couple of Italian youths using bread crumbs as bait and trying, just for fun, to catch some very big fish (carp?) in the central pond with their hands, and were eventually refreshed enough to enjoy all the varied and gorgeous flowers. I used my Elph to shoot a short video of Suzanne and Nicholas dancing that captured some of the best and lightest spirit of the day. And now when I read all those references to Versailles in the history books I will know whereof they speak.
Monday 6/30
Watched Nicholas in the morning while Suzanne prepped for teaching. He has filled a couple of notebooks with drawings and writings since we've been here, and is quite proud of this fact, and he managed a couple of pretty elaborate multi-colored dragons just this morning (the other day I got him a book on all the different types of dragons and how to draw them, and this has provided some inspiration, though he still has his own preferred style). This morning as he was sketching he said, "Dad, won't we be famous when we get back?" and when I asked him why he said "Because of all of these great drawings!" I said yes, we probably would be famous. Nicholas plans to set up our own "museum" in the house when we get back.
In the afternoon, I did some reading and writing interspersed with a the usual copious amount of walking. Today's walk nicely filled in a few gaps in my mental map of the surrounding area. First I took the green line to the Edgar Quinet stop and walked around the interesting cafe-filled area we noticed the other evening on our way to La Cagouille. Then I cut up to Boulevard Montparnasse and walked east, and before very long I hit the familiar cafes (Le Dome, Le Select, and La Coupole) in the area of Montparnasse that we have been in the habit of reaching by taking the Metro to the Vavin stop. I kept going further east until I hit Hemingway's old hangout the Closerie de Lilas. They have a collage rendering of Hem's face (both old and young) on the menu, but the place still has a solidly authentic French feel, with its cloistered patio protecting one from the crowded boulevard, and some quite impressive woodwork and tiling in the dark interior (including some very small tiles that look to be made of tiny sheets of beaten gold suspended in glass). I had a Pernod (always wanted to try one of those) and did a bit of writing. There were only a few other patrons at this time of the afternoon and it was a nice calm place to sit and work for a while.
On the way home I continued east on the Boulevard Montparnasse until it turns into Boulevard Port Royal. At this point, I could have cut south and ended up at Denfert Rochereau if I had wished, but instead I headed north (on Avenue de L'Observatoire) toward Jardin du Luxembourg, discovering that there is a separate little park extending like a slim southern arm from the Luxembourg. It's called Jardin Marco Polo and features a great fountain with galloping horses and turtles spouting water from their mouths, more or less in the Versailles mode. There were a few kids in swimsuits playing in the fountain, and as I continued north I saw that this is one of those places where you can actually lie or sit or play on the grass. Lots of people were stretched out either sunning themselves or enjoying the cool shade. It was a lively scene, and quite close to our apartment if one were to walk there directly.
Wednesday 7/2
Well, Nicholas has been so good this trip--gamely touring museums, walking miles at a time without complaint, sitting through long French dinners until the glace finally arrives, etc.--that we've decided to go to Paris Disney on Friday. Today I went to the big mall at Place d' Italie because it has an FNAC store (selling computers, dvds, books, music, etc.) from which you can pick up advance Disney tickets (crazily enough, you can not buy advance tickets from the Disney phone-order line if it's less than five days in advance, though they neglected to tell us this when we called for information a week ago).
Only later at dinner, talking to Suzanne's students, did we realize that all the attractions will be in French! Somehow the whole "Disney" thing seems so American that we just hadn't thought about it. Guess we'll find out how it goes. After getting the tickets, I took the Metro to the Bastille stop, and ended up doing quite a bit of walking in the rain as I wended my way to the Marais for one last meander. I went to our favorite patisserie from our previous trip, on Rue Vielle du Temple, just up the street from our old hotel, for a mille-feuille (what we call a Napoleon). I hadn't had one of these the whole trip, and it's getting down to now-or-never time (it was delicious). I also made a quick tour of the Musee Victor Hugo as I cut through the Place des Vosges. They've preserved much of the furniture from his lavish apartment--lots of heavy and ornate dark wood, and a clear taste for both Chinoiserie and the Gothic style. But the most impressive thing of all had to be the views out the large windows opening onto the Place des Vosges. It struck me as a pretty nice place to get some writing done.
Nicholas and Suzanne also had some errands to do during the afternoon, and then I surprised them at the little Notre Dame park (where I knew they were eventually headed). We went to Shakespeare and Company to pick up a book for Nicholas (we got The Indian in the Cupboard) for after we return our American library loaners, and particularly for the plane ride home.
From there it was on to Le Bistrot des Pingouins for the last class dinner. It's been a really great class (only one session left), and the students, who have lots of shared Paris experiences at this point, seem to have become a pretty close-knit group. Toward the end of dinner, Nicholas had his much-anticipated Tic-Tac-To championship match with Tanya--it was a rousing spectacle ending in a final score of 11 wins each, 10 draws (at this point I had to take Nicholas home for bedtime). Our favorite neighborhood bistrot didn't let us down--I think everyone enjoyed the good food (boy these kids put away a lot of beef!) and the relaxed but lively atmosphere.
Thursday 7/3
Suzanne and Nicholas are off to the very last class tour, visiting some of the famous resting places in the Cimetiere de Pere La-Chaise. It's an impressive list--the Lizard King (Jim Morrison), of course, but also Oscar Wilde, Richard Wright, Sara Bernhardt, Colette, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Moliere, Proust, and many others.
I decided to stay home to catch up on the journal and get some other writing done. We go to Disney tomorrow, and fly out Sunday morning, so this will probably be the last Paris post! Nicholas says we're going to have a celebration with all his animals when we get home.
The word count for the journal has topped 12,000. Hope it's been fun to follow along...
Today we took a long walking tour of Pigalle (where it proved easier than expected to keep Nicholas from noticing the racy stuff) and Montmartre, led by a group of Suzanne's students, who did a nice job of point out the notable sites. We walked by the sex shops and strip clubs in Pigalle, of course, but also saw: the Place Andre Breton and the building housing Breton's old apartment; the Moulin Rouge; an avant-garde building designed by Alfred Loos for Tristan Tzara; Salvador Dali's old apartment, the Lapin Agile, and the Bateau-Lavoir (Picasso painted the "Third Rose" portrait of Gertrude Stein here, and also Les Damoiselles d'Avignon. Montmartre is the highest point of elevation in Paris, and some of the streets are San Francisco-steep. It was another hot day, but the air was noticeably cooler and fresher here. The combination of hilly terrain, narrow streets and picturesque old buildings meant that we got our exercise and some lovely views at the same time.
We ended up at Sacre Coeur, which shines whitely at the top of the hill. This church was the only one we've been in so far that asks for silence inside and prohibits photographs, though they still have a gift shop selling religious icons, and a vending machine for Sacre Coeur medallions (Nicholas got one for his collection). Outside, on the steps overlooking the rest of the city, was gathered a mob of tourists, a couple of musicians playing sacred music for spare change, and a few beggars asking for alms. As we left we were happy to discover the funicular, which allows you to avoid the long set of steps down the hill, and then to come across a very lovely and elaborate old carousel, on which the three of us took a ride. We decided we needed to stop for something to eat on the way home, so we stopped for a relatively simple dinner at Parnasse 138. I had a very good fish soup as an appetizer, and Nicholas had his first grapple with an appropriately cheesy bowl of French onion soup. In a first for the trip, Suzanne and I skipped dessert even though it was included in the "formule." Nicholas, on the other hand, decided that he did want to have some ice cream.
Friday 6/27
Slow day with all of us tired from the last three days of big expeditions. I was due for some time off from daddy duty, so I went to the Jardin du Luxembourg for some reading and reading.. There was an excellent youth orchestra in the park playing Hello Dolly, the theme from Jaws, It's a Wonderful World, the Star Wars bar theme, and other crowd-pleasers. Suzanne and Nicholas went back to the American library for a new Hardy boys mystery (The Mystery of the Flying Express), getting another choice view of the Eiffel Tower in the process.
Saturday 6/28
There was an extremely large, loud, and raucous Gay Pride parade today that started by late morning not far away (it was loud even in our apartment) and snaked through the city for a good six or seven hours. Since the normal bus from Glaciere wasn't running, we discovered, happily, that we could walk without too much difficulty to the Jardin du Luxembourg, and in fact we even detoured a bit to take in the Pantheon, though we decided not to pay the entrance fee to go in. Once we got the Jardin the big treat was that we finally got a boat for Nicholas to sail in the central pond! He had a blast running around for a solid hour with all the other kids, the main task being to shove one's boat off from the side of the pond with a long wooden stick whenever it nears shore. Each child notes the number of his or her bateau and then eagerly follows its course as it tacks hither and thither. A moment of suspense comes if one's boat is sucked into the vortex around central fountain, but somehow all the boats manage to break free in the end. Whenever a French child's boat approaches the shore and is in need of a shove, one is likely to hear the excited cry "Il arrive! Il arrive!"
After the boating, we took Nicholas to the very cool playground I had scouted out on a previous visit. It was closed when he and I came to the Jardin for the first time but since then I had noticed that it seemed to be open for the season. It has great climbing structures, with tunnels and rope ladders and swinging bridges and everything one could want, and Nicholas checked out most of what it had to offer. All in all, it was a full afternoon of Luxembourg fun.
For dinner, we finally went to Bar a Huitres for the oysters I've been anticipating. I ordered the house specialty, a quite large platter of mostly raw seafood served on a bed of ice. Eating it was an invigorating and challenging experience even for a veteran Maryland-born crab-eater. In addition to the oysters (which were very good), the platter came with one small blue crab, a large spider crab, clams, mussels (discovered I don't really like these raw), shrimp (steamed), whelks, periwinkles, and some very tiny prawns. I skipped the periwinkles and the tiny prawns, since these were a lot of effort without much pay-off, but enjoyed all the rest, and was pleased to find out that I like whelks quite a lot. The seafood was served with three condiments in small pots--one was mayo, one was a very tasty and somewhat spicy creamy sauce, and one was almost like a vinegar dressing. I found myself really missing the cocktail sauce (the kind with lots of horse radish) for the oysters.
Sunday 6/29
Today we took a long, sweaty trek to and around and through the Chateau Versailles and its grounds. Alas, the Chateau itself was a bit of a bust for us--it was simply too mobbed with tourists (we waited in a long line just to get in, even though we bought our tickets in advance) and we didn't enjoy shuffling along with the crowd looking at a lot of not particularly interesting paintings of French kings and queens. To be sure, the whole affair was notably lavish and indisputably shiny, but it left me cold, or rather, hot and sweaty and irritable. We didn't really begin to enjoy ourselves until we got out to the grounds, and even then we still faced the problem that there were too many tourists and too few bathrooms and places to get refreshments (long lines for both). Things picked up by 3:30 when Les Grands Eaux Musicals began. This is when they begin piping classical music through an extensive speaker system while also turning on all the many fountains, which feature impressive statues of galloping horses, leaping dolphins, cavorting gods and goddesses, and so on. All of this was very pleasant, and the day began to cool, with some help from the misting fountains. We watched a couple of Italian youths using bread crumbs as bait and trying, just for fun, to catch some very big fish (carp?) in the central pond with their hands, and were eventually refreshed enough to enjoy all the varied and gorgeous flowers. I used my Elph to shoot a short video of Suzanne and Nicholas dancing that captured some of the best and lightest spirit of the day. And now when I read all those references to Versailles in the history books I will know whereof they speak.
Monday 6/30
Watched Nicholas in the morning while Suzanne prepped for teaching. He has filled a couple of notebooks with drawings and writings since we've been here, and is quite proud of this fact, and he managed a couple of pretty elaborate multi-colored dragons just this morning (the other day I got him a book on all the different types of dragons and how to draw them, and this has provided some inspiration, though he still has his own preferred style). This morning as he was sketching he said, "Dad, won't we be famous when we get back?" and when I asked him why he said "Because of all of these great drawings!" I said yes, we probably would be famous. Nicholas plans to set up our own "museum" in the house when we get back.
In the afternoon, I did some reading and writing interspersed with a the usual copious amount of walking. Today's walk nicely filled in a few gaps in my mental map of the surrounding area. First I took the green line to the Edgar Quinet stop and walked around the interesting cafe-filled area we noticed the other evening on our way to La Cagouille. Then I cut up to Boulevard Montparnasse and walked east, and before very long I hit the familiar cafes (Le Dome, Le Select, and La Coupole) in the area of Montparnasse that we have been in the habit of reaching by taking the Metro to the Vavin stop. I kept going further east until I hit Hemingway's old hangout the Closerie de Lilas. They have a collage rendering of Hem's face (both old and young) on the menu, but the place still has a solidly authentic French feel, with its cloistered patio protecting one from the crowded boulevard, and some quite impressive woodwork and tiling in the dark interior (including some very small tiles that look to be made of tiny sheets of beaten gold suspended in glass). I had a Pernod (always wanted to try one of those) and did a bit of writing. There were only a few other patrons at this time of the afternoon and it was a nice calm place to sit and work for a while.
On the way home I continued east on the Boulevard Montparnasse until it turns into Boulevard Port Royal. At this point, I could have cut south and ended up at Denfert Rochereau if I had wished, but instead I headed north (on Avenue de L'Observatoire) toward Jardin du Luxembourg, discovering that there is a separate little park extending like a slim southern arm from the Luxembourg. It's called Jardin Marco Polo and features a great fountain with galloping horses and turtles spouting water from their mouths, more or less in the Versailles mode. There were a few kids in swimsuits playing in the fountain, and as I continued north I saw that this is one of those places where you can actually lie or sit or play on the grass. Lots of people were stretched out either sunning themselves or enjoying the cool shade. It was a lively scene, and quite close to our apartment if one were to walk there directly.
Wednesday 7/2
Well, Nicholas has been so good this trip--gamely touring museums, walking miles at a time without complaint, sitting through long French dinners until the glace finally arrives, etc.--that we've decided to go to Paris Disney on Friday. Today I went to the big mall at Place d' Italie because it has an FNAC store (selling computers, dvds, books, music, etc.) from which you can pick up advance Disney tickets (crazily enough, you can not buy advance tickets from the Disney phone-order line if it's less than five days in advance, though they neglected to tell us this when we called for information a week ago).
Only later at dinner, talking to Suzanne's students, did we realize that all the attractions will be in French! Somehow the whole "Disney" thing seems so American that we just hadn't thought about it. Guess we'll find out how it goes. After getting the tickets, I took the Metro to the Bastille stop, and ended up doing quite a bit of walking in the rain as I wended my way to the Marais for one last meander. I went to our favorite patisserie from our previous trip, on Rue Vielle du Temple, just up the street from our old hotel, for a mille-feuille (what we call a Napoleon). I hadn't had one of these the whole trip, and it's getting down to now-or-never time (it was delicious). I also made a quick tour of the Musee Victor Hugo as I cut through the Place des Vosges. They've preserved much of the furniture from his lavish apartment--lots of heavy and ornate dark wood, and a clear taste for both Chinoiserie and the Gothic style. But the most impressive thing of all had to be the views out the large windows opening onto the Place des Vosges. It struck me as a pretty nice place to get some writing done.
Nicholas and Suzanne also had some errands to do during the afternoon, and then I surprised them at the little Notre Dame park (where I knew they were eventually headed). We went to Shakespeare and Company to pick up a book for Nicholas (we got The Indian in the Cupboard) for after we return our American library loaners, and particularly for the plane ride home.
From there it was on to Le Bistrot des Pingouins for the last class dinner. It's been a really great class (only one session left), and the students, who have lots of shared Paris experiences at this point, seem to have become a pretty close-knit group. Toward the end of dinner, Nicholas had his much-anticipated Tic-Tac-To championship match with Tanya--it was a rousing spectacle ending in a final score of 11 wins each, 10 draws (at this point I had to take Nicholas home for bedtime). Our favorite neighborhood bistrot didn't let us down--I think everyone enjoyed the good food (boy these kids put away a lot of beef!) and the relaxed but lively atmosphere.
Thursday 7/3
Suzanne and Nicholas are off to the very last class tour, visiting some of the famous resting places in the Cimetiere de Pere La-Chaise. It's an impressive list--the Lizard King (Jim Morrison), of course, but also Oscar Wilde, Richard Wright, Sara Bernhardt, Colette, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Moliere, Proust, and many others.
I decided to stay home to catch up on the journal and get some other writing done. We go to Disney tomorrow, and fly out Sunday morning, so this will probably be the last Paris post! Nicholas says we're going to have a celebration with all his animals when we get home.
The word count for the journal has topped 12,000. Hope it's been fun to follow along...
posted by Steve Shoemaker at 3:37 PM
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