In 2004 we rented an apartment for a month in southern France from an American woman who owns three French flats, one in Paris. We'd never stayed in that one, though I had walked past it in a nice neighborhood. A few weeks ago she emailed all her former renters to say it was suddenly available in December at nearly half price. We had decided to skip Europe this fall, but in 30 minutes we'd booked it for three weeks and the airfare too. Arrived here Dec. 8th at 8:00 am.
You never want to leave the Cluny. It's small, occupying one of the oldest residences in Paris (15th century), but it happens also to incorporate the ruins of a large public bath from Roman times. In the one-time Roman "frigidarium" we'll hear a Medieval Christmas concert the 18th. The tapestries, the furniture, the paintings, stained glass, statuary, manuscripts .. endlessly fascinating.
We also admired the big Christmas tree in the atrium of the Galleries Lafayette department store:
Not surprisingly, we found the airport bus drivers on strike! Had to take a cab. In morning rush. Stop-and-go for an hour. There went the first $100. (The cab driver was a tiny Asian woman who tossed our suitcases into her ultra-quiet lux Mercedes like a stevedore.) Found the apartment, knew the cleaning lady would still be here so dropped off the bags and went for coffee. She needed four hours, however. So we bought transit passes, explored the neighborhood, had lunch, but were soon Real Sleepy with much time left to kill. What to do? So we jumped on a bus and rode and rode .. warm, quiet, comfortable .. past the Eifel Tower, the American Church, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Hotel de Ville, to the end of the line. And back. Now nicely settled. Monday, we similarly rode the other bus from our neighborhood to the end of its line (the Opera house) just to see how it would take us there.
The Metro system is quick to any part of the city but we try to avoid its stairs (hard on the knees) and take the bus whenever possible. Thursday Elsa stayed home and I Metroed to the Museum of the Middle Ages (the Cluny), my favorite. Those Middle Age guys (wish I was still one of them) were no slouches. The glorious Unicorn Tapestries there seem more beautiful at every visit. They cover the walls of their own dimly lit circular room, an intimate chapel to courtly femininity. Click here, then on the yellow unicorn head, then on "The Lady and the Unicorn" and then on each of the six tapestries:
You never want to leave the Cluny. It's small, occupying one of the oldest residences in Paris (15th century), but it happens also to incorporate the ruins of a large public bath from Roman times. In the one-time Roman "frigidarium" we'll hear a Medieval Christmas concert the 18th. The tapestries, the furniture, the paintings, stained glass, statuary, manuscripts .. endlessly fascinating.
We also admired the big Christmas tree in the atrium of the Galleries Lafayette department store:
Right away that first day we bought a copy of the Pariscope magazine, a 190-page weekly events booklet which comes out Wednesdays, and learned of a Christmas concert Saturday at the American Church Paris where we sang for some weeks in 2006. Weren't sure that's what it said (in French) so emailed the choir director who told us there were two concerts (5 and 8pm), that tickets were required, and that both were sold out. We'd forgotten all of that. But he found two for us and set them aside. So we did enjoy the 5pm (from the very back row) in that very special place. But as we squeezed past a sour grandma into the crowded pew, she snapped to Elsa that we were intruding on her space. Luckily, some room opened up beside me and we were able to move one person to the left. Even so she didn't budge, the old grouch, but squeezed sullenly closer to her granddaughter. As the concert ended, Elsa wished her a "joyeux Noël" anyway but she only lectured us in machine-gun French. C'est la vie. (So far she's the only grouch in Paris.) At the end the audience joined in singing several carols in both French and English. Though the services there are entirely in English, it was exciting that the audience sang the French verses with greater familiarity (because the director had shrewdly added a top French children's choir to the program, so all their parents were in attendance).
Monday evening we met our son's wife Karen for dinner! Though they were just here for ten days over Thanksgiving, she arrived again Monday for two days of meetings relative to her job. So we went out to eat, which is always a pleasure because they have intensely explored the city's restaurant scene. The restaurant she really wanted was closed Mondays, her second choice was already booked full, and her third choice was too far away. So she asked her hotel for suggestions and (at $500 per night) they gave her good advice, a typical mid-to-upper-middle restaurant two blocks away, just beside the Ritz Hotel where Diana was staying when she died. Typically, the place seated perhaps 30 people all of whom have reservations for 8pm; when they all leave a second "seating" may or may not arrive. Fixed-price three-course menu: six choices for each course. Parisians can eat extremely well but they stay sleek because they're on their feet all the time and because the portions are small. Exquisite powerful flavors .. mussel soup (Karen) and scallops (us) for appetizers, beef filet (me) and pheasant (Karen, Elsa) for main course, then poached pear, or four tiny pieces of cheese (which cost extra) or rice pudding ("like grandma used to make") for dessert. Splitting a bottle of wine, our share was $140! Please send money! Since then it's back to a big pot of Elsa's wonderful soup in our refrigerator.
Except we did stop by a neighborhood Italian restaurant Friday for lunch and barely got in without a reservation. We never notice the difference between a brasserie or cafe, a bistro and a real restaurant, but we soon saw that this one had cloth tablecloths, an expensive menu and was soon full of businessmen. But again the food was so flavorful .. I had a warm brochette appetizer (with shaved ham, firm cheese and lots of olive oil) and Elsa ordered a risotto main course, also with prosciutto and smoked mozzarella, perfectly prepared. Cost $56 with no drinks, no dessert. She said it was the second-best risotto ever, after the best in Siena.
Then we window shopped the old Jewish quarter, the Marais. Managing the crowds and transit is getting harder each trip .. but we're still loving it. We try to head home before the busses fill up in the late afternoon and we have to stand. Even so, the ride home took 45 minutes.
That's because we live way southwest in Paris, in the ritzy 16th district about 20 blocks from where Rolf and Karen lived for two years till last March. Every morning he went out early for a fresh baguette for breakfast .. to, of course, "the best bakery in Paris." Turns out that's the first shop we see when we head out to coffee in the morning. The aromas as we walk past are enticing, tho we hadn't yet stepped inside till we came back from the Marais today. So our supper was soup plus a baguette with camembert. And an orange. And wine. And chocolate. Pretty nice.
That's because we live way southwest in Paris, in the ritzy 16th district about 20 blocks from where Rolf and Karen lived for two years till last March. Every morning he went out early for a fresh baguette for breakfast .. to, of course, "the best bakery in Paris." Turns out that's the first shop we see when we head out to coffee in the morning. The aromas as we walk past are enticing, tho we hadn't yet stepped inside till we came back from the Marais today. So our supper was soup plus a baguette with camembert. And an orange. And wine. And chocolate. Pretty nice.
We wanted to visit the Musee d'Orsay (above), Paris' famous Impressionist museum in a former train station. So I checked out a quicker way to get there .. not by bus or Metro but by the RER train. Maybe in Paris you take a train to reach the train station, non? So I went .. but when I got on the same train to come back home, it went way in the wrong direction. I jumped off at the next stop (by now it was raining) and found a bus home. No problem. Only the rain. Every day we have sun. And clouds. But never rain. Till that first train ride.
Then we read about "Paris' best pizza restaurant" and it's right here in our neighborhood. So we ran out at 5:30 for a quick slice, got nearly there, and came ze downpour horrifique. How do you say, it rained les chats et les chiens? And we'd left our umbrellas at home. Even so, we hurried on .. only to find it's not an informal Nisswa-style beer-and-pizza dive but a real restaurant offering three-course fixed-price meals starting at $46. It didn't even open till 7:00!! Dripping, we humbly sloshed homeward, ducking into an Asian takeout place for teriyaki beef and curried rice .. where Elsa got something caught in her throat and began coughing violently. Instantly one Asian owner rushed over with extra napkins while the other pounded her on the back. They couldn't have been more sweet. So we stopped at Rolf's "best bakery in Paris" for dessert .. and enjoyed "Paris' best" mocha eclairs :-)
Yesterday morning was sunny with a blue sky, so we both took the train and fortunately it went right to the Musee d'Orsay! C'était un morceau de gâteau. And yesterday afternoon it brought us back home. Again in the rain. Again no umbrellas.
It's like that old song: "it's plain the rain falls mainly on the train."
Wonderful Christmas lights everywhere. And a pleasant little Christmas concert Wednesday night in the modest neighborhood church at the corner. It's fun to come back to a familiar city for our fourth long stay in six years .. but to a new part of it. Life is good.
Dec. 18 .. now we've been to the medieval Christmas concert at the Cluny. What a treat. Six highly professional young musicians affectionately singing and playing the gamba, a lute, a little harp, bagpipes, fifes, drums, and about ten types of recorders, all with great skill and imagination. Some 500 years ago there must have been music exactly like this in those same halls.
No comments:
Post a Comment