Paris 2008 - 9-10 Juillet

9 Juillet (Mercredi) - We rode to Place de la République where we caught the 75 bus downtown. According to the plan de l'autobus, it should have gone down rue de Turbigo to rue des Archives. It didn't, and I knew it wouldn't because rue des Archives is one-way in the opposite direction. We got off at the Centre Georges Pompidou, at which we checked out an exhibit through the window. I'm not sure what we saw, but it appeared to be proposed buildings for the city. I suppose we'll have to go back to check.

From there. we walked over to rue des Archives and down to the area in which we had an appointment to meet Rhino75 at Les Marroniers for an apéro at 21h30. We had originally proposed a dinner meeting, but he works until 21h00. We were early because we had yet to eat dinner and I thought it might be a good idea to do that before we went out drinking, even though I didn't plan to drink very much.

Next door to Les Marroniers, there is a Thai restaurant named Chez Tsou. Robb suggested we eat there. It was really good and the waiters were all cute Asians (although I don't think any of them were actually from Thailand, they looked more Chinese than anything). Here's a poor video.

At 21h30, I went out to see if I could spot Rhino75 and he had just arrived as I got outside. We went back into the restaurant to join Robb. We drank and chatted for a couple of hours.

When we left, we planned to catch the bus just outside the restaurant, but it was not running that late. That meant we had to find a taxi stand. We didn't. But we did find a Parisian couple who stopped a taxi and asked him to take us home. I hope we have finally put to rest the crap about Parisians being cold and arrogant. We had actually just asked for directions to the nearest taxi stand. They went way beyond simple instructions.

10 Juillet (Jeudi) - I awoke around 04h30 with a splitting headache. I took some effervescent aspirin (everything over here comes in effervescent) and waited for it to work. It didn't. I took a regular aspirin. it didn't work either. So I got up, checked some email and sat on the sofa for a couple of hours. I returned to bed but couldn't sleep. Around nine or ten, I asked Robb to go to a pharmacie and get me a sinus medicine. Unfortunately, either he or the pharmacist made a mistake and he brought back a cold medicine. I didn't think it would work, but took one of the pills anyway in the hope I was wrong. I wasn't. It didn't. I went back to bed around four-ish and slept rather fitfully until about eight.

We walked down to rue Léon Frot to Les Casseroles for dinner around nine-ish. While there, Robb got into a conversation with a brother-sister couple from San Francisco. She was American and he was a Mexican professor. We chatted for a few minutes and they left.

We went for a short walk after dinner, during which I videoed a car I have been trying to get a picture of since I first saw it several weeks ago. The video isn't all that good because it was night and the light wasn't very good, so I'm not going to put it up.. It is a Ford sports car that I guarantee will never be seen in the US. I did finally get a daytime video, though it's a bit jumpy, but I'll put it up in a day or so. There are so many economical vehicles here that the US will not let into the country, and this is just another in a long list. One that I particularly like is the Mercedes A Class.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 12 Juin

Jeudi -

Robb had to go to BNP Paribas again. He couldn't have chosen a worse day on which to go. It was raining lightly when we left the apartment. By the time we got to Place de la République, it was a bona fide downpour. It was also freezing. I mean, it was COLD! Robb was not dressed appropriately, wearing only a light jacket, and spent most of the trip shivering.

When we finally left the bank, an hour and a half later, the sun was shining but it was still cold. As usual, Robb was hungry, so I suggested we go to La Taverne. What a laugh that was. I was indisposed when Robb placed our order, so I don't know if he screwed it up or if it was the waiter, but I did not get what I had told him to order. I suspect it may have been the waiter, because Robb ordered onion soup and had to ask again before he finally got it. Then, he had haddock with sauerkraut and I had salmon in a pastry. I wasn't overly fond of it. He loved his poisson.

While we were eating, an American family (dad, mom and son) walked in. Not a word of French passed their lips until the mom asked directions to the "salle de bain". The waiter looked at me with the most amused expression on his face, and I was flat-out laughing. The reason that is funny is because the French NEVER ask to use the "bathroom", they always ask directions to the toilet (ou sont les toilettes, s'il vous plait?).

When we left, as we passed their table on the café terrasse, I said, "Enjoy Paris." To which the dad replied, "Thank you. Merci. Viva la France." I mean how can you not crack up at something like that?

Since we got back to the apartment, I haven't been feeling too well. I hope it's just a temporary thing. I did take a short nap, but it didn't seem to help, although now, several hours later, I don't feel bad at all.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 3 Juin

Mardi - Because the French do things the way they do, we had to make a return trip to BNP Paribas for some piddling little reason. I guarantee it won't be the last.

Sometimes, when we ride the bus, Robb and I do not get to sit next to each other We just take whatever seat is vacant. Today, I sat next to a French girl from Strasbourg who is currently living in Paris. The conversation started when she, showing me her copy of Paris Pratique Par Arrondissement (lots of maps of the various areas of the city), pointed and asked if the bus was going to take her near her destination. Since I knew the area, I assured her she would be within a block of where she wanted to go. Then, of course, having broken the ice, we continued to chat until arriving at our stop, where we got off and said "au revoir", she going one way and we, the other.

At least, it didn't take as long in the bank as the first day.

Otherwise, it was pretty much a wasted day and it was cold. It was also wet, off and on.

On the return to the apartment, we stopped at a pizza place on Place de la République. We both had the Quatre Saison pizza; cheese, tomato sauce, peppers, and mushrooms. We each got a pizza the size of Montana. We ate as much as we could, which for me was about half, and for Robb, about two-thirds. Then - surprise, surprise - the waitress suggested we could take the rest home with us. What? Are we still in Paris? Have we been transported back to the US for bad behaviour? What's going on? But, sure enough, she put the leftovers into a pizza box and we were off.

I thought I was feeling better, but by the time we got back to the apartment, I was worn out. This is getting really old

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 2 Juin

Lundi - We had planned all weekend to do laundry, but of course, when the day dawned, Robb decided he wanted to go to BNP Paribas to open an account. He had been told by Rhino that he could do that if he went to the main office on Boulevard des Italiens. He would be able to accomplish that because that is the International Headquarters. So off we went on the 69.

We had to walk past Place Collette, so I took what I hope is better picture of the métro entrance there.

By the time we got to l'Opéra, the weather changed and we found ourselves with raindrops falling on our heads. Robb had not brought his parapluie, so since we were so close to Celio, we stopped in there and he bought one. A very nice one from the appearance. Again I was tempted to buy another, but mine seems to be holding on for dear life, even though it appears to be mortally wounded.

We found several branches of BNP on Boulevard des Italiens. The first, to which we went, was of course, the wrong one. They sent us on a quest down the street. The second one we entered was the correct branch, in fact, I suppose it was the main office. It was just across the street from a lovely restaurant, La Taverne. I waited in the waiting area while Robb was seen almost immediately by a bank conseiller (or whatever they're calling them these days).

Robb was gone for over an hour, so I assumed things were going okay. I was partially correct. He could open the account but he needed a lot more paperwork filled out and submitted (did you forget the French bureaucracy). But it is not the unattainable goal they had made it seem at the first branch to which we went on Boulevard Voltaire.

Having accomplished that, we walked across the street to the Café Gramont where I had a Sandwich Baguette Mixte (ham and cheese on a baguette) and Robb had a sandwich Provençal (that appeared to be a long, thin pizza, and according to Robb was excellent). We each had un verre du vin rouge.

Then, feeling adventurous, I walked us down to get the 20 bus to l'Opéra. As we approached the bus stop, we saw yet another branch of BNP Paribas. We wondered just how many branches they have on this street. We got the bus to l'Opéra. We walked over to rue du Quatre Septembre, just across from la Brioche Dorée, and got the 20 going in the opposite direction, toward Place de la République. Just before we got to our stop, I saw a huge luggage store. We walked back there and, after checking every damned piece of luggage in the store, I bought a huge neon-blue bag. Of course, it was again the rush hour (how do we do that) and there was no way I was going to try to carry that thing on a bus and then lug it to the apartment, so we found a taxi stand and waited for one to show up.

We waited for several minutes, with many taxis driving past, none of which even looked at us, much less stopped. Finally, one stopped. When Robb gave him the address, which may or may not have been correct, he replied that he "doesn't go there". Not to worry, he had barely left when another taxi stopped. The driver got out, put my empty suitcase in the back and we took off. On the way, I took this picture of the luggage store, Rayon d'Or, as we drove past. He was not familiar with the address and I pretty much had to give him directions, street by street. Fortunately, that's one of the things at which I'm rather good.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 23 Mai

23 Mai (Vendredi) - We got ourselves ready and walked down to get the bus to Gare d'Austerlitz. Once we got there, we had our first encounter with a rude bus driver. A bus that should have been going to our destination arrived, but it indicated that it was going to a place we didn't recognise. I asked the driver if it was going Place d'Italie. Evdently he didn't like the way I asked the question and lied, telling me that it was not going there. We got off to await one that was going to Place d'Italie. Then we started thinking; wait a minute, it has to be going to Place d'Italie no matter where else it might go, so the driver flat out lied to me.

At any rate, we were getting a llitle tight on time for our appointment to meet Rhino at Place d'Italie, so I suggested we take a taxi. We couldn't see any taxi stands, so we determined that if we went into Gare d'Austerlitz, we would certainly find a taxi stand. We did.

Upon arriving at the taxi stand, there were at least four people ahead of us and the taxies were arriving rather slowly. It finally got to be our turn, when some old woman and her husband showed up and thought they were going to jump in front of us. When the taxi came, she tried to push in front but I elbowed her out of the way and we got into the taxi and took off. It didn't take us long to figure out how to handle the queue jumpers, of which we've encountered quite a few on this trip. probably because we're using the bus instead of the métro. And it seems to be mostly the women who are the perpetrators. The men pretty much just wait patiently for their turn. I suppose they've been beaten into submission by the pushy women.

We got to Place d'Italie in plenty of time and waited at the métro entrance for Rhino to appear. He was running a little late, but no problem, we weren't in a hurry.

While we were waiting, Robb was accosted by two Indian-appearing women who were selling some kind of paper about feeding the poor. He paid €2 for it and then immediately regretted it. He got into a mini-confrontation with them but it apparently ended with both parties laughing about it. He because he realized he had been had, and they because they, too, realized he had been had.

Rhino showed up and we started walking down to L'Oisive Thé. Even though Rhino and Aimee know each other, he had not yet been to the tearoom. In the tearoom, Rhino and I had Aimee's wonderful chocolate cake while Robb had a huge salad. We all shared a huge pot of very good tea. We chatted for about three hours, with Aimee joining us for a while.

Afterwards, we walked with Rhino back to the Place d'Italie métro station, on the way to which we saw this neat building just down the street from the tearoom, and then we caught the bus back to Gare d'Austerlitz where I walked to the Pont d'Austerlitz to get this picture of the metro pont (if it has a name, I haven't been able to find it, but it's between Pont d'Austerlitz and Pont Charles de Gaulle) and one of the backside of Notre Dame. As we were approaching the pont I noticed this interesting contrast between old and new. Then we got the bus to the apartment. We have started riding the bus all the way up to Pére Lachaise and walking back because it's downhill all the way and a lot easier for me to navigate.

Back at the apartment, we indulged in another bottle of champagne. This one was even less expensive than the last at €2.20. It was a rosé and really quite good. Wow, who would have thought? We have checked the prices for our champagne of choice in the US and found they are more expensive here.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 22 Mai

22 Mai (Jeudi) - Robb fell in love with the jacket I bought yesterday and decided he had to have one too, so we headed for the bus stop. When it came, I decided we should get off at Place Léon Blum and take the 56 to Place de la République. While we were waiting for it to show up, someone came and put up a notice about another damned manifestation. According to the notice, the manif would last from 13h00 to 18h30, during which time the bus service would be disrupted. A woman came along and saw the notice, but like we, she also noted that the bus had just driven past and it was well after 13h00, so we all just sat there and waited and hoped the bus would come by. Sure enough, it did. But when we got to Place de la République, we got to see the actual manif. The notice had said something about the police, but the people we saw demonstrating were blacks. Yesterday, we had seen a black guy handing out brochures, but he only gave them to black people, so I assumed and still believe, it was some kind of black thing. Of course, that meant the second bus we wanted to take would not be running.

We started walking in the general direction of our goal and finally came across the police manif. Then we had a choice. We could continue to walk or we could take the metro. I figured walking was the lesser of the two evils. Does anyone hear that annoying buzz? So off we went. I thought we were following the correct street, but somehow we missed a turn. We stopped at a shop because I was hoping to get another man-bag just a bit larger. They had one that I liked but I decided to shop around a bit more. We asked the salesgirl for directions to rue des Archives. She supplied the info and we set off again.

People in France, and Paris in particular, love their plants and they can be seen almost everywhere.

As soon as we got to the corner of rue des Archives, I recognized it immediately. We walked down to the clothing store where Robb got his jacket, which I like more than mine and, indeed, looked at yesterday but they didn't have it in my size, although I might have been able to get into one a size smaller which is the size Robb bought.

We left the store and walked down to rue de Rivoli and the sidewalk shops outside BHV, where Robb bought a scarf. I was going to get one also, but they didn't have the color I wanted.

We then walked down by l'Hotel de Ville. We were going to just walk past on our way to the Notre Dame area a couple of blocks away, but I saw they were having some kind of exhibit and I suggested we should see if we could get in. No problem. We approached the gate to the entrance and a guy handed us an information brochure and we walked in. Just after entering, we had to stop and let them search our stuff, which was a simple formality. We entered l'Hotel de Ville and began looking at the stuff. It was about a French Navy aircraft carrier, le Charles de Gaulle. It was a great exhibition. They actually built a mock-up of the carrier in one of the rooms and there was a big screen movie showing life aboard the vessel, including the diferent planes taking off and landing, the section in which the guys slept and lived when not on duty, the mess hall and of course, the operational areas. Except for the cute sailors, I think Robb was kind of bored but I loved it.

We left and headed over to the Notre Dame area because the tourist shops there are the least expensive place in town to get souvenirs. The shop to which we went had the kind of scarf I wanted in the color I wanted. Than just to make the deal irresistable, they offered three for the same price everybody else in town was asking for one.

We were both getting hungry, so we stopped at a cafe just around the corner. I had a ham and cheese sandwich; Robb had a salad.

After eating, we walked down to the Pont Neuf and got the bus back to the apartment.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 21 Mai

21 Mai (Mercredi) - I needed an different kind of extension in order to plug in my converter. All the plugs in the apartment are recessed and will not accept the converter. I figured we could just run down to BHV; I was certain they would have the kind I need. but then, while we were getting ready to go out, I discovered that I already had a plug that would work and it did. But we were ready to go and wanted to go, so off we went.

When we got to BHV, we found they have changed considerably. First, the price of everything was much increased because they had gone from a Sears-like operation to a Bloomingdale's kind of place. Then, they had moved all their mens wear stuff to a diffeent building, but again, the prices were not like the BHV we were expecting. We were very disappointed because we very much liked BHV before.

We left there, walked to rue de Rivoli and we bought a scarf. Then we decided to take a walk up rue des Archives just for the hell of it.

We came upon a store with a great looking leather jacket in the window. I checked the price but couldn't believe it. We went in and looked around. I found the jacket and again checked the price. I still couldn't believe it, so I asked the clerk and she verified it. €99 for a beautiful leather jacket. Sadly, they didn't have the one I really liked in my size, but they had one that was almost as nice, so I bought that.

We left and started a leisurely stroll of the area taking in as much as we could, Just up the street, we found this Plan de Marais. After which we came across these three cars that represent one I used to like, one I love and one you see all over Paris. It was really our first day of any length spent in the Marais and we were beginning to see what everyone was raving about. We walked to the Archives Nationales, walked through the garden to the main building and had a look around inside. The was a small charge to actually enter but it was so late, we figured it would be closing very soon, so we didn't buy a ticket to enter.

Another thing one sees a lot in Paris is Smart cars whose owners make a few hundred euros a month by letting companies advertise on them. I think it pays between €300 and €700 depending on the company.

We returned to rue des Archives and caught the 75 bus to Place de la République where we got the 56 bus to Place Léon Blum.

We almost passed the pâtisserie again, but the call was too much to ignore. Robb bought an apricot tarte for me and a strawberry tarte for himself.

Which brings us to this point; there are a lot of words in English which are very close to French words. One of those words is apricot. In French, they change the p to a b. Then there is the word April, in which the p is changed to a v. It's all so very stange don't you think?

Another thing I've noticed here is the number of men who are minding the children. You see guys all the time walking with their kids, picking them up at school or pushing strollers. I think that's really nice.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 18 Mai

18 Mai - It was raining when I got out of bed today. Robb said it started when I got up, but I thought I heard it before I managed to rouse myself. And it was quite a bit cooler. All in all, not the kind of day when one plans to do a whole hell of a lot. But around 15h00, it seemed to be a little warmer, so I thought we could go for a little walk. I checked my bus map and saw that the 56 bus ran from Place de la République back to Place Léon Blum, so we could walk over there and then return by bus.

We began by walking down to Place Léon Blum where we picked up Boulevard Voltaire and started our sojourn. One of the first things we saw was the new Smart Car Sports model. I like it.

We continued down Boulevard Voltaire where we came upon this Mustang. Someone has beaucoup des bucks to be able to bring that over here and then afford the gas to drive it in Paris, where more often than not, traffic simply crawls at a snail's pace. We just passed a Total gas station the other day and I noticed that gas there is going for €1.47 per liter. That makes it a little more than €6 per liter which would be about $9 per gallon.

Of course, we checked a lot of the immobliers we passed, to get an idea of real estate prices. We re-discovered what we already knew; if we wanted to live on the outskirts of the city, we could buy a really nice place quite reasonably, or if we could settle for a studio (fat chance) they're also inexpensive. Some of the studio apartments are relatively large, but not for two people.

We came upon the beautiful Saint-Ambroise, which I remembered from the very first time we were here in 1999. There was a neat sculpture in the garden-like area in front of it. Shortly after, we passed a lovely flower shop. As we walked, we marveled at the great architecture. Here is a typically French building.

We were now nearly at Place de la République and I had not yet seen a single bus. When we got to the place, there was a bus stop right on the corner, so I checked it and, wouldn't you know, there was some kind of demonstration scheduled for between 12h30 and 15h30 and they had canceled the bus service for the entire day. Drat, that meant that, like it or not, I would have to use the métro. Well, if life was going to give us lemons, we would make lemonade. This would be a good opportunity to walk around the area to which we came on our very first trip. Starting with the statue of Columbus in the middle of the Place.

One of the first things that occurred at Place de la République, was we ran into two gay guys who were almost like Robb and I. One knows his way around and the other gets lost. We both thought that was really funny. I forgot to mention that the other day in the Pont Neuf métro station, Robb ran into a couple of guys from the University of Miami. Talk about a small world.

There were a lot of changes, starting with what once was our favorite restaurant, Chez Adi. It is now called the Pachyderm. Then we discovered the hotel which used to be called the Luxour, is now called Hotel Taylor. We kept on walking and looking. Some things were just the same but others were gone or re-named. Bistrot Ma Tante had been re-named Chez Tante Alice. We walked down to rue du Faubourg-St Martin. I took a beautiful picture of the lovely mairie but when I looked at it back at the apartment, there was some jerk's thumb in the way. I tried to find one on the internet but couldn't.

We walked toward the Porte St. Martin. Robb saw this place and asked me take a picture. Then we passed one of the many passages in Paris, Passage Brady. There used to be hundreds of passages in Paris, most of which were covered, There are now about twenty.

We got down to Boulevard Saint-Martin. Just across the street was a lovely Italian place in which I had had a great pizza, La Botte d'Italie. It was only a short walk from there to the métro station, where we caught the train back to Place Léon Bum.

As we passed a patisserie we've passed at least a hundred times, the macarrons called out to me from the window and I made a sharp right into the shop. If you're even vaguely considering a diet, you do not want to get close to a French patisserie, the fragrance is sent directly from hell to entice all within range of it. Resistance is futile! I bought two macarrons chocolat.

When we got back to the apartment, we put our stuff away and decided to consume the macarrons immediately. Those things are much richer and more filling than they appear. We could barely eat half. All the better for tomorrow.

Plus à venir, mes amis.