Paris - October 18, 2008
20081018 – Paris: I got up around 8:00. Another rough night. While I was falling asleep at the table in the restaurant, doing stuff on the computer, etc. wakes me up. I am not sleepy at all when I turn out the lights (last night at midnight). I also did laundry last night with the hopes that it’s my last batch. The t-shirts take forever to dry. The underwear is the fastest and the socks next, but they are not dry overnight (well, I don’t have a line to put them on and there are not enough hangers in the closet, which does not help).
Daily stuff:
* Too many people still smoke here. Scary to see really young people (not into their teens) with cigarettes. And parents pushing their infants. Yikes.
* Sandy tells me it’s not a lack of baths. It’s that many people don’t like to use deodorants.
* Posts line many of the sidewalks to keep people from parking there.
* Right of way is an issue here. People seem to walk on both sides of paths/sidewalks and in the middle. And they stop and block your way. A bit chaotic when you are trying to go somewhere and keep having to stop short or dodge people when they are side by side filling the width of the walk and not yielding.
* Any place where I have Place de Voges it should be Place de Vosges.
I awakened Robin a bit before 9:00 and I went down to the cellar for my yogurt, café au lait, croissant, pain chocolate, and OJ. Back upstairs, I worked on a photo album for 10/16 and started on one for 10/17 before we had to leave.
Sandy came over to the hotel at 11:00 and we took the Metro way northwest to an exposition hall where there was Pari Fermiere, 100 boutique vendors of all sorts of foods, wines, spices, etc. All small farms and shops. We were among very few Americans there. Good thing to have Sandy along to speak for us. We shopped for dinner food and also had lunch there. Wines, chocolates, pastries, breads, cheeses, jams, poultry, pork, escargot, pates, fois gras, nuts, prunes, etc. And almost everyone wanted to give you a taste whether you were buying or not. Wonderful stuff. For lunch, Robin and I each had a sandwich with chevre, yellow tomatoes, lettuce, and an eggplant spread. Sandy had a plate of cold sausages and pates. I finished lunch off with a poire glace. Yowie.
We got on the Metro. Sandy left us at the Opera station where he transferred to go home. We stayed on to the end of the line and the Cemeterie du Pere-Lachaise. We walked up and down and up and down many of the streets, rows, stairs for a couple of hours. Very pretty day to be outside. Very interesting place.
From there, we walked home, which was a good distance. We stopped at a pastry shop for me to get a palmier. Later, at Place de la Bastille, Robin got a cheese crepe. We did a little shopping and then headed back to the room and our laptops.
We went to the Levin apartment at 7:00 for a dinner of the goodies from today plus whatever Sandy bought in addition. We had wine, cheese, sausage, pate, mushrooms, duck rillette, tapenade, baguette, salad, melon, raspberries, and chocolate. Yummy. Went home around 9:00.
The Metro stop we used to leave the food fair is called Louise Michel, the only one named after a woman. She was a revolutionary who was shipped to New Caledonia, served her ten years, returned and was an anarchist. She died in 1905. Any relation to us?
Daily stuff:
* Too many people still smoke here. Scary to see really young people (not into their teens) with cigarettes. And parents pushing their infants. Yikes.
* Sandy tells me it’s not a lack of baths. It’s that many people don’t like to use deodorants.
* Posts line many of the sidewalks to keep people from parking there.
* Right of way is an issue here. People seem to walk on both sides of paths/sidewalks and in the middle. And they stop and block your way. A bit chaotic when you are trying to go somewhere and keep having to stop short or dodge people when they are side by side filling the width of the walk and not yielding.
* Any place where I have Place de Voges it should be Place de Vosges.
I awakened Robin a bit before 9:00 and I went down to the cellar for my yogurt, café au lait, croissant, pain chocolate, and OJ. Back upstairs, I worked on a photo album for 10/16 and started on one for 10/17 before we had to leave.
Sandy came over to the hotel at 11:00 and we took the Metro way northwest to an exposition hall where there was Pari Fermiere, 100 boutique vendors of all sorts of foods, wines, spices, etc. All small farms and shops. We were among very few Americans there. Good thing to have Sandy along to speak for us. We shopped for dinner food and also had lunch there. Wines, chocolates, pastries, breads, cheeses, jams, poultry, pork, escargot, pates, fois gras, nuts, prunes, etc. And almost everyone wanted to give you a taste whether you were buying or not. Wonderful stuff. For lunch, Robin and I each had a sandwich with chevre, yellow tomatoes, lettuce, and an eggplant spread. Sandy had a plate of cold sausages and pates. I finished lunch off with a poire glace. Yowie.
We got on the Metro. Sandy left us at the Opera station where he transferred to go home. We stayed on to the end of the line and the Cemeterie du Pere-Lachaise. We walked up and down and up and down many of the streets, rows, stairs for a couple of hours. Very pretty day to be outside. Very interesting place.
From there, we walked home, which was a good distance. We stopped at a pastry shop for me to get a palmier. Later, at Place de la Bastille, Robin got a cheese crepe. We did a little shopping and then headed back to the room and our laptops.
We went to the Levin apartment at 7:00 for a dinner of the goodies from today plus whatever Sandy bought in addition. We had wine, cheese, sausage, pate, mushrooms, duck rillette, tapenade, baguette, salad, melon, raspberries, and chocolate. Yummy. Went home around 9:00.
The Metro stop we used to leave the food fair is called Louise Michel, the only one named after a woman. She was a revolutionary who was shipped to New Caledonia, served her ten years, returned and was an anarchist. She died in 1905. Any relation to us?
posted by Bud Hirsch at 4:20 PM
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