Paris
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Monday, September 16, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Paris 2004
Letter from Paris, No. 1
Wednesday, April 28, 2004, as the
romantic sound of the poubel, the very efficient garbage service of
Paris underneath our windows, the flashing light on the top of the truck in my
eyes, our first full day in Paris draws to a close. We arrived a week ago after a difficult
change of planes in Philadelphia, running from the C terminal to the new
International Terminal and - against all odds - two breathless senior citizens
were boarded before the doors closed, and we were en route.
On arrival in Paris, and against
all odds, our suitcase did arrive, the last two, and then we were greeted by
the “April in Paris” cold, heavy rain.
Good luck, we had a taxi driver, a charming woman, neatly coiffed, who
knew our section of Paris.
The next day we took a taxi back
to Charles de Gaulle Airport and a short flight to Rome. We were looking forward to a reunion with
dear friends that we had known in Saigon and had last seen in New York when
Klaus was at the German Mission to the United Nations.
From Paris to Rome via Alitalia
was pleasant, an excellent cold lunch was served and, interestingly enough, the
three flight attendants were men not the accustomed gorgeous Italian young
ladies. On arrival our suitcase came
quickly and we looked for taxis.
We were accosted civilly several
times by men in attired in black suits and white shirts and black ties offering
cut rate fare to Rome, Euro 15 each. We
were tired of walking so we agreed, and followed our new guide to his little bus,
already packed with luggage and other passengers. His English was better than my Italian, he
knew the neighborhood where we were going and off we went. So for Euro 30 plus a Euro 5 tip we got
quickly to our destination. The normal
fare would be Euro 45 or more. Taking
his card, we promised to call him for the return trip to the airport. Moreno Perucci, Limousine e Minibus, tel 338
2820 554.
With the exception of Monday
morning, during our stay the sky in Rome was as grey as Paris, and rain showers
were frequent.
We arrived at Klaus and
Angelica’s house in about 20 minutes.
The German Embassy is set in a very large garden behind walls, it is just outside the walls of
Rome at the Gate. Angelica does not drive in Rome so she has
learned to ride the city bus system to the surprise of many of her German,
Italian and other expatriate friends.
Klaus was out-of-town for the day but would join us later at the German
Cultural Center where an amateur jazz group from Berlin would be playing with
food and drink accompanying it.
Angelica ordered a taxi to take
us into town and while the typical Roman taxi driver went with verve, unnerving
us not by his speed or his audacity, normal in Rome, but his attention to the
GPS screen in front of him. While we
caught up on each other’s news, children, and travel, Angelica let drop that
the next time we came to Europe they would be in Paris! Klaus's nomination as German Ambassador to Paris had been accepted and they would
leave Rome in July and take up residence in Paris in September. We expressed delight, of
course, as we would be back in the fall, but disappointment as we were looking
forward to another visit to Rome soon.
Saturday afternoon we had planned
to take a bus to downtown Rome and look for Bramanti’s Tempietto. Klaus volunteered to drive us there. He had grown up in Rome, had most of his
primarily school education there, where he had also learned to drive. He had served there after his tour in Saigon,
so obviously knows Rome and speaks Italian as a native. The trip up to the Tempietto was challenging
in a heavy rain and, as we turned into the court yard the skies really opened
up and we were deluged by a heavy fall of large hail. We decided to give up on sightseeing that day
and return to the house where Klaus’ wife, Angelica, offered welcomed
refreshments.
Sunday Klaus drove us to Ostia
Antica. Under a grey sky and cold breeze
we explored the ruins. It was a
fascinating look into the life and times of a commercial port town in early
Christian Rome. Then on to lunch across
the road from the fishing port at the L’Orologia di Fiumicino, via della
Torre Clementina, 114, 00054 Roma, tel. 066505251, closed Wednesdays.
It is a very small restaurant
where Klaus is well known; all four tables were filled, one with a family of
12. Colette and I had tagliatelli with a
mix of mussels and langoutines in their shells, and the tagliatelli had bits of
fish and shrimp. Klaus had a salad of
and . The first course was followed by a whole baked
sea bass, accompanied by a light, chilled white wine.
However, on Monday, the day
before our departure we took the city bus into town and we had a lovely morning
permitting us to renew our acquaintances with the Piazza Novena, the Pantheon,
and trudging up a hill, the Scuderie del Quirinale, the wonderful art gallery
across the top of the hill from the offices of the president of Italy, to see
an exhibition of some Velasquez, Benin, and others on loan from El Pardon,
London, Paris and Budapest. Occasionally
as our needs we required, I tried what is left of my Italian on policemen or
innocent passersby and, with one exception, a lady with a tiny baby, all had
enough English to solve our problem.
After the Pantheon, tired,
hungry, we crossed the Corso and into a little street that we hoped would lead
to the Scedure di Quirinale. A few
steps, then to the right, and we nearly tripped over two neat little tables
with chairs. We went inside the little
bar, the sandwiches looked good, as they always do in Rome. We selected two different ones, the barman
put them in a grill, and after we sat down, he brought them to us. Delicious, with a bottle of water, followed
by a black coffee, we then had to the courage to continue. The little bar is Wine Café al Corson,
Vicolo Sciarra, 60 -00186 (angele via del Corso).
Now back in Paris, not much
warmer than Rome, and we are faced with the housekeeping problems left over
from a nephew who lived in our pied a terre for the last school
year. He did not have many housekeeping
skills. The telephone answering machine
had to be replaced, the telephone does not work quite right, so we make trips
to renew batteries.
However, our pied a terre,
actually a pied on the first floor, is comfortable. Built about 1850 +/-, probably as
lower-income rental properties, with dubious plumbing and a water pipe on the
landing, it has charm. The previous
owner chopped out the plaster in the roof to divulge the beams, some of them
badly eaten by what ever bugs eat beams nominally covered in plaster. The kitchen ceiling is a disaster since a
long, slow leak from the kitchen above it has left stains, hanging bits of
plaster, and each morning finds bits of and pieces on the floor. A year ago at the annual meeting of the condo
association it was agreed and promised that repairs would be made by the
association; it has not be done yet.
What we call our section of Paris
is not what most of you know from your several trips here. We live in a working class neighborhood in
the third arrondisement. Our zip code is
Paris 75003. Known as the marais,
it is one of the oldest parts of Paris.
Our apartment is located on rue de
la Notre Dame de Nazareth, abbreviated as rue de la ND de Nazareth.
Its great advantage is we are equal distance from three Metro (subway)
stations, Place de la Republique, Temple, and Arts et Metier. It is a 10-15 minute walk from here to the
Picasso Museum, to the Beaubourg Museum, and five minutes more to my favorite
Paris department store, the Bazar de l’Hotel de Ville, and then the Seine.
Our neighborhood is very
mixed. The shops on the Rue de ND de
Nazareth are primarily wholesale dealers in leather work and sport
fashions. The shopkeepers are Algerian,
Tunisian, and Jewish. Halfway between
our apartment and the rue du Temple is one of the larger synagogues of
Paris. We have only one bistro, on the
corner of our street and rue Volta, two doors to the left. Happily for us, it is open only during the
week from 8 AM to 6 PM so while it is busy during the day, evenings and
weekends it is quiet.
On the corner of rue Volta and
Rue de Vertbois is a restaurant, Le Clos de Vertbois, of which we have heard
very good reports. On the other side of
the street is an Argentinean steakhouse that has good business, and to its
right is Ami Louis, one of the more expensive restaurants of Paris. When we are here and Chirac brings his friend
Bill Clinton there to dinner, our neighborhood is sealed off from the outside
world.
Of our neighbors, the most
important of which is, of course, the boulanger. Originally Tunisian, like so many of our
neighbors, he has fresh bread four or five times a day, baguettes are
the first in demand. He also has some
patisserie, and now soft, cold drinks.
For the occasional urgent purchase of salad, potatoes, milk, even a
bottle of wine the Tunisian to the left on rue Vertbois is always glad to see
us and, after ceremonial greetings, is ready to help us.
Our apartment is small, very
small. The kitchen has a window, an
antique table in front of it, a small refrigerator sitting in a support so we
do not have to get on our hands and knees to look for some important element of
our dinner, and a wonderful stove. The
stove has three gas burners, one electric burner, an oven with an electric,
still unused rotisserie and, wonder of wonders, in the very bottom a very
efficient little dish washer. There is
no room for a laundry machine in the kitchen, much less a dryer.
Washing clothes and household
linens in no problem for the coin-operated washing place is just around the
corner off rue Volta. Colette puts
everything in little trolley (Thrift Shop, Chapel Hill) and she is there in
about three minutes. One load costs Euro
3.50, and the dryer Euro 1.50. When she returns she always has observations to
share about the other customers. Once
there were about five large young men and women trying to put all their dirty
clothes in an oversized washer. They
asked Colette’s advice in broken French; she assisted them and learned they
were from Georgia, in Russia, not the U.S.
In a little room in the back of
the coin-operated washing machines is a cubby hole where a woman operates a
little sewing business. Recently Colette
was there when a young man arrived to have a pair of slacks shortened. With little awareness that he was not alone,
he took off one pair, pulled on the new ones, and the sewing lady pinned him up
and asked Colette’s advice on the length.
The young man then pulled off the new pair, put on the others, and left.
We cannot tell you much about the
restaurants of Paris. Lunch, at home, is
usually a sandwich made from half a baguette, split in half, with
excellent mayonnaise that comes in a tube that has a little Dijon mustard mixed
in, and a slice of ham. Each trip we
plan an evening out but we have yet to make it.
We would like to try Le Clos de Vertbois but it does not start
serving until after 8 p.m. But after an
afternoon outside, at a museum, window shopping, household errands, we are
ready to eat at our normal dinner time, 7 p.m.
Since we are on vacation Colette resists cooking in our very little
kitchen so sometime during the day we make a stop at Monoprix or, preferably,
Picard, to see what frozen dinner meets our imagination.
Picard is a chain of stores
throughout France that sells only frozen foods including veggies, fish, meats,
snacks, hors d’oeuvres, and meals.
Frankly there is nothing comparable to it in the US. I wish I could send you a copy of its catalog
(see Picard.fr). At Monoprix, an all
purpose chain found throughout France, the frozen food section contains meals
prepared using recipes of well known chefs.
Once again the choice is enormous and decision making is difficult.
When we need anything for the
apartment or if we shop for food, in addition to Monoprix, there are several
alternatives. The first choice is the
rue de Bretagne; there are several excellent butchers, the Marché des Enfants-Rouges.fr,
a hardware store (quinquillerie), boulangerie and pastisserie, a very refined
wine store, and don’t forget florists and other miscellany plus, of course,
bistros, and a famous restaurant specializing in Tunisian couscous.
But speaking of food, no trip to
France is complete without a visit to one of the two famous shops on the Place
de la Madeleine. Our favorite used to be
Fauchon that is now upscale complete with a doorman. However, walk by it and tourists are usually
looking through the windows at the prepared dishes beautifully presented. Fauchon has gone upscale with a very large
picture of a young lady stretched at roof level, a doorman at the curb but it
has lost the clubby feeling that made it so welcoming.
We have abandoned Fachon in favor
of Hediard (see Hediard.fr), on the other side of the Church of Madeleine, very
old world atmosphere, and a wonderful choice of anything that may be important
to you: Wines, coffees, spices, canned exotica and, upstairs, a
restaurant.. Of course it also has a
doorman to help you in and out of your chauffeured car. We arrive by foot from the Metro. The service is personal and patient.
Travel in Paris outside of rush
hours is easy. The Metro has been
renovated and its cars are bright and comfortable. The bus system is more sophisticated but I
have finally learned to use it between certain points, but traffic is heavy so
it sometimes takes twice as long as the Metro.
Two of the Metro lines are
extraordinary. Line No. 1 from La
Defense to the Chateau de Vincennes, crosses Paris. The cars have large windows, comfortable
seats, and there is no division between cars so you can see the length of the
train. The newest line is from Madeleine
to the new National Library and it is quite extraordinary. Completely automated, the doors open and
close without your assistance, and again there is no division between cars so
you can see the full length. The
stations are cheerful, and that at the Botanic Gardens has great plants.
Friday, May 7th, I
took the Metro to the Chateau de Vincennes with one change at Nation, and
arrived at the Chateau de Vincennes in about 20 minutes. When I returned I took the bus, also one
ticket direct to the Place de la Republique, 45 minutes. I was fortunate to have a seat for most of
the trip the bus was very crowded.
The Metro and bus system tickets
cost Euro 1 per ride. On the Metro you
can change trains (Correspondence) at no extra cost. With the bus system there is no transfers.
One of my ongoing projects is
documenting the life of a French artist by the name of Jean Launois
(1898-1942). His father was a cousin of
Colette, and Colette inherited a number of his drawings and watercolors. When I am in Paris I try to continue the
pursuit of details, not very easy, as Launois’s life is not that well
documented although his pictures are relatively well known.
I am now well adapt at using the
libraries and archives of Paris. I have
permanent cards to several of them. I
start at the little library on the 4th floor of the Mairie of the
Third Arrondissement, where we live. It
is, of course, a branch of the main Paris library and although very small has
good basic reference works, a collection of murder mysteries mostly translated
from the English and American, and shelves of French novels and classics. To get a card there you need proof that you
are a resident of Paris which is done by providing a gas or electric bill with
your name on it, and identity card, in my case a passport. The librarians there have been very helpful in
obtaining books through interlibrary loan and, on two occasions I have crossed
Paris to use materials in other branches.
The National Archives in Paris,
the National Library (the Mitterrand Library), and the Archives and the
Bibliotheque of the Armee de la Terre at the Chateau de Vincennes is not quite
the same nut. There you present
yourself, you explain your purpose, you produce identity, and you are given a
card. The nest step is to meet with a
research advisor to begin the research process.
At the National Archives the documents are computerized; when your
document has been identified you are given a paper with its identification on
it, and you proceed upstairs where you check in, leaving coats, briefcases in a
locker, then you are given a desk, you turn in your paper with the research
information on it, and you sit at your desk and wait. It can take anything from half and hour to a
day, but you can leave and return, check in and out.
At the National Archives the box
I was handed turned out to be a collection of correspondence from the Director
of the Museum of the Palace of Luxembourg, from almost the beginning of the20th
C. Here were the original documents
itemizing the purchase of pictures by the museum, and letters from him about
his work.
Letter from Paris No. 2
The difficulty of a short trip to
any destination, known or unknown is meeting your expectations and those of
friends and family. In our case this
problem is amplified by distance.
Colette’s nieces live, respectively, in the south (Montpelier) and the
west (Brittany). My friends are
similarly dispersed. Once back in Paris
we made telephone calls to set up our different itineraries.
My friend Brigitte and her
brother, Gilles, have retired to the center of France in a little, very little,
village of Meaulne. Brigitte’s family had a garage business in Bangui, Central
African Republic where I was at the embassy from 1967 – 1969. Another friend of the same period is
Jean-Francois, now a retired General of the French Medical Corps and he lives
in Brittany. We agreed to meet in Les
Sables d’Olonne, a fishing port, resort area, and a center for international
sailing races. The purpose of meeting
there was to see and exhibit of drawings and paintings by my artist, Jean
Launois. To add to the complications,
the niece of Jean Launois, Brigitte Launois Demay was to meet me at the exhibit
where I would say goodbye to my other friends and leave with Brigitte Launois
Demay for a two day visit with her at her home in Longeves, near Niort.
Friday, April 30, 2002
As part of our preparations for
our trips, Colette to the south of France, me to the center of France, we
prepared sandwiches, half a baguette with ham and mache for green.
I walked with Colette to the bus
stop on rue du Temple where she took the No. 20 to the Gare de Lyon. I returned home, had a cup of instant coffee,
then closed the apartment and walked up to the Place de La Republique to take
the Metro to the Gare de l’Austerlitz.
Just before the Seine the Metro surfaces and takes to the air past the
new and awful Ministry of Finance building, across a bridge, to one of the few
above ground metro stations. Pulling my little suitcase on wheels behind me I
descended to ground level, followed the signs and entered the Gare d’Austerlitz,
one of the least preposing of the railroad stations in Paris, now undergoing
massive rehabilitation to brighten it up.
Austerlitz is smaller than most of the stations of Paris. But it does not offer the variety of the
others where there are shops, café/bars, ample seating areas and that make
waiting for a train in Paris pleasant.
My train to St. Amand Montrond
was an old one, not a TGV (train de grand vitesse). The trip was pleasant, and the French country
side was in contrasting colors of green, gold and brown. The green, newly sprouting fields of wheat,
corn, or turnips (I guess!); the gold of the ripen rape awaiting harvest; and
the brown the tilled, but not yet planted fields.
I enjoyed my sandwich as we sped
toward our destination, Bourges. Coffee
was sold from a cart; at Bourges the train was broken up and the part of the
train in which I was a passenger tacked onto another electric engine destined
for Montlucon. French trains travel at
high speeds, even the old ones, but stop only for two minutes to embark and
disembark passengers. I stepped down
from the train, turn to give a hand to a spry lady even older than I am, and
turned to find Brigitte and Gilles waiting for me, with Jeep, their West Highland
Terrier.
From the time I first became
acquainted with Brigitte and Gilles, their parents and cousins in Bangui, they
were and continue to be the most avid approvers of all things Americans
imaginable. Especially automobiles. In Bangui their company represented
International Harvester. They had a
Buick in France for their vacation and until recently Brigitte had a Dodge
Tourister modified to burn liquid petroleum, the same as we use for our bbq’s
as well as the usual gas, not that unusual in France. Brigitte assures me we do
this in the US but I have never seen it.
Before retiring they had a Volvo marine engine agency in the south of
France; as part of their retirement they sacrificed the Dodge for a new diesel
Volvo station wagon.
Their very pleasant three bedroom
cottage would bed welcomed anywhere in the US particularly with its French
doors from the two bedrooms, dining room and living room that face the little
patio, and overlook a field.
Nearby is the home of Alain
Fournier who wrote Le grand Meaulnes, a heavily romantic novel set in
the years before WWI. Alain Fournier
died in action but his novel lives on.
The next three days included
visits to the Abbaye de Noirlac, the Chateau of Meillant, George (without an s)
Sand’s home, the Chateau de Nohant, the exterior of the Chateau of St. Armand
Montrond, and last but not least the wonderful Palace of Jacques Coeur in
Bourges.
Lets talk food for a moment. All French women and French men are not
wonderful cooks. I’ve known some who
could boil water but burn it. Brigitte
is an exceptionally good cook and her moules frites were wonderful. Moules are, of course, mussels, cooked
rapidly. She cooks them twice, the first
time to drain the salt water from them, which she saves; the second time with
butter, white wine, then adds the water from the first cooking and a little
cream, and it is wonderful. Her French
fries (produced by an American company in France, frozen: you cannot find the
equivalent in the US) are excellent; she does them in an Italian deep-fat fryer
and it does the work and does it well. A
second meal was wild salmon cooked in “pappiote.” I’ll call and get the details. It was very well done, the salmon succulent,
not too fishy, and the little shrimp added color and taste contrast.
Tuesday morning we were up early,
had a typical French breakfast of coffee, bread and butter (croissants are for
the occasional Sunday extravagance), and were in the car and on our way by 6:45
AM. The weather was not beautiful,
cloudy, drippy, but it did not distract from the scenery. We were driving west toward the Atlantic
through the Bourbon country of France and the chateaux and forts are still
visible at close hand, as are Roman period churches. So much to see and not time to!
By 11:00 AM we were lost in
darkest downtown Les Sables d’Olonne, but we did eventually find Jean-Francois,
his miniature black poodle sitting at his side.
Jean-Francois had a cap, a shirt open at the neck and sleeves rolled up
to his elbows. He did not look the part
of a distinguished, retired, medical General of the French Army. He said he was not cold, but Brigitte, Gilles
and I were glad to have our waterproof jackets against the fresh and strong
breeze, with some light rain. I would
have welcomed another layer.
Jean-Francois was already checked
into the two-star Hotel de Commerce, 8, rue Hoche, 95100 Les Sables d’Olonne,
tel. 02 51 32 02 80. Brigitte and Gilles
check in and we were ready for lunch.
With some confusion, cars and dogs were sorted out, and we set out for
the port for lunch. The choice of restaurants was difficult, there were many,
but the Hotel Restaurant du Port, 14,
Quai Garnier, 95100 Les Sables d’Olonne, tel. 01 51 32 08 47, was a happy
solutions. Brigitte had a platter of oysters, coquillages, (little shell fish,
three different types), and langoustines.
What she did not finish, we did.
Gilles and I had oysters, followed by tagliatelli with shellfish and
langoustines, and Jean-François had a very large serving of oysters followed by
stuffed ray. Les Sables d’Olonne is a fishing port, a summer resort, and a year
around sailing port for the serious.
After lunch back into the car to
drive to Le Musee de l’Abbaye de la Sainte-Croix where an exhibit of Jean
Launois’ water colors of his Algeria period were hung; there were also cases with
interesting familyj documentation.
As planned, our cousin Brigitte
Launois Demay met me there as scheduled, and after introductions, mutual
interests were notified and the next half hour was a discussion of life in
Algeria in 1942 where Brigitte’s mother and her four children spent the war
years. Jean –Francois was there as a
young intern.
Brigitte and I said our goodbyes
and left to drive to her home an hour away from the coast. After a family party the next day, Brigitte
drove me to Niort where I took the TGV back to Paris.
Saturday, May 8, 2004, Buy new
umbrella, E 7.5, Musee National Medieval de Cluny, tapisserie, La dame a
l’icorne, lunch at Pizza la Sirena, 73, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75005
Paris, Pizza au feu de bois, tagliatelli avec langoustines, mussels, very
good. Driving rain. We replaced umbrellas! Dinner with Jean Curtil, Sarkosy, taxi home
in the rain.
Monday, May 10, 2004
9 PM, home from the library of
the Armee de la Terre, the Chateau de Vincennes, where my research into the
French Army on the Italian Front during WW I went ahead, but
inconclusively. The purpose of my
research is to try to find first hand accounts of the battles the French Army
units fought in Italy. I have found some
pictures in old L’Illustration, but nothing first hand for the period
when my artist, Jean Launois, was serving in Italy. His experiences were so dreadful that he said
he did not want to talk about them. The
only descriptive material on the horror of this particular part of the WW I is
in Earnest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, and the defeat of the Italian
Army and its retreat across the Piavo almost a six-months earlier..
By the wonderful, open, bright
Metro line Chateau de Vincennes to La Defense that crosses Paris, 20 minutes
later I got off at the half way mark, the Hotel de Ville. The purpose of the trip was to visit the
Bazar of the Hotel de Ville, my favorite department store in Paris to shop for
a non-battery powered telephone. This
accomplished, I started the walk home, up the Rue du Temple, left on Blvd.
Reamur, Right on to Rue Volta (Italian Physician who developed the battery the sign under the street name reads, in
French of course), and soon I was tapping the code on the magnetic pad that has
replaced the concierge to unlock the doors of our building into the court yard.
A glass of wine (biological,)
while I prepared dinner and had a telephone call from Louise, our daughter in
Raleigh, to assure me they were well, as were our respective dogs. I spoke briefly to Ian, our son in New York
City, who gave us news of his wife, Eva, also an architect, and Javier, his
father-in-law, who was visiting from Rome.
Watching the news French Channel
2 (our TV 5 at home in Chapel Hill) was depressing as more details were
unfolded about the Iraq mess, and as I listened loud music interrupted the news
broadcasted. I opened the windows to
peer out and saw a happy man with a paper cup walking back and forth across the
street, looking up and waving and, behind him two musicians. The first a trumpeter, the second playing
what looked like a small French horn and pulling behind him a battery powered
tap player. I could recognize the music
from the trumpeter and the horn player, but not the portable orchestra. Only in Paris!
Wednesday, May 12, 2004, Achives,
Chateau de Vincennes, cold, cloudy day.
After usual wait my two boxes were available, and neither produced
anything of real interest about the Italian campagn. Home, sandwich, the sun came out and for the
firswt time a beautiful day.
After lunch and nap metro to the
Trocadero and then a leisurely walk down, across the bridge to the Eiffel
Tower, many tourists, seemingly as many French as foreign. The wlk along the Seine was pleasant, cross
the pedestrian bridge, taking pictures as I go.
At the Place Alma Marceau what appears to be a gold ball with wird
spikes on top of pyramid draws my
attention. I cross to the
pedestrian island then take a picture, before crossing to the base of the
pyramid to read the inscription. It is
replica of the flame of liberty held by the Statue in New York with an
inscription of gratitude to France. I
bed George W. Bush has never seen it.
Thursday, May 13, 2004 Another cloudy day. Buy and read Le Mond and The NY Heral
Tribune, each more depressing than the other.
The news from Washington and Iraq.
Na
Musee Marmottan Monet, 7, rue Louis Boilly, 75016, Paris, tel. 01 42 24 07
02
La pierre du Marais, 96, rue de Archives, 75003 Paris, tel. 01 42 77 25 02
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Farmers' Markets in Chapel Hill & Carrboro We have two that I try to visit. The Farmers' Market in Carrboro is great fun, parking is in short supply, but aside from that you can find many things except live farm birds and animals, thus this is no place to look for a pet chicken, duck or turkey nor a babygoat, sheep or even kittens or puppies. However, I am sure if you mentioned that you were in the market for a pet of almost any description someone would volunteer quickly. There are plants - flowers, herbs, trees, a wonderful assortment of fresh and home-grown vegetables. There is a variety of farm-raised meats, chicken, lamb and beef and a variety of cuts. There is art work, and handiwork including hand-woven textiles, even outdoor furniture - beautifully made Adirondack chairs. Another vendor offers items made from cedar and bags of cedar chips. It is open Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. through early afternoon and, I think, on Wednesday afternoons.
There is also a Saturday morning market in the parking lot of University Mall. It is less sophisticated, the range of choices is smaller, but it is pleasant as well.
There is also a Saturday morning market in the parking lot of University Mall. It is less sophisticated, the range of choices is smaller, but it is pleasant as well.
June 6, 2012 We sold the apartment in Paris and moved what we could back to Chapel Hill, NC. Unhappily, it will be some months before we return so now my attention is on Chapel Hill and real estate.
Our daughter with her two little boys (6 & 4) have moved into the same condominium complex where we live, so we see her a little bit more. I walk her dog, a non-barking Jack Russell. I had become used to its charms, and now I am looking at Chapel Hill with different eyes as Louise renews her acquaintance with this charming little town (not really so little) where she finished high school and college.
Our condo complex has a swimming pool so she and the two boys spend an hour or two there every time they can. In Raleigh they did not have access to a swimming pool except at the Y and it was less relaxed. The public library here is a delight. Temporarily it is in the University Mall, with lots of parking, and just minutes from where we live, so they visit it weekly, a good habit for little children, and the children's section there is wonderful.
Our daughter with her two little boys (6 & 4) have moved into the same condominium complex where we live, so we see her a little bit more. I walk her dog, a non-barking Jack Russell. I had become used to its charms, and now I am looking at Chapel Hill with different eyes as Louise renews her acquaintance with this charming little town (not really so little) where she finished high school and college.
Our condo complex has a swimming pool so she and the two boys spend an hour or two there every time they can. In Raleigh they did not have access to a swimming pool except at the Y and it was less relaxed. The public library here is a delight. Temporarily it is in the University Mall, with lots of parking, and just minutes from where we live, so they visit it weekly, a good habit for little children, and the children's section there is wonderful.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
35, rue de Notre Dame de Nazareth, 75003 Paris
Interior of our apartment.
Entering the apartment you see the windows overlooking the street, and the hand-hewn beams. A part of Colette's collection of 19th C pottery is on the walls.
built in desk and closet. The appraiser and other knowledgeable people put the date of construction about 1715. The beams were obviously cut by ax not a circular saw, and the plumbing was added much later. This is evidenced by the fact that the bthtub and toilet sit about 6" above the floor to provide for the plumbing! At some point before plumbing was added to the interior of the apartment, the building was plumbed and fawcets added to each landing.
The kichen in very serviceable. The Rosiere stove is really nifty. Three gas eyes, one electric eye for slow cooking, an oven with built in rotisserie, which we never used, and the bottom drawer is a very efficient dishwasher.
Colette found someone to build a cupboard on which to put the refrigerator wo we do not have to get on our hands and knees to put things in/take out.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thanksgiving in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR)
Thanksgiving in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR)
At length she exclaimed, breaking the ominous silence, "If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?" ("Ou est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas aupres de moi pour tenter sa chance?")
Colette and I were married in September and by October we were well established in our little house on the edge of the great Ubangui River and very much a part of the local civil and diplomatic party scene. Colette’s English teacher, Tim Browne, and his wife, Carole, had become good friends and they would frequently join us, and other friends, for barbecues on the front lawn. Other good friends included the Jacques and Augé and their two teen-aged sons. Brigitte Renault would arrive via the river in her inboard motor boat, the fastest on the river!
As was/is the custom in French speaking Africa, soon after our arrival we had given our own party to introduce Colette and it had been a success. More than 40 friends and acquaintances invited, my secretary at the US AID office in the Embassy engulfed in telephone calls of people who thought they should have been invited, many of whom I had never heard of. The crowd was such that arrival times had to be budgeted by the quarter hour so everyone would not arrive at once.
Now a year later and in anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, in September the Embassy had put a group order for frozen turkeys and other goodies from Denmark, so the menu was already established. Over sunset drinks on the terrace overlooking the river with the Browns and the Augés the subject of Tfhanksgiving – a high profile American feast, came up and we planned a simple dinner. The issue of additional guests was discussed and we agreed to keep the group small, say 12 persons. The goal had been set, and the execution was the next step.
A week or two later Tim dropped by and said with excitement that they had written friends in England about the Thanksgiving project and said friends, an airline pilot and his wife, replied they would fly to Bangui for the occasion. Another French friend heard about the project invited himself and his wife, and said parents would come down from France for the occasion. The guest list became longer.
The turkey was at least 20 pounds so we were safe. The great day approached. I would cook the turkey, and the Browns and Augers would prepare other dishes.
On the equator the daily weather is fairly predictable. The big rains come in April-May, and a shorter rainey season in September-October. The hot weather without rain is more or less from Ocgtober until the spring rains begin. December and January are splendid! So we had no concern about planning an outdoor activity. Chairs and tables were borrowed from the Embassy. Now we had to cook the dinner.
I had decided to do a corn-bread stuffing, so my battered copy of The Joy of Cooking was brought out. Jacques Augé said he would help and the late evening before the schedule feast we set to make corn bread stuffing following the recipe from Ms. Rombauer in The Joy of Cooking. The guest list now numbered more than 20 persons, so we set up an assembly line for measuring, mixing, and baking. I
By midnight we were done, Jacques went home, and I set the alarm for 4 AM and went to bed. Too soon the larm went off and I went to the kitchen and lit the oven, stuffed the turkey, and popped it into the oven and returned to bed. Our cook and houseman would come in by 7 and would take over the responsibilities of watching the turkey, setting up the tables and chairs and preparing for the onslaught of guests.
By 12 noon the guests had started to arrive, men in shorts and flipflops, the women in a wide variety of costumes from the African version of the Hawaiian mou-mous (?) to skirts and shorts. Dorothy Parker put it neatly that candy is fine but liquor is quicker. There was a wide variety of thirst quenchers – guests brought Champagne, white or red wine, and of course there were G&T’s.
Beside the turkey the highlight of the afternoon was reading aloud and passing around copies
of
Buchwald’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdue
[ In 1953, during my tour of duty with the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara, my tough sergeant from Marseilles said to me, "Why do all the American recruits refuse to eat anything but turkey on this day?"
I told him I was sorry but my lips were sealed. He then poured honey on my head so the ants would get me. That's when I broke down and talked.]
One of the most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant.
Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of pilgrims (Pelerins) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World (le Nouveau Monde), where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their hearts' content. They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine) in a wooden sailing ship named the Mayflower, or Fleur de Mai, in 1620. But while the Pelerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pelerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them how to grow corn (mais). They did this because they liked corn with their Pelerins.
In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pelerins' crops were so good they decided to have a celebration and because more mais was raised by the Pelerins than Pelerins were killed by the Peaux-Rouges.
Every year on le Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration. It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a shy young lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant:
"Go to the damsel Priscilla (Allez tres vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth (la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart -- the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you understand, but this, in short, is my meaning. "I am a maker of war (Je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases.
Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable à être emballé), friendship prevailed over love and went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow (rendue muette par l'etonnement et la tristesse). At length she exclaimed, breaking the ominous silence, "If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?" ("Ou est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas aupres de moi pour tenter sa chance?")
Jean said that Kilometres Deboutish was very busy and didn't have time for such things. He staggered on, telling her what a wonderful husband Kilometres would make. Finally, Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, "Why don't you speak for yourself, Jean?" ("Chacun à son gout.")
And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes, and for the only time during the year eat better than the French do. No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grand fête, and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilometres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.
(C) 1996, Los Angeles Times Syndicate . Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company
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