Paris by car and bike
french wheat (where do you think all of those baguettes come from?)
On Saturday morning we got up early, loaded the car and took off for Paris. The high speed train takes less than two hours, but the drive is pleasant and not too onerous, about the same time it takes for us to drive from downtown Toronto to Maggie's parents' home in Skootamatta. If one wishes to pay road tolls then the superhighway is an option, with a travel time of three hours, but we were a) cheap and b) interested in seeing the countryside, and so chose to avoid toll roads. This expanded our travel time to perhaps four hours instead, but we had a little break for sandwiches at the halfway mark.
Once we were installed at our hotel, we unloaded the bikes and immediately set off exploring the city. Having sweated through the Paris Metro in the summertime, and having walked my feet sore trudging all the way up the Champs d'Elysée in the past, I must say that cycling in Paris is the best way to experience the city. It really makes the whole place much smaller, and on a muggy day it's the best kind of air conditioning.
Maggie had researched a number of fabric and embroidery shops to explore and so our first stop was one of those.
Maggie had researched a number of fabric and embroidery shops to explore and so our first stop was one of those.
embroidery shop Le Bonheur des Dames
We also had a visit to the Mariage Frères tea shop, and replenished our stocks of Marco Polo and Earl Grey French Blue teas. The scent of the wonderful variety of teas there is fresh and delicious, but we didn't stop for a cup, and carried on.
That evening we had a drink in the hotel bar with an old friend Stuart Marlin, who was an adjunct professor of Psychology at Queen's when I was a student there. He and his wife Holly now live in Newcastle Australia, where he is the assistant head of the School of Psychology. We had a nice dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and caught up; it had been close to ten years but as sometimes happens with old friends it is as if no time has passed. Holly and Stuart are also quite talented photographers; their work may be seen here.
Museum
the Louvre
We considered visiting the main collections of the Louvre, as Maggie has never done so, but a little research led us instead to the attached Museum of Les Arts Décoratifs. Most interesting to me was their collection of Art Nouveau furniture, and Maggie and I both enjoyed the costume exhibition of the Antwerp fashion designer Dries Van Noten. Here is a beautiful double music stand by the Art Nouveau designer Alexandre Charpentier. The "flames" in the wood grain are beautiful, and I love how these double stands would allow two musicians to play or sing from their own score while still maintaining eye contact and visual connection with each other.
a double music stand by Charpentier in the Decorative Arts Museum
Behind the music stand you can see a special cabinet that is made to hold the four viols of a string quartet. Obviously these pieces were part of a set, whether for sale, or for display or demonstration.
We had a brief lunch of a sandwich at a nearby café and then took a cycle up the Boulevard de l'Opéra. Perhaps you have seen those little filled cookies called macarons? They have been the subject of a sort of cold war cookie race between a number of patissiers, and the most famous ones are those of Ladurée in Paris. I had some of those the last time I was here, but the main competitor to Ladurée is Pierre Hermé, and his shop is at #39, just down from the Opera House.
Macarons by Pierre Hermé
They were really delicious. The salted butter caramel ones are very famous, but the rose petal and passion fruit was also a big hit.
in front of the Palais Garnier Opera House
We had planned to finally do the Garnier Opera House tour, but as the day was still beautiful decided instead to cycle up the Champs d'Elysée to the Etoile around the Arc de Triomphe. Maggie and I found the cycling a little bumpy... the cobbles were not
the best cycling surface, but it sure beats walking. We rode around the
traffic circle a couple of times, something that Maggie has wanted to
do ever since she was a little girl reading Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight.
crossing one off the bucket list (and almost kicking the bucket doing it)
a big tricolore
Coincidentally there was a little dog at the Arc that resembled Weenie, Eloise's dog. The owner asked where we were from and when we mentioned Canada, but that we lived in Brussels, he told us that the little dog was a Petit Brabançon, a Belgian dog breed.
As well as cycling around the Etoile we also noticed a woman who had stalled her car right in the middle of the roundabout, and so finding a break in the traffic we ran out to give her a push. Two french teenagers also helped us, and the woman was very happy to be out of the traffic, so we were glad to have done our good deed for the day.
As well as cycling around the Etoile we also noticed a woman who had stalled her car right in the middle of the roundabout, and so finding a break in the traffic we ran out to give her a push. Two french teenagers also helped us, and the woman was very happy to be out of the traffic, so we were glad to have done our good deed for the day.
incredible living wall at the Musée du quai Branly
We did a little shopping along the way, then cycled past the Trocadero gardens and under the Eiffel Tower, and then past the beautiful living wall of greenery that covers one side of the Quai Branly Museum. This museum houses exhibitions of indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The posters describing the exhibitions looked fascinating, but it will have to be part of another trip.
pop-up café on the bank of the Seine for young Parisians
We continued along the bank of the Seine, until we decided to have a glass of something cold at a pop-up café. A lot of young Parisians seemed to be there, and there was a little restaurant running out of an airstream trailer, and a DJ with a dance floor. We enjoyed a little rest and then carried on.
Courtyard dining at the Westin Paris
Dinner was at the hotel, and it was quite good... the ambience in the dining courtyard was very nice, and the light as evening fell had a beautiful quality to it. One thing that we found puzzling... in the restaurant, in the bar, and on the street in general, we noticed that most of the guests were American or Canadian; there were almost no British people that we could identify, and we heard very little french spoken in the hotel. Our waiter explained that this is the high season for North American tourists; the french have all gone elsewhere...
This was confirmed the next morning; at breakfast we were surprised to find ourselves in the company of a group of Canadian State Farm insurance salespeople and their families, enjoying a rewards tour of Europe! One set was from Calgary, and another was from Toronto. Quite a coincidence.
Homeward bound
After breakfast we packed our few things together and drove out of town. Perhaps 100 kms out of Paris we stopped at the city of Soissons for lunch, and afterwards took a short walk up the street from our restaurant to explore some ruins we had spotted. They proved to be of the Abbey of St. Jean des Vignes.
lunch break at Soissons, and a visit to the ruined Abbey of St. Jean des Vignes
We were interested to discover a little bit of the history of Soissons, which was the capital of a Belgic tribe conquered by Julius Caesar in 57 BC. The city later became one of the provincial capitals of the Merovingian kings after the death of Clovis I in 511. The present buildings of the Abbey were built in from the 12th century onward, with the imposing west front being completed in the 16th century, but the abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution and since then many of the buildings were quarried and dismantled for use elsewhere, while some were used as armouries. Those buildings still extant are in reasonably good condition and there is a well-appointed visitor's centre there, and a large exhibition space used for art exhibitions.
While you were out
pickling cucumbers!
"You're gonna need a taller stake"
It was nice to return home. The garden has done reasonably well; as you can see there are small pickling cucumbers already on the vine, and my mini-roma tomato plant has grown to the limits of its support, and some tomatoes are already ripening on it. Everything was in need of water, though, and I carried a lot of our collected rainwater over to the allotment to give every plant a good drink.
Fishtank re-fit with a layer of nutrient soil for the plants
In other gardening news, our goldfish always seem to be eating the plants that we purchase, so we have decided to try another method, suggested by the pet store clerk. We've emptied the aquarium and added a later of soil to the bottom, then protected this with a layer of gravel. Then by poking holes through the gravel with a finger it is possible to push the roots of aquatic plants into the soil layer, while letting the gravel prevent the soil from mixing with and muddying the water. That was an afternoon project for me yesterday; I am hoping that the plants will be healthier, and am suspecting that the reason the fish were eating the plants is that they were dying from a lack of proper nutrients.
Maggie's armchair slipcover success
Maggie has had her own project, that of slip-covering our new armchair with some fabric she purchased for that purpose. Kiki is a notorious claw-sharpener and so we decided we needed to protect the furniture with something that she wouldn't enjoy scratching. Draped fabric isn't pleasant for her to scratch upon, so we are hoping that this will deter her from destroying our furniture.
Postcards from Canada
Calabogie sunsets
Malcolm has been taking more pictures with my phone, and with our photo-sharing enabled, it means that I can see them right away. It would seem that they are having a great time in Canada, and enjoying beautiful sunsets... tours of cool museums, visits to aquariums, and even a trip up the CN tower. We've been keeping in touch by phone and by text message, so that has helped a little with their homesickness, and our missing them.
Heads-up Gus, you've got a bogey on your six
Toronto Aquarium
Toronto tower tourism
Now we have some quiet time to just be around the house, and enjoy the summer. It's a beautiful 28 degrees outside right now, with a sunny sky and a little bit of breeze, and some bbq is in our future, I am sure...
Happy holidays!
Happy holidays!
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