Pétanque & Pastis

"My Vacation in France" by Flat Stanley

I stayed with Daniel's aunt and uncle, who live in Antibes, France.  Antibes is in the south of France on the French Riviera.  I had fun floating on my back in the Mediterranean Sea.   Here you can see the castle where Picasso lived and worked.  Now it is a museum with many of his famous works of art.

I enjoyed walking on the sandy beach, and watching all the colorful sailboats.  Sailing is a very popular sport here in Antibes.

Sometimes I got tired from all the walking and sailing and swimming.  It felt nice just to lie on the beach and relax with the other sunbathers.  Sometimes there are jelly fish in the sea, but I didn't see any on my visit.

We took a very fast train from Antibes to Paris. Sometimes the fast train goes 250 kilometers an hour, which is about 150 miles per hour. It took 5 hours to get to Paris from Antibes, but it didn’t seem that long because we had a picnic on the train, and it was a lot of fun.

In Paris we stayed in an apartment in a neighborhood called Montmartre. We had a view of a famous church called Sacre Coeur right from our window. The church looks like a giant wedding cake.

We walked along a famous Parisian boulevard called the Champs Élysées.

At the end of the famous boulevard we saw a huge monument called the Arc de Triomphe, which is 164 feet tall, and you can climb to the top of it.

We also visited the Eiffel Tower, which is 1,051 feet tall. It used to be the tallest building in the world until the Empire State Building was built in 1931. Then the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world.

We went to an island in the middle of the river in Paris to see a church called Notre Dame. There is a really good book and an old movie about the church called “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.

After all our walking and sightseeing in Paris, I got really hungry, so we went to another little island in the river in Paris where we found delicious ice cream in lots of different flavors. It was really refreshing.

One day we took a train from Paris to a city in Normandy called Rouen. This is where we saw a famous church that has been in lots of paintings, especially by an artist named Claude Monet.

This is the airline I used to fly to France. I had to get prepared to fly back home to California.

After a wonderful vacation in France, I had a great flight home. And I had a window seat this time !!

Paris Séjour: Bois de Boulogne

The Bois de Boulogne played an important role in our Paris séjour, since it was close to the apartment we rented on rue des Belles Feuilles in the 16^th.  First of all, every morning we ran a couple loops around the lake in the park for our daily exercise.  Then, one day we rented a row boat and spent a couple of hours rowing all around the lake, nestling up to the bank under a weeping willow tree for a pique-nique of Asiatique delights that we had purchased at the elegant Président Wilson Market that morning.  And, finally, one evening we hopped onto the small lake ferry for the two-minute crossing to the bucolic island restaurant called Le Châlets des Îles (Tél: 01.42.88.04.69), where we had dinner on the terrace overlooking the lake.   

Morning Run in Bois de Boulogne

The Président Wilson Market in the 16^th

Rowing in Bois de Boulogne

Hiding under a Willow Tree in Bois de Boulogne

Sunbathing Turtles in Bois de Boulogne

Restaurant Le Châlet des Îles in Bois de Boulogne

Paris Séjour: A First-Timer in Paris

For me, the number one highlight of our two-week séjour in Paris was sightseeing with my mother on her first-ever visit to Paris.  For three days we made the rounds to the Arc de Triomphe, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée du Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame.  We strolled along the grand boulevards, we lunched at the sidewalk cafés, we cruised down the river Seine, we shopped on the Champs-Elysées, we ogled the beautiful produce at the open markets, we meandered through the Jardin du Luxembourg, we ate ice cream at Berthillon, we browsed at the Bouquinistes along the riverbanks, we snapped pictures of the male rugby fans wandering around the City in their plaid skirts – and there were LOTS of them.

Rugby World Cup 2007 Fans

Shopping in Paris

Our 3-month séjour in San Francisco has come to an end, and we are now back in France.  Our first stop is Paris, where we decided to spend a couple of days at the Hotel Observatoire Luxembourg in the 5^th (107, boulevard Saint-Michel, tél: 01.46.34.10.12).  Our goal on this stopover in Paris was to shop for a set of nice pots and pans.  We have never seen box sets of pots and pans down on the Côte d’Azur, and we were hoping to have better luck in Paris … however, it didn’t happen.  So, we ended up buying our cookware, one piece at a time, at the only Grand Magasin on the Left Bank of Paris, and the oldest department store in France, Le Bon Marché in the 7^th at 22-24 rue de Sèvres – Metro: Sèvres-Babylone.  And, the good news is that they will deliver it to us in Antibes, so there will be no need to lug it around with us on the train ride home.

   Normally, our favorite shopping at Le Bon Marché involves ogling the beautiful displays of food in its Grande Épicerie, a grocery store which may be the largest food market in Paris with 2,700 square meters of artfully-arranged delectable edibles – a food lover’s dream.

   Le Bon Marché was the first, or at least one of the first, true department stores when it was built in the middle of the 19^th century.  It was Aristide Boucicaut, the founder of the company, and his wife, Marguerite, who introduced the concept of shopping as a fun and interesting pastime where women could spend their days wandering around a beautiful environment, basking in a sea of luxury goods.  Their philosophy was to provide a product of excellent quality at a very good price.  In this light, they introduced the concept of allowing the customer to either exchange their purchases, or to be reimbursed for them when they were not completely satisfied.  They also provided catalogues from which customers could order products, and they provided free shipping.  It was the Boucicauts who invented the summer sale, which still takes place, by law, all over France throughout the month of July.  Always concerned about the well-being of their employees, they were pioneers in instituting Retirement Pension Funds, providing in-house medical services, and offering free classes to their employees to learn English, music, etc.

   The concept of the “Department Store” was so unique and revolutionary that Emile Zola wrote a fictionalized book called “Au Bonheur des Dames” (1883), in which a Department Store, modeled after Le Bon Marché, was the main character.  The other lead characters, Octave Mouret and Denise Baudu, were based on Le Bon Marché’s founders, Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut.  An English translation of Zola’s book was also written and is entitled, “The Ladies’ Paradise”.

Tourists in Paris

We spent some time strolling along the Canal St-Martin in the 10^th arrondissement today, examining the locks, and waiting to watch the barge traffic come through.  Unfortunately, there was absolutely no activity on the Canal.  It seemed like the only activity we witnessed was that of a few SDFs (Sans Domicile Fixe – the politically correct term for homeless people) in some of the seedy areas under some of the bridges.  It was Napoleon who first conceived of the Canal St-Martin, which was built in the 1820s for transportation and to provide non-drinking water to the City.  It still provides 50% of the water in Paris used for cleaning the streets, sprinkling public parks and gardens, etc.  The City is attempting to gentrify this area, which has great potential, but it seems to be a slow process.

Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie

We rode the Metro to the Parc de la Villette for a visit to the Museum of Science & Industry, which we had tried, unsuccessfully, to visit in the past.  We enjoyed seeing all the space exhibits and the interactive displays, but I don’t think any of us will be rushing back.  It really didn’t compare to other museums of this type that we have visited in other cities.

La Sainte Chapelle

We called ahead for will-call tickets for the 7:00pm concert at La Sainte Chapelle in the 1^st (4, boulevard du Palais - tél: 01.43.73.78.41).  The setting is so beautiful, surrounded by all the amazing stained glass.  The one-hour concert included Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Geminiani’s La Folia, and Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major.  The conductor had so much personality, as he played the violin and bounded from one part of the stage to the other, his ponytail swinging back and forth.

We had a 9:30 dinner reservation in the 6^th at Roger La Grenouille (26-28, rue des Grands Augustins – tél: 01.56.24.24.34), which seemed to be a very popular place.  Although there are other very good menu options, they are known, of course, for their frog’s legs, which are piled high on the plate, so it’s best to go in with a good appetite.  I don’t know if tonight was normal, but it was extremely warm inside, so dress in layers that can be removed if you go.

Art & Dining in Paris

We took an early flight to Paris this morning, and immediately got settled into our rooms at the Hôtel Lenox Saint-Germain, and then we hit the road running.  Well, actually it was more of a stroll than a run – after all, we are in Paris.  We had a leisurely lunch under the arcades in les Jardins du Palais-Royal, and then we headed over to the newly refurbished Musée des Arts Décoratif in the 1^st arrondissement (107, rue de Rivoli).  It has only been re-opened for two weeks, and was highly recommended by several friends.  The museum is all about home furnishings and objets d’arts, with a chronology of decorative arts from the middle ages up to the present day, taking up 6000 square meters, on nine levels, in the Marsan wing of the Palais du Louvre.  My favorite displays were the complete rooms of some well-known figures from the past, which were decorated with furniture, wallpaper, mirrors, paintings, carpets, glassware, ceramics, candelabras, etc., in the style of that particular period.

La Tour Eiffel – Restaurant Jules Vernes

We splurged on dinner tonight at the Michelin one-star restaurant, Le Jules Verne (tél: 33 (0)1 45 55 61 44), on the 2^nd floor of the Eiffel Tower.  It has a private elevator at the Tower’s south pillar, which zips you up 125 meters above the City of Light.  I’m not sure why, maybe because we reserved the table back in March, we had an excellent table right up against the window, with all the monuments of Paris brilliantly aglow below us.  Although, on our previous visit, the view was still extraordinary, even from our table in the middle of the room.  Overall, it was an amazing dining experience tonight, and every course was delicious, with the exception of the desserts (the last two courses on the menu below).  Also, conspicuous by its absence was the cheese course.  Lingering over our digestifs at the restaurant’s bar gave us a chance to enjoy another perspective of the view below us.  NOTE:  Check the prices of the menu before you go.  You could be in for a shock.  Tonight's menu was as follows:

RESTAURANT

JULES VERNE

      *****

TOUR EIFFEL

      *****

CHEF DE CUISINE – ALAIN REIX

      *****

       MENU DÉGUSTATION

SUPERPOSÉ DE JEUNES POIREAUX,

ANGUILLE LÉGEREMENT FUMÉE ET FOIE GRAS DE CANARD,

CHUTNEY À LA TOMATE VERTE

      *****

LANGOUSTINES MARINÉES ET CAVIAR D’AQUITAINE,

FINE GELÉE DE CONCOMBRE

     *****

PETIT PAIN BRIOCHÉ AUX GROS TOURTEAUX,

JUS DE CREVETTES GRISES

      *****

DOS DE ROUGET BARBET EN COMPOTE DE COURGETTES,

SUC DE VERDURE

     *****

POITRINE DE POULETTE DE BRESSE,

GNOCCHI DE POMMES DE TERRE ET GIROLLES

      *****

MACARON AUX GROSEILLES,

PERLES DU JAPON AUX CRANBERRIES

      *****

GELÉE AU CHOCOLAT PUR CARAÏBE,

ÉMULSION À L’AVOCAT

      *****

Ce menu ne peut être servi que pour l’ensemble des convives

Cézanne and Pissarro 1865-1885 - Paris

We headed back to Paris VERY early today to bid farewell to Big Papa at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.  After seeing his flight take off for Chicago, we hopped onto the RER train to our hotel in the 7^th (practically in the 6^th), the Hôtel Lenox Saint-Germain – 9, rue de l’Université 75007.  We dropped off our bags, and headed over to the Musée D’Orsay to see the very popular Cézanne and Pissarro 1865-1885 International Exhibition.  Since we had purchased our tickets a few days in advance, we we were able to get in right away without having to wait in line outside.  However, once inside the exhibit, it was “noir du monde” (very crowded), which makes it a bit difficult to read all the wall text, and to spend as much time as one would like in front of each painting.  All that said, we enjoyed the exhibition immensely.  The exhibit was assembled by Pissarro’s great-grandson, Joachim Pissarro, who is the curator for the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  He carefully paired the paintings of Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro to show the similarities and the differences between them.  It seemed like Cezanne’s painting were often a bit more abstract and very rarely included people, while Pissarro’s paintings were usually more precisely defined and often included people in his landscapes.  I particularly enjoyed the pairing of the still lifes by each artist in which one of Pissarro’s previously painted landscapes (La Rue de Gisors, maison du père Gallien, Pontoise) hung in the background.  It was like seeing a painting within a painting in Cézanne’s Nature Morte à la Soupière and Pissarro’s Portrait de Cézanne.  It was clear to see that both Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne had influenced each other’s work during the 20+ years of their relationship.

Pierre Bonnard – L’Œuvre d’Art, un Arrêt du Temps

After lunch in the 16^th we headed over to the newly refurbished and re-opened Musée d’Art Moderne to check out the Pierre Bonnard Retrospective.  The exhibit did an excellent job of presenting the beauty that Bonnard found in familiar figures and daily rituals.  He showed us the unchanging pattern of his beloved nude Marthe in every shade of light in the bathtub, at the sink, in front of the mirror, washing, drying, primping, brushing, standing, lying down, bending over, sometimes with her dog laying on the floor, such as in Le Bain.  We also got to see into the rooms of his house where the colorful interiors were shared with glimpses of the outdoors seen through the large windows, such as in La Salle à Manger sur le Jardin.  As the title says, the exhibit was a fine example of "l’œuvre d’art, un arrêt du temps" (the work of art, a suspension of time).

Tiny Bubbles in Paris

The next stop was a short break at “Bulles”, the champagne bar at the beautiful Galeries Lafayette Department Store in the 9^th at 40, boulevard Haussmann.  It almost looks more like an opera house than a department store.

It must have been around 7:00pm when we rushed back to the hotel, passing through the Jardin des Tuileries (above), and past the Musée D’Orsay (below), to get ready for our 8:30pm dinner reservation at Le Relais Louis XIII – 8, rue des Grands-Augustins in the 6^th, which turned out to be superb.

Big Papa Arrives

We took the RER, from our hotel in the 6^th, to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, where we greeted Dave’s father (The one and only, Bob DeMoney) as he arrived from his 8 ½ -hour flight from Chicago.  The three of us climbed into a taxi and headed to Gare de Lyon in the 12^th arrondissement of Paris, where we stored our bags at the Consigne Automatique (luggage lockers), and walked over to the Viaduc Café at 43 avenue Daumesnil for lunch.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to have lunch at the renowned Le Train Bleu, located directly in the station.  We’ll have to save that for another visit.  We made it back to the Gare de Lyon just in time to climb aboard our 13h50 TGV train to Antibes.  The high-speed train trip between Paris and Antibes normally takes about 5 hours, but because of snow on the tracks during the high-speed portion of the trip, the train had to slow down, causing us to be delayed by about an hour.  It was rather surprising to us to see so much snow on the ground when there was only sunshine in Paris.  But the time zoomed by while we spent the whole trip playing Whist.