After shopping - beer

Stopped at a little café for a refreshment and to celebrate our aquisition. This place has found a way to stand out from the hundreds of cafés in the area.  A host greeted us with a great deal of exuberance and took our order - 100 cl of beer x 2.  We were served almost immediately by another exuberant waiter wearing extra large flashy red glasses - the beers had a lit firecracker the size of a cuban cigar stuck in an orange propped on the side of the mug.  The picture is of Francois `relaxing` and hamming it up for the camera (for you who have seen the movie Bridesmaids - this is his impersonation from one scene.....

Francois at Café Le Petit Pont, 1 rue du Petit Pont, 75005 Paris. www.cafelepetitpont.com

Dimanche shopping - separate we are safe - together we are deadly

Francois spent the morning working while I went out to find an open boulangerie.  Found some delicious croissants au beurre et aux almonds (my favourite).  The roses in the picture were just 5euro (2 dozen).  At that price we could have them every week.

I had found this advertisement for a Salvador Dali exhibit at a local art gallery - last day was today so when Francois wanted to take a break we walked to take a look.  An impressive number of bronzes and lithos apparently from a private collection, some of which were for sale. Here are a couple of pics Francois took through the window as, of course, no photos à l'interieur.

 

Herein lies the problem of us out shopping together.  In the number of lithographs there was one labelled No. E.A. Normally as you probably know they are labelled according to when it was produced in the sequence as in No 2 of 100 or No76 of 100 (can`t find the !)$%(!)%( slash on this computer) - the 2 being more valuable.  So we asked what E.A. meant: the abbreviation for the French term épreuve d'artiste, meaning artist's proof. Hmm...and signed by the artist....hmm. It was the artist`s original copy..... 650 euro she says.....hmm.....certificate of authenticity.  Well!!! Guess what we said (as most of you Segards say 'Pourquoi pas'.... We are now are proud owners of Pilades Aimait Hermione

We thought it signficant for a number of reasons: lovers, purchased in Paris, Dali was a contemporary of Jacques Segard and a favourite of both Francois and me. So there you have it - or so there WE have it :-)
....oh well, I really didn`t want that pair of Christian Louboutin`s anyway........

Samedi Soir

Since Francois and I both returned late in the day, we enjoyed a little simple snack of Sauscisson Basque and a sip of wine.

We found this along Saint-Germain and with all the sampling we did could have been happy with no supper. With this purchase we included a can of Paté de Foie à la Fine Champagne. www.pierreoteiza.com

Much later (the usual time to dine here is around 10:00+) we found a little Greek restaurant. Not much positive to say about the experience (ordinary, salty food, mediocre service). We kept waiting for l'addition when Francois realized they were keeping us hostage to make it look as though there were more people in their fine establishment.

Images de ma journée du samedi 30 juillet

L'entrée des Invalides, voir les détails autours des lucarnes.
Le Tombeau de Napoléon

Ma Journée de samedi

Samedi après-midi, j’ai rejoint le groupe de stagiaire des officiers étrangers, une dizaine provenant de l’Allemagne de l’Autriche, du Canada, du Danemark, des États-Unis, de l’Angleterre et de la Suisse qui sont arrivée le 29 juillet afin de recevoir une préformation avant le début du cours commençant le 1er aout 2011. Dans ce cadre d’apprentissage un des professeurs de l’École Militaire, le Colonel Brun, de l’Armée Française nous a fait faire une visite guidée de l'Hôtel national des Invalides : Voici quelques détails historiques du monument :
En 1670, Louis XIV décide de faire construire un bâtiment susceptible d'abriter ses soldats invalides ou trop âgés pour servir. Il confie son projet au Secrétaire d'État à la Guerre, Louvois, qui choisit l'architecte Libéral Bruant pour la construction de l'hôtel, dont le plan n'est pas sans rappeler l'Escorial de Philippe II (Espagne). Ce projet s'inscrit dans le courant charitable et social du XVIIe siècle et l'Hôtel des Invalides devient un exemple pour bien d'autres pays européens.
La construction de l'enceinte militaire est achevée en trois ans seulement et les premiers invalides s'y installent dès octobre 1674. La vie des 4 000 pensionnaires (fin XVIIe siècle) est soumise aux exigences d'une caserne et d'un monastère. Divisés en compagnies, les soldats travaillent dans des ateliers de confection d'uniformes, de cordonnerie, de tapisserie et d'enluminure, afin de combattre l'oisiveté.
Les grands blessés, au nombre d'une centaine, sont pris en charge dans l'Hôpital, installé au Sud-Est. Celui-ci est toujours actif aujourd'hui alors que la pension des vieux soldats autour de la cour est maintenant dévolue aux espaces du musée.
Suite à cette excellente visite, nous nous sommes arrêtés à un de ces nombreux Bistrots parisien et j’ai eu droit à payer la note, car ceci est la tradition lorsqu’on est récemment promu. Mes nouveaux gallons sont maintenant « humides ».
François

My guided tour of Saint-Germain area

Four hours of walking, several kilometres and no blisters. A very enjoyable way of exploring. This is an app for the iPhone - my pocket guide. You purchase various tours for the city of choice and voila personal guide. Formidable! BTW the pictures are mine taken from my iPhone along the route.

http://mypocketguide.eu/hu/feeds?uuid=89A5C282-57A5-416C-B441-13E9C902F8B5

To market....to market while Francois sleeps

Maubert and Monge, 5 éme, Latin Quarter - good small markets, very good quality.   Monge is charming and located on a lovely small place.   Its vendors offer fresh salad greens, meats, cheeses, pain d’épices, fish.  (This is near the rue Mouffetard Market-Street too.)

Later this morning Francois will visit Les Invalides (this is a working day for him) officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte. I plan on visiting this sector next week.

Correction

Realized a lot of my accents are wrong. Not used to finding them on Francois' little computer. Will have to make corrections tomorrow

Shakespeare & Company

This is termed `the best book store in Paris`.  Certainly unique conpared to our Canadian bookstores.  Located lots of treasures in this tiny and fascinating find.  Plan on going back another time to locate some special books.  They offer both new, second-hand and vintage publications. www.shakespeareandcompany.com located at 37 rue Bûcherie, 75005, Paris. It took several minutes to get this picture - a couple of male Russian tourists decided that they were more interesting than the bookstore and posed for my camera, flexing, strutting and generally making fools of themselves. Finally they left. Hey les gars!

Musèe de Cluny

This is the National Museum of the Middle Ages : www.musee-moyenage.fr at 6 Place Paul-Painlevé, 7505 Paris.  Just 8 Euro entry which includes the audio guide for all the exhibits. It had a very impressive display of Medieval artifacts housed partly in Roman ruins. Becausse of the fragility of many of the exhibits (many of them tapestries) I wasn`t able to take pictures. Outside I had only my iphone so the definition doesn`t do the detail on the stone carvings justice but it is such a beautiful example of Gothic architecture.

Commencement à l`ècole militaire

This was Francois`first day at the military college (also first day in uniform as Lt Col.) in preparation for the stagiaires who will arrive Monday.  His bus ride apparently was enjoyable (amazing to me for someone who NEVER takes public transit) - just 20 minutes.

Ècole Militaire à Paris

Si vis pacem, para bellum.  Si tu veux la paix, prépare la guerre. "If you wish for peace, prepare for war" (usually interpreted as meaning peace through strength—a strong society being less likely to be attacked by enemies). The adage is from 4th or 5th century Latin. This is the unit badge associated with the Ecole Militaire that Francois will wear during his séjour in Paris.

Première Journée

Here are some random pictures of our studio rental. We will be going out soon to meet a colleague of Francois`so will have to give an explantion a little later but what a dream place this is. Built in the 1700`s, owned by a local architect (artwork is original BTW), modern decor. What a sweet find! (www.parisbestlodge.com)

Our floating bed

Francois preparing for his first day as professeur. He is much more relaxed now.

View from one of the 3 ten foot windows

This is an original piece oil on canvas by the Rumanian artist Ion Nicodim. It is approximately 8 feet x 10 feet. As Francois said, if the owner hangs these in a rental imagine what his private collection must be like.

This is another original by Joel Stein

All the seasoning we need to make a simple meal. A well equipped market is just a 600 metre walk away

Cook top and oven and the flashy red doors are the built-in refrigerator

Kitchen area with one of the 3 ten foot windows (outside shutters open and close electrically)

This little `cachette` is in the ceiling of the entry. An ingenious way to hide our 4 valises - and an 8 foot ladder hidden behind a partition to access the 12 foot ceiling. So impressed at how much can be so well arranged in barely 44 sq metres.

No Francois isn`t drunk (yet) - he was trying to show how the ancient stone and wooden steps are uneven. Or maybe he is doing an impersonation of Stephane in Paris :-)

Another view of the street below.

I couldn`t help taking a picture of the old stairs. We are on the 3rd floor so usually walk up but there is an elevator approx. 2 feet x 2 feet - barely room for 2 people or 1 person with 1 suitcase. And, yes with all our bags we made several trips when we arrived.

Today we mainly unpacked, walked to the market for a few supplies`, had a very enjoyable light supper - happy hour.

À CDG Paris

After retrieving our many valises we headed for the Gare Centrale to purchase our Navigo Decouverte passes (like the Montreal metro passes).  These are  very cool (and less expensive than the tourist Paris Visite cards) with photo ID and are reloadable weekly at many available kiosks around Paris.  Credit Cards with chips by the way work very well at almost any establishment - including reloading metro cards and renting the Paris version of the Bixie bicyclette in Montreal.

Now we were ready to find a taxi and head into the city.  No problem at this  point but becasue of the time of day (08:00)  what would normally have taken 30 minutes took us 1.5 hours.  On the way we noticed Major Pig was MIA.  Can you imagine two middle-aged adults freaking out about their missing child.  Can`t believe I am even admitting this on the WWW.  Thankfully he was recovered in good form on the floor of the taxi.

On arrive à CDG, Paris

Major Pig takes flight

On y va! Leaving Montreal

à l’aéroport

Found an 'app' for Francois' stress: a double gin & tonic at the airport bar. And a little added humour - our departure gate is B52 :-)

Dernière Café

Au revoir ENA4.  Our next coffee will be a pleasant café au lait avec pain grillé au 5e arr demain matin.

Avant de partir

Breakfast this morning took a bit of creativity but  the result was surprisingly delicious.  I call it Smoothie Avant de Partir.  The recipe includes the remaining apple cider, applesauce, pink grapefruit, lemon yogurt, 2 eggs, 2 scoops protein powder, 2 scoops ground flax seed. Blend until smooth and frothy.  The refrigerator is now empty of anything that won't survive the month.

Moins de 24 heures / Less than 24 hours

I so love technology!! - paperless check-in tomorrow with iPhones and away we go.  Notice our seats side by side? A coordinated effort between military booking agent from Amex on the phone with Francois at same time on the phone with me and me online with Air Canada.  Love it when a plan comes together.
 

Problem with being all packed in advance though is we can always find more things to stuff into our bags.  Surprisingly we are still under the weight maximum.

Spent the afternoon researching some fabulous restaurant suggestions from a dear friend.  First place on the list will be au Sauvignon, 80 rue des Saint-Père, 7e arr.  Suggested order: sandwich sans chapeau, pâté ou saucissons avec une assiette de fromage et un ballon de rouge (Sauvignon mais oui!). Yum! Many thanks David for sharing these gems.

Our travel mascot

Piglet has been our little travel mascot for many years.  He has visited 3 continents,8 countries, has 'participated' in four military missions and has recently been promoted to Major Pig.  You will be able to follow  Le Fabuleux Destin de Piglet et Francois et Kathy over the next several weeks as we explore the treasures of Paris together.

Re-thinking my packing strategy

A quote from 'The Sweet Life in Paris' has made me wonder if I have packed the appropriate things: 

'....so I extracted myself from the sofa, shaved, changed into a pair of real pants, tucked in a clean wrinkle-free shirt, and slipped on a pair of shoes and socks heading toward the door with my little plastic sac for the poubelle.....You don't want anyone else, such as a neighbor (or worse, one of those garbage men in their nifty green outfits), to think you're a slob do you? '  

Will nine pairs of pretty shoes and 3 cocktail dresses, my pearls, plus plus plus..... be enough? Four suitcases, two carry-ons between the two of us, my monstrous sac à main - oof!  But just two days to go so it will have to be enough.

Paris in two days

“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” ~ D. H. Lawrence

I guess we were never meant to travel light.  Packing for a month's stay in Paris is proving tougher than I thought.  I think there may be a baggage overage.