Shoe's Net: 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

Paris: Food

Yes, food capital of the world. But it wasn't a focus of our trip (*duck and cover*).

But there were definitely high points!

The highlight for me was the Patisserie/Boulangerie right across the street. I stopped in minutes after arriving and bought a quiche du fromage, which the shopkeeper heated up for me. I took it with me and walked down to Pont Neuf. It was the most delicious quiche I've ever tasted! YUM!

I stopped into the shop nearly every day, either for croissants or pain chocolat for breakfast, a bagette, quiche on mulitple days, or pastries. The tart citron was to. die. for.

We had an apartment with a small kitchen, so for cost savings and convenience, we ate in quite a bit. Most of our breakfasts and some of our dinners were in. The rest of the time was street food (crepes, sandwiches), picnics (cheese, baguette, wine), falafel, and what-have-you.

Crepes: Nutella, Chocolate, Grand Marnier, Lemon ...Wow! all were delicious.

Picnics: We had two or three picnics, with bread, cheese, fruit and wine. It was beautiful sitting river-side, boat- and people-watching. Once we took sandwiches from Cosi, which was a go-to place for Annette. She had discovered it with her group, and was delighted that it was just a short walk from our apartment.

We had one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner that were each quite special and satisfied our need to partake of the French Food Experience.

Breakfast one day was at Le Deux Magots, a well-known cafe that was frequented by artists, writers, and philosophers, including Picasso, Hemingway and Sartre. We enjoyed baked goods and the most amazing hot chocolate--more like melted chocolate bar than any hot chocolate I've ever had! Yummers.

Our view from our street-side table at Le Deux Magots. That's the oldest church in Paris, for which the neighborhood is named. St. Germain des Pres. Maybe Hemingway sat there one day!

Delicious chocolate and pastries

We had a beautiful lunch at the Cafe Campana inside Musée d'Orsay. The museum is housed inside a former art deco train station. It's a beautiful building, and the restaurant was stunning, decorated in orange and aqua. I took only crappy iPhone pictures, apologies for the quality. I had croq monsieur. Delicious. (I'm not sharing a picture of the food. Food pictures never translate well!)

Our fancy dinner came on our last night, when we walked the few steps up the street to Restaurant Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris (1686). We sat and enjoyed dinner where Victor Hugo, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Voltaire enjoyed their dinners! As an apertif we enjoyed a glass of Kir Royale. Oh. my. Gawd. It was the best glass of champagne I've ever tasted. I nearly had an out-of-body experience! For dinner, though the Calf's Head sounded tempting (not), I had traditonal onion soup followed by Coq au Vin. Delicious. Annette enjoyed gazpacho and duck.

We are among esteemed company!

Inside Procope

Cheers! The best champagne ever: Kir Royale. Oh, my!

Thumbs-up for gazpacho!

The Coq au Vin came in a pretty copper pot!

After that fine, traditional French meal, our vacation was complete.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Paris: Art

In Paris there is art.

The principle reason for Annette to travel for Paris, and to live there for six weeks, was of course art. She enjoyed much, much more art during the previous four weeks, but she was gracious enough to take me and teach me while I was there.

Before I left, someone asked me, "What is the thing you are looking forward to most?" I answered, the first time that I walk from our apartment to the Louvre."

That day was Friday, August 2. We went again on Monday, August 5.

Our apartment was just half-mile away from the Louvre, just the next bridge down! It was indeed a thrill to put on walking shoes and stroll down to le premier musée du monde, Musée du Louvre.

Photo by Annette

Photos are ludicrous. There are better images on the internet. and no image matches the experience of standing in front of a masterpiece and taking it in, and taking it in, and taking it in. But, I was there, at the Louvre, two days. And to prove it, here are my images. Go look up better images. Learn about the work. Learn about the artist. And better yet, go to Paris and soak them into your brain!

Winged Glory of Samothrace and a sea of humanity

She's also known as Nike of Samothrace

You can't get very close to La Jaconde (aka The Mona Lisa). The people-watching is interesting! Being in the same room with her is amazing in any case. For all of us 1,290,896 people there!

This is as close as I got. Proof. I was feet away from Lisa!

Of course, we also saw the last of "The Big Three," the Venus de Milo.

Photo by Annette

I took the above picture because as I walked through the museum, I was impressed that so many artists, both sculptors and painters, glossed over (literally) women's lady parts. This was a piece that was actually close to reality. Of course, The Origin of the World (1866) by Gustave Courbet (at Musée d'Orsay) pushed the boundaries!

A few of my favorites:

The Young Martyr by Paul LaRouche stopped me in my tracks. No photo does it justice.

My Princess, crowned

Photo by Annette

Tour groups were everywhere. And they were clueless that there were others who wished to view the art.

Somewhere on Facebook or Blogger there is a picture of me taking a picture of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.

Learn more about this piece here.

This candelabra, Persian-made, was an amazing piece of metalwork. It was one of my favorite objets d'art in the Louvre. Unfortunately, I can't find more about it. There was a long audio description at the museum, and I thought I'd have no trouble finding it on the site when I got home, but I can't find it. Darn.

From what I remember, it was made of one piece of metal, and all the little duckies on top, as well as the decorations around the base, were pounded out of the metal. There are intricate inlays, as well. It was huge, an amazing work.

There was an installation of Michalanelo Pistoletto, a contemporary artist, throughout the museum. This was my favorite of his, Venus of the Rags.

During the one rainy day we had, we went to Musée d'Orsay. FABULOUS museum. The whole top floor is filled with Impressionist art. Renoir is one of my favorites, ever since I visited The National Gallery of Art in 1975 and fell in love with A Girl with A Watering Can.

And here are some postcards of some of our faveys from both museums.

On one of the last days, Annette didn't feel well, so I headed out by myself again to l'Orangerie, a small museum of mostly impressionists, and two rooms dedicated to Monet's large Water Lilies. I gazed and gazed and got lost in them. The more I sat and gazed, the more amazed I became. It was quite a moving experience. No pictures to share; no photography allowed, but here is a virtual tour.