Paris: Dancing

No, unfortunately, we didn't attend a cabaret. Next time. It's a must.

But of course I, myself, did some dancing. The wonderful thing about Lindy Hop is that it speaks every language. Of course, a few times there were leaders trying to explain some move or other to me. I nodded politely to their French exclamations and then just tried my best to follow better the next time.   Many times, I did confess "Je ne parle pas le français" (which I learned in my handy-dandy Pimsleur French lessons I practiced with in my car). They were always quite nice and switched to English for me.


Le Caveau de la Huechette

I danced a couple times at Le Caveau de la Huechette, a jazz club in the Latin Quarter, which is filled with Jazz clubs. Le Caveau was just a few minutes' walk from our amazingly located apartment. The band and dance floor are in the basement. The building has a history of being used in wartime and during the revolution, including as a prison and torture chamber, as I understand. It is small, dark and hot. Smokin' hot! Fun dancing there.

There ware quite a few regulars, but once they saw I could dance, I didn't want for partners. It was energetic--a blast! I've never spun so much or so fast as I did there. Once I even got some applause when I spun so fast that my toonies showed!

My first night there, two couples came dressed in vintage clothing, and I was a little intimidated. I thought they'd be first on the dance floor and the last to leave, putting on some great moves. But, no. They just sat there watching. All dressed up and no dance to do.  Here they are:

Here are a couple videos of the bands that played Le Caveau.  I regret I did not take down the bands' names.

I recorded this song because it was one of Annette's faveys when she was little.



Here was the boogie-woogie band that played the other night I went.



It was super crowded the second time and I stayed for just the first set, as it was starting to get dangerous. No Balboa in Paris, apparently!


Dancing on the Seine

Paris has a pretty active swing dance community, and there were several dances in a couple different locations in Paris each week. I chose to dance here, on the banks of the Seine, because again, it was a location that was within walking distance, and it was on the banks. of. the. freaking. Seine.

It was DJ music, and it was pretty good stuff! The dancers were all quite skilled. As I said above, sometimes I didn't quite get something. The language of Lindy is the same, but the dialect is a little different. I had fun.

This was just a section of the area in which we danced. There were hundreds of dancers there. Quite thrilling to dance and to watch.




In the 12 days I was there, I went out dancing 4 or 5 times. I could've gone more often, too!  It was great.  Next time I'm in Paris, I'll dance every night!

Paris: Towers

Some tourist highlights of Paris are towers. We visited the biggies.

We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral on our first full day. It is an emotional experience to walk there, one of the most famous and storied cathedrals on Earth. It is beautiful and opulent, as so many European cathedrals are.

We were able to visit one of the towers; the other was undergoing restoration.

It was a long climb up a spiral staircase.

We did not hear the bells, alas.

Still, it was quite a treat. We had a perfect day for city views!

 


To be upclose and personal to the gargoyles: lovely. It felt like touching history.

 And then the long climb down with the lovely Annette!

I had mixed feelings about the Arc de Triomphe. Of course, it is a landmark. And an interesting piece of architecture. The military history is interesting but does not move me. It has great views once you climb the staircase up and up and up.

Another "tower." Our apartment was on the third floor (European style; that's the fourth floor for you and me). No elevator. It was a good workout going up and down every day.

And of course, the Eiffel Tower. We went in the evening. It was beautiful at night, and we got to see the twinkling lights.

We half walked, half elevator'd up the tower. Again, it was just a thrill to be inside one of the most iconic places on Earth.

Annette and I had great laughs, too. I was trying to get selfies (or "samesies" as I called them), and she was photo-bombing me. I laughed until I nearly pee'd my pants. It was great fun.

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.