THURSDAY-Musee d'Orsay

With the last remaining effort we had, we stopped at Mussee d'Orsay, home to lots of modern works of art. (think post 1800).



The scultures are fantastic, very emotional and fun.









We also saw some awesome impressionists.



And there was an art nouveau exhibit that was ok.







After, we stopped at a little diner filled with locals having a great time. We got cheeseburgers in t honor of our return to the states tomorrow.

The locals having a good time and laughing together reminded me how much I miss my friends back home. Maybe it's not so much the geography, but the commraderie that really makes homesickness what it is.

I loved Paris and the food and I can't wait to see you all again to tell you about it. :)

Night all! I'll post an insane amount of photos this weekend once I recover. Thanks for reading!

WEDNESDAY-Light shopping and city tour

Yup, more bummin' around town this morning and we each went our own way to have some fun and shop. I spent half my time lingering over coffee in a sheltered outdoor cafe near Jardin du Luxembourg. Jeri did some shopping and had a wonderful time.







We met back at the room after I made a quick stop at the local boulangerie. I got Jeri a nice piece of chocolate cake and myself a delicious lemon tart.







I can't get a really lemony dessert in the US. I'm not sure why. It seems the only flavor we're not scared to pile on is chocolate.

After this we collected ourselves, grabbed some hot ham and gruyere crepes for lunch, and hopped on a city bus tour. It was an open air tour on the top of the bus that took us to many o the attractions we'd not seen yet like the Arch d' Triumph and the square at the other end of the Champs Elysees where everyone was beheaded in the revolution.

Other than that, it was damn cold up there and we were glad to finally get back to our room. A very fun day!!!

TUESDAY-Dinner Au Nord Point

Just across the street from the giant grave yard of Pere Lachaise is Au Nord Point. It's were I was able to check off another great French dish! Escargot!

What were they like? Chewy, buttery, drenched in garlic and clarified butter and something green. I'm not sure what it was, but I think it might have been pureed fiddleheads (fern buds) judging from the grassy herbal note. They were a lot like clams actually, but maybe a little less savory. They were pretty good though, especially with some baguette and I'd order 'em again. Yummers!

Jeri got a gorgeous looking bowl of French onion soup with the requisit crouton and melted gruyere on the top. She was very kind and let me have several tastes. Dark, dark toasty onion flavor, sweet and salty, and just a tiny bit of fresh minced onion in it that gave a bright texture and veggie crunch to something that can be a little dull: warm wonderfulness on a cold rainy day. I can't imagine anyway it could be better.

I had a steak that was cooked too fast over too much heat, but I really liked that it came with this little pile of rock salt on the steak that I could distribute at will. Very nice frieze salad and the potatoes were a masterpiece. Simple mashed potatoes in a dish that was covered with guyere and tossed under a broiler. Magnificent.

TUESDAY-Pere Lachaise

The coolest attraction of the trip to me so far was a trip to Pere Lachaise, the largest cemetary in Paris. They built it in the 1800s when the rest of the city graveyards had become so full of corpses they were truly spilling out. Think oozey. Yup, like that.

They built Pere Lachaise, dug up most of the rest of the cemeteries, and moved all the bones deep under the city into the catacombes (which are currently closed for repairs so we can't see them this time). So relatively speaking Pere Lachaise is pretty young.

And pretty fresh. If you get buried there (or cremated - yup, they've got their own ovens at Pere Lachaise *crackle! crackle!*) if your family doesn't keep up payments on your plot, it goes back to the cememtery and someone else can take up residence. You might be there 10 years or so and then it's out on your duff for some new dead person. Your remains? No worries, you'll join a mass grave with the rest of the people who defaulted on their rent. Misery loves company, no? :)

So you can see there's all theses cool above ground monuments, but there's no one in them like you'd expect if they were vaults. Everyone is under them. 10 to 12 feet under them. They bury 'em deep at Pere Lachaise. No clawing to the surface.

It was also the day after All Saints Day when the French decorate their graves and almost every relatively active grave was flowered, usually with mums. Even very old ones of popular historical figures got flowers, some covered in them.

Our guide told us if your loved one is being cremated, you can even wait for them to finish. Yes, you get to see the box pushed into the oven and then you wait while your loved one is flame broiled. He's even seen people handed the hot remains in an urn and then inter their loved one with oven mitts on. I'm not makin' this up (you know how the French are about fresh baked goods. No serious, i'm not makin' this up. Oven mitts.).

The more I thought about it, I really liked the idea actually. It reminded me of funeral pyres of the past and the places along the Ganges where even today you can have your dead burned on a pyre while you and other loved ones look on. Having lost a couple of people I was very close to, the closure of this would have been very reassuring to me.

The cemetary is massive. I've been in some pretty big ones. Sleepy Hollow has a huge cemetary; Meterie in New Orleans is enormous. But this is truly grand.

And hilly as hell. Our guide, Malcolm, had an encyclopedic knowledge of Pere Lachaise and at probably 60 kept us at a steady double time trot up and down hills on nasty worn cobblestone and wet slippery leaves. I definitely worked off my croissant from breakfast.

The place is truly amazing and beautiful though. Those of you who know me know I not only really love Halloween, but also graveyards; I've got a little morbid streak. The aged and sometimes falling in tombs of Pere Lachaise with the wet, dark day in a grave yard filled with cats and crows, tombs marked with owls and bats, were like a dream come true for me and I'm pretty sure I took over 200 pictures.

We saw a number of composers' tombs, lots of Napolean's generals, poets, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Seurat, and just a load of cool stuff. Our two hours or so there went by like a blink for me. I will never forget it.

Why not be familiar with places like these, I think. We'll all be spending a lot of time there.

TUESDAY-Marche St. Germain

For the first time on this trip, I was filled with deep emotion. Swept up into near mania and then pained to my heart. We visited the market, Marche St. Germain.

The selection of vegetables is gorgeous. The selection of butters, creams, and cheeses is breath-taking. The selections of beef, veal, liver, beef knuckles, dried hams, sausages, poultry, pates, ox tail, and other gorgeous cuts made me sigh.

The selections of fresh fish, mussels, periwinkles, sardines, great slabs of salmon, drifts of sole, the glutenous mass of a whole octopus, mounds of prawns, piles of calamari, grand chunks of tuna, and ... oysters... mountains of fresh oysters... made tears come to my eyes.

I was in rapture. All time stopped as I saw all and smelled all my culinary dreams come true. Behind me veggies, before me fish, to the right beef, to the left every baked good I could want freshly made that morning.

Then I remembered. I had no way to cook. *Cue overhead spiraling zoom shot as James looks up, center camera and screams 'NOOOOoOOOOOOO!!!!!!' *

So much before me and no way to truly partake. No soups, croutons, bouef dishes, or my beloved sole munier would be made by me today. *sigh*

Luckily I was able to assuage my grief with a shave. If you've not done this before guys, I highly recommend. A straight razor shave by someone who really knows what they're doing. Sure your face feels like it's being ripped off torwards the end, but it's a very, very relaxing ripping. If I could, I'd get a shave like this every morning.

TUESDAY-Sputnik

I know I mentioned Sputnik when we first got to our room (he escorted us into the lift and up to our room, and sat on the bed while we unpacked). But he's such a great kitty, he deserved his own entry.

Sputnik is about 16 and very well mannered for the most part. He was named Sputnik because he ran around and around like a nut when he was little. He's on the front desk every morning and most of the day and greets everyone.

In the evening, he's in his favorite chair in the foyer. We often sit with him for a while at night and read and pet him. He seems ok with this.

This morning he was at breakfast with us downstairs. We shared some croissant and hot cream with him. He seemed to enjoy this.

He's got a great meow and is so special, I just wanted to make sure he got the attention he deserved here :)

MONDAY-Interesting stuff

Bamboo
I'm not sure what the climate is here, but lots of people grow it in doorways and balconies, and there're patches of it in parks.

Internet
You can't watch Netflix instant watch movies or listen to Pandora outside the US.


Asian Stuff
There are sushi restaurants and Chinese restaurants all over the place in the Latin district. Lots of shops selling fabric, housewares, and all sorts of Asian stuff. Seems like a craze here.


Bookstores
As my mother might say, you can't swing a dead cat in Paris without hitting a book store. There are chain ones sprinkled around, but tiny boutique ones everywhere. Specialty ones for polish lit, for medical lit, for antique books, you name it.


Orangina with pulp
Orangina is an orange soda drink. It's really got orange juice in it and in Paris you can get it with pulp in it (which I can't find at home), which is great. Orangina rocks. Drink Orangina.


Coke
Coke and Diet Coke always comes in a glass bottle here, with a glass with lemon. It rocks.


Street cleaning
There's these cool things in the gutters towards the tops of hills that blast water out at certain times for the sole purpose of cleaning the streets and gutters. There's always some dude helping it sweep down. Very clean city.


People are very friendly
Everyone we've interacted with in even small ways has been great. Not a turd in the bunch.


These people can dress
Everyone - everyone is at least engaged in fashion in some way, even if it's not your style. The vast majority of people are so well-dressed (and i'm not even saying expensive dress) it makes your coolest outfits feel a little dull. This will say it all: men here stop on the street to ogle shoes in shop windows. 'Nuff said.


Lots of little kids with eye-glasses
I don't know why.


Kids are very receptive to strangers
They're well-behaved for the most part and smile hugely and wave to strangers. Parents seem very good with this.


No salt at table
Usually you don't need any; the food is often just right. But not always.


No butter after breakfast
Now what the hell. This is probably the best butter on the planet and they make maybe the best bread. Why can we only get butter at breakfast? I think it's something they do to torture fat tourists who take pictures of their food with their cell phones.

MONDAY-Strolling

Monday was another quiet day strolling around Paris, stopping into little shops along the way, talking with the shopkeepers, and just generally having a fun, leisurely day.

There was a cool place called Patrick Roger we stopped into for chocolates. This was serious stuff. The dude is a master. He sold his own chocolates as well as bar chocolate from different countries.

For those who are into the chocolate scene, that means he actually makes his chocolate vs simply making chocolates. He also had amazing marzipan creations that were for Halloween and were gorgeous and incredibly expensive.

SUNDAY-Light Shopping

We had a tiny shopping excursion over lunch and Jeri found some really cool stuff. The sales person knew a little English and me a little French so it went off pretty well. Very fun!

SUNDAY-Le Rostand

Sunday was a catchup day for us, jet lag is a cruel mistress. We slept late, had breakfast, slept late, and then went out in the pouring rain to a protected outdoor cafe near the park.


We kept it simple with a great cheese plate and bread. There was gorgonzola, cantal, reblochon, and camembert. All of them were yummy, but I fell in love with the orangey rinded reblochon. Soft, lightly pungent, and oh so cheesey.


Dessert was a chocolate item for Jeri that was like descending into a chocolate darkness. Not sweet, but a deeply chocolate mousse perched atop a thin, coarse piece of white cake and surrounded by creme anglaise on one side and a dark chocolate sauce on the other and dusted with cocoa powder -- the sauce alone was so darkly chocolate, it almost had a petroleum taste. The creme anglaise was no match for this and almost seemed to be there just to show how it withered in the face of such chocolateness. One could hardly see while tasting this blackness, let alone breathe.


It was the first chocolate thing I've ever tasted that made me appreciate chocolate as a serious flavor. Astonishing.


I had a very traditional French dessert: an apple tartin. Simply put, it's an apple upside-down cake, but so much more than that. The apples are slowly cooked to the point where those on the bottom become something crossed between a burnt sugar caramel and apple butter (minus the cinnamon and spices). The base was several
buttered phyllo layers and the dish was served with a tart creme fraiche that perfectly complimented the dark, buttery apple/sugar flavors. Yummers.


Our coffee's went exceptionally well with the dessert and the cheese. I'm understanding why cheese can be a dessert dish.

SATURDAY-Fashion

Several people asked me to keep tabs on fashion and hair in Paris as this is the place it starts before coming to the US.

Bangs out, long hair (straight or curly) in. Very short haircuts with bangs - in. Skinny leg jeans - very in. Flats-in. Knee high boots with heels or not - in. Dogs pooping on the sidewalk and leaving it behind - in. Scarfs - crazy in, i mean all over, guys too, but i think it's a Paris thing. Making out in the park - in. Print and pattern stockings - in. Opaque tights with sweater dress and boots - very very in.

Bread - in. Bicycles - in. Smoking - in. Yup, people in Paris are walking down the street or riding bikes with long baguettes sticking out paper bags, often smoking. The women and men here look healthy, eat heartily, but with thoughtful enjoyment. No berets though. They're in the souvenier shops.

SATURDAY-Public Toilets

I know you're all curious, so here it is.

There're free toilets on the street in Paris. You punch a button on the side to get in and are presented with a bowl, with no outlet, no where for the refuse to go at first glance. It's just a bowl. Above it is constantly running water to wash your hands, and there's papers for.. you know.

Anyway, the door rolls shut, you do you business, shut the door, it's locked down, some horrendous water noise starts and the bowl is presumably pulled inside somewhere, blasted clean and then rolled back out for the next user.

Ta da. You wanted to know. Don't pretend you didn't.

SATURDAY-Hallowe'en in Paris

I'd read there were French who celebrated Hallowe'en in Paris, but they were few. We spoted one little boy dressed like a dog with his father trick or treating around 2pm, then a little girl in a princess costume, a little boy with a jack-o-lantern t-shirt in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and a man in a grim reaper costume after dinner.

There were also some young ladies on the bar scene very late that I saw out the window of my room dressed as various characters from history, if those characters had been 21st century ladies of the evening, and so all is well on Hallowe'en in Paris.

SATURDAY-Jardin du Luxembourg

Of everything I've seen so far, nothing holds my attention like Jardin du Luxembourg. It's a huge park with an old palace in the middle, and it's sooo wonderful. It was like this park was designed with autumn in mind. I can't imagine another time of the year it's more beautiful.

The French love their parks and staff them well. Lawns, flowers, and trees are perfectly cared for, and people take in conversation and the day itself in the park in a satisfied, relaxed way I can't remember seeing in the US.

The octagonal lake near the palace is a great place to people watch. There's this cool think were kids rent little sailboats that they push across the pond with poles back and forth. Kids and old people feed the ducks and gulls.

The Medici fountain is my favorite place in the park. It depicts a scene of Zeus catching a faun with the young Venus. See, Zeus had first dibs on foolin' around with anyone, so he isn't a happy camper in this scene.

I'm really amazed with how sexy this centuries old sculpture, but love to sit nearby and listen to the gentle sounds of the water, see the leaves fall, and watch the ducks paddle around. I could go to this park every day I was here and not feel disappointed I missed anything in Paris.

FRIDAY-Eiffel Tower

First off, the tower's brown, not black. A light chocolate brown actually. I'd always thought it was black.

I couldn't really appreciate the tower's height from the ground. Frankly, as we approached, I thought to myself, "Yup, that's the Eiffel Tower. The same one I've seen in pictures and other cheesy representations my whole life." Truth be told, in my mind the damn thing was seriously packed with frommage.

The base of the tower was peppered with vendors selling keychains, plastic light-up towers, toys of all sorts, and junk, and a few pan-handlers. The base was also crawling with tourists from all over, not just the US. This time of year there aren't very many US people to be found actually. The lines for lifts seemed huge. The base of the tower was also freaking enormous.

It wasn't until we started sating our growling tummies with a fantastic ham and gruyere on a baguette that I looked up and suddenly became aware of the enormity of this thing. The Eiffel Tower was fricken huge.

But was it this magical thing, place, experience that so many people seem to wax romantic about? Sure didn't seem that way. Between the lines and the incessant sales pitches for knick-knacks, I wasn't so sure it was even worth the trip across town to see it. Sure, feat of engineering for it's time, etc., but sheesh. This looked like a giant pain in the ass for the pleasure of going up in one of the most done-to-death icons in the western world.

Nevermind that; we were in Paris, and by god, we needed to go up and all the way to the top. If we came home without even going in the Eiffel Tower, some people might think we were nuts. Into line we went.

With the off season we were through in less than 40 minutes and on our way up. There was a transfer to the final lift that took us to the top. The ground dropped away from us and seemed like it would never stop. Vertigo baby. And then we were there. Through the doors, up a short flight of stairs and we were in the open air above Paris.

Dusk had fallen while we waited in line and took the lifts to the top. Approaching the edge, a thin fog had crept in across the city making the lights of the city below glow with a fairy tale halo. There was the Arc d'Triumph and the Seine and the lit winding streets of one of the oldest cities on the planet. I forgot to breathe.

We both stood, overcome with the beauty of the city of lights below and all around us. As Jeri squeezed my arm tight and kissed me, it was clear that this was indeed a magical place that we would remember visiting for the rest of our lives. I can't imagine a city view that could compare with Paris at dusk from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

It was Jeri's birthday today too. It was somewhat arranged and somewhat happy accident that we took our trip to fit her birthday in Paris. Jeri had said this was her birthday present.

As we raised a glass of champagne to toast her special day, I reached into my pocket and took out a diamond rimmed watch I'd gotten her for her birthday a few weeks ago and hid to bring on the trip. She was pleased and touched, and I think this was a good birthday for her.

Later, back on the ground we watched the tower's lightshow, a waxing moon behind it, we reflected on what an amazing visit it had been so far. So, if you're in Paris, really do see the Eiffel Tower. You might not feel what we did, but you'll feel something and I bet that feeling will be special.

FRIDAY-Metro

I talked about the metros in Moscow, so needed a quick note here. They're very easy to navigate (i understand French much better than Russian), clean, and efficient. As ornate as Moscow they are not, but mighty handy.

Oh, and if you're lucky, you'll have a dude in your car playing that French accordian music you automatically think of when you think of France. We had a dude like that in our car. It was cool.

FRIDAY-Gauloise

I made a deal with Jeri.

While in Paris, I get to smoke Gauloise cigarettes.

I could not imagine being in Paris and not getting to smoke. Lots and lots of people smoke here. Not inside as they used to. But everywhere else. People smoked at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

So I got me a couple packs and I love 'em. These are supposed to be the quintessential French cigarette. Much shorter than a regular cigarette and very mild. They don't leave a stink on my fingers like American cigarettes. They're sort of toasty and mildly nutty. A delight!

Oh and the French? They're all havin' Marlboros from what I see.

THURSDAY-First Lunch

Lunch today was at a brasserie just a few blocks from our hotel. We'd gone for a walk in the Jardin du Luxemborg - it was so fantastically peaceful and beautiful (and close by) that we're sure to go again and I'll have some pictures of it then.

We ate outside, which was very nice. Temps in the low 60s here today. The salads were excellent. Jeri's was mostly buttercrunch lettuce with tomatoes and pinenuts, topped with apples baked in honey and toasted bread rounds with toasted chevre (goat cheese) on top, dressed with a simple vinegarette. Outstanding- tasted like and autumn day and the tart, fat flavor of the chevre rounded it out nicely.

Mine was very mild arugula with shaved parmesan dressed with only olive oil. It was nutty and grassy with a great salty sour kick from the parmesan. This was all extra fantastic with torn hunks of some really crusty baguettes.

I also had some beef entree i forget the name of, but it came with a potato confit that was fan-f*cking-tastic. Just new potatoes that had rested in duck fat, but lord they were tasty with a sweet, buttery, savory, nutty, melt in your mouth texture / taste. Yummers.

The beef was unremarkable with a thin brown sauce that was so so. Kinda disappointing really.

Dessert was an apple and custard tart that was nicely understated, but maybe too much so for the strong americano drank with it.

Our server, Renior, was truly over taxed with tables to wait on, but I was so proud of myself that i was able to confidently ask for the check in French! Those who've not researched or travelled to France may not know you must ask for the check because they want you to be comfortable and not feel rushed as you enjoy your meal. What a country! Yay!

We're pretty beat at this point and it's back to our room to finally check in, settle in, and catch a few winks. Looking forward to a quiet dinner tonight and planning our day tomorrow. Did I mention tomorrow is Jeri's bday?