Tuesday, Oct 30

Well, we were originally scheduled to leave today so instead we went for a walk starting at the place de la Concorde and then down the rue de Rivoli along the covered walkway and all the shops. We stopped at W. H. Smith, the English bookstore where we picked up a book since all of those we had downloaded onto the Nook reader have been read. This is a very interesting store with almost all of its stock being in English. It is very popular with quite a few people browsing and buying. Prices are rather high, some of the paperbacks of the top ten list selling for over thirty dollars.

We continued on down the rue de Rivoli and then up past the very modern place du Marché St. Honoré, a three or four story office building with a passageway running through center, with several large furniture stores. We got our bus at the Opéra back to our neighborhood.

We had some refreshment at the Café Charlot and noticed across the street a shop called Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow). It's an antique shop. They had on display about a dozen or so model cars some being capable of holding a small child. From what I could see, they seemed to be authentic reproductions of old cars and trucks, including a red fire engine. Some said 1939. See photos.

 Later we had dinner at the local café le Sancerre on the corner. It was a good meal, considering that eating at a café can be problamatical.

More to come tomorrow. 

Sunday, Oct 28

We got home from our walk on Sunday, listened and watched the internet for info about Sandy. We felt that our return flight scheduled for Tuesday might be canceled so we called the airline, Open Skies. They told us that both Monday and Tuesday flights were still OK. We checked with them about rescheduling and they told us we could do that without penalty but the soonest would be for the following Saturday. We decided to take the seats for Saturday thus extending our visit here for four more days. Life is tough! It's a good thing that we did because on Monday morning, they announced that both Monday and Tuesday flights had been canceled. If we had waited until actual cancelation, we wondered if we would have had to reschedule into next week along with all the others on the canceled flights.The airline waited longer than many of the American ones to cancel flights. Part of the problem was that the American airlines wanted their planes out of Newark, whereas Open Skies flies in from Paris and then returns several hours later so that their planes are not there for a long period of time. In any event we are here for a few more days and I will add a few more postings before Saturday.

Sunday, Oct 28

This afternoon, Sunday, we went on the bus to the St. Paul church which on the rue Saint-Antoine, a street which a bit farther to the west becomes the rue du Rivoli. We met up with friends, Steve and Eric, and Rick, a friend of theirs.  While we were waiting for them we spotted a very large dog whose owner told us was a schnauzer. It didn’t look like one, see photos. What do you think?

We walked over to the place des Vosges and then to a café where we sat for a while and chatted about what living in Paris is all about. We parted company and went back home. In the evening, we dined at the Café des Musées, a place we discovered on this trip which we like very much.  

Saturday, Oct 27

We went down to the rue du Rivoli but just after we arrived, it started to rain. We ducked into a cafe and spent an hour or so before we went back home. Didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon, and due to the weather, we went for the last time to Les Enfants Rouges restaurant which is just across the street. Not much done today.

Thursday, Oct 25

We finally got off to visit the Jewish quarter, something we have been trying to do for a week or so, but were always deterred by bad weather. We started out at the lovely place du Bourg-Tibourg at one of the several cafés on the place and spent an hour watching the world go by and basking in the sun, which has been absent a lot lately.

We then walk up the street (below) 

and around the corner to visit with Marcel, an old friend who has an antiques shop on the rue des Guillemites. Unfortunately he was not there and the woman there told us she did not know when he would return. Being the owner of the shop, he can come and go as he pleases. We left our card with a brief message. We hope that we may be able to get back there before we leave next Tuesday.

We walked through the quarter, principally on the rue des Rosiers and some of the smaller side streets. We saw many interesting things there. For example:

We had an early dinner, by Parisian standards, at the l’As du Fallafel. We each had a pita bread stuffed with fallafel along with some French fries and some red wine.

We walked a bit more and then went back to the rue de Turenne and took the bus home. We were gone over four hours and had a good workout. Too bad we missed Marcel.

Wednesday, Oct 24

Today, we did some chores and then off to the Saint Germain area where we visited the Debauve & Gallais store to replenish our depleted chocolate supply. While we were in the area, we stopped off at Les Deux Magots café for the usual. Dinner was at Le Mâchon d’Henri, probably for the last time this year. They are always very nice to us and we appreciate this.

Monday, Oct 22

Here we are a few days late in our postings but we'll get caught up soon.

Today we took our annual walk down the Champs-Elysées. I was a beautiful day, bright blue sky, and temps in the low 80’s. You read correctly, low 80’s at end of October. Here is a typical view of the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the boiulevard.

We stopped for the first time ever at Fouquets, the very popular, very expensive, café on the corner of the Champs and the avenue Georges V. We had nice seats right on the Champs and enjoyed a beer and a hot chocolate. Guess who had the beer. Here is the café

And here is the view from our table. Don’t know the guy but he was smoking a very smelly cigar.

After an enjoyable hour, we continued our stroll. We stopped at the Toyota salesroom where they were celebrating their 75 Anniversary. They had on display some of their earlier models from the 60’s and 70’s. Here are a few. The oldest one on display was the Land Cruiser.

It was a lovely day and we finished our walk at the Rond Point des Champs-Elysées at which point there are no more stores, but only the gardens all the way down to the place de la Concorde. At the Rond Point, we took two busses back home. We had a light dinner at the Café Bretagne. They make very good salads here, very copious.

Sunday, Oct 21

We finally got around to doing something that we always have wanted to do and that was taking the guided tour of th old Opera House. We got there and hour early to be sure of tickets, got them easily, had a coffee near the entrance, and went back at 2:30 for the tour.

We elected for the one in English since Alexandria's French would not cover all of the artistic terms. We met the guide in the rounda at the rear entrance. We then spent an hour and a half with the guide telling us all about the history and art, something we enjoyed very much.

The Opera house at night. 

We entered under the rotunda and them climbed the stairs into the auditorium. First we looked at the ceiling which was done about fifty years ago by Marc Chagall at the request of Pres. DeGaulle. It is a beautiful piece of work.

The guide then talked about the history of the building, the various areas of the house, and the stage. We then went up to see the reception rooms and the various stairways. After 90 minutes we were all experts about the opera house.

 After the tour we went on the balxcony that overlooks the square and at the end of the boulevard, one can see the Louvre Museum.

Dinner this evening was again at Le Mâchon d’Henri, a place that we really like for the food, simple but good, and the atmosphere and welcome. 

Saturday, Oct 20

This afternoon we spent the afternoon at the Bastille area, mainly at the big café there. We went back home early to have a light supper because we wanted to go the la Madeleine church for a concert. Some Parisian group was doing the Mozart Requiem. It was almost a packed house and if you know the church, that’s a lot of people. We were disappointed in the performance. The chorus and the orchestra were not always together and sometimes the various sections of the chorus were not together. We know since we have done the work a number of times and know some sections almosat by heart. Even the two male soloists were not very good. The two females were better. The bass didn’t have the low notes needed in the “Tuba mirum“ and the tenor just wasn’t up to the job. They did several smaller pieces to fill out the program. The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah was hardly appropriate and also not sung well. Oh, well. We have struck that chorus off our list. We also think that the Madeleine may not be accoutically good for choral music, especially if you are in the middle. It was after 11 when we got home. We missed a bus and had a 20 minute wait for the next one. Here is the group. I won't name them, however, or give the name of the conductor. They are well-known in Paris and should be better, especially at $40 a ticket.

Friday. Oct 19

A week of relatively routine events. We didn't do as much as we have earlier on because of

A brief day by day listing here with some photos and descriptions.

Monday, Oct 15
We spent the afternoon replacing our depleted chocolate supply. We tried a different place that we had visited last year. Got some good stuff and some marcarons. We also had afternoon tea at the Café Flore which is near to and very similar to Les Deux Magots.

We also went to the FNAC which is a large chain of department stores that deals only with media: books, CD's, DVD's, mobile phones, and all kinds of audio visual equipment. We bought a couple of books because we had finished those that we brought with us on the Nooks. It's a wonderful store to browse around in. One level is just books, another CD's and DVD's. In the evening we went back to Astier, mainly for the cheese tray that we showed you earlier.

Tuesday, Oct 16
We had lunch along the Saint Martin canal with a friend of ours who works here in Paris but is originally from Ireland. It was nothing more than a café  but the food was good, as was the company, and we spent two hours catching up.

Wednesday, Oct 17
We spent the afternoon at the Paris Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) at two different exhibitions. One was called Paris As Seen by Hollywood. It had exhibits and clips from 100 films that had something about Paris; eg, An American in Paris, Charade, Casablanca, the Merry Widow, Gigi, and many more. A very good exhibit. An equally good one was about the deportation/ saving of Jewish children during the Second World War. Completely different in tone and subject matter from the first exhibit.

On Thursday we went up to see the Paris Opera House (Salle Garnier). We plan on seeing it more thoroughly later with a guided visit. Something I have never done in 40 some years I have been coming to France. We stopped off at the famous Café de la Paix across from the Opera. Guess what we did there. In the evening we had dinner at my favorite bistro, Chez René. I have been going there for over 30 years and still love the daily specials that they have there: pot au feu, boeuf gros sel, blanquette de veau. It's also for the nostalgia involved.

Friday, Oct 19

Dreary day with some more rain so we just hung out, sat in the Café Sancerre on the corner, and relaxed. Can't site see everyday!

Sunday, Oct 14

This afternoon, another concert, this time at the Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière which is the church inside the hospital complex La Pitié Salpêtrière. This is an immense complex with the hospital, medical school, nursing school, school for lab techs, etc. It even has its own bus route, it is so large and extends over many blocks. The church itself is very beautiful and made the concert even better.

Spotted this little tail on the street. If you are able, you might play the video. If you can, ignore the voices at the end. I didn't stop it soon enough.

Saturday, Oct 13

Not much during the day. Did some chores, had a sit in a cafe for a while, had Chinese takeout, and then went to an excellent choral concert at the Eglise St. Louis-en-l'Ile on the island we have talked about. It was two choruses, one from Brighton in England and the other from St Germain which is just west of Paris. Together they did one of our favorite pieces, the Durufle Requiem, which we had sung several years ago. They each also performed several shorter works.

Friday, Oct 12

Taking up where we left off at the entrance to Notre Dame, the line was not too long so we waited a few minutes and went in. We walked around and looked at the many art works, many of which we had seen before. but its is interesting see them again, sometimes from a different perspective. Here are some examples of the stained glass windows and some of the statuary.

As we were getting ready to leave, we saw the preparations for the five o'clock mass, so we stayed for the service.

After the service, we walked for a bit and then went to the Machon d'Henri for supper. It was an early supper and we were home by nine o'clock, in time for a bit of reading and a crossword puzzle before retiring.

From now on, new posts will be at the beginning of the blog. No more scrolling.