Au revoir

Paris is much farther north than New York, and it's June, too, so it's light until after 10:00 pm.  We went for a walk to the Champs du Mars (10 minute walk from our apartment)  to have a last look at the Eiffel Tower. The park was filled with people, waiting for the lights to come on.  Bonus was the sparkling light show. 

Giverny

Our last day here, an afternoon in Giverny, 45 minutes by train, to Claude Monet's home and garden, and where he built the famous lily pond and Japanese bridge.  He lived here for about 40 years, from the 1880s until he died in 1926.  The sun was out (first time all week) so it was perfect.

The gardens go on forever. There are 100,000 perennials and 100,000 annuals also planted every year.  The style is not manicured yet carefully controlled and groomed to look "natural." There are gardeners everywhere, with clippers and wheelbarrows and pots.

li

Oriental lillies growing along the banks of the stream leading to lily pond

Purple and white lupine flowers on bank of lily pond

peonies and ??

poppies

 The farmhouse is decorated with impressionist paintings especially in the salon, but most surfaces in the house -- the bedrooms, dining room, hallways, stairway walls, etc. -- are covered with Japanese drawings and paintings (see dining room photos below)

(we think the paintings are reproductions, or done by others "in the style of")

view of rose bushes from second floor window

Epernay et Reims

Day trip to Epernay and Reims in the champagne region. Rental car was a chartreuse colored Citroen (J: "mais ce coleur -- mon Dieu!").  About 100 km from Paris. Epernay is home of Moet and Chandon, founded 1743, largest producer of champagne in the world.  We learned how champagne is made (second fermentation, how they get the sediment out, etc etc).  We also learned that their cellars where wine is aged run 28 km on three levels and that Japan is the largest importer of Dom Perignon. Of course the tour ended with a tasting--we had a glass each of the brut and the rose.

vineyards of Champagne

The cellars of Moet et Chandon. Each "cave" has some 2000 bottles.

When the monk discovered champagne (made accidentally) he said "I am drinking the stars"

We had lunch at a local place with wood-fired pizza, though definitely not a joint -- Epernay's bourgeois ladies lunch there.  Then,  a lovely drive through vineyards and across a small mountain to Reims (Rheims), site of 800 year old cathedral (construction started in 1211 and took 200 years to complete). It was badly damaged during World War I by German artillery; the stained glasses was redone in the 1920s-30s.  But some are much later, including a tri-panel of Biblical allegories and figures by Marc Chagall (1971)  The informational panel stated that Chagall was devout but managed to not say he was Jewish (the phrase used was "in the Hasaidic tradition").  Two  new sets of abstract tri-panels (2011) by Imi Knoebel celebrated the cathedral's 800th anniversary, and I think they chose the German artist as a gesture of reconciliation.

stained glass, 2011 (Knoebel)

stained glass, 1971 (Chagall)

stained glass, c. 1930

scary gargoyles ward off evil

our little green Citroen--possibly also wards off evil

Paris (Harry's NY Bar)

Night out:  Cocktails at Harry's Bar, on the right bank near the Opera.  An old institution, built from a bar from NYC that was dismantled and shipped over here in 1911.  Swinging saloon doors and a c. 1900  tin ceiling.  Then taken over by a Scots named Harry.  An American expat hangout for years (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein; Gershwin wrote An American in Paris at the piano bar). The only place in Paris where J. could get a decent Manhattan.  There are American college pennants on the wall. Columbia's must have been one of the originals.  Then back to Le Dome du Marais for a great dinner, lobster ravioli for starter; I had John Dory and J. had  monkfish, and a chocolate cake for dessert. They had lights on the dome, changing colors as we dined.

Paris (Louvre, Les Puces)

Sunday we went to the Louvre in the afternoon and saw a great exhibit on Leonardo di Vinci's last painting (and ultimately left unfinished when he died), Saint Anne, the product of twenty years of thinking and work about anatomy, bodily dynamics, and light and shadow.  And of course the standards (Mona Lisa; Winged Victory; though we could not find the Venus of Milo).

For dinner we went to Le Train Bleu, a restaurant in the Gare de Lyon.  It's named after the famed Train Bleu, the night train that ran from Calais to Nice from the 1920s until the TGV cut the time by more than half. All first class and heavily decorated in blue and gold, hence the name.  Like its namesake the restaurant is done in over-the-top style of the Belle Epoch.  It's on the mezzanine and one can watch the trains come and go from the windows on one side.  We sat on the other side and watched night fall on the square outside. Notice the brass hat rack running behind the banquettes.  The food (duck) was not as spectacular as the setting, but it was a lot of fun, made more so by after-dinner calvados!

Yesterday we spent the day at the huge Marché aux Puce (flea market) at the northern edge of Paris. We had read that it was open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so we went on Monday thinking there'd be less of a crowd.  True enough, but many stalls were not open.  A lot of furniture (from 18 century to art deco to MCM), a surprising amount of orientalist stuff, silverware, swords and guns, and a ton of junk.  It was a bit disappointing but we still left with some stuff -- a linen nightdress, some gifts for sons and mothers.  On Sunday we also visited a brocante (another word for a flea market) on Ave. de Saxe in our neighborhood, and picked up a few items. Smaller but somehow more satisfying. 

Paris (Place de Voges etc)

We went walking through the Marais today, from Les Halles to Place de Voges and Bastille.  Lunch at "Cafe Hugo" on Place de Voges and then visited Victor Hugo's home. An exhibit all about Hugo and "le noir", and his apartment, which had one room in over-the-top Orientalist decor.  PS--the metro runs along the boulevard outside our apartment, but it's not that noisy. It's the rubber wheels -- no screeching.

Place de Voges (view from Cafe Hugo)

View of Place de Voges from Victor Hugo's 3rd floor apartment

The room of Chinoiserie in Victor Hugo's apartment

Place de Bastille

View from our apartment - Eiffel tower (with searchlight) and the metro station

Paris (La Tour et Le Marché)

J. arrived yesterday (Friday) and my conference is finished.  We are renting a one bedroom flat in the at the border of the 7th (posh) in the 15th (not so posh, but we've a view of the Eiffel Tower from the window!).  This morning I went to the local marché a few blocks away.  Several blocks long and with the Eiffel tower in the background.  And ooh la la, everything from cheese to meats and fish, to fruits and vegetables, breads and pastries, as well as prepared food (French, North African); plus assorted clothing, shoes, costume jewelry, DVDs, etc etc.  The produce food looked so delicious so in addition to bread, cheese,  paté, and strawberries,  I bought food for us to eat in tonight -- a spit-roasted chicken, haricots verts, potatoes, salad greens, and the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes (see below).

apricots and cherries

coupon from the roast chicken vendor

Paris (Diderot/Bobillot)

Conference all day at the main (new) campus of Paris VII-Diderot, in a new stylish neighborhood in the 13th, along the Seine, by the new Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand.  A long day of workshops but capped with a cocktail party at the Institute des Ameriques.  Photo below shows old and new buildings on the campus.

Dinner with a group from conference off the Rue Bobillot, in a new trendy former working class  area they call "Bo-Bo" (short for Bohemian Bourgeois--in the US I believe it's known as Boho Chic).  Photo below is an alley in the neighborhood.  We went to a restaurant called Bouche a Oreilles (literally mouth to ear,  means word of mouth). The walls were plastered with 33 LP record covers of American music like Sam Cook and Cyndi Lauper.  I had a salad with pate fois gras maison, raw milk cheese, and aged ham.  Chesnut ice cream for dessert.  I've learned to take an espresso after dinner.

Paris (Montparnasse; Le Marais)

 

Yesterday: A visit to Reid Hall, Columbia's program here, off the Blvd. Montparnasse.  Charming place, a 19-th century porcelain factory then residence of wife of Whitelaw Reid the NY journalist and ardent imperialist at the turn of the last century.  (left) one of the courtyards.




Later, dinner with friends at "Marty," near my hotel on Rue Gobelins in the 13th  (left).  Beautiful decor and an excellent steak frites.



Today was the beginning of the conference on migration in the Americas.  Participants from Europe, US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil.  A trilingual meeting, with papers given in French, English, and Spanish, with summary translations.  Today's sessions held at University of Paris VII (Diderot)'s building in the Marais.  

 In addition to intellectual stimulation there was significant stimulation gastronomique! a group of us went to lunch at the famed "L'As du Falalfel" (it's even in the Paris Zagats).  And possibly the best falalfel anywhere.  It's an Israeli restaurant (kosher) and take out place (long lines), in the old Jewish section of the Marais on Rue de Rosiers. The falafel are petite by American standards; I think this is part of the secret, for the surface to mass ratio is greater and hence you get greater crunch with each bite.  The sandwich is served in a pita with julienned cucumbers and chunks of grilled eggplant, and the sauce has some tahini in it.  You cannot bite into it, you have to eat it with a fork. Awesome!

I went to dinner with old friends from NYC who are also at the meeting, at the Dome du Marais, a wonderful art deco restaurant with a domed dining room.  The building is 18th century and apparently before it was a restaurant it was a pawn shop associated with a religious group, not clear if Catholic or Protestant.  Only in Paris would a pawn shop be in such a space! The dome has something of the feel of a baptismal space.

Anyway, now it's got lots of glass and black velvet banquettes.  Had white asparagus with mousse au foie gras (!!) and then grilled dorade, one of my favorite fish that is popular here (Mediterranean) and only occasionally seen in NYC; my friends both had the John Dory, perhaps even more rarely seen in the US.  And perfect with an excellent Sancerre.