Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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I was still writing when Tom was ready to go out yesterday, and he still wanted to see more of the rue Cler brocante, which I did not, so he left for Sunday’s grand promenade an hour earlier than I did. I left the apartment at about 1PM and met Tom at the entrance to the garden of the Branly Museum, one of our favorite green spaces in Paris. It takes a half hour, walking at a brisk pace, to get there from where we live. From there we did our usual Sunday walk except that this time, we changed course a bit. At the gorgeous Pont Alexandre III, we found the July exhibition was still going, although its poster said it was to have ended on July 7. Produced by an organization called the Gardiens des Ponts, the show was strange, as is typical for this group. Also, it was typical for it to be extended. The exhibition takes place in the odd interior of the bridge’s substructure, accessible from the riverbank, below the normal street level. Called “The Eternal Feminine,” the exhibition features 25 large-scale photographs of women by Eric Ouaknine. The sponsor is Master Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr. Continuing on our walk, when we reached the Passerelle Solferino, we decided to cross the river and walk on the other side. Normally we would not do this because in the summer, that right bank is just too hot because the cobblestones and floodwall heat up in the sun. But with this week’s moderate temperatures (in the 70s, F) and cloudy skies, walking there was just fine. We are probably among the few in Paris who prefer these temperatures and skies. For south Floridians, this weather is a real blessing. It even rained on me a little as I walked up to the Branly Museum! The sprinkles of cool rain brought joy to my heart. At last, at the Pont Louis Philippe, we were hungry and footsore. So we ascended and inspected the restaurants on the pedestrian street called the rue des Barres, behind the Saint Gervais church on the right bank, just beyond the Paris city hall. The Café Louis Philippe met the Cooley criteria and it advertised the special of the day, leg of lamb, on the chalkboards. Leg of lamb on Sunday afternoon sounded like a good idea. Not lunch, not dinner – just this nice Sunday meal at about 4PM. That was all we needed to make it a great Sunday. And so we did. The French couple next to us took our photograph, at their insistence. It would have been impolite to say no. The food was excellent, and the service was lousy. The setting, in a covered outdoor area, was very nice. But the restaurant shows signs of being under-capitalized, and I’m a little worried about its financial state. Tom had to go inside to the bar to pay with a credit card, and the bill was never entered into a cash register or computer. I don’t really want to say what I think could be happening here. On the way home, we stopped for a while to listen to our favorite one-man-band, Bernard Constant, in the Solferino entrance to the Tuileries Gardens. He’s getting older, and so are we, and he still amazes us with his multi-tasking musical talents. Speaking of getting older, my feet can no longer tolerate wearing normal street shoes or sandals on these walks. On weekends, on cobblestones, I now must wear athletic shoes. I now think that is okay on a summer weekend in Paris. I’m changing my rules. Tom was too tired to walk the rest of the way home, so we descended to the metro at Solferino, and made an efficient change to the line 10 at the Sevres-Babylone station. So we came back out on the street at the Emile Zola station, right in front of our favorite organic bakery, which was still open. My new favorite bread is their small, round multi-grain country bread. Tom still buys a baguette and some kind of sweet pastry every time he goes in that shop, but I’m really happy with the healthier stuff. We were too late in arriving home to watch the end of the day’s stage of the Tour de France. So we caught the after-tour show on TV, and looked up the results of the day on the letour.fr web site. Today is a day of repose for the Tour, and Tom does not have work from the publisher in New York, so we’ll probably do something different today. On va voir. Aha! I just caught the fact that the yahoos at Yahoo Geocities had obliterated my Paris Journal for 2002. So I just moved it to my Comcast site. Here’s a link to it, and I fixed the link on my homepage at barbarajoycooley.com. Sign
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Monday, July 11, 2011 Some of the photos from the strange exhibition in the
Pont Alexandre III.
Tender leg of lamb in savory, well-seasoned juice with
tasty mushrooms, dauphinois potatoes, and roasted tomato and zucchini slices
– at the Café Louis Philippe.
Here we are,
waiting for our Sunday feast.
The multi-talented Bernard Constant. |
