Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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It was heartbreaking to learn that Christian Vandevelde is now out of the Tour de France due to broken ribs from a fall. He is the nephew of our friends, Babe and Harriet Vandevelde. (Babe plays saxophone in the Island Jazz band with Tom, who is the drummer and “denmother.” Actually, the two of them play together in some other bands as well in southwest Florida.) Christian has had a tough year, with falls in other bicycle races. I’m sure the cumulative effect is not pleasant. This past winter, Harriet and I talked about Christian on several occasions. So we were anxiously following his start in this year’s Tour de France, and it seems the anxiety was warranted. His team has been hit pretty hard, with other racers injured, too. It is the Garmin/Transitions team. Garmin, as you probably know, makes commercial GPS devices. Maybe they even make military GPS devices, I don’t know. Transitions makes photo-sensitive eyeglass lenses, including the ones in Tom’s glasses (see photo on July 2). When I see the Garmin team racing, I think of my brother, Bob, not because he’s an avid cyclist (he is), but because he is Mr. GPS. The other day, he signed my guestbook: “as usual here you are with your wonderful Paris journal -- same time as every year for the past TEN Years! Long before ‘blogs.’ Very much enjoying it and proud to have you as a sister.” Well, I sure am proud to have him as a brother. I brag about him often. Tom pointed out that the photos of Grigory Perelman, the Russian mathematician who recently turned down the million-dollar prize, look a lot like photos of my brother Bob. Bob’s hair isn’t that long anymore, but I do see the resemblance. Both Bob and Grigory are as smart as can be and have international reputations in their respective fields. I wish my brother would receive a million-dollar prize. He deserves it. Bob and his wife honeymooned in Paris in 2003, during that horrible heat wave. The weather is warm now, but it is nothing like that suffocating summer years ago. Another Bob wrote in the guestbook the other day that the locks I showed you on the sides of the Passarelle des Arts are put there by lovers who want to leave their mark (see last photo on July 5). Lennie visited the guestbook, too, and informs us that one can order the Air France bus tickets in advance. I found a link here for buying those tickets from the Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris, but I do not see one for the Orly airport route. Maybe Lennie can send us the link she uses. Last night we dined for the first time at Le P’tit Fernand, 7 rue Lobineau, Tel. 01 40 46 06 88, across from the Saint Germain market. I had the duck breast in a nice, dark fruity and savory sauce, with sautéed mushrooms. Tom ordered the salmon, which came with puréed zucchini. We don’t order starter courses or dessert anymore; but the servers seem to be satisfied with that as long as we order bottled water and some wine. Le P’tit Fernand serves traditional French food, and seems to be well-reviewed. Our experience there was good, and the service was friendly. We will have to go back there soon. Today I went out early to buy milk and orange juice and newspapers. Even though it was just after 9AM, I had a little trouble finding a newsstand that was open and ready to sell papers. Madame at the fromagerie was very friendly again, and we chatted for a while about how to learn a foreign language. While I know that my French is far from perfect, she admires the way I can chat freely with her. She almost gave me another free, big market bag, but I showed her my Nicolas bag, complete with its pockets into which the orange juice and milk bottles fit securely. She thought that was super. I bought a bottle of rosé from her to fill a third pocket, and the newspapers finally went into a fourth pocket a little later. I notice people on the street looking at my practical bag with its pockets. Everyone is into these reusable bags now, it seems, even the frenzied Parisians. Sign
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The
Eiffel Tower, as it looked yesterday.
One
of those horrible plastic bags floating in the Seine, reminding me of the oil
in the Gulf (plastic bags being made from petroleum). Please remember to use your cloth bags! Note: For addresses & phone numbers of
restaurants in this journal, click
here. |
