Paris Journal 2008

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Yesterday, we started off walking at 2:30PM – earlier than usual because it was such a beautiful day. We walked all the way up the Seine to the Six Huit, a boat next to Notre Dame, anchored on the left bank. We generally stop here for drinks and the view at least once every summer. The place is now owned by a Korean-French couple, it seems, and that might be an improvement. We’ll see. We had a nice, relaxing time, just lounging, drinking and snacking there for about an hour. The weather was the best it has ever been when we were in that spot, and the music on the stereo was very fine – lots of Stan Getz with Astrud and Joao Gilberto playing music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Then we went to check out the free concert, the AfroBeat Orchestra, in the Luxembourg Gardens. It had started at 6PM, and we arrived at 6:30 or so, when the concert was in full swing. Lots of people thought this band was cool, and indeed some of the players looked cool, but the music was repetitious and lacking in interest. Tom says they need a drummer like the little guy who played drums with Vieux Farka Touré. So we moved on and inspected this year’s big public art object in the Garden: a large head. We meandered all the way back home again, through the 7^th arrondissement, checking out a couple of restaurants along the way. We decided that L’Antre Amis and Marie Edith now seem to be too expensive for what they are. Instead, we stopped at the tried and true, La Gauloise, on the Avenue de la Motte-Picquet. The staff knows us there. We were given a nice table in the front of the interior of the restaurant (who wants to eat outside in that cloud of smokers?). Even though all we ordered was a main course each (plus wine and mineral water and one espresso), we were treated very well and were given a free little dish of dark chocolates at the end. Tom had a carpaccio of beef and I had poached salmon. Everything was tasty and correctly prepared. We were so tired and hungry after that enormous walk, we felt extremely grateful to be treated with such kindness. “Picquet” reminds me: the word “picante” in French means spicy, pungeant, or biting – not exactly “tart,” as I wrote the other day. But there isn’t really a good word for “tart” tasting. “Aigre” means sour. That’s not right. And “âpre” means harsh or bitter. The closest word the French have for “tart” is “aigrelet.” But I still think that implies sour, so it isn’t quite right. Oh well. Jim H. reminds me that he had steak tartare, not steak, at Le Seraphin the other night, and that it was very good. He and Maddy went to the famous Jim Haynes dinner on Sunday when we dined with Karima. I’ll be interested to hear about that dinner at the Haynes place. I was interested to see in yesterday’s newspaper that the police prefecture has issued a decree adding several species to the nuisance animals list. Now, in addition to the usual culprits such as rats and ordinary pigeons, these creatures are also going to be subjected to population control because they are nuisances: · Black crows · Pigeons Ramier (wood pigeons, palombes, ring-necked pigeons) · Rabbits that live in wooded areas · Ferrets · Nutria · Muskrats · Foxes Alas, this list includes some of our favorite wildlife (except for crows – I could do without them). The crows, according to the decree, have the annoying habit of pillaging the poubelles (garbage cans), and foxes have to be watched because of the diseases they can carry. I’ve never seen a fox in Paris, but maybe they exist in the Bois de Boulogne or the Bois de Vincennes. In recent years, I’ve written about all the redevelopment that is going on in the Beaugrenelle neighborhood, to the west of our location. The news now reports that the cost of this enormous project has gone way up. From the €250million originally estimated, the estimated cost is now at €300million and rising. This incredibly intensive development will include a commercial center that will host formula retail such as Galeries Lafayette, Gap, Go Sport, Virgin Megastore, Swarovsky, and more. There will be a large cinema with 10 theatres and a total of 2,000 seats. The perfumery Sephora will have a huge 800 square meter store there. A smaller arm of the commercial center, one that stretches to the Place Charles Michel, will soon be completed and it will bring back a couple of businesses that were there before the demolition: a McDonald’s and the CIC bank. There will also be an Orange Photo Service boutique (how many of these can Paris support?), a cyber café, a dry cleaners, and a big game store, the Grande Récré. And finally, the local police substation will come back, too. This is where Tom made the report on the pickpocket who assaulted him in 2001. Those police were very kind. It will be good to have them back again. For more, see http://www.lenouveaubeaugrenelle.com/. It is a little scary.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 This year’s public art installation in the Luxembourg Gardens is a head called “the Prophet,” by Louis Derbre. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. A view from the Luxembourg Gardens.

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