Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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Yesterday was tedious, and full of interruptions. Tom spent the second day in a row working on homeowners association business for our neighborhood in Florida. I thought that his fellow board members were really wasting our time here, over ridiculous matters that should not even be dealt with at all until the time comes, when and if it ever does, that they need to be dealt with. In the evening, we had dinner with two acquaintances from SW Florida. We met at La Petite Chaise, where I’d made a reservation at 8PM. They arrived very late, and accused me of selecting a restaurant that was hard to find. I responded that it is on a heavily used cross street through the left bank, and that it isn’t hard to find. They were in the vicinity because they’d gone to Bon Marché. They’d asked several people for directions, and either couldn’t follow their directions or the people really didn’t know much about the area at all. They’d told me they’d be coming by taxi, and that they already had a brochure about the restaurant. A few times throughout the meal they nearly knocked over glasses, and I succeeded in catching them a couple times. Finally, as we were leaving, one of them succeeded in breaking a glass, and didn’t apologize to anyone about it. One of them repeatedly whined about how tired she was, and how she really wasn’t hungry at all. Fortunately, La Petite Chaise offers dinner salads for people like her. Her tone was very negative throughout the evening. I don’t recall her saying anything nice to anyone. I think she was angry with her husband. From now on, we’re only going out to eat with friends, not acquaintances, if I can help it. The only positive part of the evening started out as something I heard as a challenge at first. The male acquaintance asked how I felt about nuclear power. These are liberal Democrats I’m talking to, and I’m wary, because I am and always have been pro-nuclear power and lots of liberals are not. I worked on a huge nuclear waste study project for years, doing public information/public involvement program management. I was greatly relieved when the acquaintances said they, too, are pro-nuclear power. I told them about the nuclear power panel on which I served last Winter on Sanibel, and how pleased I and my fellow panelists were at the large, positive turnout we had for the event. We talked some about reprocessing of nuclear waste. I pointed out that, in the U.S., we no longer have the nuclear engineers to do the job, but the way to solve that problem is to hire French nuclear engineers. France has lots of nuclear power and they reprocess nuclear waste for themselves as well as other countries. During the long period while we were waiting for these acquaintances to show up at the restaurant, an interesting American couple came in late to join their interesting friends, who’d started dinner without them. The couple was very apologetic to their friends. The couple were given menus, which are only available in French, but the man knew how to read some French. I offered to help them with the menu, if they’d like. The man was grateful, and he did ask me about several words. I was happy to have something to do while I waited. Tom had gone outside to look for our acquaintances, up and down the street. Each time the man asked me about a word on the menu, he apologized for disturbing me. Each time, I said that it was no problem at all. Later in the evening, Tom heard the man mention the fact that he is a retired Navy admiral. Now THAT’s and officer and a gentleman. The admiral and his wife left the restaurant almost as late as we did. When we were discussing nuclear power, I am certain he was listening in on the conversation, with interest. Both he, and his friend who’d left earlier, had those deep, resonant voices that remind me of John Carney, an operatic baritone friend back in Florida. The staff at La Petite Chaise were very kind to call a taxi for our acquaintances. Tom made sure the driver knew the location of their hotel, and off they went. We walked home in the opposite direction. One of the highlights of the dinner was the dessert that Tom and I shared. It was a dark, rich flour-less chocolate cake in a pool of crème Anglaise. Stunningly delicious. The other food – escargots and lamb chops – were cooked a bit too much, but really didn’t suffer all that much for it. The friendly, efficient, polite service and the historic ambiance more than make up for a few small flaws in the cuisine. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook.

Thursday, September 2, 2010 A charming old village-y building in the Vaugirard area of the 15^th arrondissement. How to ride a bicycle in Paris. ← Previous Next → Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.