Paris Journal 2008
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Last night, Le Petit Mabillon (6 rue Mabillon, tel. 01 43 54 08 41), a restaurant recommended by Jim and Maddy H., was finally open. It was supposed to open after vacation on September 18. But for some reason, the opening was delayed. So last night it finally opened and we tried it. The dinner was very good, and relatively inexpensive. We were given one of the three tables on the main floor, but next time, we’ll ask for a table in the lower level, which opens onto a terrace that is a bit below street level. Nobody tried to speak English to us. That was nice. The night before, we went to the Bistrot de la Grille St. Germain, just a few doors down rue Mabillon from Le Petit Mabillon. We are semi-regulars there now, and Monsieur recognized us immediately when we arrived. He brought us two kir vin blancs as soon as we were seated. I think he felt badly about making us wait at the bar the last time we were there, but that certainly wasn’t his fault. They were just rightfully busy, and it was late. The Bistrot served us a very good filet mignon de porc au figues with very fine puréed potatoes. Today, we finally took our long walk through the cemetery at Montparnasse. To get there, we took our usual walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Jardins de l’Observatoire. Then we crossed the boulevard Montparnasse, went through a cute neighborhood, and voila! There is the cemetery where Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and many other great Parisians rest. It is a favorite, quiet place of mine for walking. We walked through it all, not really caring who was buried where. We just wanted to walk where there is no traffic, and where there are mature trees and lovely monuments. We’d not eaten lunch, so we stopped on the way home at the bakery that has a front door on boulevard Montparnasse, and a back door on rue Notre Dame des Champs – the one that Hemingway used to frequent when he lived over a sawmill on rue Notre Dame des Champs. We bought two pastries, a palmier for me (but with NO powdered sugar!) and an apple turnover for Tom. Tom checked to see if the back door still had an etched glass window with Hemingway’s image on it. It does. Some of you who really know me may be wondering if I am following the election much at all since I don’t write about it much here. Believe me, I am. During this past month, I don’t watch TV in the evening at all. Instead, I go online (when we come back from dinner or whatever) on youtube.com, where I subscribe to the barackobamadotcom account. There I can see all the latest speeches, ads, and other videos posted by the campaign that day. I like Michelle Obama’s speeches the best, then Joe Biden’s, then Barack’s. What a team! They’re all great. I also belong to the expatsforobama e-mail group. That group is fascinating, consisting of Americans living abroad all over the globe. It is a smart group, and they do not hesitate to scold each other when it is appropriate. They’re very articulate and well informed . . . . sort of like the Sanibel current events group gone global. I also belong to the southwestfloridaforobama e-mail group, which seems to be somewhat inactive now. I think that may be because Sandy Parker of Naples has her own Obama group going, and she does a dynamite newsletter online. The real estate transaction that we did not expect is proceeding, it seems, in Florida, and we must get back there to attend to some things with our rental house. It is time, anyway. I can only take so much of the big city. Three months seems to be my natural limit, and it is also, conveniently, the legal limit for staying here without a long-stay visa. I’ve been using Skype to call back to the US to tend to all this business and to get various services re-started before our return. It is nice to be able to call US 800 numbers from overseas, using Skype. And we can call friends and family members who are on Skype for absolutely no cost at all. Living abroad for the summer just seems to get easier all the time. But, as my friend Bob E. says he’s just a country rabbit who does not like to travel to big cities, I am just a swamp rabbit who will go to the city, but who can only stay for so long. I miss that laid-back subtropical islandy lifestyle, and I know Paris will be here next summer. Besides, the days just get to be too darned short when you are this far north late in the year (Paris is on the same latitude as the tippy top of Maine). Summer is the time for Paris. Time to go back soon – to get to work on the election, and on our country. I’ve done this Paris Journal for years now, almost entirely free of advertising (except for the guest book, and one or two years in the past where I was relying on free web sites and had no choice). It takes a lot of work, which I enjoy, and I love all of you readers. But now I’d like to ask you for something. Join me in supporting Barack by making a donation to my
personal fundraising page: I know my
conservative Republican friends won’t do this, but I’m hoping that the rest of
you will consider it. And I want you
to know that I recently made a donation to Planned Parenthood in honor of
Gov. Sarah Palin. Many thanks for
considering this.
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Wednesday, September 24
The St. Severin church.
The garden at the St. Severin church.
In the garden are vestiges of the church at an earlier
time.
The St. Severin church has cool gargoyles. |
