Paris Journal 2013 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
Find me on Facebook 2012
Paris Journal ← Previous Next
→ Back to the Beginning
|
We were about
to enter the first of the two parks just south of the Luxembourg Gardens, in
the avenue de l’Observatoire. This one
is called the Esplanade Gaston-Monnerville, named for a former senator. I was surprised to see a notice from Paris
City Hall attached to the gate. Here’s
a translation: Because of
increasing incivilities committed in this green space, it is no longer possible
to assure safe usage of the lawns. We
bring to the attention of the users and parents the possible presence of
pieces of glass hidden in the turf. We
ask you to excuse us for this embarrassing situation. What a
pity. So many people, including families
with kids, are enjoying these parks every day. We found the
same notice attached to the gate of the next park, the Jardin des Grands
Explorateurs, as well. And in that
park, the lawn was enclosed by temporary fencing. In all the years we’ve been coming to
Paris, I’ve never seen anything like this. But people were
determined to enjoy themselves anyway.
They were lounging about on the grass in the one part of the
Luxembourg Gardens where it was allowed that evening. That was Sunday
evening. Yesterday evening, our
friends John and Sylvia (from Ohio) came over to the apartment. We showed them around and drank some
champagne. Then we went off to dinner
at La Bastide Odéon. Ah, catching up
with old friends over a delicious dinner in a Parisian restaurant – that is a
fine way to spend an evening. When dinner was
done, we walked with our friends up to the boulevard Saint Germain, where I
snagged a taxi for them at the taxi stand. We said our
farewells and walked back down the boulevard toward Saint Sulpice, the
hulking church near “our” apartment for September. We’d walked up
and down the boulevard earlier in the day, too. Darty was our destination. We don’t really like the Darty retail enterprise,
but believe it or not, there is not much choice in Paris if you want to buy
small appliances at reasonable prices.
When we entered
Darty, there were no signs explaining that electronics were on the main
floor, and the household appliances were in the basement. I suppose every Parisian must instinctively
know this. I just guessed. Downstairs we went. There were no
salespeople to help. But we found the
shelves with coffeemakers on display.
We selected the same one that we had examined at the Darty in the 15th
arrondissement last week. Fortunately, at
this Darty on the boulevard Saint Germain, there were some boxes containing
the desired coffeemakers stacked near the display. That wasn’t the case in the 15th. I can’t imagine the bureaucratic hassle
that has been devised for ordering up the desired boxed coffeemaker in the 15th. Or the hassle if you wanted one of the
coffeemakers on display but not there in boxes near the display in the 6th. There was no
one to ask, and the couple employees working in the basement level stayed
safely behind their desks, with a look that said, “I DARE you to ask me a
question.” We took the
coffeemaker box up to the cashier.
After standing there a minute or two, we realized that this would take
forever. Each customer in front of us
had some kind of bureaucratic retail nightmare to endure. Tom and I
decided that I should do some reconnaissance up on the main level. Surely we were not supposed to try to pay
for a coffeemaker on the electronics floor, but we could always play
“innocent foreign tourists who don’t know any better.” At this point, we really didn’t care if
anyone wanted to chew us out. I noticed no
line at the cashier’s desk on the main floor.
I went back downstairs and signaled to Tom that we should go for
it. Up we went. The cashier was
so bored that she just went ahead and rang up the sale without scolding
us. Nobody buys electronics at
Darty. That’s what you buy at FNAC
Digitale, across the street. Nobody
buys household appliances at FNAC.
That’s what you buy at Darty.
So why does Darty have the household appliances in the basement, and
the electronics on the main floor? Go
figure. Retail in Paris
usually makes little sense to me. I
much prefer shopping in the U.S. Paris
is for walking, and dining. Not
shopping. Not for me. That said, I
will say that we thoroughly enjoyed chatting with a man from Afghanistan who
was staffing a boutique on the boulevard for his brother on Sunday. The boutique had lovely embroidered
fabrics, jewelry, and kilim bags, as well as a few gorgeous, finely made
Turkamon rugs. We were sorely tempted
to buy one of those rugs; we’re still thinking about it. Half the fun was talking with the nice
brother of the boutique owner, the other half was looking at the beautiful,
hand-made things in the shop. Prices,
however, were a little too high. I was
surprised when the man even seemed to admit this by telling us that the price
on the rug is, of course, just what his brother would like to get. But probably it would be possible for his
brother to lower it. September is
our expensive month. We pay more to be
in the 6th in almost every way.
Even the grocery store prices are higher here than in the 15th. Some of it is intentional, on our
part. We choose to shop in the food
market of the Marché Saint-Germain instead of the grocery for whatever we
can, because the quality is so good.
We rationalize spending more, too, by thinking of September as our
real vacation month, even though we are working. And Tom is
working hard. He’s in the early stages
of the third edition of Back to the
Lake. Let’s not interrupt
him. Don’t stand in the way of
progress. Don’t block success. |
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The
Jardin des Grands Explorateurs with temporary fencing around it.
A
dazzling flowerbed in the Luxembourg Gardens.
This
sign is moved from one area to another, to give the grass a chance to rest.
Looking
up the rue Férou toward the Place Saint Sulpice. |
