Another trip!!

It has been 18 months since we returned from Paris and we are off again. We will be spending a week in London before catching the Eurostar to Paris.

Considering the time of year, a blog called "April-in-Paris" just didn't seem right so, we've started a new one. You can either click here or, in future, go directly to http://www.autumn-in-paris.blogspot.com for this trip!

Somehow, we feel certain that despite this being our fourth "Paris" blog, there will be a good deal to write about and we look forward to having you along for the trip.

Raffles

26 April 2008

The Billiard Room Buffet, Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Surprise, surprise, we slept for 12 hours! Today has been another typical "travel" day. We went out to lunch and later did laundry and re-packed for the flight to Sydney tomorrow. It is extremely hot and humid, even by Singapore standards, so we will probably spend most of the day just "mooching" about the hotel.

Lunch was at Raffles; a buffet in the famous Billiard Room where allegedly a tiger was found sleeping under a billiard table. It is certainly one of the grandest buffets we have ever experienced and this was our third time there. As always it was extraordinarily difficult not to over-indulge.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Sydney and on Monday we're back in Hobart.

Singapore Slinging...

24-25 April 2008

The flight was uneventful composed of eating, reading, eating, watching films, eating, dozing and eating. As usual the plane was spotless, the service impeccable and the bathrooms clean all the way from Paris to Singapore. Fourteen hours, non-stop, and while always boring, what more can you say? No wonder we don't want to fly with anyone else these days.

Singapore airport was as efficient as ever. It was less than 20 minutes from the time we walked off the plane to the moment we got into the cab to take us to our hotel.

The Elizabeth is, by Singapore standards, an old hotel having been built way back in 1993; nonetheless, it suits us and this is the third time we have stayed here. The weather in Singapore is exactly what one expects, hot and muggy. The good news is that there are so many air-conditioned stores you only have to leave these oases of comfort to cross the street from one store to another. No wonder they say that Singapore's national sport is shopping! Singapore continues to grow. Because it is so small in area, it tends to grow upwards as can be seen on the right.

After a short nap, we puttered around for most of the day and in the early evening went to Clarke Quay, a much developed area with eateries and night spots. We have eaten there before and there is one particular place we are quite taken with called Quayside. Here for a very reasonable price you can have the largest plate of special rice with seafood you ever say. In fact, the waiter always advises that since there are only two of us we should get the smallest serve which will be more than sufficient - and he is right. Returning to the theme of growth, note the number of cranes in the picture on the left, taken at Clarke Quay.

Dining at Clarke Quay

We were interested to see, in the super market, that one orange cost $1.20 and a bag of 4 fuji apples was $19.00!

Not much more to tell as we came back to the hotel, had a drink and decided to have an early night. Since we had only had three hours sleep in the previous 24 it seemed like a good idea.

View from Clarke Quay

Getting ready to depart Paris

23 April 2008

Tomorrow morning we leave Paris for Singapore so today was largely taken up with the preparations for leaving. In the morning we took a batch of books down to the San Francisco Book store and traded them for reading material for the flight. Virginia is obviously planning next year's trip as she bought a book about locations one hour out from Paris.

We had decided to eat at Chez Plumeau and were delighted to see that the Double Bass player was there but less than delighted to find the restaurant itself closed for the day. As a momento, we bought one of his CDs from which I am sure we will get great pleasure and very pleasant memories.

Since Chez Plumeau was closed we went back to our second favourite eating place in the Place de Tertre, La Cremellaire.

We had a lovely meal in this bel epoque restaurant and later Virginia walked down to get some flowers for M. Vaucanson as we had been invited to tea in the afternoon. He is, as I have said before, a delightful man. We had mentioned, in the most casual way, that the French did lovely things with Mirabelle or greengage plums. When we arrived for tea he had an elegant greengage tart. He and Virginia rattled on like two trains while I caught about every tenth word. Even so, it is a delightful way to spend a couple of hours.

We came back down to the flat and between packing and cleaning have just about gotten organized. Virginia got M. Vaucanson to call a cab for us for tomorrow morning so we can get to the airport and I probably won't put this on the blog until we get to Singapore.

Au revoir Paris...

Chantilly

22 April 2008

Well, we made it! Off to Chantilly this morning and everything we heard about it was true. It is a beautiful country town in a forest setting. It is also one of France's premier places for horse breeding and horse racing. But, of course, today is Tuesday and the one thing we forgot (after warning all of you about it) was that many places are closed on Tuesday (the other half are closed on Monday) and Chantilly pretty much closes down on Tuesday. So, the magnificent chateau was closed as were the stables which are housed in a building that is every bit as elegant as the chateau itself.

The trains on which one travels are often double-deckers not unlike the trains one sees in Sydney. They range from spotlessly clean to absolutely filthy. Here is a picture of one of them. Most trains have maps inside so you can keep track of where you are going.

Oddly enough, this all worked to our advantage as we saw both the stables and the chateau from the outside and had the opportunity to take a long walk through this lovely town.

We returned to Paris on the "slow" train which stopped at just about every place between Chantilly and Paris. The trip out had taken us under twenty minutes but the trip back was just over an hour. One thing we have found on our travels out of the city is that transportation is relatively inexpensive. The trip to Chantilly was about seven euros each, each way.

When we returned we went to our Internet Cafe and while I was checking e-mail Virginia got into a very interesting discussion with the owner who is from Morrocco and who lived for seventeen years in New York. He made the point that we were not tourists, but visitors. I am not quite sure what exactly the distinction is, but I have to say both Virginia and I thought it was a nice one.

Back in Paris we had a bite of lunch and then begain the process of getting ready to return to Australia. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a month. Later we went up to the Place de Tertre where we sat and had a beer and (as visitors) watched the tourists.

Cakes and Mussels

21 April 2008

Business matters again took up most of the morning, delaying our plans to go to Chantilly. This is the second time we have put it off, but tomorrow is the last opportunity and come hell or high water, we are going!

After taking care of the business matters, we went to Leons of Brussells for lunch again and while Virginia had fish, I had mussels or moules. They are served in a cast iron pot with a lid and are steamed in a broth of wine and herbs. I have noticed that there are three ways to eat them. One gentleman took the moules out of their shells, dropping them into the broth and when he had done the entire 800 gms of them ate them with a spoon so he could enjoy the broth. A lady near us ate each one out of the shell, prying them out with a fork, and when she had finished she drank the broth. The third technique involves picking them up, popping off the top shell and sucking the combination of meat and broth in all at once. I opted for the first method! Delicious!!

The third method was one adopted by a young boy of six years of age. We were amused because he was there for lunch during school holidays with his Grandmere, two sisters and a brother. Since the children were all under ten, the waiter brought them the children's menu, but When Grandmere asked the four children what they wanted, this little tacker asked what they were allowed to have. Grandmere said they could have anything they wanted and while the other three opted for things which would seem to appeal to children and appeared on the children's menu, the six year old boy had no intention of having boring chicken or steak and announced that he wanted moules frites or mussels and french fries which, it might be noted, did not appear on the children's menu.

We couldn't help wondering if he really knew what he was getting, but when they arrived and the waiter took the top off the pot there was no doubt. His eyes widened, he clapped his hands and "Ooh La La" he was into them in a flash. Dining out (and I don't mean Big Macs) is a common experience for children in France.

Later in the afternoon we went down to the Madelaine and wandered arund the square. Well, "wandered" may not be the correct word as getting Virginia away from the display of chocolates, cakes and other wonderful foodstuffs at Fauchon took considerable effort. Mind you, she had to spend a fair bit of time slapping my hand as I reached for the wonderful goodies. By the way, just as a point of interest, smoked salmon is now 125 euros per kilo which is around $200 or six to seven times what we pay in Hobart.

Parking, of course, is always a problem in Paris and those who have smaller cars often park in the most unusual ways. You can get some idea of this from the picture on the right.
After admiring the Madelaine we wandered down the Rue St Honore to the Place Vendome. Those of you who know Paris will appreciate that this is serious shopping territory with three branches of Cartier in a one block area and Tiffany across the street. If you intend to do some shopping in this area you can always stay at the Ritz in the Place Vendome where you can get a room for as little as 1,000 euros per night. For better accommodation, of course, it costs more. It has been owned by Mohammed al Fayed since 1979. You may remember him, he also owns Harrods!

The Cakes of Paris

Drawings and Donkeys

20 April 2008

Another nice day today and we set out to the Musee de Marmottan-Claude Monet. This is located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th Arrondissement, a very nice area indeed. The museum was not particularly well known until 1966 when Claude Monet's son, Michel, was killed in a car accident leaving a (then) ten million dollar bequest of his father's art to the little museum. In all there were about 130 works of art left to the museum. The bequest was one of the greatest ever known in France and consisted of truly magnificent works. Just about every major impressionist is represtented in this delightful collection.

Neither Virginia nor I realised that Monet had drawn caricatures of individuals and type of individuals. The museum has a small number of these and they are both amusing and exquisite. In addition there are a number of the well known works such as House of Parliament and Monet's "impression: sunrise" from which the impressionist movement got its name.

It was a delightful morning and as we left the museum we were suddenly caught in a rainstorm. Since it was lunch time we took shelter in a very upmarket bistro where we had lunch. The French "do" Sunday lunch in style. Grown children arrive with Maman et Papa for the long and quite heavy lunch. Regulars are greeted by handshakes as soon as they enter and shown to "priority" tables in the windows. Surprisingly prices are not significantly higher in these upmarket restaurants that are not directly in the tourist areas.

The children of the 16th do not appear to ride on carousel animals as is so often the case in the less well-off suburbs. Instead they have real donkeys with donkey carts. After lunch we wandered through the district admiring the buildings and the shops before starting home for the day.

On the way, as we passed through the Place de la Concorde, I bought one of the Gaufre (waffle) which like Crepes are sold from small stalls. Crisp and with chocolate sauce I enjoyed it despite looks of disapproval from Virginia who was making rude comments about cholesterol and calories. I, being a gentleman, did not bother to point out that her post-dinner snack of Roquefort Cheese and Crisps might well have had a few calories to say nothing of cholesterol. Anyway, there will be more than enough time to worry about that next week when we are back in Hobart.

Weddings, Wings and Pilgrimages

19 April 2008

The Louvre

Spring continues. Today was mild and except for the threat of rain which seemed to hang over us but never eventuate, it was a lovely day. Virginia and I set out together and as we walked to the bus stop we saw three weddings at the Mairie or Town Hall. Saturday is a busy day for this sort of thing as many weddings now are purely civil affairs.

We caught the bus together and when we got to the Louvre-Rivoli stop went our separate ways. I went to the Louvre to look at Greek and Roman antiquities and Virginia looked at the shops on the Avenue de l'Opera which she found strangely quiet for a Saturday. Continuing her love affair with the buses, she experimented with different lines eventually winding up back in our neighbourhood to do some shopping and to explore Rue Lepic which runs close by.

At the Louvre, I did the unthinkable; I actually sought out some of the "tourist" items. Well, I found them while looking at other things but as always was impressed with Winged Victory. Displayed as it is, in a stairwell, it is magnificent.

They have also, I believe, moved Venus de Milo and she now stands at the end of an otherwise empty, long gallery. Both, of course are surrounded by tourists as is the Mona Lisa which I did not seek out but passed as I explored a gallery of Italian painting. It is in a separate room with some other works but it is clearly the centre of attention. And speaking of Mona Lisa, the enthusiasm for Dan Brown's book seems to have faded. Although there are still special tours, the Louvre has gone to some lengths (as has St. Sulpice) to point out the errors in the book and how it does not fit the reality of either the painting or the church.

Leaving the Louvre I wandered along the Rue de Rivoli until I reached the Square de la Tour Saint-Jacques. Here stands the Tour Saint-Jacques which used to be the bell tower of Saint-Jacques de Boucherie Church, built in the very early years of the sixteenth century. It was from here that pilgrims set off for the shrine of Saint James, Santiago de Compostela in Spain, during the middle ages. Some flavour of what it must have been like to set off on such a pilgrimage can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (although the departure point here was the Tabard Inn in Southwark).



Deciding there was not enough time to go on pilgrimage, I hopped a bus and headed for home where I caught up with Virginia and the two of us went up to the Butte to have a beer. We are now counting down to our departure and the beer was watered with a few tears; there will probably be more as we prepare to depart.

Spring is in the Air

18 April 2008

Spring is here! The first lilacs have appeared on the streets sold by gypsies and as we walked back to the flat a number of women commented: "Oh, Madame, C'est printemps,les lilas sont arrives." And it certainly was a breath of spring as the thermometer struggled up to 16 degrees today.
Today we went for a long walk in the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St-Louis. We wandered through the streets looking at lovely shops, Notre-Dame and the Hotel-Dieu de Paris. Although there has been a hospital on the spot since the seventh century, the current building was only erected in the nineteenth; but it is lovely and has a spacious garden area in the centre.

There isn't much that one can say about Notre-Dame which has not already been said. It remains one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe, if not the world. Much of the beauty is enhanced by its setting on the river and with the advent of spring the trees around the Cathedral are bursting into life.

Walking along we passed a jazz session on one of the bridges. Jazz, of course, has been popular in Paris ever since the early years of the nineteenth century. It did, however, seem peculiar to hear the music of New Orleans in the shadow of Notre-Dame.

We ambled along the banks of the Seine, looking at what the many bookstalls had on offer. The reality is that most of it is cheap souvenirs, but interspersed with the junk, every so often, there is a real treasure. Or so we are told. Unfortunately we didn't find any.

After stopping for coffee, we crossed back to the right bank to catch the bus and admired some of the architecture, particularly the Hotel Feiubet which dates from the sixteenth century. We returned home on the bus. Interestingly it was the same bus route that we travelled on yesterday, but today the drivers seemed to have their act together and the trip was rapid and incident free.

Architecture, Bread and Chickens

17 April 2008

Thursday morning is our "housework" morning and we are trying very hard not to think that this time next week we will be on a plane bound for Singapore. While there is always an element, as one comes to the end of a holiday, of "reaching out" for the comforts of home, I suspect neither of us is quite ready to leave Europe. Virginia, even after forty years in Australia, is still essentially European in her outlook and I find myself drawn into what is going on in England and France to a far greater degree than I would have once thought possible. In fact, we are both so caught up in it that we are talking about coming back in 2009.

Yesterday, in our wanderings through the Marais, we caught glimpses of the Pompidou Centre. It is a mass of bare exposed pipes in reds and greens and sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the older buildings. One wonders if, in 100 years, it will have become one of the Parisian icons similar in its status to that of the Eiffel Tower. Like many of the nineteenth century critics of the tower, we think the centre is hideous - but then, what do we know?

In previous blogs we told you about repairs to the higher floors of buildings but we now know how people move their furnishings in and out. Special trucks with very large ladders and with platforms which can be run up and down the ladders like elevators are used. Thus, if you are on the sixth floor, for example, rather than try to manoeuvre a refrigerator up a narrow winding staircase or fit it into the rare elevator in an older building (generally designed to take no more than two passengers)it is delivered through a window which faces the street. If the window needs to be removed temporarily in order to provide greater space, this is done. The mind boggles and Virginia's favourite image is of a grand piano being hoisted up to a seventh floor flat.

A more mundane image is of the cooking of chickens and meats in the rotisseries which seem to be found in front of just about every boucherie. A chicken can be purchased for 7-8 euros but the real treat is the tiny potatoes which are cooked in the dripping from the poultry. They are wonderful and we can just feel the cholestrol clogging our arteries as we eat them. We justify such excess by constantly reminding ourselves that we are doing a lot of walking. Probably in the neighbourhood of 7-12 kilometers a day.

The high point of the day was lunch with our North American friends who live in Paris. We returned to La Cremaillere and had a leisurely lunch over two or three hours. Although we enjoy the French experience, it is nice to have an opportunity to speak English - especially for Bruce who spent the morning trying to explain to the lass in the Boulangerie that he wanted "sliced" bread. After about fifteen minutes of violent gesticulation on his part, she said "Ah, monsieur, 'tranche'".

He can now order a sliced loaf; such is the progress one makes in learning the essentials of a language! By the way, a loaf of bread here is about 1/3 the size of the loaf we are accustomed to in Australia (or the United States) and that is because most French people buy their bread fresh at least once a day and often more frequently.

The Case of the Runaway Bus

16 April 2008

View of Park in Place des Vosges

Today is a day to share with you a few thoughts about Paris traffic. Although it appears to be chaotic, most drivers seem to have a very good idea of what they are doing. In addition to the buses and cars, however, there are thousands of moped and scooter drivers who seem hell-bent on killing themselves as well as any pedestrian who might venture into the street, no matter what colour the light may be.

There are crossing areas marked with white bars (i.e. zebra crossings) but their significance, if any, seems to have largely escaped Parisian drivers. No, that's not fair, they will give you a bit more of a sporting chance when you are legally crossing there, but if you really expect them to stop, you may well find yourself lying crosswise on the crossing being abused by the driver who hit you. As a friend of mine remarked with reference to Italian traffic, "the only safe way to cross is accompanied by a nun," may well be the best advice for crossing streets in Paris.

If you remember the opening bars of Gershwin's "American in Paris," that is exactly what the Paris streets sound like. But while the music gives a sense of motion, it is not always so. Today we got caught in the mother of all traffic jams. But before going into that, let me take you back a bit.

You may remember my remarking that Virginia prefers to travel by bus. Well, today we set off for the Marais to visit the exquisite Place des Vosges. In order to get there we took a bus into the heart of Paris and changed to one that ran along the Seine to a stop called St Paul. Traffic was heavy and we travelled slowly and then all of the stops we expected to see weren't there! In fact, the bus didn't seem able to stop! At first we weren't quite sure what was happening, then we began to think we had been bus-napped. Could this be a vicious plot against noble Australian travellers? In the end we realised we were well and truly off the correct route. Perhaps it was the look of shock on the faces of the other passengers or their shous of "Monsieur" that told us we were in trouble and the driver was probably lost.

We decided to get off the bus and find our way back but as our driver rounded a corner (very slowly) he discovered the bus was too big to get into the laneway he wanted to go down. "Bang," we had hit a tree head-first. "Pow," as he backed out he hit some poles. People continued to drive around us, cross in front of the bus and generally ignore the mess. A gentleman in the street directed the bus driver and abused a taxi driver who, in turn, was abusing the bus driver who finally, with lots of help, made the turn. We got off at the next stop. We crossed the road in order to get another bus back to where we had set out for originally.

The new bus travelled about 100 meters before the driver told the passengers that he was being re-routed. It was all right, though, he was going to St Paul. At least he thought he was. Suddenly we were in what I have already described as the mother of all traffic jams. Our driver re-routed and turned down a narrow lane. Yep, you guessed it! Only a small "bang" this time, but one hell of a "s-c-r-a-a-a-p-e." Once again lots of too-ing and fro-ing. Fortunately, when he got going, we realised we were within walking distance of where we wanted to be; exited the bus, and walked.

We found our way to the Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris, where we wandered around admiring this beautiful square and eventually had a somewhat dissapointing lunch. The Place is in the area called the Marais which is the centre for Jewish life in Paris and the site of the old Jewish quarter. Marais means "marshlands," and it is upon these that the quarter was actually built. In the seventeenth century, this was a very fashionable area but later declined although it is now returning, at least in part, to its former glory.

The Place des Vosges in surrounded by renaissance mansions and an arcaded corridor which allows shoppers to do their thing in all kinds of weather. In the centre is a large, lovely park pictured at the top of the blog.

We walked from there to Rue des Rosiers, a narrow street in the old Jewish section which has become one of the most fashionable shopping districts in Paris. Mixed in with the many beautiful shops are Jewish restaurants and placed alleged to sell the best Felafal in Europe. I especially enjoyed it since the smells and sights brought back childhood memories.

From there we walked up to the National Archives where I was interested in seeing an elegant early eighteenth century structure which, in addition to supplying water to Parisians has a plaque marking the height of the sea level in Marseilles, place there by order of Baron Haussmann.

Sea Level Marker

We found our way back to the Rue de Rivoli and caught a bus home. Much to our joy, this trip turned out to be uneventful!

Food for the Mind, the Body and the Soul

15 April 2008

After yesterday we thought it might be nice to do a bit of catching up this morning. I went and did some food shopping and Virginia went down to check her e-mail and take care of some correspondence. Rue Cyrano de Bergerac is a short street divided into two parts by a staircase. For us to do our shopping, the shortest route is down the stairs and a short walk to Rue du Poteau. Since the way back is mostly uphill, we often walk to the Mairie, across from which we can pick up the little electric Montmartre Bus which goes to the Place de Tertre and drops us quite close to the flat.

After lunch we headed off to the Chapelle de la Medaille-Miraculeuse. It was here, in 1827, that the young Catherine Laboure is said to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary. Since 1832, millions of medallions have been struck and these are said to have miraculous powers for curing the sick. Catherine was canonized in 1947 and visitors come from all over the world to pray before her remains and the chair in which the Virgin Mary appeared as well as the heart of St Vincent de Paul. We had heard that the chapel was always full and that was certainly the case today and, I might add, there was a sense that this was always the case.

Although the madallions are sold, they are very inexpensive and probably the price barely covers costs. One has a sense of a generous and caring community as there are public toilets readily available (and that can be very rare in Paris)and nuns and priests arriving with luggage obviously for a vist to a revered place. Alongl the wall leading to the chapel are the testimonials from those who have been cured or blessed.

Leaving there we moved from food for the soul to food for the body since L'epicere at Bon Marche is just around the corner and being in the neighbourhood we could hardly avoid stopping there. As I said in an earlier blog, it is an amazing food store; spacious and quiet and although busy there are no queues on checking out. Unlike Harrods, their prices are reasonable when compared with grocery stores like Monoprix and the service, quality of goods and general ambience is much, much better.

Having exhausted our reading material we wandered over to the San Francisco Bookshop where we picked up some more brain food before returning to the flat via a stop for coffee.



Virginia's greatest joy of the day is that in studying her grammar book she now purports to know the difference between c'est and il est. Do you? I think this is the kind of fine point of French grammar that I intend to ignore. And, unless you are very much the pedant, I suggest you not go there either!

Shoes, Beggars and Buskers

14 April 2008

If you are in Paris on a Monday, remember that just about everything is closed. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration,but not much of one. Certainly, you need to plan what you are going to do around what is open. For example, our Boulangerie is closed which means fresh bread is not available in our immediate neighbourhood. But if that were the only thing, it would be trivial since there are other Boulangeries that are open. More importantly many of the things that a visitor to Paris might like to see are closed. Don't, for example, plan on going to the Musee d'Orsay on a Monday, it is closed. The good news, however, is that the Louvre is open (but don't try to go there on Tuesday).

We set out this morning to go to Bercy. This is a very upmarket shopping area with a lovely park. At one time it was where wine was stored and the stone storage buildings have been turned into a shopping village. Other than that, there is not a lot there unless you want to buy souvenirs or look in shop windows. I have to confess the nicest part of it was the park. But that may have been because so much of it was closed; Monday!

We left there and just as the rain came down we were able to get a bus which took us to Paris's Chinatown. Lots of restaurants and interesting Oriental shops but guess what, most of them were closed because it was Monday. Damn!

Completely disgusted by this time, we headed back towards one of our favourite places, the Palais Royale. We thought we would have lunch in one of the many charming cafes in the grounds but - yep, you guessed it - Monday.

We did enjoy watching a couple of excellent musicians busking in the grounds. Actually busking here is quite intriguing. We recently on the Metro when two competing groups of buskers boarded our carriage. On meeting each other they laughed and one group got off at the next station to await another train. There are buskers everywhere: on all the trains, various street corners, shopping centres, etc. They range from the very good to the absolutely appalling. There are also many beggars sitting with cups and ranging from the severely disabled to those who appear to be quite healthy.

We finally found a crowded cafe for lunch and were lucky to escape yet another downpour. After lunch, feeling our luck might have run out, we decided to come home. On the way we stopped and admired the Comedie Francais and then as we waited for our bus we had a good look at the summer fashion in ladies' shoes. All the shoes in the attached picture are women's and as you can see, they are very masculine and very "1930s".

Spring still hasn't arrived. Very heavy rain showers through the day and a maximum temperature that would have been struggling to get above 5-7C.

A Bel Epoque Restaurant

13 April 2008

It's Sunday and we were off to a rather slow start after a pretty busy day yesterday. In fact, other than a bit of housework in the morning, the high point must have been lunch.

We discovered that in the Place de Tertre there was a real bel epoque restaurant, La Cremaillere 1900. The food was excellent, but the real pleasure came from the place itself. Much to our surprise, considering its location, the dining room appeared to be almost a haven for French families having Sunday lunch. You can get some sense of what it was like from the pictures.

After lunch we walked down the 192 (we agreed on the count this time) steps, did a little shopping for dinner and after dropping our supplies off headed for the Musee d'Orsay. In the past we have always gotten the three day museum pass which gives you easy entree to about 60 museums in the Paris area. The only problem with the ticket is that it is three consecutive days and that seems like overkill at times. This year, however, we chose not to purchase the tickets. In part this was because we had two passes to the Louvre and had not anticipated going to any other museums or galleries this trip. To make a long story short, when we arrived at the Musee d'Orsay, the line waiting to buy tickets and get in was at least an hour in length.

Discarding the museum as a bad idea, we decided to take the Metro to nearby Rue du Bac which we had been told was interesting and had lots of very upmarket shops. It probably does, but being Sunday they were closed and many of them had metal grilles in front, making it impossible to even look in the windows.

At this point we decided to call it a day and made our way home. As we came to the front door the heavens opened and the rain came down. What was the line, "Apres moi, le deluge"? That's what we had, le deluge! Coming home was obviously a wise decision.

That's all for today. Tomorrow should be better!

Auvers sur Oise and Van Gogh

12 April 2008

Well, we set out today bright and early to go to Auvers sur Oise. In fact, we were so bright and early we wound up waiting an hour before our train left. The trip itself was uneventful, taking about 45 minutes through some very attractive countryside.

It was interesting that although neither of us had ever been to Auvers sur Oise, there was a certain deja vu; a sense of familiarity. We had seen many of the buildings and views in the work of Van Gogh; some of the houses, the church, the town hall, a flight of stairs, etc. As soon as you step off the train, there is the church just up the hill.

Considering the popularity of Van Gogh and the fact that this was a special train we were surprised at how few people took advantage of the day. And it was a lovely day. The rain that threatened never materialised and the Irises were in full bloom almost everywhere. There is very little of tourism in the village although sites are well marked and easy to get to. Nonetheless, there were no toys of Van Gogh with a rocking head and a missing ear nor were there huge bunches of fake Irises . Indeed, the momentos were largely books and reproductions of pictures; some of them extremely well done.

The highlights for us were visiting the church and the graves of Vincent and Theo. The graves were very simple and completely overgrown with ivy except for the headstones which were clear and easy to read. Also very moving was a visit to the Ravoux Inn. It was here that Vincent lived and died in a tiny attic room lit only by a tiny skylight. The Van Gogh Institute which is privately funded has done a brilliant job of restoration and is currently working toward getting one of his Auvers canvasses to hang in the room where it would have dried.

The Inn itself has been faithfully restored and now looks and feels as it must have done in the 1890s. The menu consists of local dishes and family cuisine such as that Van Gogh would have known. The difference, of course, is that Van Gogh paid 3 francs 50 a day for room and board and today to have a meal at the Inn will set you back a good 50 euros (it does have its Michelin star!). Unfortunately Virginia, a great fan of Van Gogh, has decided that to have the full Auvers experience will require her to dine at the Inn the next time we are in France.

Coming back we decided not to take the direct train and made our way back to Paris on the "local" stopping at every station. It was fun watching the young people fill up the carriages, obviously heading into the Big Smoke of Paris for a Saturday night.

The Town Hall