Ladies Gaga for Gardening

I convinced Steve to get up at the crack of dawn today so that he could be one of three men to join a few hundred middle-aged women--gardening genes fully activated--to make a pilgrimage to Monet's estate in Giverny. We were among the first to enter the garden on this gloriously sunny morning and were able to see the flowers at their best, with all but the water lilies in full bloom. Our favorite pictures from today include...

1) The front garden:


2) The water garden:


3)The Japanese bridge:

Despite all the people tramping through the estate, the gardens seemed tranquil, and there was plenty of elbow room as we moved from one area to another. It wasn't until we entered Monet's home that we felt the effects of several tour buses depositing their passengers in Giverny. It was a relief to get back outside, walk around the tiny country village, order lunch at a sandwicherie, and soak up the sun.

A Short but Perfect Day

We're about to go out to our favorite creperie for dinner, so this will be brief. Today we returned to Montmartre, and I was wrong; there's still a seamy side--we just didn't walk far enough down the boulevard de Clichy. We spent a short but fruitful time in lower Montmartre, first paying our respects to François Truffaut at the Montmartre Cemetery, then touring La Musée de la Vie Romantique (artist Ary Scheffer's former home, which showcases George Sand memorabilia and now has a show in honor of the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth) where we had lunch in its flower-filled garden, a world away from the strip clubs and sex-toy shops a few blocks over.

The museum, where we learned about the origin of the "blue note" (George Sand and Delacroix used it to describe the magical relationship between color and sound) and saw a plaster cast of Chopin's right hand:

The garden where French ladies come to meet their friends and eat salad:

Here Comes the Sun

The weather has taken a turn for the better, so now it's time to get out and do some serious exploring on foot. We have a long list of neighborhoods we want to explore in the next twelve days, and the first on our list today was Montmartre. Of course we'd seen Sacré-Coeur from the Pompidou Center:

from the Arc de Triomphe:
and from Buttes-Chaumont Park:

Now we needed to see the cream-puff cathedral up close, so we climbed to the top of Montmartre where it was waiting patiently for us:


Along the way, we walked up and down many pretty little streets, and until we got to the very touristy place du Tertre, we felt that we'd been transported to a Provençal village. First there was the vineyard:


Next, the windmill:


And finally there was the little cafe on a cobblestone street:


Hard to believe that this was the seedy part of Paris we'd visited years before, sandwiched between sex shops and crumbling buildings. Like most of Paris inside the périphérique, the neighborhood has become gentrified, yuppified, spruced-up, and propre. Looks like we'll have to go to one of the banlieus to catch a glimpse of down-at-heel Paris.

Joyeux Anniversaire!

We just said our goodbyes to Lynne and Robert--they leave for the U.S. tomorrow. We had a wonderful time with them, especially last night during Lynne's birthday celebration at the Restaurant au Beaujolais. Steve and I had eaten there once before and had found the owner and waiters to be over-the-top hospitable and friendly, so we knew it would be a festive place for Lynne's 70th birthday dinner. For 18 euros (about $22) each, we had an appetizer, main course, and dessert. And of course there were pre-dinner drinks (kir), two bottles of Bordeaux red, and after-dinner liqueurs, but because we did our drinking over three hours, we were barely tipsy when we left the restaurant. When it was time to serve dessert, the owner put a candle on Lynne's crème brûlée, turned off the lights, and sang 'Happy Birthday' in English. Our waiter, an Algerian who adores Obama, kissed Lynne and me goodbye when we left. Steve and I will be back at least once before leaving Paris.

Night at the Museum, Day at the Canal

It sounded too good to be true: free admission to all museums in Paris for one night, with most staying open until midnight or later. Turns out it was true after all, as we realized after standing in line for forty-five minutes in front of the Grand Palais, waiting to see an exhibition of Turner's paintings and works of other artists who influenced him. This was one of the few museums not covered by the pass, but as big Turner fans we were willing to pay full freight--and we mistakenly thought that, since the Grand Palais only houses temporary exhibitions, it would be open late like the other museums but would still charge admission. As we neared the front of the line, a young Japanese woman overheard our conversation and joined in, informing us that it was indeed a freebie; she'd lived in Paris for six years and had attended several of these free museum nights. When we continued to express our disbelief, a young Frenchman in front of her chimed in and said, in English, "Believe me, it's free." Okay, we were convinced. And the closed ticket windows inside said it all. We very much enjoyed our evening with the Turners and especially liked being in a huge museum with le tout-Paris until after midnight.

And take note, big-shot Impressionists: Turner's 'Calais at Low Tide' predates Monet's 'Sunrise' by more than forty years:


Now that we're halfway through our stay, we're happy to report that the weather has changed for the better; the sun has managed to break through the clouds and temperatures have soared to sixty degrees. We took advantage of the improved weather by riding the metro out to eastern Paris and strolling along the Canal St. Martin. We followed the canal for about a mile before it disappeared underground, then continued along the boulevard Richard Lenoir where a greenway of gardens and children's play areas in the center of the boulevard stretches for at least another mile, nearly all the way to the place de la Bastille.

The canal:
The greenway:

Thé for Two

Yesterday Lynne took a break from touring with Robert to join me at one of Paris' salons de thé. This one was on a tiny sidestreet, the passage Dauphine, not far from both of our apartments. I'd wanted to treat her to tea as a birthday present and had been doing a bit of research via guidebooks before we arrived, followed by actual tracking-down-and-checking-out once we got here. The ones that the travel writers had raved about turned out to be way too chi-chi--like Ladurée, which offers "a simple afternoon tea of sandwiches and pastries" for $40 a person. With rates like that, we'd have to forego our morning croissants for the rest of our stay! So, when I stumbled on L'Heure Gourmande in the passage Dauphine during my on-the-street reasearch, it seemed like the perfect place for tea: cozy and comfy with a huge selection of teas and goodies at reasonable prices. Happily the actual tea-and-crumpet experience was just as good as advertised on the menu. I ordered sheperd's tea, an herbal concoction of citrus-y leaves, and Lynne diverged from her Earl Gray ways and had a pot of jasmine tea. Our pastries--apple crumble and clafouti aux fruits rouges (strawberry-rhubarb)--had just come out of the oven (not the microwave) and were heavenly. Steve isn't a tea drinker, but maybe I can convince him to go back with me and try the hot chocolate!

Dial M for Marmottan

Another cold--really cold--and cloudy Paris day, so how to bring some cheer into a dreary day? The best thing we could think of was to go to the Marmottan Museum in a leafy residential part of the city and see the sunny and cheerful Monets. The museum also has a collection of paintings by Berthe Morisot, a female artist who was mentored by Corot and more or less adopted by the Impressionist gang. An added bonus was a temporary exhibit of female painters and salons in the time of Proust, who frequented the salons and based many of his characters on the aristocrats, composers, writers, and artists who attended them. Monet's 'Impression, Sunrise' in the basement of the Marmottan was the closest we came to seeing the sun today, but we didn't mind.