Moveable Feasts

Paris is all about the food. We've cooked for ourselves in the apartment, had some great meals in restaurants, and even a picnic or two. This is our last day so we're sharing what we remember most about Paris.

Here's a picnic we ate on a quai next to the Seine. 

Our apartment (on Rue Rivoli) is in the Marais quarter, just a few blocks from a great falafel place everyone recommends. There's a reason for the crowd outside; they serve really really good food.

 

(Bobbie: Best. Falafel. Of. My. Life. Mom didn't eat her cabbage though)

 

We cooked ratatouile and couscous and ate a lot of left overs in our tiny kitchen.

 

 

 These are two tiny cheeses we bought. (Bobbie: So cheap!) And so good with yummy baguettes and wine for happy hour.

 

We explored several 19th century covered passages; this one was especially beautiful. Some passages specialized in designer outlets, some in shoes, and some were filled with bistros and cafés. We stopped for lunch and had an amazing meal. 

 

 

 (Bobbie: I ordered paté de foie gras and gesiers. I couldn't remember what gesiers meant until halfway through the meal... duck gizzards!!!!!! Delicious.)

 

 

In case there's any question about how much we liked our meal.

 Today we'll keep our eyes open for lamprey on the menu, hoping we don't find it.

 

 

At the gardens of the Palais Royal we came across this. Boules! The French version of bocce. They play with steel balls, all the same color. Up close the balls are marked with lines to indicate teams, but wondering how they could tell which balls belong to which people from a distance, Bobbie said, "They just know." How very French of them.

 

 

This guy had a distinctive throwing style; his specialty was a very hard throw to blast other balls out. (Liz: the French version of Ken). He had an elegant pose while he studied his next move.

(Liz: for Bob and Peggy, this is the closest we got to the "Eyefull" Tower. We were on our way to the market in Rue Cler). 

This is our last full day here, and last post. We are sad and also looking forward to coming home since we've been gone for so long.

Au revoir, Paris!

Scary and Adorable All Mixed Together

Second post of the day. 

Paris is full of contrasts. We visited the doll museum a few days ago. 

(Bobbie: Something there scared me).

 This was made for the 1889 Paris Exposition: (Liz: I can't decide if it's funny or scary or adorable).

Then we spotted the cutest car ever made.

Doesn't it look like a cartoon car? 

Then there's hellfire and damnation at Sainte-Chapelle. You can see the grotesques stirring the cauldron bottom left. Ow. 

And the most adorable food truck ever made. Selling coffee at a Giverny garden shop.

Little crepe eating bird in Montmartre.

We're off to explore the covered passages of Paris.

Giverny

We left Paris for Giverny yesterday to see Claude Monet's home and gardens. Somehow we missed the first two trains but the third train got us there. Little train station adventure.

 Don't believe what the information signs tell you; they will change without notice (even after you're on the train!) Those French.

His home had to be large; he had many children, the dining room table sat fourteen. It was interesting; Claude's bedroom was huge, his wife's was tiny.  

 Nympheas (French for water lilies).

 The gardens had a misty impressionist feel because it was misty and raining, which lent just the right mood. 

We had intended to rent bikes and ride the four mile path from the train station to Giverny; but decided against it when we discovered dark, threatening skies in Vernon. At the end of the day our pedometer showed only 3.7 miles walked- we were so embarassed.

Monet planted and cared for the gardens himself in an almost English country garden style. His random plantings of color and types of flowers all look perfect together. You can really see how his garden inspired him.

We have extra time so look for a second post just after this one.

God Save the Queen!

 

We spent a lot of time oogling diamond jubilee window displays in England. We couldn't help getting caught up in the love. Every High Street had bunting and flags displayed in even the smallest towns for weeks leading up to the celebration this weekend. (Bobbie: This is a photo of a cupcake display in London) So, with the big event happening today, we took some time out from Paris to watch it on tv (Liz: Or, the telly, which is more British!).

There was a flotilla, à la Canaletto's painting, of 1,000 boats on the water. The smallest person-powered boats from kayaks to canoes stqrted the procession, then the small boats displaying the flags of each commonwealth country, then the Dunkirque little ships including a few veterans from that event, then the recreational boats, barges, narrow boats, etc, then the music and choral boats, canons, horns, and all kinds of noise makers.

In the morning we went to the Rue Cler market and loaded up on food. Hope there's time to eat it all before we leave... 

Perfect little bunches of wild asparagus.

Mushroom medley.

We bought some chicken parts and roasted potatoes from the paella guy. Yum.

Yesterday we were in Montmartre and this is a bistro where Gertrude Stein and expat artists used to hang out.

Edith Piaf was discovered singing in the bar at the bottom of this hill; We didn't walk down. 

 

 

A tout à l'heure!

 

NEVER MIND...

We can post photos after all.

This is our little Paris apartment. It's very red, and cozy.

Here we are, sitting. We plan to do a lot of that here.

This is one of the windows at Sainte-Chapelle. We've been lighting candles in churches for Al and we'll light more in Notre Dame today.

Paris Walks

We're still walking, thanks, in Paris. Yesterday, a 9.7 mile, 4 museum marathon. We have yet to find an internet cafe where we can post more photos to this blog. Stay tuned.

Cheerio!

This was a pub carved out of an old mill next to a lock.

We didn't always stop at pubs for "a pie and a pint". Sometimes we stopped for "a pee and a pint".



This is "The Donkey" in Marlow; the neighborhood pub. Had good grub.

(Liz: This was some kind of Mediteranean roasted vegetable spizale. And it was a nosh-up). 

This was Saturday, near Hurley, so there were lots of people on the trail enjoying the very hot weather.

This was Sunday, yesterday, our last day of walking the trail, and we were treated with mostly shady spots.

Still some history happening. This is Bisham Abbey, just before Marlow, where Queen Elizabeth I spent some of her childhood. It was the magnificent country house where Henry VIII stashed Anne of Cleeves. Now it houses the National Sports Center, an odd concept when you think about it.
(Bobbie: or perfectly appropriate when you think about it).

We'll miss people on the trails being scared by the cows. These people are leaving just after the calf in the foreground headbutted one of the dogs and its person. (Liz: We had already worked it out that if a bull came after us, Bobbie would play the rodeo clown to divert it while I ran). (Bobbie: ...not that I have any experience with this kind of work). Most of the time the cows would just stand there looking at us with curiosity and we passed through, but this group had formed a kind of cluster right on top of the trail and I guess the little cow got nervous or wanted to play with the dog? No harm done.

The little boy on the bicycle is the trainer for his dad who is running.

This is the very crowded lock at Maidenhead where there were at least six boats in the lock and many more at either end waiting to get in. We are clearly approaching Windsor here; the end of our line. Jerome K. Jerome, author of "Three Men in a Boat" said, "Maidenhead is too snobby to be pleasant." We found everyone to be quite friendly, thankyou.

This darling girl was headed to Uganda to "help the animals" if she could raise enough money selling lemonade by the path. The path was busy enough on a Sunday; she'll probably get there.



Windsor Castle; YAY WE MADE IT! You will notice this photo is taken from the water. We celebrated by giving our tired asses a cruise on the river boat. They also served us cider with ice.

So, the official distance count is a whopping 153 miles on foot over a mostly comfortable and sometimes gruelling 15 days.

Bobbie and I have had a cracking good time together, never getting our knickers in a twist with each other. Not many kids would even want to spend this much time with their Mum, let alone be enthusiastic about it.
Thanks, Bobbie (Bobbie: aw now!)

So, off we go to Paris for a week, and then home. We'll post more, if you care to read.