A Former Prison Site and Two Art Nouveau Buildings

Today was a bit disappointing on the photography front.  Yesterday I got an e-mail from my dear friend Steve suggesting that we visit the  Rue Cherche-Midi Prison.  One of his heroes, Etta Shiber had been incarcerated there by the Nazis during World War II.  She was an American who had helped British soldiers who found themselves in German occupied France.  A Google search told me that the prison had been razed in the 1960's to make room for a school of Social Sciences.  I knew we wouldn't be able to see the prison, but figured we would at least see an interesting historical marker.  However, when we arrived at the corner of rue Cherche-Midi and Boulevard Raspail,  there were temporary walls in the middle of the sidewalk to make space for a renovation that was going on.  Through the fencing we could see a stone marker in the ground, but it was so far away and so overgrown with grass and weeds that we couldn't see what it said.  We also saw three old pillars that were not part of the school.  I assume they had been all that was saved of the prison.  We'll have to remember this site the next time we're here and, with luck, the construction will be finished.

Today was Art Nouveau Day for us.  We went to see a private home, Maison des Arums, near the Eiffel Tower.  It was a beautiful building, but very difficult to photograph due to a large truck and a number of cars parked directly in front of it.






























The last attraction for today was Céramic Hôtel on Avenue de Wagram, not far from the Arc de Triomphe.  It's another beautiful building designed by architect Jules Lavirotte, the architect who designed the building with the most ornate door in Paris.  The Céramic Hôtel is not as fancy as that building, but it's still a striking example of Art Nouveau architecture.  It was very difficult to photograph because I was too close to the building when I was on the same side of the street and would have been too far away if I had crossed the street.  I'm sorry the photographs aren't better.

Cambodian Lunch and Two Scenic Attractions

It was raining heavily this morning with no sign of letting up, so after some delay we decided to have lunch at a popular Cambodian restaurant at the end of our street, Le Petit Cambodge.  Their specialty is bobuns which are similar to the vermicelli bowls I get at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant at home.  Mine had shrimp and Bill's had shrimp and beef along with a small imperial roll.  He also had a Laotian beer.  Two thumbs up!











The first of our scenic attractions was les jardins des Hôtels D'Assy et DeBreteuil in the Marais district.  The gardens were not at their peak, but still quite pretty.  Don't step on the grass!






I thought we had seen all the attractive little housing projects, but was pleasantly surprised to discover Rue Crémieux near Gare de Lyon.  It's a narrow street with pastel colored houses, some of which are decorated with paintings.
































On the trip home, in addition to our baguette, we picked up a chocolate moelleux (a dense chocolate cake with a molten center) and a piece of fig tart.  Good thing we've been doing lots of walking!




Just noticed I've used three exclamation points in this post.  I'm opposed to the overuse of that punctuation, but am too tired to revise.  I'll try to do better in the future.

Local Food Festival, Petit Palais, and Rue des Thermopyles

It was raining when we left the house this morning, but we stuck with our original plan of visiting the Local Food Festival in the Berges, a fairly new park along the left bank of the Seine.  There wasn't much action there, probably because of the weather, but we tasted a few of the samples.  The rain showed no sign of letting up, so we decided to visit the Petit Palais, a museum we hadn't seen before and which has free admission.  They have a relatively small collection of art from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century, including a very nice Monet painting of a sunset over the Seine and this painting of the funeral of John the Good in Bruges (don't remember the painter's name and I could only photograph about half of the painting since I'm using my phone as a camera).

The rain showed no sign of letting up, and the cafe at the museum didn't look too interesting, so we decided to go to Place de la Bastille for lunch since there are lots of restaurants very close to the Metro stop.  As we were exiting we were treated to a 12-piece (approximately) orchestra playing for change.  Again, I was unable to get all the musicians in the frame.  We had salads again, mine with ham and Comté cheese, and Bill's a salad Niçoise.







The rain had stopped when we finished lunch, so our picturesque street of the day was Rue des Thermopyles in Montparnasse.  Very charming.  And we saw a flower unfamiliar to us.  It almost looked like a stylized plastic flower.  Can any of you identify it?

The "Last Village of Paris" and a Basque Lunch

Today we did a walking tour of Butte Bergeyre which is billed as the "last village of Paris."  It's a small warren of streets near Butte Chaumont, tucked high on a hill, and it gets little auto traffic except for the residents.  It can be reached either by street or by three long, steep staircases.  At the time the houses were built, zoning laws didn't permit buildings higher than 4 stories, so the size of the buildings also contributes to the village feel.  There's a community garden, a small vineyard, and a beautiful view of Sacre Coeur in the distance.  It looks and feels very different from most of Paris.

By the way, we met a man in this area who advised us that the wine for 2015 is going to be particularly good, so keep that in mind when you're stocking your cellars.

After this challenging walk, we took the Métro over to Butte aux Cailles in the southeastern part of Paris.  We had lunch at Chez Gladines, a Basque restaurant - salad with bacon and chèvre for me and salad with ham, Comte cheese, potatoes, and an egg for Bill.  We shared an order of ile flottante ("islands" of meringue and a "sea" of creme Anglaise).  The outside of this restaurant is decorated by the well-known (in Paris, anyway) graffiti artist Miss Tic.

 Don't worry!  I remembered to buy the baguette for this evening.

Chapelle Expiatoire and Charcuterie and Cheese for Lunch

Today's third tier museum was the Chapelle Expiatoire (Atonement Chapel),  built on the site of the mass grave where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were originally buried.  Their remains are now at the Basilica of St. Denis just north of Paris.  It's a small building, decorated in the classical style, and situated in a pretty park.

From there we headed to Rue des Martyrs, a great street for people who enjoy food shopping.  We had lunch at a Corsican place that specializes in charcuterie.  We shared a plate of charcuterie, cheese, and terrine.  It was delicious.

We made a failed attempt to see the shrines to the Charlie Hebdo victims and to Ahmed, the policeman who was shot by the Charlie Hebdo attackers.  Apparently those shrines have been taken down.

A Very French Museum and a Very French Lunch

We've visited Paris 8 or 9 times, so we've already been to the museums we're most interested in:  Musée D'Orsay, Picasso Museum, the Orangerie, and others.  We'd not been to the Pantheon and today was the day we crossed that off the list.  The Pantheon honors, and in some cases holds the bodies or ashes of heroes of France, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Marie Curie, and many many others.  It's full of classic statuary and I'm not a fan of that style.  It's so formal and traditional that the visitor doesn't really get a feel for the actual people that are being honored.


Our lunch though, was much more enjoyable.  We ate at a small restaurant just off Rue Mouffetard, a busy market street popular with both tourists and locals.  My lunch was so French it was almost a cliche.  I had escargots for an appetizer, beef burgundy for my main dish, and creme caramel for dessert.  Bill had grilled sardines.  We were both happy with our choices.

As in past years, we're buying baguettes from the boulangeries which won the Best Baguette in Paris contest.  It's an interesting way to see different areas of the city and guarantees that you'll be buying an exceptionally good baguette.   We're also buying lots of cheese to eat with the bread in the evening.  Lots of walking and lots of fun!

First Few Days in 2015 - Catalonians and Couscous

We arrived in Paris on Sunday, September 6 and, as usual, it has taken a couple of days to recover from the (almost) sleepless night of the flight and the new time zone.  Sunday evening we ended up at Place de la République where we saw a demonstration for Catalonian independence.  It's very common to see demonstrations and marches at République, which is one of the largest squares in the city.

Like many demonstrations there was chanting and singing and speeches.   There was also a group of people dressed in white with black cummerbund-type sashes around their waists.  One of the men was hoisted up above the crowd and a young woman climbed up onto his shoulders and turned to greet the crowd.  She had prudently worn a helmet, but as it turned out, she executed this move and her descent without incident.  I have no idea what this had to do with Catalonian independence, but it was impressive.

We're staying near Canal St-Martin in the same apartment we stayed at in 2011 and 2013.  The first few days we re-visited some places and restaurants we had enjoyed in the past, such as the pizza place on the corner of our street.  Today we had lunch at Marché des Enfants Rouges (market of the red children).  There used to be an orphanage in this neighborhood and the children at this orphanage wore red uniforms, which is how the market got its name.  You can buy produce and flowers at the market, but it is primarily a food court type area with Italian, Japanese, Moroccan, and organic restaurant stalls.  We chose the Moroccan restaurant, one of the most popular.  Bill got a lamb tagine and I got eggplant couscous.

It's getting a little more difficult to find new areas to explore because we've spent several extended vacations here.  This morning we went to a picturesque area in Montmartre that we hadn't yet seen.  Whenever you go to Montmartre you should expect to climb and this morning's outing was no exception.