Voting adventure, jazz, Rodin, and Edith Piaf

Lots of ground to cover, as I haven't blogged since the morning of Wednesday, April 27.  After a trip to the Montorgueil market, and a walk to the Hotel Sully museum, which was under renovation, we finally got a call from the Canadian Embassy at 3:20 p.m. saying that they had found my ballot and that I needed to come in to vote by 4:30 p.m., before the last diplomatic bag left Paris.  This followed 4 other visits to the Embassy, and 3 calls to Elections Canada.  To summarize: the folks at the Embassy were not helpful (no customer service) and there was no coordination between the Embassy and Elections Canada.  Quelle ordeal!

Finally voted!

We then went to the Village Voice, an English bookstore in the 6th arrondissement for a reading by Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love.  She was reading from her new book Great House.  As an interesting twist, her translator was also there and read a section from the book in French.  Nicole is extremely bright and it was fascinating to hear how she gets a germ of an idea and then follows it through.  She said she was only a few pages ahead of the reader in knowing how the plot would develop.  We had to leave before she finished answering questions, as we had tickets to see Patricia Barber at the jazz club, New Morning in the 10th.  New Morning is a barn of a club-- everyone just sits on chairs, concert style, and if you want a drink, you have to make your way to a crowded bar.  Over 350 people there- Paris is a huge jazz city.  I couldn't get a good picture- but Patricia Barber and her band were awesome.  I think she and Kurt Elling are two of the most interesting jazz singers around- both from Chicago.  We walked home after her two set performance.

Nicole Krauss at Village Voice

Thursday April 28 was a cool, cloudy day.  Alain was starting to get a cold.  We walked to Jeu de Paume, now a photography museum.  En route, passed an interesting pop up Gallery, sponsored by agnes b, the clothing store.  At Jeu de Paume we saw an interesting exhibition by an artisits' collective started in Paris in 2004, called Société Réaliste (Ferenc Gráf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy).  The exhibit was entitled Empire, State, Building  (the commas are important!), and involved many creative images of those three concepts.  Lots of innovative use of typography.  We then had some soup at a nearby restaurant and later stopped for tea at Ladurée  (the best macarons in Paris).

pop up Galerie Du Jour

Alain at Laduree

I like this shot of the monument at the Concord with the Eiffel tower in the background.

On Friday,  I watched the vows portion of the "wedding" at around noon Paris time, just a few minutes before our friend Sari arrived from Toronto.  We went for a walk and had a drink at La Palette on Rue de Seine, after doing a bit of gallery browsing.  We then stopped at Shakespeare & Co. to hear a band called Moriarty that were playing there at 6:00 pm.  Lots of people, and we made the mistake of sitting outside-- just too many smokers, and the speakers were not great.  Also it was cool and drizzly.  As an aside, it is disheartening to see all the young smokers in Paris.  While one cannot smoke inside a restaurant, folks can smoke outside on the terraces and they do in great numbers.  Of course, this time of year, that is where you want to sit.

Slyvia Whitman, who runs Shakespeare & Co.

More accidental history spottings - Edith Wharton

Sari's first lunch chez nous

On Saturday April 30, Alain stayed home to tend to his cold.  The weather had turned warm again, so Sari and I headed off for a longish walk to the Rodin Museum.  The museum is housed in a beautiful 18th century mansion surrounded by a huge garden full of Rodin's major works including the Thinker, the Gates of Hell, and Balzac.  The back part of the garden has a special meditative section.  The works are just incredible- Rodin captures musculature perfectly.  The sculptures really have to be seen in person to get the detail.  Inside the mansion are more works and a room devoted to the sculptures of his mistress, Camille Claudel.

Sari and Toby with Le Penseur

Sari relaxing at the Rodin Museum

Victor Hugo

Gate of Hell

On the way back we passed an amazing patisserie called La Patisserie des rêves. The place was packed and I have never seen a pastry display as amazing.  If only I wasn't lactose intolerant.  I did bring a pain au chocolat back for Alain.  We then stopped at La Grande Epicerie at Bon Marche department store.  Whole Foods on steroids.  It turned out it was tasting day and we even had samples of Perrier-Juvet champagne.

La Patisserie des reves- amazing

For dinner, we went to Chez Omar nearby for some couscous.  While an interesting slice of Paris life, we were underwhelmed with the food.  One of the few food disappointments to date.

May 1 is a huge holiday here and all the museums were closed, even though it was a Sunday.  Luckily, the markets are open.  We went to both the Bastille market and the Aligre markets with Sari.  The produce was spectacular and both markets were very busy.  Alain stayed home again and Sari and I took the Metro out to Porte de Bagnolet in the 20th arrondissement, for the Edith Piaf tour with Paris Walks.  The tour took place in the old village of Charonne where Piaf was born and lived as a kid.  We found out that she wasn't really born on those steps on Rue Bellville where I had taken a picture a few weeks ago.  She was born in a hospital-- however, her mother may have gone into labour on those steps.  As well as having a poor section, Charonne had also housed wealthy people, escaping the earlier boundaries of Paris.  Lots of interesting housing and green spaces.  We ended up at Piaf's tomb in the famous Père Lachaise cemetery.  We didn't spend a lot of time in the cemetery, but saw an entire aisle of huge monuments dedicated to the victims of the many concentration camps, one monument for each camp.

Edith Piaf sculpture outside Metro stop

Interesting houses in Charonne

"The Country in the City"- name of this housing in Charonne

Piaf's tomb- note the"Madam Lamboukas"- her married name from her second, final marriage

Pere Lachaise-memorial to French volunteers to the Spanish Civil War

memorial to the communards shot in 1871- buried in a church graveyard

A few of the Concentration camp memorials in Pere Lachaise

We met two very interesting women on the tour.  Amy, in public relations, from Oakland and in Paris for 5 days, and Jane, a retired librarian, who has been studying french for the past two years, from Dayton, Ohio and in Paris for three weeks.  We decided to check out the artists' studio walk that was on in the area-  "Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers D'Artistes du Pere Lachaise Associés".  It was interesting to see the insides of apartments and studios in the area.  We ended the day by going for a drink with Amy and Jane at Mama Shelter (a very funky hotel in the 20th).  Shared a bottle of Petit Chablis on the terrace.  Ah, the Paris life.  Home for a late dinner with Alain, who was feeling much better.

Jane, Sari, Toby and Amy at Mama Shelter terrasse

Finally, a picture of the courtyard cat, who we discovered is called Felix.  Here's Felix with his motorcycle.