No Really, A Last Hurrah 1-13-26

I was going to let the travel day pass but I decided that one last entry would be reasonable. Because getting home is part of the process. Today worked out pretty well but there were a few moments that give one jitters. 

Our preparations yesterday made getting out of the apartment a smooth process. Quick showers and tucking in the last bits allowed us to be out by around 9:00. We walked a block up to the bus stop that would take us over to Gare du Nord. The bus arrived less than two minutes after we got there, so we were at Gare du Nord in under 15 minutes apartment door to train doors. We got to the airport around 3 hours early and had time to sit with a cup of tea and a brioche before we could check our bags.  We had to get baggage tags from a self-serve kiosk and had the tags in a flash. But then it got serious, the tag had about a half-dozen bar code stickers. So I had attached them to the back of  a passport when the attendant came over and ‘assisted’ us.

These little bar codes go on the suitcases as he peeled them off the passport and affixed them to the bags. This other bar coded deal is your claim tag and the big one goes around the luggage handle. I apologized but he kind of laughed and said I was doing better than most people, then under his breath “for people your age” 😆. So we got our bags on to the conveyor belt for loading and walked up to security.  It took me three passes to get through security, first my belt buckle, then my phone, and finally the security shield around my credit cards. Luckily we were so early that there were no people behind us in line. 😇. So we cooled our jets in the lounge until flight time without any issues. Boarding went smoothly except for the people who insisted on bringing on their carryons when the flight attendant tole them there was no more room. They had to do the walk of shame to the plane door for gate checking.

The flight went very smoothly and we landed in Reykjavik just as the sun was setting. There was no snow on the ground and it looked placid. But when we got off the plane and on a bus going to the terminal it was very apparent that a gale from the North Pole was welcoming us to Iceland. That should have been a warning.  When we got into the terminal and found where our gate was we headed over to passport control for leaving the EU. The lines filled the first haul in the snaking manner and went around a corner into a second hall. That’s where we got into line, about half way through the second hall. But as often happens the people arriving hadn’t really read the signs telling them where to go. So they made a general announcement that all EU citizens should be 

over in another snaking line and suddenly half of our line evaporated. Hurrah!  Several minutes later we were finally in the first hall.  But our flight was scheduled to begin boarding in 5 minutes and we were at least 150 people back in line and virtually all of us were in the same fix, but not a the front of the line.  About then the border inspectors suddenly ramped up and within about 10 minutes the hall was cleared!  We made it over to our gate and were able to board without any problems.  We had a very enjoyable flight back to Denver. Our flight attendants were absolutely stellar, great attitudes, great service and just generally sweet.

We arrived in Denver just about sunset, so we mostly travelled in daylight and that was nice. I have always loved flying back into Denver when you get close and you finally see the mountains. It’s such a welcoming sight, at least to me. Today the mountains were back lit by the sun. It was quite beautiful. They held us away from the gate for several minutes, likely in order to set up the path to passport control and customs. We were very early off the plane so that the walk over to border control was a pretty easy jaunt. We have global entry which has been upgraded to the point that we just stand in front of a camera and get cleared for entry back in to the U.S.  We never did get our

passports out for inspection. When we got to the customs hall to pick up bags it was a little time before our bags came out and Deb had made a list of everything we bought and were bringing back with us. So when we got to the customs officer we were ready.  He took our passport entry cards and just waved us through. So we left.

I texted my sister sunset pictures from Iceland and Denver and she texted back wanting to now if we’re doing everlasting sunsets? I replied that we’re now at the sunset years of our lives. So, yeah I guess we are.  But I think we still got a few kicks left in us, so we will persevere.  Signing off for now.

A Last Hurrah 1-12-26

As I mentioned yesterday, today was mostly spent getting ready for our exit from Paris. A part of the morning was spent making decisions on which parts of our travel wardrobes would be donated to the Paris charity that provides clothing for the indigent and refugees. Then we packed our bags to see if the stuff we got rid of was enough to accommodate the stuff we picked up along the way.  This can be an ongoing negotiation but today things seemed to balance out. The last ‘must do’ was to check-in for our flight and I took care of that with no hiccups. So we’re ready to roll.

We decided that we would have our last lunch at the little restaurant situated on the Canal St. Martin, Chez Prune. OMG I was able to go out almost naked, it was so warm I wore only one coat and a sweater, for the first time in weeks. Back to Chez Prune, it really is a locals place and not one that attracts an upscale clientele. It’s sort of like a dive bar/cafe.  Deb’s research found that it doesn’t have a sterling rating, but the complaints were like, “the staff was really nice, but the other customers were not friendly”.  Just our kind of place!! Every time we’ve eaten here we’ve had a good meal and today was no exception.  When we arrived our host gave us a table close to the door and quite generous in size. This is not an appetizer place you 

pretty much go for the main plate and a dessert. Today Deb’s choice was baked salmon with Duchesse potatoes and vegetables. I ordered their grilled chicken nested in a puree of blette and onionwith a pissaladere (like pizza), and a green salad. I couldn’t help myself and ordered a side order of green lentils as well. The waiter said, “but it’s a big plate of lentils”.  But I was insistent and said bring’em on. So he just laughed and put in the order. To be fair it was a large plate of lentils, but I managed to finish them as well as the rest of my order. We then finished with a pear tart and a digestif of Vielle Prune. I was pretty full but also very contented with my last happy lunch in Paris. 

We walked back to the apartment in weather that, in contrast to the last few weeks, was almost balmy. Is Paris mocking us, or just trying to lure us back with a preview of coming attractions?  As part of our walk back we stopped at a church we’d been seeing for the entire trip but never had an opportunity to stop. It’s called Saint Laurent and just down the street from Gare de l’Est. It was founded in the 12th century and like the rest of the quartier is a bit run down. But it

must be pretty active as when we visited there were several worshipers sitting in the nave.  It is a 5 aisle church with a transept and ambulatory, so pretty classical in style. But it’s not terribly large, a parish church that was loved by the people who built it and worshipped there. The stained glass windows are pretty much all 20th century creations but they are interesting, we have no idea what became of the original windows.

When we got to our street we stopped at the boulangerie to say thank you to our bakers. They are 3 young women who run the shop and were so patient and friendly that they stole our hearts.  We made our last orders and told them goodbye. They then pressed extra little cadeau on us for the trip home.

Thanks for joining us for the latest adventure, we can’t say with finality that this will be the last. People still ask where we will go next? Hell we’re not finished with this trip yet. And yet, still we persevere. 

At this point in all previous trip stories I’ve always said this may or may not be the last entry. Tomorrow and how it plays out will determine the need for another entry. I hope it will be “nothing much happened” but, one can never tell. 

A Three-peat day 1-11-26

Deb and I had a disagreement on brocante markets stemming from data on dueling websites. My site showed several street markets but not the major one at Vanves. Deb’s site showed it as taking place. In the past it has always shown on my site so I held out against going there because of the time it takes to get there. So yesterday as you may have read, we followed my program. Today I agreed that we could go to Vanves and if it wasn’t up and running I had another two that we could attend. They were relatively close by so that if needed we could go to the first alternate quickly. We also resorted to the Metro because it was almost a half-hour shorter in travel time. So we rode down and came out of the subway then came around the corner. Damned if her site wasn’t correct and the market was up and running.  There were a large number of  buyers out and most of the stalls were peopled as well. We had almost an hour and a half to explore before they shut down. We made it through the entire market and Deb made a little purchase. It was sunny and reasonably comfortable outside so we boarded a bus and made our way to the second market.

The bus dropped us off about a 15 minute walk from the second market but my online mapping took us on a round about way to get there which was distracting. But we got to the market and found it to be composed of maybe 15 booths. There were some interesting items but on the whole it was a bit disappointing. So I queried my mapping app and found where we could catch a bus back up to our neighborhood. Luckily we were on a street that would take us directly to a bus stop. It followed the southern edge of the Montparnasse cemetery which is a walled area. I remembered that we had stopped at a restaurant along this road many years ago so I started looking out for it. In a few blocks I saw it across the street so we crossed over and went in. It was very busy and they had a table but the host said their credit card processing was not working 

and we would have to pay cash. We had the cash but Deb was not feeling really enthused about it so we left. We walked down a few more blocks and came across a little pizzeria that seemed to be doing a pretty good business, so we went in there. We had a simple lunch, a shared appetizer of bruschetta followed by a shared pizza Margaretta. The bruschetta was very good and quite different from what one normally gets. The topping was a mixture of tomato fresh basil and some sort of savory dressing. The pizza was adequate but not really up to the standards set by the little takeout joint across the street from the apartment. But it filled the void. For dessert Deb had pistachio ice cream and I had a pistachio crème brûlée. They were better.

When we finished we left and walked to the corner then across the street to our bus stop. We had under 10 minutes to wait for a bus. When it arrived we boarded and made it about 2 stops before I looked out and saw another street market. So when the bus 

stopped we got off and made it about three-peat. This market was almost as large at the one at Vanves and it was going great guns. There were at least 50 vendors and hundreds of people shopping. There many many things which would have been on the shopping list had we been here for an extended period of time. It was still sunny at this point but the wind was coming up and we were starting to feel the cold seeping into our bodies. We were a little less thorough than we might have been another time but we still got through the whole market.  I found a little trinket which was very appealing and planned to present it to Deb later. When we finished we walked back across the street to the bus stop. It was right at the southern limit of the Luxembourg Gardens and we could see up a tree lined alley all the way to the Luxembourg Palace. The bus got up to

Gare de l’Est without incident, I mention this because later we saw there was a demonstration of several thousand protesters against the current situation in Iran. And in Paris one can’t really predict where a demonstration may pop up, today it was Trocadero across the river from the Eiffel Tower.

Today was pretty much the end of our completely carefree days in Paris and this year’s trip. Tomorrow will be pretty much dedicated to getting ourselves ready to travel back to Colorado. 

Last Saturday in Paris 1-10-26

We’ve come to our last weekend in Paris, it is not without some conflicting emotions. Our perspectives regarding travel are definitely not in the main stream. We fly back in 3 days and while the prospect of three days in Paris would be a dream for many people, for us seems as if we have no time left. In that vein we decided to go to another street market, this time was quite close to our apartment. It took us only about 20 minutes to get there with a short bus ride followed by a short walk. As we were walking up towards the market we saw what from our perspective is the most impressive bit of graffiti we’ve ever seen. Some inspired artist had incised an Egyptian royal scene, almost life sized, in a wall. It was beautiful and well executed with nice design aspects. I wonder how much time it took them and applaud the public for not defacing it. At the next corner we arrived at the market. 

We looked to our left and saw a line of covered stalls running down both sides of the street and ran for over a block in length.  

Moving down the sidewalk we moved from stall to stall and noticed that the quality of the offerings was better than our previous markets.  There were several vendors offering higher quality used clothing, like Hermes, Burberry, etc. There were also booths offering pretty nice paintings and prints. One vendor had his booth filled with very nice oriental decorative pieces. We did see one vendor who we’ve known for the last 10 years. He offers decent quality reproductions and always has attractive presentations. But there were also booths with more eclectic offerings and kitsch, these get our closest scrutiny. We walked through the entire market end to end and then turned around and retraced our steps. I always try to do this because seeing things a second time from a different direction often turns up things that were overlooked on the first pass. We did have a little success but nothing earth shaking.

 

At that point we were somewhat conflicted. It was really time for lunch but we wanted to go to another market across town.  So we decided go to a bus stop and go to the other market, looking for possible lunch candidates along the way.  We got to the bus stop and waited for quite a long while before very nice woman told us that the line had been temporarily suspended due to a demonstration. So we walked over to Gare du Nord where we caught the subway. But so much time had elapsed that we changed our plan and headed to a restaurant.

The restaurant we chose for lunch was Bouillon Racine. It is located just off of the Boulevard Saint Michel and a couple blocks from the Luxembourg Gardens. I described it in an earlier entry as being founded in 1906 as a bouillon with an Art Nouveau theme interior. 

Once again when we arrived the place was hopping and we were lucky enough to get a seat on the ground floor again. It wasn’t the best table but that didn’t affect the quality or our enjoyment of the food. We shared an appetizer of escargots and then each of us had a tenderloin steak with potatoes, little hearts of lettuce with a mustard dressing, and root vegetables.  I did get a dessert today which was a baked apple that was served with crushed pistachios and a red fruit puree. 

By the time we were finished it was almost 4:00 so getting to the other market over by the Tour Montparnasse was not really a good option. Given that we were concerned about the buses running without interruption we decided to go to bus stop to see if it was functioning.  When we got there it was scheduled for less than 10 minutes so we decided to wait that long and see if it was accurate. Luckily the bus showed up and we were able to get a ride back to Gare de l’Est where we could walk back to the apartment.  It would have been fun to see a second street market today but we couldn’t make it work and tomorrow is another opportunity. It may be our last really carefree day because on Monday we’ll be focused on getting ready to fly home. Plus Monday is supposed to be a very rainy and windy day.

Will Wonders Never Cease 1-9-26

A couple days ago Deb suggested that we try to go to the Musee D’Orsay on Friday. We were not able to get reservations and the lines have been untenable. She read somewhere that Fridays were actually slower days than the rest of the week. So today we got out just after noon and took the Metro down to a stop next to the Louvre. From there we walked through the Louvre’s courtyard and over to a bus stop whose route would take us right to the museum.  Right now we’re experiencing some of the effects of Storm Goretti, so the wind was exceedingly strong as we waited for the bus.  It came after several minutes and three stops later we were at the front of the museum.

Wonder of wonders we were able to walk right in to the ticketing area for the museum and in less than 10 minutes we were actually in the museum.  There is a temporary exhibition currently on view for the artist, John Singer Sargent. A funny thing about Sargent is that he is claimed as an American artist but he never lived in America. He was born in Italy to American parents, thus was an American citizen, and lived in Italy as a young man

before moving to Paris where he underwent training as an artist. He lived in Paris for seven years and was gaining recognition as an artist to be admired. However he took a portrait commission for an American heiress married to a French nobleman whose result was sensational. It is titled ‘Lady in Black’ but it was sensational in a scandalous way and he became a bit toxic for a while.  Seeing it today seems a bit conventional but at the time a woman with her shoulders bared and wearing makeup was almost a harlot. Feeling some of the heat from France he moved to England and lived in London for the balance of his life. He did visit the U.S. and gained some portrait commissions while he was there but never stayed for a long period of time. He is best known for his portraits many of which were in the exhibition. His commissions were generally of wealthy high-society 

personages but when painting for  himself he tended to choose less elevated members of the public. In addition to portraits he loved to paint pictures realated to his extensive travels. There were pictures from Spain, Africa, Italy, and the Atlantic crossing which were very engaging.  As we went through we were quite happy that it was a ‘slower’ day at the museum because half the people in the museum seemed to be in the exhibit.  But we made it through and enjoyed seeing such a broad swath of Sargent’s work. Upon exiting we opted to have lunch in the cafe up on the top floor.

The cafe is located in a room that is directly behind one of the large clock faces that were built into the original building when it was a railroad train station. It is very enjoyable to sit at a table eating and be able to look over Paris from above while behind a clock face. The menu is simplified and eating is pretty informal but its location makes up for all of that. Plus one doesn’t

have to leave the museum for a meal. Today it was no appetizer, only mains. Deb had a very good Quiche Lorraine while I had a dish of pasta in a cream and black pepper sauce with bits of ham, simple and filling if not exactly ethereal.  After lunch we were able to walk back through the 5 or 6 rooms dedicated to the Impressionists.

Since we were last here they have reorganized and rehung some of these galleries, In the past artists were all accorded their own contiguous wall space. Whereas now they have reorganized some galleries into donations and purchases from specific collectors. So one may see a Monet, a Caillebotte, and a Sisley in a group that was put together by one person. Then across the gallery on the other wall there may be painting from the same group but acquired by a different collector. These are usually 8-10 paintings each, but further in to the museum there 

may be an entire room dedicated to one specific artist, like Monet. Also interestingly Van Gogh has an entire gallery dedicated to his paintings, because as you may or may not know he sold only one painting in his lifetime, thus no collectors.  I added this Renoir painting because it’s so iconic and it is a standing refutation to a trend a few years ago that made the claim that Renoir doesn’t deserve to be in the same class as the best impressionists. 

Musee Carnavalet 1-8-26

Today we went to a museum that we have not visited in several years, the Musee Carnavalet. It is a museum dedicated to the history of Paris. It was founded it 1880 in a building from the 1540’s. At one time it was inhabited for several years by Madame de Sevigne at the time of Louis XIV.  

We woke up to the last of storm Goretti in the form of rain. But that stopped for several hours in the middle of the day. I had to run a chore early so I went down to a store to buy new ear pads for my headphones. They were about 30% cheaper here than in the U.S. so I bought two pairs.

When I returned Deb was dressed and ready to leave. So we walked down to Gare de l’Est and caught a bus down close to where the museum is located. The museum is several blocks away from our bus stop. So as we walked towards it we decided to try and get lunch at the restaurant where we’ve been turned away twice due to no available tables. Today was different since the holiday season is finally over and we were able to get a table without problem. Cafe des Musees is on a corner very close to a few museums; the Musee Picasso, Musee

Carnavalet, Musee Cognaqc-Jay, and the Musee de la Chase. So it is very convenient when you’re in the neighborhood. It’s also a very good restaurant so getting a table can be a challenge. But today we walked right in and sat down. According to Le Figaro, they serve the best Boeuf Bourguignon in Paris. Today it was featured on their daily menu. So even though there was a supplemental charge we both ordered it for our main dish. I also ordered a soup a creamy veloute of Jerusalem artichoke. When they delivered our order it was immediately apparent that we should have ordered two appetizers and shared the main course. It came in a large casserole pan with a large helping of mashed potatoes on a separate side plate. I will happily report that to date this is by far the best boeuf bourguignon we have eaten. The meat was slow-cooked to the point of being fork tender and the sauce was winey perfection. As I sit here many hours later I’m still full, I just couldn’t stop eating it.

Following lunch we walked over to Carnavalet and found as we walked in that it was free entrance. The first two rooms are dedicated to old historic business and street

signs from the last several centuries. They are so beautiful and interesting. Many are constructed from wrought iron and deserve to be considered as great art, not just decorative art.  In the next several rooms the exhibits are dedicated to Paris as a capital city. There are scale models, historic commerative medals, illustrated maps and scenes. They are the amuse-bouche for the rest of the museum.  Leaving them we descended to the basement and began with the pre-historic origins of the area. They display a boat from between 3000 and 4500 years old. Then just sort of an ‘oh by the way’ display of a 4700 year old big stick turns out to be the most ancient bow in Northern Europe. We mused on how the French forgot their progenitors invented the long bow until they were reminded at Agincourt and Crecy. There were many exhibits showing Neolithic artifacts,  this was then followed by an extensive display of Gallo-Roman artifacts that have been uncovered within the 

city precincts. Many Roman inscriptions and architecture as well as glass, metal work, and coins. We then moved in to the third phase which was dedicated to the medieval period. Many architectural elements from the construction of Notre Dame and other churches no longer in existence. In one display they displayed s number of tombstones from an early Jewish cemetery which was moved when an early church was demolished. The Jewish gravestones uncovered in Paris represent 40% of all the excavated Jewish gravestones in France.  Deb was getting worn down and it was almost 5:00 when we decided we needed to go back to the apartment. In our defense, having spent so much time seeing Greek and Roman historical artifacts in the last several years we could really appreciate what is here. So we through much more slowly. We may try to revisit the museum this weekend to see if we can see at least another part of history before we leave.

Whew, We Made It to the Orangerie 1-7-26

This morning it began snowing around 6:00 am and continued until around 1100. By that time they had declared a weather event. It seems that we have been hit with a named winter storm. It only dropped around 3 inches of snow but it was enough to almost paralyze the city. Both airports were shut down for between 3 and 5 hours and there were cars sliding all around the city. Last week when Deb was able to secure tickets for the Orangerie museum today was what was available. C’est la vie.  Not knowing about all the weather related problems we considered whether to take a bus or not. Looking out our window at the traffic we opted for the Metro. We had to make a change to another line at Opera but it dropped us off right at the

Place de la Concorde. From there we walked into the western end of the Tuilleries and up a snowy ramp to the museum. It seemed like anyone not driving a car was having a wonderful time.  Youngsters were actively engaged in snowball fights as were some university students. 

We had a set time on our tickets and we arrived about 10 minutes before we were supposed to gain entry.  There was a long line waiting to enter the museum but having our tickets we confidently walked to the front of the line. Only to find out that the museum was running about a half hour behind on admissions, probably due to the weather, and all the people in line also had timed tickets. And most of them were earlier than ours! So we trudged back to the end of the line and wait to enter. As it turned out they were pretty quickly getting people inside so our wait was maybe 20 minutes.  During that time the sun broke through and there was no wind so it was very pleasant.

The exhibition that really drew us to the museum this time was dedicated to Berthe Weill. Weill was a female art dealer at the end of the 19th and into the mid 20th century in Paris. She had about everything going against her at the time. She was a woman engaged in art trade at a time that was dominated by men and had almost no operating capital. Several times she had to rely upon private loans.  Then her choice of artists was completely against the ruling ethos of the time, she was committed to the young unknown of the time. These artists were not the ones that would easily fir into the popular movements of the day. They were the post-impressionist moderns; fauvists, cubists, abstractionists, etc. She exhibited Picasso and Matisse quite a time before any of the 

dealers now credited with championing them ever considered showing them. The list of artists that she represented before they became very famous is impressive. I mentioned Picasso and Matisse, but add Modigliani, Von Dongen, Derain, Pascin, Susan Valadon, Emilie Charmey, Delaunay, Odilon Redon, Dufy, Maillol, Archipenko, plus others still unknown. She had a gallery in Paris from 1897 until 1940 when she had to transfer ownership to a friend to preserve it from the Nazis, because she was also Jewish. After the war she regained the gallery and continued working until the 50’s shortly before her death. The exhibition gathered together quite a large number of painting by these artists and others. As well there were copies of the publications that she created for each of her shows and personal correspondence between various artists 

and her. She was an absolutely remarkable woman who deserves every bit of credit that we as art lovers can bestow.  I’m only sorry that we don’t have time to go back and see it again, it’s that good.  

Once we finished the exhibition we just couldn’t leave without visiting some of the paintings that we love that are housed here. So we went on a bit of a whirlwind stroll through the various galleries.  The long gallery that forms a hallway backing the other rooms is chocked full of Picasso’s large works. Then at the far end you enter a series of  gallery rooms each of which features a specific artist. There was a room for Matisse,  one for Derain, another one for Marie Laurencin, 

but the specific one for Cezanne has been taken off display which was a disappointment but even Cezanne needs a rest now and again.  We then went upstairs and spent several minutes enjoying Monet’s gigantic wall paintings, the Nymphiades.  Unfortunately we wanted to get back to the apartment before full darkness and freezing pavements, so we had to leave.  We walked back to the Metro stations and reversed our earlier route back.  When we got back we turned on the TV and watched a program showing how messed up things were earlier in the day.  They also showed a weather map of France and literally a swath of intense weather was dividing the country in half from north to south. We’ve been in the grips of a cold snap for over a week so today was almost balmy. Snow was melting and they are forecasting the temperature to get close to 50 tomorrow. But, it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow, we can’t seem to catch a break.  Deb had a banner day, she managed to handle 19 1/2 flights of stairs, a new high mark.