John Talbott's Paris

Some cool (to this geezer's eyes) restaurant signs seen today.

 
 
 
 
 

Food along the Rue de Montreuil in the 11th.

Just a lovely afternoon on a full stomach.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not quite "The New York State Thruway is closed, man" moment but close.

 

 12:30

 

 
16:30

As we entered the subway on our way back home after lunch the notices sign said "The buses in the Ile de France are as good as paralyzed."  Downtown Paris with snow, this early, this much - amazing!  Not quite the Arlo Guthrie moment, but close.

Street theater in the 18th, from half a horse to a baby boar: Random walks.

 
 

How I spent my afternoon by John Talbott: Paris 75018, France, Europe, The World, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, etc.

OK, I had a nice lunch and all the good intentions in the world at spending the afternoon scoping the pix of Bettina Rheims,

whose intriguing poster I didn't get permission to reproduce but which is at Jed Root's blog.  So instead I decided to walk thru the Gardens of the Palais Royal and see what was up:

OK, some performance art

 

and some sculpture

and the inevitably reinstalled van Buren things. F Finding myself with some time, I decided I'd move all Finding myself with some time, I remembered that I needed to move my winter clothes to their summer storage space and vice versa, since Meteo France declared this the first day of summer.  But there was one problem, I'd torn off a button on a winter suit pant trouser and had to reattach it. 

 

Haven't sewn a button on since my Army days and I wondered, how did our 90-year-old grandmothers thread a needle? - my goodness, it took me 20 tries.  So that's it.  How I spent my day.

 

Now back to business.

 

Fetes/Holidays in France: Aide memoire.

When I was reading various things about all the holidays in France in May I recalled that 25+ years ago I wrote the following, then added another para in 2009 and again today:

Aide memoire a propos des fetes:

 

On the 14 Juillet, restaurants are open if they usually are on that day of the week, the Louvre and selected other museums are, street market to 13H00 - only big magasins, etc closed.

 

On Nov 11, lunch is a tough go for restaurants - do Brasseries or Bistrot du Dome, etc.

 

At XMas & New Year's it's pretty much the same as 14 July, XMas eve there's a nifty Xmas eve mass on TV (who wants to sweat with the masses at Notre Dame?)  Lots of stuff is open Xmas Day but New Year's Day things are pretty dead

 

Remember that June has June 8^th - WWII end, June 29^th - Ascension Day etc.; one holiday almost every week.  May Day limited food opportunities.

 

I added:

Holidays 2008-9

The week between Christmas and New Years one needs to telephone to reserve.

 

New Year’s Day, except for brasseries, almost nothing was open but Lao Lane Xang 2.

 

Today (Ascension Day 2010) I noted this:

2010

All the restaurants I called were open, but Monoprix and Franprix closed early and every museum, place owned by non-French folk and many French places (my rich tailor, for instance) were open.

The artistic genius of the 18th after some snow.

 
  

A bizarre New Year's Day in the City of Light(s).

Paris is by all lights,including its own, the most beautiful city in the world, non?  However, occasionally one falls upon an astonishingly ugly mess:

And 100 meters away finds a newspaper with the dateline of 8 Avril 2099 - the Onion has hit Paris, but no, it was a misprint not a hoax.

Street Theater in Montmartre: Alice ..... d'Apres Lewis Carroll

Walking down the street on the way to lunch Colette and I encountered three singing players from the Alice .... d'apres Lewis Carroll production on rue Championnet in the 18th.  Kinda kicky, eh?
 

Christmas in July I understand but in October?

Over the weekend, I heard loud sounds coming from the street and looked out to see city-crews stringing up holiday lights.  Yesterday, on my way out to lunch a kid shouted "Look at the Olloween stuff" and so I ignored the street for the sideshow of lanterns, masks, etc.

Today, there they were though.  When I was young, an unwritten rule was no Christmas stuff til after Santa Claus came down CPW at the end of the Thanksgiving Macy Day Parade.  But I've noticed a creep, from December to November, and now October.  And the French insist we're the money-grubbing capitalists.