cigalechanta's rainy days in Paris

Cigale%26#39;s rainy days in Paris ..(Mimi%26#39;s Trip Report)

But the sun in her heart.

My plane arrived late and I was the last person at the baggage pick-up but my luggage was a no-show. After filing a report, a nice lady assured me it will be found and returned to my hotel. She asked if I wanted to have a loan of 100€ to buy necessities I thanked her and said I had a change of clothes and toiletries in my carry-on.

My friend Jean had waited two hours for my late arrival but luckily helped with translating the report for me. I checked in the hotel but my room was not ready so stopped for coffee at the Mairie Cafe shop and returned to shower and change out of my jeans. I headed to an old favorite La Tartine, the oldest wine bar in Paris named after the open-faced sandwiches called tartines. The tartine I ordered had tomato red peppers and eggplant and mozzarella on Poilane bread. The house wine was served in a bottle (yes, a bottle!!).

After wandering around the area I tried to book a few places for dinner but they were complet that night But I found a place around a corner, %26quot;Le Fous d%26#39;en Face.%26quot; I was seated on a cozy closed in porch with a floor heater. In a short time, Philippe Llorca started singing as he played the accordion. My waiter suggested I sit inside and enjoy the sing along with a group of regulars who welcomed me. I didn%26#39;t return to my hotel til after 1am.

The next day I watched the skaters at Hotel de Ville and than off to the Carnevelet and Picasso musées and the Place des Vognes. Dinner back at Tartine. This day lunch at Tartine and the Willy Ronis exhibit and dinner at Bofinger. Beside me sat a couple who engaged me in conversation and kept sending me tastes of their various wines. Both were Analysists. He French, she from Nigeria.

In the morning I floated about the city. Unlike my friend, David (indytravel) I didn%26#39;t make it to all the arrondisments to drink but I%26#39;m sure it was at least 11. Mid afternoon my friend, M. picked me up at my hotel. We ate a late lunch at his local café in the Palais Royale and his partner S. joined us. We went to Deyrolle as M. had never been there and visited the church on Rue De Bac where I wanted to see the body of St Catherine who was buried and dug up with her body un-deteriorated. I%26#39;m a non believer. I think she was waxed over. Her flying nun cap covered her face but across from her was St Paul and his face was certainly not natural. We visited several places of interest to us and the two days I spent with M and S. were so much fun, I didn%26#39;t want it to end.

We had drinks up in %26quot;Kong.%26quot; we had dinner at %26quot;Bouillon Chartier,%26quot; drinks at %26quot;Harry%26#39;s Bar.%26quot; We stopped at the Boutique Yamamoto where their friend and neighbour worked and she invited us to an opening of a new branch of the pricey L%26#39;Eclaireur but this one to my disappointment didn%26#39;t carry and Dries, only experimental new designers. but there was a secret room that you asked to see that had all kinds of curiosities for sale.

One night I taxied to Vincennes to dine with Jean and his wonderful family. Another night with D. and his very interesting wife, A. as Billy Holiday sang in the background. Heaven! Both men were wonderful cooks and not just pretty faces.

One night I dined with Chris (a fodorite and Traveler to Go) her friend and daughter. We liked our dinner (I had confit of Canard) and we were entertained piano and singing by the owner and a friend (Who only perform on Saturday but at my and Chris%26#39;s teasing we insisted we hear him sing and much to our delight He did.) and conversations from them and another adjoining table, a Canadian couple. It was a fun evening at %26quot;un Piano sur le Trottoir.%26quot;

The following day more museums and I went to Chanel%26#39;s. On entering a lovely young woman greeted me and I bowed and said I was at the temple and would make my tres cher purchase of lipstick. She laughed and brought me to the cosmetics, sat me on a stool, asked if I%26#39;d like coffee, tea, or L%26#39;eau. I had Perrier. She selected what she thought I would like and painted my lips. I agreed with her choice. She gift wrapped it with a faux camellia and signature ribbon and in a bag again with a camellia pinned to it and also gave me a skin creme sample.

On to Longchamps where I%26#39;m to purchase a backpack for a friend who asked me to buy one for her. It was 58€ in Paris and $120 in Boston. On to Hermés where I bought a scarf. I also went back to Deyrolle to buy an under glass cigale and an exotic butterfly-like insect that looked like a fan, both for me. Macarons from Lenotre and Dalloyou to take back for another%26#39;s request.

On th Isle St Louis, I sat outside at the %26quot;Brasserie de L%26#39;Isle Saint-Louis,%26quot; lunching on steak tartare (excellent!) as I listed to a jazz group performing live on the bridge, I had hoped to lunch at %26quot;Taverne Henry1V%26quot; but it was closed til the 31st of February. So was the %26quot;Reminet%26quot; so I dined next door to it at %26quot;Le Louis 1X%26quot; next door at the Le Louis 1X. where I had one of two bad meals, but the huge fire that was burning was comforting after a long walk in a cold rainy day.

Too many wine bars to list where I would stop. Favorite meals were at La Guirlande de Julie on Valentine%26#39;s day. They were closed all of Feb before that day. This is on the Place des Vosges so after the lunch I dropped in on André Bissonnet on the Pas de la Mule who specializes in old instruments. He%26#39;s a charming man I was anxious to meet after reading a New York Times article about him a few years ago. He was pleased to hear that and he sat down and played an old small cello that was attached to a keyboard and he sang to me. What a wonderful Valentine%26#39;s day for me!!.

Other dinners: %26quot;Le Coude Fou%26quot; %26quot;Restaurant resor,%26quot; %26quot;7Lezards%26quot; food not worth it but pay for great jazz downstairs.

Favorite meals were at Le Dome du Marais, Au Pied de Cochon, Gaya, and an almost 4 hour lunch at %26quot;a La Tour de Montlhery%26quot; communal tables with two couples. One who took the train from Normandy because they love the food and are friends with our waiter%26#39;s parents and the other who lived nearby. We discussed Bush, Cheney and BHT with lots of laughs. Angelina%26#39;s I had hot chocolate and a mont blanc. Berthillon was closed but I stopped at many a café for a scoop. amusing(to me) a salesman at E. Dehillerin put his name on a card and telephone number and asked me to phone him. Sure made me feel young!

When I went to Montmartre to see the Jean Marais sculpture of the man who walked through walls, I was impressed with the Abysses Metro stop. Never did I think I would like some Graffiti. Railings walls a riot of colors.

My Metro mishaps: I was so absorbed in trying to translate the French poetry written in haiku form and posted at the head of some cars, that I missed my stop. Another time, I sat up a bit to straighten out my coat so it wouldn%26#39;t wrinkle too much after coming in from the rain but forgot the seat springs back up and fell flat on my antipasto!! and the worst incident was when I was on the last stop and didn%26#39;t know it. Alone on an empty train. In a few minutes a driver came by and saw me. Smiling as if it%26#39;s happened before, he told me to stay put, we were going back to the previous stop.

I went to revisit the parcs I like to see how they looked off season. I was surprised to see many people at them on these cold, raw days. The Monceau had an amazing amount of joggers.

On what to wear: Everyone but a few wore boots of all kinds, a large majority wore what I call the dough boy coat or jacket. Those quilted puffy things in colors black browns, some reds and Khakis. Many fur coats lots of fur trimmed jackets and wool coats, many belted. Scarfs, ornate or fur. Jewelry lots of spidery designs of stones and pearls but also twine of silk or leather for simple silver neck pieces and bracelets. The latter in Hermés to inexpensive shops. Clothes were too frilly for me in all the shops and the few simple things were beyond my price level. %26quot;I love Paris in springtime, I love Paris in the Fall. I love Paris when it drizzles...%26quot; sung in B FLAT!

On one day friends drove up from the Loire and that night treated me to dinner at %26quot;Le Petit Prince,%26quot; a place I know that many of you love. K.andW. are always great company and that always enhances the meal like a good bottle of wine.

I stayed 15 wonderful days in the Marais and on my street I loved stopping in a wine bar/bookstore called %26quot;La Belle Hortense.%26quot; nice jazz playing in the background. I%26#39;m sure I left out a lot but didn%26#39;t take many notes as I was on the go especially the second wek when a pharmacist gave me something to ease my pain. I became a dervish and walked miles. I hope you enjoyed this report.

Additional comments/observations from Mimi

Musée le Petit Palais on the Av. Winston Churchhill in the 8th that reopened after five years but the lines were so long to see the paintings and film.

And at the Musée de la Publicitee on rue du Rivoli was a photographic show by Jean Larviere who is a wonderful fashion photographer who did many of the spectaculat publicity campaignes for Vuitton, Nina Ricci and others.

And the one I really missed getting to is the Couvent des Cordeliers in the 6th where they are now showing %26quot;La femme au Portraits%26quot; All photos of one of my favorite actresses, Isabell Huppert as photgraphed by so many greats like Cartier- Bresson , Doisneau, Lartique, Avedon and Newton, and many more.

Guirlande de Julie: There was a special for Valentine%26#39;s Day:

Feuiffeté d%26#39;oeufs brouilles, creme de ciboulette ou terrine de canard aux pistaches. I chose the duck terrine.

filet de daurade a la planche, jus au ginembre, risotto madras ou

salmis de pintadeau, gnocchis de chatiaigne.

I chose the daurade as I prefer fish.

and the choice for dessert was a mille feuille au chocolat over the parfait glacé a la framboise which I ordered with a moscato d%26#39;asti.

I had a bottle of Bourgogne Aligoté with the dinner and a suze as an aperif.

I did go alone. These were all friends I met on line long ago except for Chris. I also forgot to finish my report because of Dinner stop and a friend stopping by. The second night before I left, I finally met the shrimp56 and Judy, the starspinner and their flight was late and they had to check into a rented apartment so by the time they arrived at my hotel, the restos were closed but we did have a great lunch at the Au Bouruignon du Marais or was it the Le Rouge Gorge? A Very attractive and comfortable spot that had a better confit canard than another place. The oysters were very good. We hit a few boutiques before we parted. We especially liked the Aspicbasilic on the rue Tiron that had alot of original articles. I bought a snail that is a pin as well as an objrct%26#39;D%26#39;Art. The other two, I think still suffering from jet lag bought some attractive pottery pieces. Another place I liked was where M.andS. suggested on our walks was the Montorgueil market, the remains of the old Les Halles. We stopped at the famous oldest bakery where legend has it the macaron was born and at the Caldo Freddo for paninis. This appears to be the new trendy neighbourhood.

My last dinner was at the %26quot;Petit Bofinger.%26quot;(across a street from the original Bofinger. I had a wonderful dinner of Oysters and Daurade and there was a poster on the wall I admired and it was given to me. Today J. took it and the Sempé one (that also was given to me when I bought the book) to be framed. My walls do talk!!!

What the Cigale Saw:

The William Klein - a photographic exibit at the Centre Pompidou. Alas, Georges was closed.

Missions Etrangéries de Paris at the rue du Bac. A very interesting display of paintings, photos, and, weapons used to kill the chineese missionaries jésuite in the sixteen hundreds and a follow-up to the 20th siecle.

The Willy Ronis exhibit at the Hotel de Ville was my favorite photography exhibition.

The Mussée Cernuschi in the Parc Monceau was a favorite visit. This ia a hotel particulat that houses the Asiatic collection of Henry Cernushi and he bequeathed to the city of Paris. One of the Buddhas was of special interest to me. It was donated by Rene Vivian whose birth name was Pauline Tarn. She was a poet/writer and lover of Nathalie Barney known as the Amazon and close friend of the French writer colette who described this buddha in Tarn%26#39;s home that had a collection of curiosites.

The Pierre Bonnard oevre at thr Musé d%26#39;Art moderne de la Ville de Paris on the Ave. du President Wilson in the 16th was beautiful. I liked his dining and country scenes and would have preferred less of the same subject, a women in her tub and at her toilette.

A photographer, kind of kinky, named Christer Strmholm at the Jeu de Paume at the Hotel de Sully.

The Rodin: Sculpture in Space- Rodin, Brancusi and Giacometti.

The Maison Européenne de la Photographie in the 4th. This was my least favorite photo and film exhibit. All about young boys along with dummies posed as part of the scenario.

Mussée Carnavalet- I liked the foyer with all the wrought iron signs and other curiosities.

The Musée Nissim de Camondo-while I appreciate the history of this place, it was like eating too much cake!

The Musée Maillol had a wonderful show of the works of Picasso, Bacon, Basquiat, de Chirico .

I end with my two favorites: Sempé at the galerie Martine Gossieaux in the 7th. He still has the magic at age 90. I bought a book of his animal cartoons that were a special edition of 500 that were never shown before.

Back to the Rodin for the opening of the Picasso/Dora Marr exhibition. Marr is an underrated painre/photographer. This was my favorite. There are photos of Picasso painting Guernica that she snapped.

There are paintings of Dora like the weeping woman series. They were together 7 years. Suggested reading with many of the photos shown at this exhibit is a book I have bought several Years ago, %26quot;Picasso%26#39;s Weeping Woman--The life and art of Dora Marr.

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Quite a complete report! Sounds lovely, even in the cold weather.

When did your errant luggage ever arrive?

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It was in my room when I returned late at night.

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So glad to know your luggage didn%26#39;t go on out on its own for too long!

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I have never read such a trip report! what an incredible memory you have, and your ability to remember and rely details is just scary! LOl

Sounds like you have been to Paris many times and definately one should read your report when one is no longer interested in just seeing the ET, Notre Dame and the Louvre( although can one ever really see enough of the Lourve! LOL)

You are obviously a lot braver then I , I have always been too intimatedated to enter Chanel!

I will look forward to reading more of your postings.

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Oh how annoying , %26quot; relay %26quot; no %26quot;rely%26quot; I wish there was an edit button on TA.

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What an awesome report! You%26#39;re a girl after my own heart (Chanel, Hermes, Longchamp)! I think I need to venture into Chanel for a lipstick of my own when I%26#39;m there in a few weeks! Glad to hear your luggage turned up.

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I%26#39;d love to hear more about Gaya if you have the time to post and remember the details...