Flânant à Paris

This is Monday, 21 February, our huitième day à Paris. The time is going very quickly.

Some of the places we have visited frequently and since the last blog include Cathédrale  Notre-Dame, Square de la Tour St-Jacques,  l’Église St-Eustache, Fontaine des Innocents, we have walked across le Pont des Arts,  le Pont Neuf,  been  à la Sorbonne, been back to Place des Victoires, which is now completely sectioned off. 
  

Le Jardin du Palais- Royal February 2011

We have walked through Le Jardin du Palais Royal and come out of the gardens opposite the north wing of Le Louvre.

Le Jardin du Palais-Royal February 2011

Le Centre Pompidou (referred to as ‘Beauborg’) is a landmark for us as is La Tour St-Jacques. When you think you are getting lost, you then see a bit of white or blue plumbing  of le Centre Pompidou jutting out into the rue.  L’Hôtel  de Ville is again a bit of a landmark for us. We often visit le magasin, BHV –Bazar de l’ Hôtel de Ville.  Another shop we have frequented for ordinary household products is   Leroy-Merlin, 52 rue Rambuteau 1e (arrondissement).  Forum des Halles which is corridors of chain stores, is a minutes walk from where we live. Frequently, we walk along or cross la Seine.

Wednesday, we shopped in the famous rue Montorgueil 2e and returned there on Friday.  It is an old fashioned pedestrian market street. Again, it is only a few minutes from where we live.

Also,the famous Pâtissier  Stohrer which dates back to 1730, is on this rue. So far, we have only looked in the window. No doubt, by the time I write the next blog, we may have sampled something like their baba rhum (rum drenched brioche) or some other mouth watering delicacy. In April 2004, Queen Elizabeth II, on an official visit to Paris, walked into the shop to buy a cake, so I guess I can do it too.

 

Rue Montorgueil,  with all the pâtissiers, the delicatessens, the caterers, the brassieres and the  small restaurants are all that is left of the huge market place, Les Halles demolished in the 1970’s.

On Thursday, we had our second trip on le Mètro to les Galeries Lafayette et au Printemps on blvd Haussmann 9e, although we could easily have walked there, They are large magasins like an expanded David Jones, block after block.

I had my haircut on Friday by Alexandre  and I will go back there next time. Again, this was a good exercise in learning the French vocabulary in regards to having a haircut.

Yesterday, Sunday, was Geoffrey’s first day out for a while,he has been unwell. We went to La Marché aux Enfants Rouges in the 3e. This is the oldest covered market market in Paris, dating back to 1612. Not a lot of stalls open as would be expected at this time of year. In my opinion, the quality of the produce was not up the standard that we have seen elsewhere.

We have been at a bit of a standstill for a few days because Geoffrey has a cold, flu and sore throat. Also in Dubai,he broke his little toe, which has not helped.

This has forced me to go out and around the streets of Paris on my own and loving it and then find my way home. Obviously this has worked.

Today, Monday, my being immersed in the French language was to post a letter and some birthday cards. The end result was that I managed to do  just that. To achieve this, I had to ask someone à une pharmacie, “Où est le bureau de poste s’íl vous plait”? This was after I had planned my trip to the post office meticulously….. however,  the best thing  was that I could understand her directions in French.  The post office was self service and I did not blink an eye, nor throw the items to be posted in the bin. There were plenty of staff to assist and again it was all done in French.

We love Paris. I have replanted the flowerboxes
on the balconies of our apartment.

We wander the streets and there is plenty of time to do everything. The fresh produce is superb.  I generally make a baguette for lunch and Geoffrey cooks the dinner. Paris has fresh produce from all over the world. In Australia we buy only Australian produce, but here we buy everything no matter where it is from.

It was 1^o C in the morning a few days ago, however, we soon warm up in the apartment when we return from wherever. Geoffrey has already made enquiries about renting the place next year.

À bientôt

We Are Here

Apple and Pear have been giving me some encouragement to get this blog started, so here we go and yes the real Bessie is well and happy and romping around Oakleigh South.

We are here in Paris and everything about the apartment is as expected and best of all there is wireless internet available in our apartment.

We reached Robert’s place, thanks to Audrey and Paul and then thankyou to Emirates for the rest of the way.  The Emirates Lounge at Tullamarine was excellent, the snack food on offer was very tasty as was the Moet. The flight to Dubai was uneventful and very comfortable. The food was alright and the wine excellent.  I watched Red, Unstoppable and Mao's Last Dancer.

Burj Khalifa The Tallest Building in the World

                                                                   
Dubai was very interesting .We were there for two nights.
Sandstorm first day, however this did not stop us from doing what we wanted to do. We were in a hotel that did not serve alcohol and this did not stop us from doing what we wanted to do. The Dubai Mall is the most elaborate shopping mall I have ever seen. There is an aquarium right in the middle of it, so you walk in there and there it is with all kinds of fish, sharks, sting rays and everything else, all  in this gigantic aquarium. Everything is done there in an elaborate way. Apparently only 18% of the people who live there are indigenous. The rest are foreigners. We will enjoy returning to Dubai. There are many things to see and do. We liked wandering around  the Spice Souk and the other souks .

Aquarium at the Dubai Mall

                                                                                                                                                       




 In Dubai, It was a bit of a worry about William, Leanne, Liam and Luca and the cyclone. We got very little news from the laptop and finally we got on to Sandra and Carolyn and they said the cyclone had virtually missed Cairns.

Sand at the Dubai Outlet Mall

From Dubai to Paris I watched Morning Glory.

From Dubai to Paris, 7 and a half hours,we travelled “Economy” and were very comfortable. It was an Airbus 380 aeroplane and we had chosen seats in the middle section of the row of  seats. An aisle seat and the one next to and there was nobody next to me in the next to seat.  No one bothered us.

This is our 11^th day here in Paris.

We arrived at the apartment at 3.30pm Friday 4 February and it was a good start that it was actually
physically here and not a vacant block. The apartment  is as is shown on the agency photos and plenty of room. The bedrooms are at opposite ends of the apartment with the living room and kitchen between them and each bedroom has its own bathroom. Geoffrey has his study set up in the second bedroom.

We are on the fifth floor of a 16^th Century building, rue de la Ferronnerie.  Before 1610AD itn was known as de la rue Charronnerie. There are 10 apartments in the building. There is a security pad at the outside door and then a wrought iron security door to get through and then you have to fit in the 2 man lift.

 King Henry IV was assassinated on our rue in 1610AD on his way from le Louvre.

A view from our apartment

 
Already the time is going too quickly. It is everything we expected. The apartment was as expected.  Everyone is friendly. The apartment is in the 1^er Arrondissement. We are at the Châtelet end of rue St-Honoré which runs parallel with the rue de Rivoli and the Seine. The nearest intersection is  Boulevard de Sebastopol and Rue de Rivoli. Our local Metro station is Châtelet les Halles. You come out of the depths of the subway in an elevator and the door to our apartment building is 20 metres away. We are a two minute walk from the Seine. Our local shops are on rue St-Honoré – la boulangerie, la boucherie, la charcuterie and the greengrocer.  They already know us. The lady on the cash register at the greengrocer now wants to help with my French and I help with her English. We have been to a  community market at Place du Marché St-Honoré which is a 20 minute walk from here. I am sure there are community markets closer to us, so I guess, in time, we will find them. We have an Internet Café one minute walk away from our apartment which was good to use to print documents off a USB eg the Contract of Insurance  for the apartment we are leasing. It is mandatory in France that tenants have a Multi-Risk Insurance Policy and then we had to sign it and fax it to the insurance agent. There is also a photocopying shop nearby.

We have most of the living essentials in place. We are going to ask the landlord’s representative, Maeve, for a casserole with a lid and 4 cocotte dishes.

du fromage à Marché Grenelle

We went to the Marché Grenelle on Sunday. It is near the Eiffel Tour. We went there by le Métro and it was the first time that we have  used le Métro. At the Marché Grenelle I couldn’t believe how the French people lined up in an orderly fashion to buy from a particular stall and not in a mass of people like we do at the Victoria Market  although I guess both work.

We had dinner with Bobby on 9 February. He is Kate’s husband and he has now returned to Australia and left us with all the bottles of French wine he had not consumed and to drink when Kaye and Gordon arrive at the end of April. We have one bottle left.

We have been in touch with family in Twechar.  My second cousin, Joe, and his family, Karen and Amy are coming across from Glasgow the end of February for 4 days.

We have already seen so much of Paris.

Yesterday, we went to a bookshop  that sells English language books and then just strolled through The Jardin des Tuileries so we are really seeing other aspects of Paris apart from shopping, also the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay is just there. Everything is just there. 

I must say that on Friday, it meant a lot to me to have Geoffrey take my photo at the Place des Victoires. The monument was sectioned off. Some roadwork alterations are being done, however, I could still get on to the site. A worker there was quite amused. GB took some photos and I was so pleased to be just  there. 





Later at la Banque de France GB took my photo alongside un garde de sécurité.

In regards to our French, I am concentrating on shopping terms and immersing myself in everyday vocabulary and Geoffrey is concentrating on cooking French meals and immersing himself in cooking terms and cuts of meat and of course still buying books. 

Being here is a bit different to learning French in a classroom. I feel that I am starting from the beginning. We are in the real world and speaking to real people. We spend part of the day working out how to say what we want to say and then go for it. When we are out we take note of what we want to say and couldn’t say and then learn how to say it…. and I will work on a translation of this blog.

We have greetings off pat or nearly off pat.

…and our apartment in Melbourne has been rented out.

À bientôt