Linda's Journal
June 2001

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June2, 2001

It's Saturday, and Maurice's son, Benjamin, is here to help install a satellite system so we can get sports at any time, in any language. The system also has a way of looking at movies and seeing them in French or English, whcih won't help my French as I know which one I will pick.

While they were busy installing the satellite, I decided to go back to the Louvre. There is so much there, that it will be a long time before I have explored it all, but I do want to. As usual, it was packed with people. I read that 5 million people have been through this museum since it opened. I started in the Sully wing where all of the Greek and Roman scuptures are. The Louvre was originally a castle and some of the rooms where the art is, are works of art themselves.

The ceiling is a work of art

A corner of a ceiling in one room

I thought this was a beautiful sculpture

Venus de Milo

Winged Victory

Both the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory were surrounded with hords of people. I can see why they are so famous, but I found many others just as striking. The Venus de Milo is loved because of the contrast between the female body against the folds of her gown. They found the open hand of the winged victory in the 1950's and it is thought that she was holding one of her arms up in a vicory position to celebrate a naval victory in Rhodes. How lucky we are to get to see things from all over the world in one place. I did walk through the Egyptian wing, too. They hadn't learned to do three dimentional sculpture or painting and it just doesn't have the magic, for me, that I see in Greek and Roman art.

THE ADVENTURES OF ELLIOT

When I got back, Maurice had a story of Elliot for me. Elliot is my neurotic cat. I got him at the animal shelter in Austin and he must have had a very traumatic kittenhood because, although I have had him for over 3 years, when I stand up he jumps up and runs from the room like a gun went off.Nothing I have done has helped him calm down. He loves me and gets in my lap, takes naps with me, but any sudden movements, and he is gone.

I know the flight over to France must have been especially traumatic with him trapped in his little carrying case. But he made it and he meowed when he heard our voices when we picked him up. He adjusted fairly well to his new home. It isn't as large as our home was in Austin and doesn't have as many hiding places. His favorite place to hide is behind the curtains in our TV room.

Elliot doesn't like new people. It takes him a while to get used to them. When Benjamin came a couple of weeks ago, he got Elliot out from behind his curtain to pet him. Elliot didn't like it, and later, got his revenge in Ben's suitcase. I was busy washing clothes for a while there.

While I was gone, and Maurice and Ben were busy bring wires down from the attic, they left the door to our apartment open and Elliot got out. He made his way down three flights of stairs and was found by a lady crouching in a corner. I'm just glad he wasn't able to get out the door and into traffic. A lady across the street took him in until Maurice realized that Elliot had gotten out, and rescued him.

Elliot, back at home.

June 4th, 2001

Today we decided to go to a movie in an area of Paris called Bercy. I've seen Bercy Park several times as we drove by on a bus, and it looked lovely. We got off at the subway stop called Cour Saint Emilion and walked right onto a little street lined with shops and cafes. It looked a little like a French village, but much newer and uniform. Maurice said that this area used to be the main train depot for the delivery of wine and you can still see the tracks running along the street and the buildings where wine was once stored. This is a 3 day week-end(the 3rd in 4 weeks) so the area was packed with people. We had a nice lunch under an umbrella on the pavement and watched the world go by.

There was an hour to pass before the movie started so we went right into Bercy Park through an arch off the shopping area. It's a wonderful park with water, a maze, and roses. Roses are in bloom right now in Paris and there were rose bushes everywhere.

There was also a little vineyard growing and what looked like a vegetable garden. Here is a picture of a wisteria area. I wish I could have seen, and smelled, it while it was in bloom.

The weather was perfect today, in the 70's and it was wonderful to be out in the sun in this great park.

The movie was all right. It was in English with French subtitles. When you go to a French movie theatre, never expect to see the movie in 10 minutes. Expect 20 to 30 minutes of not only previews, but commercials. I haven't found one air-conditioned yet, either. In the winter, they seem terribly over-heated to me and I strip off my coat, sweater, and sometimes, my shoes to cool down.

June 6, 2001

I took a walking tour today with an English tour guide, and about 30 other people, through an area in Paris known as Marais. It was once a swamp which is what Marais means in French. There is a large Jewish area here. They once lived in an area right in front of Notre Dame until they were thrown out of the city and ended up in Marais. There are 2 synogogues, and a monument to those that died in concentration camps during WWII. There is also a large gay population here now, as well. Many of the buildings were torn down before it was decided that the area was worth saving. Two buildings, in the process of being renovated, were discovered to have 16th century facades that had been covered with plaster to prevent being burned down, a common occurence back then.

We walked through 2 churches, too. One had been taken over by a religious order of men who only rent so as not to have material things, work part-time to be part of the community, and who believe their work for God is to be in the middle of life in the city, not cloistered away. The church was called St Gervais-St Protais after two Christian brothers who were martyred. The church had an ancient choir loft with carvings on the seats of different occupations. This is a picture of a fisherman.

We also went into what is called The Hotel Sully(hotels in France are not what we think of in America). This is a beautiful building with a great entry courtyard and then a wonderful garden behind.

Just a simple little backyard

It was a great tour, and I plan to do others. I just wanted to end with a picture of a butcher shop not seen very often, although with the Mad Cow Disease scare, their business has gone up. Yes, it sells horse meat. Note the horse heads and the word for horse in French, Cheval.

I don't have any plans to try it.

June 8th

Maurice and I had a trip out into the suburbs to make me a legal immigrant. They can even set up French lessons for me, although they don't begin for beginners until September. Since we had to make a metro change at Montparnasse, I decided to make a trip to the cemetery here. It's not as famous as Pere LaChaise, and much smaller, but it is a nice one. Many famous people are buried here with some being completely unknown to me, but I did know Satre, Beckett, Ray Man, and a few others.

Like a little city

I have no idea whose grave this was, but it is different

Very artistic, didn't know who this was, either

I liked this little boy with the angel behind him

Most of the cemeteries of the famous were very understated, such as the one for Satre. I spent over an hour just walking around here. There is a famous tower nearby but I am saving that to see with Maurice, and also for a sunny day. It has been raining for two days and it is chilly enough to need a light coat. A warming trend is on the way, if I understand the weather person correctly. There is not a weather station here, but there is a station that has news all of the time with weather every 15 minutes. I guess I need to learn all of the meteorologic phrases in French. In America they say that the weather station is MTV for old people. I do miss it. I have to go by the graphics, little suns or little suns with clouds over them.

June 10

Maurice and I went on a 2 hour bike ride/jog this morning. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and cool temperatures. After lunch we started clearing out the guest room and kitchen for the renovation tomorrow. It's going to be such a mess for a while.

My French is not improving, that I can tell. That is, I don't believe that I have gotten any more fluent. I think that I am starting to hear words that I know in conversations and on TV. I'm still plugging along with my tapes, so maybe it will all come together. I had my hair cut the other day with a stylist who didn't speak much English. I had to be very careful to say my hair, les cheveux,and not the horses, les chevaux, because they both sound very similar, at least to me. Wouldn't want him to cut my horses. Also, something I find interesting, is that hair is plural-les-and I've always noticed that Maurice calls my hair them, not it. Just another little thing to learn.

It's interesting when I am at the kineologist/masseur having my foot worked on because he speaks very little English. I lie there with my French/English dictionary in my lap so that we can occasionally communicate. He will say, "Is your foot..."then he stops to look up a word in his dictionary, "supple?" I think he wants to know if my foot feels more limber. Then he tells me he just talked with a doctor visiting from Sante Fe. I try to tell him how beautiful and differnet Sante Fe is, "tres jolie". I know he, Eric, the massuer, paints, so I try to tell him about Georgia O'Keefe and start to try and tell him about the painting of the cow skull she did, but decide not to go there, looking up the word to skull and all. I tell him my foot is sore, doleur, from walking so much, a pied, together with my fingers making the motion of walking, piecing together the few French words I know on a string of English. Somehow, it all gets done. I have found out a few facts about him. He is married, has a 2 month old daughter who sleeps all night,he paints(very well, there is a painting on his wall that he did), does photography, and does not own a computer. He's been to California, Arizona, and Las Vegas, as have most French people who have traveled to the US. He's a nice young man.

June 11

As they were starting the renovations on our apartment, I didn't want to be in the apartment, so I went with Maurice to La Defense. This is a huge business complex with skyscrapers, fountains, resturaunts, a shopping center, and a huge arch that is square and modern. It is occupied with business and there is a viewing area at the top. It sits exactly opposite the Arch de Triumph at the end of the Champs Ellysese which can be seen in the distance.

This is about 80 stories high.

Then I took the metro over to the Louvre to walk though the Italian paintings. I always told myself that I would only go look at the Mona Lisa early in the morning to beat the crowds, but I decided that since I was near the wing the painting is in that I would go see it. The painting is a long long walk through corridors lined with other great art. I even saw a painting that I had a copy of years ago.

So many of the paintings are religious in nature.

This is also by DiVinci.

As expected, Mona was hard to see due to the hundreds of tourists trying to see her. The painting is smaller than I expected after seeing the huge painting I passed on the way here. I think I read that this painting turned out to be one of diVinci's favorites and he took it with him when he finished instead of giving it to Mona's husband. So, there she is with that mysterious half smile and the mysterious landscape in the background. I thought how attractive she would be with a good hair cut and makeup.

Mona Lisa (bad angle)

June 12

I wanted to see an art exhibit at the Grand Palais today and left without checking the times it was open. Many museums are closed on Tuesday, as was this one. Since I was so near the Arch de Triumph, I decided to visit there. It is huge and overwhelming when you are standing underneath it. There is so much history here. I still remember the films of the Germans marching underneath it when they entered Paris, and the Parisians weeping. There is a tomb of the unknown soldier in the middle. I think Napolean was the one who had this built.

View from across the street

View from the top with La Defense in the distance

June 13

Today I had some errands to run involving tile. When I got to the shop it wasn't open so I decided to get back on the bus and head towards St Germain Pres Blvd. At one stop I saw the Cluny Museum, one of the places I have been wanting to see, so I hopped off the bus and went in.

It was a Roman Bath at one time and part of this is still preserved. Then it was made into a castle by the Abbot of Cluny. There is a nice courtyard when you enter.

A little well in the courtyard

There was also a sun dial in the courtyard. Inside, there were tapestries, statues, a room full of very old stained glass from various churches, and Roman statutes and baths. During the revolution the heads of 13 statues were chopped off at the Notre Dame in the assumption that they were statues of royalty. The heads were recently found and are at the Cluny.

The headless saints

What the Cluny is best known for is tapestries of the Maiden and the Unicorn. I always thought there was just one, but there are 5, all with red backgrounds and the maiden and unicorn doing different things. They are hanging in a dark room and no flash was allowed so I couldn't get a picture, so I took a rather bad photo of a postcard.

The Maiden is holding up a mirror for the Unicorn

I really enjoyed this museum. It's very different, almost like going through a chateau.

June 19th

Happy Birthday to my son, Brian.

I recently joined the American Library in Paris. It is not free, as in the States. It cost me about $75 to join for a year, but I think this will make me more vigilant in my reading so I don't feel like I am wasting money. Plus, I won't be buying as my books. I recently passed a book store that sells English books and the latest one by Sue Grafton was there. I couldn't stop myself and went right in and bought it.

Anyway, I was at the American Library returning books and checking out some new ones. As I was walking down the street towards it, I could see the Eiffel Tower on my right as I crossed streets. Everyone has to go see it once. I've been there twice. My first time was with my ex husband and what I remember most about that time was the big argument we had. He was too cheap to pay for tickets up the elevator, so we trudged up thousands of steps to the top. Then he decided we should take the elevator down. There were signs everywhere forbidding this. I didn't want to get caught. So we had a big argument when we got down. The guy running the elevator didn't ask for our tickets, darn it. So it is nice to go back and make better memories.

I was at the Eiffel Tower for almost three hours. Most of this time was spent in lines. A line to go up to the first level, then to the second level, then back the same way. Sort of like Disneyland. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine, and it had rained yesterday, so the view was wonderful.

View from underneath

View from the top of the Arch de Triumph

June 20

As you might imagine, not every day is an exciting day filled with sight seeing or just walking around absorbing all that Paris has to offer. For instance, this morning I spent my time washing clothes in a laundramat. It is different from those in America, at least the ones I've been to, in that you don't put money into a slot directly on the washing machine, but you enter the number of the machine into a unit on the wall and it tells you how much money to put in, and the machine then starts. There are 3 sizes-7,10, or 15 kilograms. I pushed the button for colored clothes, thinking this would give me cold water, but when I felt it, it was boiling hot. Maurice says this is how they wash clothes in France. The cycle lasts about 45 minutes. I discovered that I could get a shorter cycle and cold water with the nylon cycle. The dryer only ran for 8 minutes for every 4F. It had to be left on high heat to get anything dry, and I had to use 3 cycles to get my load dry. I saw other people load their washed clothes back into their carriers so take home and hang up to dry. I may do that, if we ever reach a stage in our renovation when there isn't dust everyday.

I did not take any pictures of the laundromat. However, yesterday as I was walking to the American Library I passed a beautiful building designed in the Art Deco fashion that was so huge in Paris in the early 1900's, so I thought I'd post that. Paris is full of beautiful facades. I have found many right in my neighborhood. I'm doing a photographic study of Paris facades, and also the Metro stops which I will post here and there. I was also thinking of taking pictures of dogs and children.

I want this for my front door. Also has view of Eiffel Tower.

Two bulls holding up a balcony

June 21

I haven't done much this week in my profession of full-time tourist, as I've had to do some domestic things. One interesting thing was a trip to a dentist. I was having pain in a tooth and was afraid it was going to lead to a root canal but, luckily for me, I only have to use a floride-type toothpaste which seals the tooth, and the nerve won't be exposed. The dentist is a nice guy with the unfrench name of Harry Elseklassy who speaks pretty good English just from what he learned in school. I was surprised when, while I was there, he started cleaning my teeth. They don't have those cute little dental hygienists I was used to in the States. He said he does have an assistant who helps him with things such as tooth extractions. He was amazed at the cost of root canals in the states. I forgot to ask him what I would have been charged, had the need arisen. Hopefully, I will remain in the dark.

Then I decided, I needed a new pair of shoes. In an effort to help my foot, I've had to wear an insert in my shoe, and the only ones I had in which the insert would go are my jogging shoes. I just didn't look tres chic. I am seeing more and more tennis and jogging shoes on women here, especially teen-agers, but the rage right now is shoes that resemble bowling shoes. I have developed a need for these, so went to the Printemps near me. Sales people here will usually say Bonjour when you walk in a shop but leave you alone unless you approach them.Also, you will be completely ignored until it is your turn. In a department store, you have to seek out the salespeople. I found a shoe I liked, found a sales lady, held up the shoe I liked and said the size in French with a question in my voice. They had my size and I now am wearing tres chic bowling shoes. Pretty comfy, too.

Cooking is interesting for me. Right now all of my cookbooks and recipes are somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, so I am using a little cookbook that came with the microwave here in the apartment. I have learned that 1 noix de beurre is a portion of butter the size of a nut (noix), 1c. a soupe of something is a soup spoon of something, and farine is flour. I've made some pretty good things with the microwave, which is all we can use at the moment.

I suppose the time will come when I will have to commit myself to learning all of the measurements of cooking and measurement, such as centimeters and the like. This is something I hope I will absorb through osmosis. I sure do wish they had covered this in school so it was second nature to me now

Here are two pictures of a building right off of Nation near our apartment:

I wonder if this little girl once lived here.

Carving of a cat and a mouse.

June 22

Yesterday was the first day of Summer. In the 80's the minister of culture decided that on that day music would be celebrated and called it Fete de la Musique. I imagine it started out with a symphony orchestra playing Bach or Hayden, but it has now spread all over Paris. We got on the subway and got off at Hotel DeVille where a huge stage had been set up and a rock, perhaps techno, band played. There were thousands of people listening and dancing. We kept walking to Ilse St Louis and there were bands on just about every corner, mostly rock. We walked past the Sorbonne area and the crowds were getting thicker as the streets are much narrorer here. As we came to a small interesection there were thousands of people waiting, I assume, for a concert to begin. People, mostly young people, were pouring into the area. Then a group of young black boys came down the street leaping on parked cars as they made their way toward us. It was scary, an out of control feeling. If it had been America, I'm sure they would have had weapons. Further down the block we saw policmen getting out their riot gear and then going towards the area. I expected to see horrible news this morning about it, but nothing was on TV about it. Maurice said the paper said that over 80 people had been arrested.

We went on to the Tulleries Garden area and found a jazz band playing at a resturaunt/bar, so sat and listening while we had a drink. By then it was midnight, so we headed home. The subway train we got on was absolutely packed. I took a picture but it doesn't really show just how crowded it was.

When we arrived at home we passed a room on the way up the stairs that was having their own little Fete de la Musique, playing loud music and singing along. I was afraid they would keep us awake, but I didn't hear them once we got to bed.

June 25

We were in Belgium this week-end which was wonderful and which I have written about on the Rest of Europe section. I spent this morning going first to the grocery store and then to the laundramat trying to beat the heat. It is going to be 10 degrees hotter than normal this week, and it certainly felt like that to me today. I am making a mental note, heat or not, not to do laundry in the morning as the sun just poured into the window adding to the heat from the dryers. I feel like I've been in a sauna. The last time I was there a young man was also doing his wash. A lady came in and asked me a question in French. I don't know why, I must look approachable or something, but people are always asking me questions or directions. Anyway, I told the lady I didn't speak French and pointed toward the man to indicate he could answer in French. She was able to ask me her question in English-"Did they do pressing here?" No. Something I knew the answer to. When she left, the man said to me, "I don't know why you indicating I could help her, I'm an American, too." It was funny. It turns out Fidel is from Miami, speaks both English and Spanish and is struggling with French. He has been here 4 months to learn the language and live in Paris. He has a job in a resturaunt, the kitchen, where is boss is from Sri Lanka. Fidel doesn't have any papers to make him legal. He said noone cared if he had papers as he was from America. I thought it was interesting that he has a French girlfriend who speaks no English. I'm sure he will be learning French much more quickly than I will.

June 27

Happy Birthday, Jason!

After talking to some fun and interesting ladies in Brugge about tapestries, especially the ones at the Cluny, I decided to return today for another look. I really like this museum. It's not like most, but feels a lot like a chateau and there are interesting carvings, a lot out of wood, which I hadn't seen before, tapestries, religious items,including stained glass, but the best of all are those tapestries of The Maiden and the Unicorn.They are in this dark round room with low lighting which gives a great atmosphere to look and absorb.I read a little about them this time. There are 5 each of which depict one of the 5 senses. The maiden is dressed very richly in each with fancy necklaces and hair do's. The lion and unicorn are always on each side. In some there is a little monkey illustrating a sense, such as when he is smelling a flower , in some there is a little dog. The backgrounds are all basically the same in that neat red color and flowers and little animals. You can see at the bottom of each tapestry that an attempt has been made a re-weaving where damage had occured. An inferior thread was used, and the color has faded faster than the original. There is also a 6th tapestry that people debate the meaning of. The maiden is under a sign the says, My Sole Desire. She is either taking a necklace out of a box to put on to be ready for love, or putting it away to renounce the material things of the world. We will never know.

I then walked into an area that must be like Paris before all of the wide boulevards were made with narrow streets and charming facades something like Marais. It's nice just to walk around and look and absorb that flavor of Paris.

Just one of many I saw today

June 30

Yesterday I spent the day in the Monmarte area. It's on a hill in Paris(there used to be 7 hills but Hausmann leveled 5 of them to make the long boulevards of Paris that you see today)topped with the famous Sacre Cour.

It's not very old, and not very interesting in side. The top is packed with people, especially in the little square where artists are selling their paintings, cutting silhouettes, and drawing portraits of the tourists. I got stopped by one who told me my eyes were fabulous, and did I have a boyfriend. Anything to make a buck.

I did a walking tour of the area. We started at the bottom of the hill and made our way up the hill going through interesting streets and seeing the various place where famous artists lived such as Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet. The tour guide also showed us where some famous paintings had been done. It's interesting to look at a painting and then see the actual setting. There are also a few windmills up on the way, one was actually a working one and is now someone's residence. One is just a replica. Then there is the Moulin Rouge, also just for looks.

Replica above a resturaunt

I also did a quick tour of the Monmarte Cemetary. It's another peaceful, beautiful place with a few famous people I knew, and many that I didn't. I tried to find Degas's tombstone, but never could find it, even with a little map that I had. I need to go back and explore some more. Here are two tombstones I found interesting:

When Maurice got home from work we went out for dinner at 10pm. I can't believe I am eating so late now. I never ate later than 6pm back in the days when I had to get up at 5am. We then drove over to watch the twinkling lights that come on every hour on the hour starting at 10pm. It's really lovely to watch. I read, though, that the twinkling will end on Bastille Day, July 14th. They were just put up to celebrate the new century.

The blue light are the twinkling ones