Paris!

We arrived in Paris after an uneventful flight on Air France, which is about as much as we hoped for, not being big fans. Unusually for Air France, the expected great cuisine was absent, with a watery beef bourgonion, carrot salad and brownie (?) -- and you know it was remarkable since I remember it even now, two weeks later. Also, the movie did not work in our quadrant. But we had books, and light naps, and arrived on time.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at our wonderful apartment, lent to us by Peter, a friend of Anne's. Anne's apartment is upstairs, so we were familiar with the building. Upon arriving we walked to the nearby shops to get bread and cheese and fruit and other necessities, which was enough to keep us napping until the next day.

Our apartment -- Anne on the top, we just below.

The wonderful nymphs on the staircase on the way up from our door to Anne's. Her apartment was the atelier of the original owner, a businessman who was also a painter.


The stairs from the metro to the apartment.


Since we were to be in town for only a few days before leaving for the country, we made a list of sights to see that would not be around upon our return in September. First on my list was Paris Plage, when a section of the Seine is given over to the beach scene. So even though you are in Paris, you can walk down the beach, including sand (and sand castles), lawns (with chaise longues), a library (with books to read and trees to read them under), and of course, food stands and restaurants. There is even a pool featuring a hilarious water aerobics class.



We then Made our way to the Petit Palais, which featured a show of Yves St. Laurent. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the show was dazzling. From his first shows at the beginning of his career until retirement, the clothing and accessories were spectacular. I was particularly impressed by the beaded jackets reproducing Van Gogh paintings of the irises and sunflowers. No photos were allowed, naturally, but imagine a square inch of beading with so many beads they could not be counted, and many kinds of beads in different colors, sizes and tectures, reproducing the heavy painterly style of Van Gogh -- magnificent. The truly unsung heroes (likely heroines) were the artisans who actually made the designs. But it was all lovely.






And all exhausting. For some reason jet lag hit us like a truck, and we spent most of our four days in Paris sleeping. part of it was jet lag, I'm sure, and part of it was simply collapsing after doing so many things our last few weeks in California. But in any event, there were lots of naps -- 3, 4 and 5 hour naps.

Our next day out and about was a trip to the Louvre to see a couple of shows that would be gone by September. On the way we walked through the Fete du Tuilleries, a carnival set up along the side of the park leading to the Louvre.















A lady playing an interesting stringed instrument in the metro.

So a brief stay in Paris, highlighted by time with Anne and many naps at Peter's apartment, the Paris Plage, Yves St. Laurent and the Louvre. Then off to the country....