"Sittin' in a park in Paris France; readin' the news and it sure looks bad. They wouldn't give peace a chance - that was just a dream some of us had. Still a lotta lands to see..."
"...and I'd go walkin' down the Champs Elysee, goin' cafe to cabaret, thinkin' how I'd feel when I find that very good friend of mine!"
"In France they kiss on Main Street - Amour, Mama! Not cheap display."
Joni Mitchell songs run through my head on board the flight from Krakow to Paris. I didn't get a window seat, so unfortunately I didn't see much of the city, flying in. I arrived Charles d'Gaulle("Vive Quebec Libre!!") airport late morning of Feb 1st. I eventually got myself sorted out and on the correct train, thanks to the good directions from my niece Anne Catherine. The almost one hour train trip to the underground station where I switched trains, was a bit of a surprise. It goes through some pretty under priveleged areas, complete with gypsy shanty towns, and piles and piles of garbage. Not the Paris of the glossy brochures and travel magazines, for sure!
Futher following the directions to get to the suite where my niece and her family live, I thought I had found the correct door, and started to enter the combination codes when I heard behind me "wrong door, wrong door!" I turned around to see Anne Catherine and her beaming smile! I was trying to get into #14, and should have been at #14bis, dontcha know! Good thing she just happened to be going to pick up her boys at school when I arrived, otherwise I would have been completely mystified! I never did find out what is "bis".
Anne Catherine is the daughter of my brother Robin, who has another daughter in Paris, Lise, and a daughter in Moscow as well. Each of them have husbands and children who converge en masse every summer in Ottawa to enjoy a playful Canadian summer and each others great, good company. A.C. and her husband Eric have 3 sons, Roman, Thomas and Paul, all in primary school and all chess players. English is a challenge for the boys, with Thomas being the most willing to use it. My french is completely inadequate other than a handful of basic phrases, with which I barely get by. A.C. and Eric speak both languages (and others) fluently so it wasn't a lost cause for me! It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with them, and share a bit of the Parisian life. Once the children were sorted out in the morning and off to school, Anne Catherine had some time to show me around Paris, which she was starting to get pretty good at, having only moved there some 6 months earlier, from Toulousse (which was just too small a town for them).
Exploring a new town or city is always an adventure, but when you get to go with a local, it is so much better, than alone. They always have a different perspective and favourite special places that you might otherwise never discover. Anne Catherine showed me around and in doing so, we explored a few areas a bit new to her too. Together we went up to Montmartre, and I could almost imagine how it was for all those famous artists who made this area there home and workplace, back in the day, the likes of Degas, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, van Gogh. Now it is pretty crowded with tourists and there were many artists selling their works. Pretty commercial mostly, but still with tons of charm and ambience. We found a lovely cafe to stop at for lunch, and soak up a bit more of the atmosphere.
One day when the boys were not at school, it was decided that A.C. and Thomas and Paul and I would head to the Picasso museum. This seemed like a fine idea to all of us except young Paul, who, having a Star Wars mission that he needed to get on with, thought it would be much better to stay home. He was adamant and put up a pretty good fight, but in the end parents decisions prevailed and so he very begrudgingly was dragged out the door. Within a couple of blocks he was on-board with us. After a ride on the metro, we walked for quite a way until we finally found the museum, only to be closed until 2012!!! Anne Catherine suggested that after such a long walk, we could wait till it opens, but instead we went to a cafe for a bit of a treat. So much for Picasso!
Lise and I met up at the Musee d'Orsay in the afternoon, for a casual walk through part of the splendid galleries in this renovated former train station. Small in comparison to the Louvre, it is some 17,000 square metres with 80 galleries. More that 63 million people have visited in its 24 years. When we reached our saturation point we started the walk back to Lise's apartment. She has lived in Paris for 20 years or so, I think, so she knows a lot of the nooks and crannies. On the way we stop to pick up some things for supper at a few of her favourite shops - cheese, wine, baguette (natch!) and blood sausage at her local Caribbean specialty shop.
After a long hike through to the east side of Paris we arrive at Lise's home, where Daphne and Jacques are waiting. It is a real treat to see them and to get to spend some time with them, since I really didn't know them at all. While we get busy with preparing supper with the help of the children, Lise was busy on the telephone talking to her employer who wanted her to leave early next morning for Luxembourg to do a film editing rescue job. She sets to work getting all her ducks lined up, and awaits delivery of the script for the film. Meanwhile, we sit down to a really nice meal with wine, risotto, salad, sausage, and cheese and good conversation in French and English between the four of us. Before I left, Jacques very kindly gave Pokey and Gumby a much needed bath, and Daphne donated a tiny suitcase to them, along with a itty bitty "portrait" of Pokey, so now they have somewhere to put their treasures!
I managed to scare up a ticket to the opera, starring my current favourite soprano, French superstar Natalie Dessay. She was performing in La Sonnambula, which I had seen her in, by way of the Met Opera HD transmissions. It was so wonderful, and I thought - here is possibly my one and only chance to see her live. So, even though the opening night reviews were only fair due to her not feeling well, I decided to swallow hard and cough up an unbelievable number of Euros for the ticket. It was the only on available, and it wasn't available when I checked on-line the day before, so I swooped!
I have to say that I was expecting a lot more from her, and that she was obviously not on top of her game. However, you pay your money and you take your chance. Even so, I was glad to see her live, and interested to see her response to the applause at the end of the show. She was clearly not satisfied with her performance, and in fact, through my binoculars I detected that she was quite tearful. In addition, I was not terribly impressed with the opera hall, which was the new one, not the grand old Garnier. I toured the Garnier the next day, and would love to have been able to attend a performance there. It is a gorgeous building - check out some photos here:
I had a wonderful time in Paris, despite the high cost of everything. I find Paris to be at once a handsome city and a charming city, but not beautiful in the way that Prague is. Prague still tops my list for beauty. Winter visits to these places strips down impressions to pretty much just the buildings, without the colour and greenery of their many parks and "natural" areas, though.
After lots more exploring and walking with Eric and the boys as well as on my own, it was getting time to leave for Tangier,Morocco. I still had not a clue where I would stay the day before my departure, when I decided to try one more time for a "Couch Surfing" option. I was truly amazed when I received a positive response at such short notice, and very excited to start this new phase of my travels with a local Moroccan, who was close to my age, female and "happy to host me". I was also looking forward to leaving behind the grey, damp and cold of Europe!
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