First days in Paris

We landed in Paris at 8:00 a.m. on September 28.  We told the customs official that it was Alain's birthday and he started to sing "Bonne Anniversaire".  Very cool.

After navigating the maze of Charles de Gaulle airport, we made our way to the RER and then took the Metro to our apartment.  We are staying in one of the apartments we have stayed in before on Rue du Fer a Moulin in the 5th arrondissement (Latin Quarter).  We got to the apartment around 10:30 a.m. and left our luggage in the apartment as the previous travellers had just cleared out and the concierge of the building complex still had to clean.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to wander over to the Marais.

A few blocks from the apartment, we found a new coffee shop called Strada Cafe, with very good expresso.  We stopped for a coffee as we needed to keep alert.

Alain with his noisette at Strada Cafe on Rue Monge

We then wandered over to the Marais, crossing the Seine near Notre Dame.  There is still one bridge laden with locks.

View of Notre Dame

Thousands of locks on the bridge

We walked down Rue Rossier and were shocked to see a number of armed to the teeth army guys. We didn't want to take a direct picture, so Alain took this pic of me with a number of the guys talking in the background.

On Rue Rossier

We then went for a late lunch at Au Petit Fer a Chevel on Rue Vielle du Temple.  We wanted to take advantage of being able to eat outside.  Alain had some onion soup and we shared a lovely salad with charcuterie, endive and warm chèvre. 

Salad compose

Inside of the lovely horseshoe bar-- there are also tables in the back room

Lunch at Au Petit  Fer a Cheval

While there was nothing we needed, the Uniqlo display in the courtyard of it's Marais building was very stylish.

Monday is a quiet day in Paris and we are finding the crowds much smaller than our usual June sojourn. We passed a number of posters for Nuit Blanche, which is happened on October 3.  While we aren't huge fans of the crowds in Toronto, we'll probably check out the scene in Paris.

Alain looking at Nuit Blanche poster

We walked back across the river, with a far off view of La Tour Eiffel.  We bought some groceries and then went back to the apartment for a nap and a late dinner.

View from the Seine

Tuesday September 29 was a beautiful day.  Blue sky and 20C.  I took a few pictures of the apartment.  It is a studio apartment with lots of light and modern fixtures and appliances.  The apartment is in one of five buildings in a beautiful courtyard and it is very quiet and lovely.

View of dining table, living area and kitchen

Bedroom area and living room

Alain in courtyard-our building is on the right side of the photo

We decided to walk to Musee d'Orsay, stopping first for a coffee at Strada Cafe.

There was a lovely building with two women statues across the road.

We meandered along St. Germain, taking pics of Les Deux Magots and Cafe de Flore and a beautiful shop with roses.

Cafe de Flore

Les Deux Magots

Parisiennes love roses

The exhibit we went to see was entitled: Splendeurs et Miseres: Images de la Prostitution 1850-1910.  It was a very large exhibit with many paintings along with some photographs.  Works were by Toulouse Lautrec, Picasso, Van Gogh, Beraud, Forain and many others.  The commentary focused on the modernization of Paris which led to the Grands Boulevards, gas lamps, more independence for women. It was noted that the low wages paid to working women often lead them to become part-time prostitutes.  There was also a range of different types of prostitutes from shop-girls and streetwalkers to wealthy courtesans.  All the painting were done by men.  Toulouse Lautrec was the most sympathetic and he portrayed the difficult life of a prostitute in his pictures.  The show ended with a study from Picasso's Des Demoiselles d'Avignon- a very modern depiction of prostitutes.  It was an interesting show- though it could have been edited somewhat. 

Poster for show-a wonderful Lautrec depicting his friends at a bar in Montmartre 

Pascal Dagnan-Bouvert, La Blanchisseuse (The Laundress) 1880

Jean Beraud, L'Attente 1885

Vincentt Van Gogh, Au Cafe: Agostina Segatori au Tambourin 1887

The Degas picture L'Absinthe, was a posed picture with two friends- the woman was an actress and the man an etcher.  They are shown as sitting side by side, not looking at each other.  Women were not supposed to drink alcohol in public in those days, so the woman in the picture is meant to be a prostitute.  Absinthe was very toxic at that time and was banned early in the 20th century.  

Edgar Degas, L'Absinthe 1875/76

 The women in Toulouse Lautrec's picture are seated in front of their pimp.

Toulouse Lautrec, Bal da Moulin de la Galette 1889

The red dress says it all.

Jean Louis Forain, Au Jardin de Paris 1884

The ballet was a notorious place for wealthy men to pick up young members of the ballet corps, who were paid abysmally.

Edgar Degas, Ballet (L'Etoile) 1876

The final picture in the show was Pablo Picasso's study of a seated nude for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, a very modern approach to the depiction of prostitutes.

Picasso, Nu assis: Edude pour les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1906-07

We were at the gallery until it closed at 6:00 p.m.  We then wandered back towards our apartment.  We stopped at a gallery that was part of Bizarro, a show of five different artists at five galleries in the Saint Germain neighbourhood.

Christine Barbe, Ligne de Flottaison.  Part of the Bizarro show

We stopped at a bar on Rue St. Sulpice for a glass of vin rouge.  It is light to about 7:30 (a half hour later than Toronto).

Alain with his vin rouge

On the way back back to the apartment, we saw posters at the University for a demonstration in solidarity with the Syrian migrants, which is taking place on Sunday.

We had a late dinner of beautiful salmon, vegetables and poppy seed cake along with a nice red wine chosen by the man working in a neighbourhood wine store.  Bon Nuit!