Rainy day in Paris and the Ballet

And on our eighth day in Paris, it rained, and rained some more.  Alain managed a 7.75 km run in the morning before the rain started.  It was our intention to go to the Louvre for an exhibit.  We got there about 1:30 p.m. and the line-up in the rain was estimated to take 1 1/2 hours!   We took a pass.  Unfortunately, none of the other museums that we want to visit are open on Mondays.

The long line was behind the pyramid-- rainy day at the Louvre

We decided to wander over to Colette, the concept store not to far away.  It was very busy as people were getting out of the rain.

Windows at Colette

Lots of Snoopys- celebrating his 65th birthday in Paris

Alain trying on his new Paris Mon Amour sweatshirt

Huge CD and magazine section

Would have been a hoot to check this out-- but we were at Colette earlier in the afternoon

It started to pour heavily so we took refuge at a Pain a Quotidien restaurant for a few hours.  We had coffee and Alain had a huge Pain au Chocolat.  They had free Wifi which was great.

                                                                     Alain with a Pain au Chocolat

We finally took our umbrellas and walked over to Galleries Lafayette and Printemps to seek some reprieve from the rain.  Printemps is celebrating its 150th anniversary.  Too overwhelming.  We really are not department store folk.

Outside of Printemps

                                                                  Flowers in ceiling at entrance to store

Finally, after another coffee and some snacks at the Galleries Lafayette food shops, it was time to go to the Ballet at the Palais Garnier (the Opera building).

Poster for Ballet

Inside of Palais Garnier

 Chagall painted ceiling- one of my favourites in Paris

Detail from Ceiling

When we got our tickets last week, the only available ones were obstructed view tickets on the 4th level.  However, we paid only 12 Euros, and as we were in the first row of the stalls, we could lean over and see about 95% of the stage.  The three dances we saw were "Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward", a new creation by Benjamin Millepied, who has been the Director of Dance of the Ballet de L'Opera since 2014 (folks might remember him from the movie The Black Swan, which he also choreographed); "Opus 19/The Dreamer" by Jerome Robbins (1979), a piece that was new to the repertoire; and finally George Balanchine's "Theme et Variations" (1947/1960), which has been in the repertoire since 1993.  Live music was provided by the wonderful Orchestre de L'Opera National de Paris.

The new Millepied piece was fantastic--- there were three swinging lights over the stage that created a number of shadows and the piece was all danced by the corps de ballet, who were excellent.   The Jerome Robbins number was a bit of a let down, but the Balanchine piece was lovely and intricate.  I could only take pictures at the end of each ballet.

                                                    Bows at the end of the Millepied piece

                                        Beautiful silver mesh costumes for the women and grey ombre for the men

                                                                                  More dancers

                                                                     Lead dancers from Robbins Ballet

                                                                            Intermission with full house

                                                                        Dancers in the Balanchine ballet

                                                                  The two leads in the Balanchine ballet

                                The two leads with the conductor of the Orchestre de L'Opera National de Paris

The ballet didn't end until almost 11:00 p.m.  Luckily, the Opera metro stop is on the same Metro line as our apartment, so we were back at the apartment by 11:20, for a very late dinner.

Sunday in Paris

Sunday October 4 was a mix of sun and cloud and a bit cooler, but still clear (around 17C).  Alain did some food shopping in the morning and then we went to meet Toronto friends for lunch in the Marais.  As we crossed the bridge to the right bank we saw some old carts with vegetables and some old busses and autos--- yep, it was a film shoot.

Old cart with flowers and vegetables

Old bus

Old cars for film shoot

Music on the bridge (not part of film shoot)

We met Jennifer and Richard from Gaspard in Toronto at La Chaise au Plafond for lunch.  They are in Paris for fashion week.  Alain and I shared a large salad.  The Marais is always buzzy on Sundays as it is one of very few areas in Paris open for business.

Jennifer, Richard and Alain

After Jennifer and Richard left for their business appointments,  Alain and I went around the corner for an expresso and a warm pastel de nata (Portuguese egg tart) at Comme A Lisbonne, which we discovered in 2014.  It is a tiny space with a small counter.  Freshly baked egg tarts are brought up from the kitchen every 10 minutes.

At Comme A Lisbonne

We then wandered over to the Picasso Museum which finally opened in October 2014 after many years of renovation and controversy.  It turned out that admission was free for the first Sunday of the month (a number of Paris Museums are free First Sundays).  Two of the floors of the Museum were closed as they are being prepared for a large temporary exhibition.  The permanent collection is arranged chronologically and thematically, with many masterpieces.

Fast-moving line outside Picasso Museum

The first room contained some self-portraits of Picasso (1881-1973).  One was done in 1906 and one in 1972, just before his death.

Autoportrait 1906

Le Jeune Peintre 1972

The next rooms traced his blue and rose periods and his early paintings.  La Mort de Casagemas, painted in 1901, was a tribute to a friend who had shot himself at an early age because of an unrequited love affair.

La Mort de Casagemas 1901

There was a room dedicated to Picasso's cubist works.

Violin 1912

Nu Debout au Bras Leve 1908

Another room was dedicated to Picasso's pictures of his first wife, Olga Khokhlova (a dancer with the Ballets Russes).  The pictures were very beautiful at the beginning of their relationship, but became more grotesque as their marriage deteriorated.

Portrait d'Olga dans un fauteuil 1918

The photo below provided the inspiration for the Portrait.

1918

Buste de Femme 1931

There were a few paintings that Picasso did during the war.  The colours were darker and the pictures more somber.

Femme Assise - 5 Mar 1945

A room was dedicated to Picasso's many takes on Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe.

Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet. I  1962

Just prior to his death, there was a major exhibit in Avignon organized by friends of Picasso.  Lots of colour.

Jeune Fille Assise 1970

The restoration of the museum was well done and there were light fixtures in each room that were reminiscent of Picasso's work.

Light fixture in restored room

There was also a room with a lot of Picasso's pictures of bathers.  A number featured women reading on the beach.

Grande baigneuse au livre 1937

After visiting the museum we wandered over to Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris and one of the finest in the city.  It was built by Henri IV from 1605-1612.  During the summer it is filled with people lying on the grass.  The leaves are beginning to turn, but there were still many people walking through the square.

Place des Vosges

We then decided it was time to sit and have a glass of wine.  We went to La Belle Hortense on Rue Vieille du Temple, one of our favourite wine bars.  We sat in the quiet back room.

Photo as we were leaving La Belle Hortense

We walked back to the apartment for a chicken dinner and listened to some of the Blue Jays' last game of the season.  So sad for Buerhle not to get his 200 innings.  It is hard to believe we have been in Paris for almost a week.  We both so enjoy exploring the city- going back to old haunts and embarking on new adventures. 

Fragonard Exhibit and Nuit Blanche

Saturday October 3 started a bit cloudy, but by noon the sun was out and it got warm (about 21C high).  Alain wore his new scarf, but as it warmed up he had to take it off.

Alain with new Epice scarf (Danish designer copied graffiti from a Barcelona wall-- wonderful colours)

We walked over to the Musee du Luxembourg at about noon.  En route we passed a photo exhibit on the gates of the Jardin du Luxembourg.  This year it was entitled:  Les Routes du Miel, (The Honey Routes) and featured pictures of bees and honey-making from around the world including Paris, Brazil, China, and the United States.

 

Poster for The Honey Route

Scene from China

The Musee Luxembourg is across from the Senate building.  There was a poster with celebrated French senators over the years including Victor Hugo,  Georges Clemenceau and others who had fought in the Resistance.  We just have Duffy, et al.

Celebrated Senators

We went to see the exhibit at the Musee du Luxembourg:  Fragonard Amoureux: Galant et Libertine (Fragonard in Love: Suitor and Libertine).  Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) was born in Grasse and is one of the most emblematic painters in the decades preceding the French Revolution.  The exhibit focused on the theme of love and romance, tracing his works chronologically and thematically from visions of gallant love, through libertinism and eroticism to a more "romantic" version of love.  Early pictures depicted idyllic pastoral scenes with shepherds and paintings based on Greek and Roman myths.  A number of his paintings were purchased by Louis XV.  

Fragonard later moved to illustrate a number of libertine books published in the 18th century.  He became close friends with Pierre-Antoine Baudouin (1723-1769), whose works were also featured in the exhibit.  They shared a studio at one point. These works were almost pornographic in nature.  Between 1760-1770, "Frago", as Fragonard was called, became the leader of libertine painting.  After 1780, conjugal love was again stressed and Frago moved on to more romantic paintings.  

Photos were only allowed of some pictures.  It was a very extensive show.  The exhibit fit well with our visit to the Fragonard Musee du Perfum and also the exhibit we had seen on the portrayal of prostitutes at the Musee D'Orsay.

                                                          Poster for Exhibit-- Le Verrou 1777 (The Bolt)

                                                                               La Poursuite 1771

After the exhibit we went to Le Labo to get some perfume.  We had really liked Sandal 33, which we had tried in a clothing store a few days earlier.  A woman at the shop makes up a tiny vial (all I can afford), which you don't use for a few days.  Le Labo is located on a tiny street off Rue de Seine in the 6th. 

                                                                          Perfumes at Le Labo

                                                                          Making my perfume

                                                                               With my purchase

We then shared a sandwich (chicken on a baguette) and stopped for an icecream/sorbetto at Grom, our favourite Italian gelato/sorbetto place.

                                                   Alain with his pistache et cafe ice cream

We then wandered over to Le Bon Marche, the oldest department store in Paris (founded in1852), which also has a huge food store- La Grande Epicerie de Paris.  The store was buzzing on a beautiful Saturday.  They were doing a special promotion- Brooklyn Rive Gauche (from Sept 3-October 17), selling lots of provisions, clothes, and books from Brooklyn, New York.  We recognized a number of the brands-- all very expensive translated into euros.

                                                    Brooklyn- Rive Gauche display

We were getting tired so we walked down Rue Babylone to Coutume Cafe for a coffee.  Our server was from Montreal.  We stayed there until about 7:00 p.m. and then headed over to the Monnaie de Paris (old Paris Mint) where there was a Nuit Blanche Event.  We walked by a wonderful poster advertising a concert at the Olympia by Daniel Bechet, Sidney Bechet's son commemorating a mythical concert from 60 years ago.  I am a big fan of Sidney Bechet--- too bad the concert isn't until later this month.

        

A number of exhibits for Nuit Blanche this year were linked to the upcoming COP 21 Conference of the Parties on Climate Change taking place in Paris later this year.  There is a booklet of all the exhibits and events and a map.  This year there was a focus on northeast Paris, but another area was around City Hall and environs.  We had thought that we would be able to see the current exhibit at la Monnaie de Paris entitled Take Me (I'm Yours), featuring a number of contemporary artists.  Instead there was one large room with piles of used clothes, a few installations.  Everyone got a brown bag with Christian Boltanski's name on it--and the opportunity to take a number of posters or old clothes away.

  There was also a hanging tree with tags that one could write messages on.

Alain under message tree

We then walked over to L'Hotel de Ville (City Hall) which housed a major installation.  The installation called Ice Monument was by Zhenchen Liu (b. Shanghai 1976). The exhibit consisted of 270 blocks of ice in different colours representing the countries participating in the upcoming COP 21.  The melting ice showed the fragility of our climate.  Lots of people were congregating at the exhibit.  

Ice Monument at L'Hotel de Ville

We checked out a few more exhibits and then decided it was time for dinner.  We had passed a few interesting restaurants on Rue du Cardinal Lemoine in the 5th near the Seine.  We were checking one out, as a French couple were leaving.  We asked how the restaurant was, and they told us it was one of their favourites, that they eat there a few times a month and recommend it to out of town guests.  That was a great review, so we went in and were able to get a table as it was about 9:30 p.m.  The prix fixe was for three courses and it was excellent.  The chef at Bistro des Gastronomes is Cedric Lefevre and the food was all based on fresh produce- contemporary takes on traditional food.  

I started with wonderful razor clams and Alain had a dish with celery/halibut.

                                                                               Razor Clams- one of my favourites

                                                                Celery/Halibut

For the main course, Alain had cod in a cream sauce and I had a wonderful pork shoulder and vegetable dish.  Both were very good.

                                                                                     Alain's fish

                              My pork shoulder with mushrooms/carrots/celery- lovely thyme flavour

Alain had an amazing chocolate and cherry desert and I had a lemon tart (in a glass).

                                                                           Alain with his chocolate desert

                                                                 Lemon tart in a glass (meringue topping)

                                                                Outside of Bistro des Gastronomes

We had only a 20 minute walk to our apartment.  It was still quite warm out-- another beautiful day in Paris.