Paris at a Certain Age

The ruler of rue de Buci

He may be a small Toto-like dog, but he's a big (and familiar) presence at Café Le Conti where  his owner is the patron.

Orson the dog rules over rue de Buci with a benevolent paw. His café is at a busy intersection of five streets: rue St. André des Arts, rue Dauphine, rue Mazarine, rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, and rue de Buci with fast traffic, big buses and motorcycles zipping around. Yet the little pooch navigates it all safely. As a serveur said, "Il part et il revient" (he leaves and he comes back). He trots off down Buci with a busy look on his  face as he patrols his neighborhood.

 

And after he inspects his territory, Orson's back at his café, peacefully surveying the hubbub of cars and pedestrians.

 

 

 

 

Long Live the King!

Trompe-l'œil

Seen in the 15th:

 

 

 

It's true....

Paris is romantic. You really do see more people kissing in the street (like this couple at a bus stop) than in other cities.

What do you do in Paris when it's chilly and raining?

You eat cassoulet!

Cassoulet is a traditional meal from southwestern France made from beans and meat (usually sausage, pork and duck). It's hearty stick-to-your-ribs food and was perfect for the wet day.  So we headed over to restaurant Thoumieux (famous for its cassoulet) in the 7th arrondissement.

Only one slight problem....
When we entered, a well-dressed, young, and horrified maître-d immediately rushed towards us, waving his hands with a classic French 'non-non-et-non' gesture, before we even said anything. However, we went ahead and asked if they were serving cassoulet that day on the menu. He explained that the restaurant was recently under new management and that they no longer served food from the campagne (countryside). And, indeed, the restaurant was all glittery brass and chandeliers and quite more upscale than the reviews led one to believe. Apparently we reeked of the campagne, not nouvelle cuisine. But pas de problème, because we walked to nearby rue Cler and found restaurant Tribeca serving cassoulet and instead of the stink eye, they gave us a wonderful meal.

Clck here for Saveur's recipe.

a BIG petit problème

I have a big problem with the word petit in French. Such a little word to cause me such grief. Somehow along my French language path I developed the bad habit of pronouncing it PETT-ee. And it's grating to French ears. That's IF they understand what I'm trying to say.

And the word is everywhere. It's #242 on the list of the two thousand words most commonly used in the French language. It's in books, like this one about Tom Thumb, known in France as le petit poucet:

 

It's in stores and restaurants:

 

I'm trying to think of it as having only the briefest of first syllables. In fact, you often see it written as such:

 

But I continue to backslide. I've taken to listening to the Serge Gainsbourg song, Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, over and over again because of its refrain of "...des petits trous, des petits trous, des petits trous..." Listen to him pronounce it correctly (the video has an English translation on it). The French lyrics follow below it.

• J’ suis l’ poinçonneur des Lilas
• Le gars qu’on croise et qu’on n’ regarde pas
• Y’ a pas d’ soleil sous la terre
• Drôle de croisière
• Pour tuer l’ennui j’ai dans ma veste
• Les extraits du Reader’s Digest
• Et dans c’ bouquin y’ a écrit
• Que des gars s’ la coulent douce à Miami
• Pendant c’ temps que je fais l’ zouave
• Au fond d’ la cave
• Paraît qu’ y a pas d’ sot métier
• Moi j’ fais des trous dans des billets
• J’ fais des trous, des p’tits trous, encor des p’tits trous
• Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous, toujours des p’tits trous
• Des trous d’ seconde classe
• Des trous d’ première classe
• J’ fais des trous, des p’tits trous, encor des p’tits
• Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous, toujours des p’tits trous
• Des petits trous, des petits trous,
• Des petits trous, des petits trous
• J’ suis l’ poinçonneur des Lilas
• Pour Invalides changer à Opéra
• Je vis au cœur d’ la planète
• J’ai dans la tête
• Un carnaval de confettis
• J’en amène jusque dans mon lit
• Et sous mon ciel de faïence
• Je n’ vois briller que les correspondances
• Parfois je rêve je divague
• Je vois des vagues
• Et dans la brume au bout du quai
• J’ vois un bateau qui vient m’ chercher
• Pour m’ sortir de ce trou où je fais des trous
• Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous, toujours des p’tits trous
• Mais l’ bateau se taille
• Et j’ vois qu’ je déraille
• Et je reste dans mon trou à faire des p’tits trous
• Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous, toujours des p’tits trous
• Des petits trous, des petits trous,
• Des petits trous, des petits trous
• J’ suis l’ poinçonneur des Lilas
• Arts-et-Métiers direct par Levallois
• J’en ai marre j’en ai ma claque
• De ce cloaque
• Je voudrais jouer la fille de l’air
• Laisser ma casquette au vestiaire
• Un jour viendra j’en suis sûr
• Où j’ pourrai m’évader dans la nature
• J’ partirai sur la grand-route
• Et coûte que coûte
• Et si pour moi il n’est plus temps
• Je partirai les pieds devant
• J’ fais des trous, des p’tits trous, encor des p’tits trous
• Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous, toujours des p’tits trous
• Y’ a d’ quoi d’venir dingue
• De quoi prendre un flingue
• S’ faire un trou, un p’tit trou, un dernier p’tit trou
• Un p’tit trou, un p’tit trou, un dernier p’tit trou
• Et on m’ mettra dans un grand trou
• Où j’ n’entendrai plus parler d’ trou plus jamais d’ trou
• De petits trous de petits trous de petits trous

Paris Dog of the Dog

This little guy is on duty at his  lunette (eyeglass) shop.

Toussaint

November first is La Toussaint, All Saints Day, a far weightier holiday in France than is Halloween. It's a day for commemoration of the dead, and this is done primarily with chrysanthemums. If you didn't know about Toussaint, you'd think France was having a huge Fête de Mums, because the marchés and fleuristes are full of them.

 

 

 

Relatives take mums to the graves of their loved ones. Since the apartment where I'm staying has a bird's eye view of cimetière de Montmartre:

I've had a chance to watch the growing accumulation of colorful mums.

 

 

To mark the holiday/holyday, we took a walk through the cemetery, which is a peaceful and beautiful spot.

It's filled with old tombs:

 

 

and new tombs:

 

 

The famous dead:

 

 

 

and the unknown and forgotten dead:

There's a museum's worth of artwork in the cemetery:

 

 

and then there are cats....lots and lots of cemetery cats:

 

 

 

I kind of like being able to live with a cat even after death.

Halloween

Halloween may not be as popular in France as it is in the US, but you'd never know it from the crowd in front of these side-by-side costume stores in Montmartre. The line went around the corner for more than the two hours  we were in the area.

 

Paris Secret

After walking ten miles a day in Paris, this is not what you want to see in the metro:

Instead, search for this sign:

 

Because it means you'll find this:

 

Save your knees for walking aboveground in Paris!

The Batobus Has Gone to the Dogs

The Batobus is a bus-boat in Paris. It's possible to hop on and hop off at any of 8 stops along the Seine.

You purchase a day pass at any stop which allows you to get off and visit say, the Eiffel Tower, and then hop back on and ride down the Seine until another sight strikes your fancy. Or, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride like this passenger:

 

The dog did manage to see a few sights along the way: