Paris
Friday, September 15
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A small bronze model of the Statue of Liberty
(“The Liberty Enlightens the World”) was given to the Luxembourg Museum by
the sculptor, August Bartholdi, and was placed in the western side of the
Luxembourg Gardens in 1906. Another,
larger version, stands at the end of the Allée des Cygnes in the middle of
the
Next to the Statue of Liberty is a very small
oak tree, planted to commemorate the victims of September 11, 2001. We were at the Statue on the 11th,
and we saw these flowers placed at the base of the little tree by the French
government.
As we left the building for our errands the
other day, Tom had to pause and try this discarded, not so petite chaise, on
the sidewalk. When we returned an hour
later, it was gone.
This very old street sign has been tastefully
left uncovered at the corner of our street and what is now called rue
Servandoni. In olden times, it was
called “rue des Fossoyeurs,” or “street of the gravediggers,” because it led
to the cemetary that was associated with the seminary that formerly existed
on what is now Place Saint Sulpice and the land directly to the south of
that. Below, the lovely four-star Hotel Luxembourg
Parc, where Faulkner once stayed when it was called Grand Hotel des
Principautés-Unis and had its main entrance on the rue Servandoni instead of
the rue de Vaugirard as it is now.
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I have mentioned a couple times in the past that the Procope claims to be
the oldest restaurant in This restaurant, A La Petite Chaise (36, rue A La Petite Chaise looks like a small, well-kept secret. But it is no secret at all. It has a nice web site at www.alapetitechaise.fr, and when we
dined there yesterday evening, there were even tables of tourists seated near
us. The maitre d’/server spoke to us
in French the entire time, although he speaks good English (as I heard him do
at several other tables). At the end
of the evening, I told him in French that his English was very good. He seemed to be very pleased with the
compliment, and he asked me if I had learned my French as a child! I said no, not at all, and that I don’t
speak French very well. But I sure
appreciated the compliment. We each managed to
have all three courses because the serving sizes were just right. We each had the nice foie gras, which is
made by the house, and I had the duck breast while Tom had the filet
mignon. The au gratin potatoes that
were served with the main courses were heavenly. Tom had a flourless chocolate cake for
dessert, and I had the crème caramel, the dessert of the day. I highly recommend this place when you are
ready for a full-blown, all three courses, French dinner. This is the first time all summer that we
each have had all three courses! You
can even make your reservation on the restaurant’s web site. One day last weekend, we went to an antiques show/fleamarket (“brocante”)
at the Bercy Omnisports facility, where Madonna recently performed to
sold-out houses several nights in a row.
The brocante is more our speed.
As soon as we entered the battered auditorium, I knew we would be having
lunch there. A concession called
Jambon l’Os (the Hambone) was set up to serve the most wonderful looking
artisanal ham (not red, pink, or orange, but the real thing, without
nitrates), with sauteed/carmelized onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and
herbs. The proprietor noticed our
interest and let us sample the ham when we entered. It was terrific. First we examined about a third of the 100 booths at the brocante. It really was very much like the antiques
shows we used to attend regularly at the Columbus Fairgrounds in Most of the artwork was overpriced, but Tom did buy a rather nice
painting of an autumn scene for only 30 euros. We had our lunch, on paper plates at a cafeteria table, squeezed in with
others sitting in plastic chairs, and it was great. We only ordered one plate of ham and
vegetables, and that was plenty. The
wine was an exceptionally good deal, so I had a little 25 centiliter carafe
of that. As we left the concession to find our seats, the proprietor scolded the
older lady who had served us, telling her she spoke too fast. I felt so sorry for her. She looked unhappy to be scolded, and I thought
she did not deserve it at all. She was
very clear and easy for us to understand.
That certainly is not true for everyone who has spoken to us! Tom finished before I did, and I needed to rest my foot (plantar fasciitis is such a
bother!), so I stayed at the table, listening to the conversation at the next
table. They must not have noticed that Tom and I had been speaking English to
each other over lunch. When we speak
English, most people here cannot tell if we are British or Australian or
American. They many times assume we
are British because we know some French.
French is commonly studied in British schools, and it is so easy for
the British to travel to The topic at the next table was all the foreigners who are buying up
houses and small farms in The Germans were the winners. The
British were the losers. Our friend
François must be right – the French really don’t like the British at
all. It is amazing that they prefer
the Germans, who have invaded I went back to examining the booths, and soon came upon the one and only
booth selling oriental rugs. A
somewhat dark-skinned young man first began to talk to me about the rugs, and
I wish it had stayed that way. But no,
madame, the older-middle-aged French woman with bottle-blonde hair, had to
take over. She was telling me what I
already know, that all the rugs were hand woven and that they were all from She had no idea that she was talking to someone who knew something about
these rugs. But I think the young man
did realize it. |
