So today was a monday, which always makes the parisians so much more amiable than they already are.
Having for once slept [ again ! ] a little later than usual, the courageous reporter checked the temperature outside on the unreadable thermometer by the kitchen window, and decided that with the little breeze she needed to put on the little white socks she had washed the night before.
Always wear impeccable white socks in paris or they throw you out.
Then she courageously walked down the Rue de Babylone to go have a late bite at the Delicabar, now called Primo Piano at the Bon Marche. Whatever it is called, the food is delicious and light, nearly "sur le pouce" as they say so well.
Socks looked good on the Delicabar's ground:
Then she walked and bused herself to the Pompidou Museum as it was opened on mondays,
while the rest of paris galleries is closed, and having seen only seven shows the day before, she was a little in withdrawal.
But she could admire the view while walking up to the Freud show:
At Pompidou again, you couldn't use a camera, and since it was like a bit crowded with people who all looked like the FBI, our courageous reporter decided not to sneak out her little i phone, and not be arrested, so she could only take a shot at the entrance:
and at the book store at the end :
The show had many paintings. Some of the sixties painting she liked a lot more since they had less of the thick "impasto" which is little piles of paint which makes the painting looks like there are lots of warts on the flesh. If you want to make your painting look ugly, then do it. It's just that people think ugly will make things interesting. Yes sometimes. But not all the time.
And seriously, Freud is such a good painter, he doesn't need stuff to make his paintings look more 'Interesting."
The view was not too bad:
and before going down, she checked out the color of her shoes with the top floor of Pompidou, and it looked pretty good considering her yellow mustard dress:
After all this artistic and physically elevated atmosphere, our reporter needed some grounding, so she walked a few blocks away, noticing the old bistro where she used to go sometimes as a child, then later also, "Chez Benoit" a very classical parisian haunt where food is not as delicate as the Delicabar's, but pretty scrumptious.
then she walked and found herself at another " square ":
where as you see on the photo, there's a lot of things you can't do in a french public garden,
Then again there was "Pelouse au repos" or " Lawn Resting " meaning you have to not walk on it, sit on it, etc... so it can regain some strength,
and as usual, the rude french complying :
and all this under the shadow of the Tower of St Jacques:
and of course, dogs not allowed
Then the reporter checked on the panel explaining the works of restoration : french love to restore or bleach their monuments, and it takes them so long that when one side is finished, usually the other side needs cleaning again, so it is usually impossible to see a building of some interest without a scaffolding.
So this one looked like that:
You probably can't read this but it gives the full name of the Saint for whom this tower was built in 1523, and his name was
" St Jacques de la Boucherie " which you could translate by " St James of the Butcher Shop " or " St James of the Butchery" which, you know, has a cute poetic ring to it.
So the reporter decided to take a bus.
And it was good as the bus ran into more peaceful grounds like the Louvre,
and the Seine,
and then there from the bridge, she could glimpse her very own favorite shop in paris : Sennelier !! The paint and art stuff store, that little green tiny shop there
and then oh Horror ! the bus glided along... another museum she could have visited that day !! The Musee d'Orsay where she had nearly lost both her children when they were a bit younger !!
But if you look closely, alas, you will see that the stupid Museum is closed on mondays.
So she kept gliding courageously with her bus, the number 69, Champs de Mars- Gambetta.
Then she gracefully stepped down at Rue du Bac, and walked down Boulevard St Germain, to the church of St Germain des Pres.
She checked out a few more baby shops windows, just like in the 7th, people in the 6th seem to be very fertile too.
And she got to the square of the St Germain church,
where there is no pelouse au repos and where you will notice, no one stepped or laid down on the grass.
But you still can't bring a dog, meme tenus en laisse.
Then, our reporter, who in fact was looking for a furniture store, stopped to check out the tiny garden of the priest from St Germain,
and just briefly passed the ever lovely Place Furstenberg, where you will notice, there is a frenchman on his cell phone, you find them everywhere.
So after that, she went home, thinking St James de la Boucherie perhaps was not as sanguinary as he sounded to have such a nice tower.
From the vegetarian little city on the Seine,
with love
the frog
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