OK, so I had to get up at the crack of dawn to get my friend Krista to the Airport.. Thanks K! She made it; luckily the strike on RER-B is over so she probably got there really early! I was going to come back home and go to bed but I decided to go to class, no ditching class when you are paying for it yourself! I was tired, kept yawning… Tomorrow is my last day at this school and my classmates and professor have made really nice comments on wishing I would continue, it is a lot of money though. I think I want to get out of the classroom and start talking to people and seeing Paris and the countryside!
I have been looking for a pair of cool French tennis shoes, as mine scream American! I cannot find any, maybe this weekend at a flea market. I did find a pair in a store next to my class that is a chain that looks akin to DSW in the US. They wanted way too much…. So I decided to wait.
Instead I decided to go to this place in Belleville for lunch. Belleville is a very funky area that has been gentrified and is now a new art-sy zone. The gays and the artists fix up and raise the rents on yet another corner of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belleville,_Paris
This has always been a real funky place; home to Edith Piaf and Charles Trénet among others. Here is a Trénet song you may or may not know, he also made famous, “somewhere beyond the sea”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E
Any way, as I walked off the subway and on to my lunch spot I found this plaque on a door.
Any way, as I walked off the subway and on to my lunch spot I found this plaque on a door.
Apparently this is where Edith Piaf was born; there are many rumors one is that she was born on the steps inside. I did open the door and was about to snap a photo when I got chased out by the care taker…Opps!Ok, so right now one of the most “in-tables” is at a tiny place in this area called Le Baratin. To read more about it see here: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080814005006&newsLang=en
I had a nice lunch, it is very simple food but nicely done. For 15 euros you get two courses and either dessert of cheese (for lunch – dinner is more). I had a glass of DOMAINE DE BELLIVIERE (Eric Nicolas): 2004 Coteaux du Loir blanc “L’Effraie”, Lentil soup, Lamb collar stew on rice with lemongrass, a mocha mouse with hot peppers for dessert and a coffee for about 21 euros total with tip. This is another really old Paris experience. They even had a cat that was in and out of the place while I ate, he finally took a nap on the Vespa parked in front.
I decided to walk over to the top of the park and then descend into Paris. Got some great shots of the city, Belleville and it’s neighbor, Menilmontant are on a hill that over look the city from the east.
Here is another shot of a Wallace Fountain; you see these all over Paris. This one was at the top of the park at a great intersection with some fun cafes. Wallace was a Brit who was left a lot of money from his dad. He loved Paris, so he installed these drinking fountains many years ago to supply water to the poor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_fountain
Here is a photo of the canopy stairway leading down the slope of the park.
From the top I saw a church so I decided to walk over and check it out, Notre Dame de Saint Croix (our lady of the sacred cross). It was really pretty. Next to the church there was a bunch of screaming kids getting out of school. I notice this plaque. Many Jews were deported from Paris and killed by the Nazis; this sign is a tribute to the many that were from this school. The holocaust is never a time for joke, however, these kids were really loud………
On the way home I stopped and got my jacket back from the tailor/dry cleaner. When you see me in a wide wale corduroy brown jacket ask me where I got it, of course I will be excited to respond… from this little flea market in Paris…. I love it!
All in all a very nice day.
Wednesday 24-Sept 2008 Blog #7
Today after class I went to pick up my friend Krista from the Airport. She has been in Italy the last two weeks and we she is just flying through for 18 hours. The RER is on strike (Suburban train line – not the subway) so I was a bit nervous about getting there on time, luckily the ticket booths were on strike too so I did not have to pay. I met her as she came through customs and back on the train without paying. I love it! The night was fast paced. We dropped her bags off at my house and then went to meet my friend, Stephan at a café called Bar de Marché. This is my favorite place to meet people and people watch in Paris. We had a few drinks walked Stephan to the river to say good night, saw some dude peeing (it is Paris), ran into a friend of mine from school on the bridge and then headed out to dinner at 10pm at Fish. Fish is owned by an American who has been here 20 years and really made a name for himself. I have been eating here for about 10-12 years and never really had a bad meal. You should try it. We got home late and drunk. We slept and then we had to be up at 6:50am to get her to the airport on time…… Going to be a rough day at school today!
http://www.sortiraparis.com/paris-en-images/bar-du-marche-27.html
http://www.pattylurie.com/html/fish.html
From the top I saw a church so I decided to walk over and check it out, Notre Dame de Saint Croix (our lady of the sacred cross). It was really pretty. Next to the church there was a bunch of screaming kids getting out of school. I notice this plaque. Many Jews were deported from Paris and killed by the Nazis; this sign is a tribute to the many that were from this school. The holocaust is never a time for joke, however, these kids were really loud………
On the way home I stopped and got my jacket back from the tailor/dry cleaner. When you see me in a wide wale corduroy brown jacket ask me where I got it, of course I will be excited to respond… from this little flea market in Paris…. I love it!
All in all a very nice day.
Wednesday 24-Sept 2008 Blog #7
Today after class I went to pick up my friend Krista from the Airport. She has been in Italy the last two weeks and we she is just flying through for 18 hours. The RER is on strike (Suburban train line – not the subway) so I was a bit nervous about getting there on time, luckily the ticket booths were on strike too so I did not have to pay. I met her as she came through customs and back on the train without paying. I love it! The night was fast paced. We dropped her bags off at my house and then went to meet my friend, Stephan at a café called Bar de Marché. This is my favorite place to meet people and people watch in Paris. We had a few drinks walked Stephan to the river to say good night, saw some dude peeing (it is Paris), ran into a friend of mine from school on the bridge and then headed out to dinner at 10pm at Fish. Fish is owned by an American who has been here 20 years and really made a name for himself. I have been eating here for about 10-12 years and never really had a bad meal. You should try it. We got home late and drunk. We slept and then we had to be up at 6:50am to get her to the airport on time…… Going to be a rough day at school today!
http://www.sortiraparis.com/paris-en-images/bar-du-marche-27.html
http://www.pattylurie.com/html/fish.html
