SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Saturday and it's laundry day. Just as well since it had been raining all day. Wow, just looked out the window (3:45 pm) and the sun is peeking out from behind a cloud. We are going out about 4:30 to go to another choral concert. I'll tell you more about it this evening when we return. We are also dining out tonight in a new restaurant, not far from the concert venue. More about that also later. Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight. We did it here in Paris last weekend. Yesterday passing by the gare de Lyon, we saw something that we had not noticed before. It looks like a whale and it is sitting right in front of the station. What do you think? Have no idea what it stands for. I'll have to check it out the next time we pass.

Well, the concert was a good one. An English group that did theFauré Requiem and a series of spirituals arranged by John Rutter. It was held in the chapelle of the Pitié Salpétrière Hospital near the Gare d'Austerlitz. It was an easy walk for us. About 1/2 hour. It is one of the largest hospitals in Europe. Princess Diana died there after the accident.

After the concert, we walked again to the restaurant that we had chosen for dinner. Again it was about 1/2 hour's walk from the concert. We got our exercise today. The restaurant was Au Petit Marguery, a lovely old-style Parisian bistrot. The service was excellent and the meal was also excellent. Alexandria had her favorite snails and Erwin had his favorite foie gras as starters. They were both very good as was the rest of the meal.

We took the bus back and were surprised as to how far we had walked to get to the concert and later to the restaurant.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008

Boo! Happy Hallowe'en!

This afternoon, we went to the St. Germain area to get some chocolate at our favorite shop, Debauve et Gallais. We got a variety of things including some powdered chocolate for hot chocolate and some chocolate-covered orange slices.

We then went to les Deux Magots for hot chocolate and cappuccino. We had a front row seat to see everything. Even the people in the café were interesting. One man applauded a woman who had parked in a difficult spot on the street. She waved back.

We headed back to the apartment stopping on the way for some groceries at the MonoPrix. Dinner was to be "in" tonight. Alexandria is making a very good sauce for some "homemade" Italian mushroom ravioli from Italy. This to be followed by the usual cheese course and a rhubarb tart from "our" boulangerie. Maybe a movie tonight. Watch our for the ghosts!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008

Before we went away, we got tickets for the BNP Parabas Masters' Tennis Tournament at the Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy which is rather close to our apartment. We got there about 11 in the morning, picked up our tickets, and found our seats. We had very good seats and could see everything. There were about 11,000 people there to see the third round of the tournament. We saw four matches and the players included, David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, and Novak Djokovic were some of the players we saw in matches all afternoon. We didn't have tickets for the evening session, but if we had we would have seen Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and James Blake. Not a bad group of players for the third round matches all day and evening. We stopped for an apératif at Café Européen. It was raining so we welcomed the stopover on the way home. Supper was some Chinese take-out and some leftovers. Can't do restaurants every night.

MONDAY - WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 27-29, 2008

Monday morning, we took the train from the gare de Lyon to Dijon. Not to buy mustard but to visit old friends, Daniele and Alain Mayot. who are currently living in a small village named Buzeron. It is located about an hour's drive south of Dijon and just outside of the town named Chagny. (For you winies, the village is well known for its Aligote white wine), We rented a car at the SNCF station in Dijon. Erwin has been there many times and the trip down was very easy. The directions and places came back to him easily. Several years ago, the Mayot's house in Buzeron burned down due to the carelessness of the people living behind them. They shared a wall. It took several years to straighten out the insurance problems and rebuild. The house is a lovely new house with all the modern conveniences.

The Mayot's principal residence is near the city of Chalon, but since they are both retired and since the new housed is so nice, they spend most of their time in Buzeron.

We spent the rest of Monday exploring the new house and talking about families, friends, etc. Their son, Fred, had stayed with us for a week or so back in early 2007.He now lives in San Francisco and the Mayots had just returned from a three week visit. Daniele prepared a lovely dinner for us. After more chatting, we all headed off to bed.

Tuesday, we went into Chagny to go to the post office and get bread for the day. After a light lunch we went for a ride in the country and stopped at a delightful small town named Nolay, about 20 minutes from Buzeron. The main attraction is the Market Hall (Les Halles) built in the 14th century.The roof is made of limestone stones and each square meter weighs 800 kg (that's more than 1700 pounds). Today, it is used for the twice-weekly town market.

Both The Market Hall and the local church sit upon a quaint square with several interesting buildings. For a small town, the church was rather nice to visit. A chapel is all that is left of the original church and it dates from the 14th century. The current church was built around the chapel. Notice the bottom photo of an antiques shop that was created from an old grocery store. The owners maintained the old facade which makes for an interesting site. You can find a number of these in Paris. Some photos of them later.

After stopping for hot chocolate in Nolay, we returned to Buzeron via some interesting country roads. At dinner, Daniele had made a blanquette de veau, which is one of my favorites. It is a type of veal stew made with a white sauce. We talked at dinner about some of the exchanges that Alain and I had done with students when we were still working. We went to bed not too late since we had to be up and ready to leave for the trip back to Paris.

On Wednesday, we drove back to Dijon, returned the car, and had a light lunch at the station. Alexandria stayed in the waiting room while Erwin took a short walk in the center of Dijon. He found a large "porte" in the downtown area and visited the cathedral.

Back in Paris, we unpacked, checked the mail, and went up to la Bastille fort "moules frites" at Léon de Bruxelles, a chain restaurant that specializes in mussels. They were good but can't compare to those we get at "Les Vapeurs" in Trouville. After dinner, some hot chocolate and tea at Café Français and back to the apartment ready for bed after a long day.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26. 2008

Not much doing today. Did lots of laundry. In the afternoon, we walked up to the Bastille and sat at Café Français for an hour or so. Had dinner at Chez Paul, a restaurant that we had already done a month or so ago. Ate too much but it was good.

Tomorrow, Monday, we leave for Bouzeron, a village about an hour south of Dijon and just outside of the town of Chagny to visit friends, Daniele and Alain Mayot. You may remember we had lunch with them several months ago. Yes, months!

I am not sure of the Internet capability there so it may be several days before we continue our blog. But never fear, Erwin and Alexandria are here!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2008

Today we went off to see an apartment that was for sale as a Fractional Ownership. This means that 13 owners have rights to specific four week periods during the year. They can use their four weeks themselves or trade them with other owners or allow other family members to use them. The apartment is managed by a management company, pays the bills, etc. The 13 owners make all decisions of a major nature and are aided by a three person Board (owners).

The apartment is very near the Jardin du Luxemburg on the rue Cujas directly behind the Sorbonne. The developers had bought the apartment, more or less on spec, and had completely renovated and furnished it. They did a very good job with a completely new kitchen and bathroom and they uncovered the beautiful stone walls that had been covered. We talked with the owner and are considering making an offer for one four week period. Here are several photos of the interior of the apartment; living room, dining area, and bedroom respectively.

We would like to consider four weeks at the beginning of Autumn.

After the meeting, we walked around the neighborhood and had lunch at a local barsserie/café that overlooks the Luxemburg. We went back to the apartrment and did a few chores before going to the Swedish church for a concert. This is the third one we have seen there this year. They are always good. There is no admission charge but there is a donation basket at the end. There was a flute ensemble of about eight players. They played a number of works, Have you ever seen or heard a bass flute. We have now. There were also two choirs that sang two works by Francesco Durante. We had never heard of the composer before. But especially like his Magnificat.

Back to the apartment for dinner. It was rather late since the concert was rather long and the church is at the other side of Paris.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2008

We both had trouble sleeping last night so we didn't get up too early. Even though you order decaf, you never can be sure that that's what you get. After a late breakfast, we went out and stopped off at the gare de Lyon to pick up our train tickets for a short trip we were taking early next week. What a mob! The school holidays for this period have started and many are traveling. We decided to put off getting the tickets until tomorrow.

We took the bus to the Sorbonne area where Erwin had been the day before. We wanted to look at this neighborhood since there was an apartment there that we were interested in. Only problem was that the street from the blvd St. Michel was on an incline and a bit tiring to walk. We discovered that there were alternate routes to the building that avoided most of the inclines. It is good to get to know an area before committing oneself to a rental.

On the way back home, we did a little shopping. Dinner was at home.