Back to baking...

 

Ah, the pleasure of being back in my large kitchen with an oven that gets hot without blowing the fuses and the therapeutic kneading of bread.  While some of the family are on their way up from London, we're squeezing in last minute tasks.  Making bread, making apple cake, collecting the turkey and wondering how and earth we're going to fit it in the fridge.  Usually it's cold enough to hide it in the shed for a couple of days but we're having a mild spell so it will have to be refrigerated.  This means piling everything up so that nothing can be found and the whole lot falls out when the fridge door opens.  It's happened! 

 

Recuperating...

...after a packed weekend.

On Saturday, despite the rain, we took the train to Chartres.  Buying tickets wasn't the trauma it was before when we missed our train fumbling with the machine.  We arrived in Chartres about lunch time and started our walk from the station towards the cathedral spotting likely lunch stops.  It was a grey day and the fine drizzle was icy at times.  Peter, ever the optimist, kept glancing up at the sky for signs of it clearing up, but it persisted all day.

We wandered about the busy shopping area near the cathedral and finally opted to go back to the first place we had seen where we had lunch and dried off a bit.

Nativity scene in shop window

Chartres

Then to the cathedral where we bought the audio guides and gave the stained glass and the sculptures our serious attention.  The cathedral is in the process of restoration which involved much scaffolding and shrouding so our appreciation of the nave was limited.  The parts they have restored - returned to their original colouration - were sparkling.    We have been to Chartres twice before but this was the first time we have studied the windows in such detail.

Cathedral

On Sunday morning we set off on foot to try and find a flea market we had seen from the bus.  It wasn't where we thought it should be and we decided it was probably not a regular thing.  Our circular route brought us back to the flat and Peter set off to buy cheese to go with our soup for lunch.   After lunch we set off again, this time by bus and then on foot to the French Lebanese church for a concert of Bach by a choir and orchestra.  The church was huge and packed.  They played one of the Brandenburg concertos and the other three pieces were masses and a cantata.  We quite enjoyed it, though it was best to concentrate on the sound and ignore the words which in some cases were rather gloomy!   After the concert we headed north along the Boulevard St. Michel and crossed the Seine heading for Les Halles and the cinema.  The cinema turned out to be in the labyrinthine building that was Les Halles and is now a shopping mall in the process  of restoration!   We saw 'Mr Turner' and decided we'd both give it 6 out of 10.  Mainly on the grounds of the photography, the interiors and the acting.  In some other ways it left us a little flat.  There isn't the depth of characterisation you usually find in Mike Leigh films.    We came out of the cinema by a completely different route to the one we had entered by and lighted on a brasserie for a late supper.   Walking back towards the Seine to catch our bus, Peter spotted it coming to a stop at the lights right along side us.  We tapped on the door and the obliging driver let us on board.   And home, tired!

New Frank Gehry building...

Louis Vuitton Foundation

Peter bounced off the flight from Argentina on Sunday (that's what an upgrade and 8 hours sleep will do for you) and although the weather was dreary and damp we decided to go to the Jardin d'Acclimatation to see the new Louis Vuitton Foundation building by Frank Gehry.    Well, from the outside it looks like a ship in full sail, an impression reinforced by the water flowing down and under it.  We were intrigued to see what the space inside was like, impossible to deduce from the shapes glimpsed through the sails.  However, that will have to wait for another time as the queue was very long, well past the half hour marker, and just as we contemplated a wait it started to drizzle.  We decided on a brisk walk instead, round the lake and back to the metro.    On balance we weren't very impressed by the building.  It was extraordinary but rather exaggerated.

Another week goes by

Another week has passed quickly!

On Monday I had lunch with Khem at a Thai restaurant where she knew people.  The menus here in Chinese and Thai restaurants have been modelled on the French way of eating.  Entrée, plat and dessert.   The French don't share food so you get one large plate of whatever you order which is rather different from the Asian/UK approach of lots of small dishes shared.  I had a very spicey duck dish. There was a lot of duck and a good bed of bok choi and although I enjoyed it, I could have done with a bit more variety.   I'm choosing the restaurant for next Monday.

Wednesday with the 'craft' group at the club was the usual mix of work and conversation.  The lunch served on Wednesday was particularly good.  There's usually a main course, salad and cheese and then dessert.  We had veal casserole, a good selection of cheese and then a delicious apple and blackberry crumble - and a couple of glasses of wine.   Afterwards Anna and Patsy took me to their favourite café for a coffee.   I keep discovering new watering holes.  They realised that I didn't know about a particular chocolate shop so they have arranged to meet me at a bus stop next Tuesday for some window shopping and lunch.

On Thursday the BCWA had their annual 'outside' Christmas lunch - a get together that's not in the club.  We went to one of their regular venues, Chez Françoise which is next door to the Assembly Nationale and full of Deputies.  We had excellent food and wine and I discovered that the son of the Membership Secretary is the series producer of Holby City!  There was quite a bit of serious gossip on our table about a rather elegant looking woman of a certain age on the other table.  The ladies on my table were delighted to tell me about her barbed wire tatoo and her habit of 'inducting' the teenage sons of friends!   I didn't believe a word of it of course!  The femme fatale is the lady near the window in the white sweater.   I couldn't in all conscience stand up to get a better view!

Lunch at Chez Françoise

Afterwards a small group of us went back to Anna's (that's her on the right) and had champagne.  I managed to lose my gloves on the way home...not being quite myself.

On Friday I played a couple of games of Scrabble at the club.  This is usually a quiet pastime but on Friday we clashed with a 'rehearsal' for the carol concert - which I won't be going to!  I had great difficulty not laughing.  The lady 'singing' is well into her eighties, bless her.  My Scrabble friends were stoical.

Le Weekend

The electrician arrived to inspect the faulty oven - three hours earlier than booked.  No matter, we were at home although the landlady couldn't get here and he had to put up with my explanations in French and my vocabulary on the topic of electrical circuits is limited.   Apparently a trip switch is a déclencheur which I'm sure will come in handy at some juncture.   The electrician diagnosed a faulty heating element and proceeded to fit the new one he had thoughtfully brought with him.  I paid him in cash and he emailed me my receipt.  He seemed concerned that I was paying and not the landlady, but I assured him I would be reimbursed.

Piano tuner at work

We planned to eat before the concert in the evening so wandered about in the general area of the concert hall in the College des Bernadins and decided on a quick meal in a brasserie.  When we arrived in the concert hall, about 20 minutes before the start, we were surprised to see the piano being tuned.
The performance began with the pianist making a short speech of which I caught very little.  It was followed by another softly spoken announcement by a woman who was clearly in charge in some capacity.  We were there to hear 4 Beethoven piano sonatas, one of a series of concerts taking place over the last couple of weeks covering all Beethoven's sonatas.   The pianist played the first sonata, clearly not the one appearing first on the programme and then he played a second and then he left the auditorium and the woman announced a 'petit pause'.  He came back and played a third sonata and then left again.  Everyone sat waiting.  Eventually the woman went to the front and explained that was the end of the concert and everyone filed out. Quite clearly no-one had understood the announcements and we were all equally bemused.    However...his playing was beautiful.

On Sunday we took the 83 bus (I now know the route by heart) and got off in the region of Rue de Monceau.  We were headed for the Musée de Nissim Camondo and on the way stopped at a restaurant advertising Brunch.  For our €20 we had orange juice, scrambled eggs and bacon, followed by whatever you wanted from the buffet, followed by cheese, fruit or cake with bread and croissant on the side and coffee or tea.  Quite a little feast.   At the museum we took the audio guide and completely lost ourselves in the history of the place and its family for a good two hours.  The house is a bit of a spoof, built in the late 1800s in the 18th Century style to house the collection of 18th Century art and furniture of its owner.  It's an interesting house and there were some wonderful pieces of furniture. The son, who was due to inherit the family fortune died in the first world war and as the daughter was more interested in horses than art, the father gave the house and its contents to the people of France - the daughter, her husband and their two young children were shipped off to Auschwitz in the second world war and the family is no more.   There are many wall plaques around Paris, commemorating  French Jews who were deported during the German occupation.  It's a depressing reminder.

Front door

On the wall near our flat

Dining room

Study

Waiting for Romeo!

'Modern' kitchen

The kitchen

More gleaming utensils

This week in Paris

It's almost a week since my last post.  What's been happening?  Well, we celebrated Simon's birthday last Saturday with champagne and dinner and on the Sunday they left their bags at the Gare du Nord and we explored Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.  It's a beautiful park and well used.

We watched a child hurtling down a steep grass slope lying down on a skate board. He went straight under a park bench at the bottom nearly decapitating himself.  Gallic shrugs from the parents at the top of the slope!  We had a walk round in the almost spring-like sunshine and then had lunch before they departed to do some last minute food shopping and get the train home.

On Monday I attended my first book club meeting.  We had read 'The Miniaturist' and it was not well liked.  We admired the descriptive writing and the evocation of 16C Amsterdam but picked holes in the characterisation and the surreal nature of the miniaturist herself.   The group were mixed English and French and were very welcoming to a new member but I made the mistake of querying whether they thought it was a good idea to choose a book for the next meeting that several of them had already read.   It was seen as a criticism and I was sharply asked what was wrong with re-reading a book! I should have kept quiet.   I'm clearly shallow as I almost never re-read a book...apart from 'David Copperfield' which I must have read 4 times now.  

On Wednesday I went to the 'craft' day at the 'club' where we had a sort of post-mortem on the Bazaar the previous week.  The bric-a-brac stall I was on had done well.  We immediately set to work making things to sell at next year's bazaar!  It's not a really serious undertaking, just a very sociable time. 

On Thursday I had my second Meetup meeting in the Sugar Plum Cake Shop.  Two people showed up, one of them very late and just as I was about to leave.  The woman who was there from the start turned out to be an art dealer from Los Angeles who decided to retire and travel.  She had just spent 5 years in Bangkok and was now in Paris.  She's been here for about 2 years and knows a lot of people from her art buying and selling days.  Apparently she had a exhibition for Hockney a few years ago and bought a lot of his work for herself.  She has it in store.  Well, I couldn't match that!  She told some interesting stories about $100,000,000 sculptures and chasing provenance.   The lady who turned up late, I had met before.  A rather strange woman who talks compulsively, even as you are getting up and going and are half way out the door.  

Later on Thursday I had my last French class at the school round the corner.  The teacher has been getting stranger and stranger and less and less organised and the last lesson was a shambles.  Khem and I exchanged glances now and again as he took off on one of his perorations!  Then he asked us a question about customs in our countries - how do people greet each other.  We've covered this at least once before but we dutifully repeated our answers, then he took off again on another of his pet political topics and we listened politely.  At the end of the class he got up and walked out and picked up his little dog, a fixture in the office, and said not one word of farewell.  I went up to him and shook his hand and said thank you and he made no reply, but his wife seated at the computer asked us to write a testimonial on their web site.  I'll think about it!   Khem and I will continue to meet (we have a lunch date for Monday) so that's a good thing to come of the lessons - and of course I've learnt a lot of French really!  There's a conversation group at the 'club' which I hope to join next week.

Paris gearing up for Christmas.  The Champs Elysees is lined with little white booths selling everything under the sun.

And now the weekend approaches.  Dinner out tonight at a new restaurant and then a concert on Saturday and a visit from an electrician to take a look at the cooker which keeps tripping the fuse and putting out the lights - not to mention leaving the evening meal half-cooked! 

An afternoon in Paris

The view

Simon, Tania and I met up at the Institut du Monde Arabe from the roof of which is an excellent view of Paris. After a wander round the bookshop, where I bought a book in French by an Arab author,  we went across the space outside to the Berber 'tent' where they were serving lunch, accompanied by much loud Moroccan music.  I had a chicken cous cous with onions, raisins and chick peas which was excellent.

Simon and Tania tuck in

Cous cous

Musicians

The 'tent'

Then we wandered across to the Ile St. Louis and admired the shops and then crossed the rue du Rivoli to the Rue Vieille du Temple and ambled through the Marais, stopping at shops that took our fancy.

In the Marais

Serious damage done here :-)

After a restorative beverage in a cafe and a much needed sit down, the three of us went to the newly re-opened Picasso Museum which was very crowded and somewhat disappointing.  Masses of pictures, sculptures and drawing and no wall text for context.  There was a little book which you could read, but I like to walk into a gallery and read something about the curator's intentions.  The work was roughly in chronological order and after a while it was hard to take in.  Simon and Tania went off for a dinner à deux and I carried my large black bag back home and made supper for Peter who returned from Brussels. 

A very British affair

This week the BCWA held their annual bazaar to raise funds for the club.  I should imagine the rents are high on Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré.  On Wednesday, the usual day for 'Crafts' (sitting around and making things for the annual bazaar) I spent the day helping to sort out the craft items for sale.  One woman had made a suitcase full of garish beanies but there were other slightly more attractive items - a collection of beautifully knitted stuffed animals and dolls, a lot of patch work table mats and
runners, hand made cards and some good scarves, etc. etc.  There was a lot of fairly good natured discussion about what went where and how to display things.  In addition to the crafts there was a cake table, a tombola, mulled wine, home made jams, guess the weight of the cake and bric-a-brac - you get the picture.   Just like home!   I seem to have been adopted as arbitor and spent the day cheerfully agreeing with whoever I was talking to!

The bric-a-brac stall

The crowd!

On Thursday, the great day of the bazaar, I was on the bric-a-brac stall with Jenny and Jacqueline.  As you can see, I required fortification for the task.  I think, judging from my rather wild grin, this is my second glass! It was all good fun.  We made an amazing amount of money considering what a table full of old rubbish we had!  I bought some stuffed toys and won a box of biscuits on the tombola.  Why not one of the many bottles??  At the end of the day the items left on the bric-a-brac stall all went off to a charity shop so someone more deserving of a bargain will benefit in the end.

In the evening Simon and Tania arrived in Paris and it was lovely to see them.  We went out to a restaurant and had a good meal and a bottle of Beaujolais nouveau. 

College des Bernadins

This morning I went on a guided visit of the Collège des Bernadins organised by the British and Commonwealth Women's Association.  We met out side the Collège and there were introductions.  They are a very considerate bunch of people.   The guide spoke in English.  The building was at one time a vast Cistercian monastery started in the 13th Century.  The stone work inside is plain and simple and on a large scale.  Apparently after the French revolution, when the monks were kicked out and the building became the property of the state it was transformed into a prison, then a warehouse before being converted into a fire station.   It wasn't until 1887 that the building was listed and the firemen were there until 1995, doing considerable damage.  Now a great deal of money has been raised and spent and it's a theological and cultural centre. 

The group

Looking down the nave

Rose window

After the tour we sat together and had coffee and then I wandered around the area trying to find the bus back and happened on a rather nice shop where I spent a good half hour - without spending anything!

A slightly damp Sunday

Parc Montsouris

Sunday was grey.  It drizzled on and off.  Nothing daunted we set off for the Parc Montsouris for a walk and criss-crossed the park by the various paths, noting the autumn colours and dodging the runners!

We came back to a restaurant in the area round the flat and had a large bowl of salad for lunch - one each, naturally.   And then wandered round the 'car boot sale' that was taking place along the surrounding streets.  Not even car boot really, just a very poor assortment of jumble and household paraphernalia.

Autumn's coming

La Butte Aux Cailles

After not buying anything we returned to the flat and lazed around reading until it was time to go to the cinema.

I think this is my first ever visit to a French cinema.  There were two queues and we got in the 'credit card' queue but the machine didn't like the card and rather than excite the anger of the crowd behind us* we bolted across to the other queue where there were real people at tills.  There was virtually no lobby to the cinema so the queues were in the rain outside.  Inside was dark and 'manned' by about 5 bouncers one of who had a microphone and periodically relayed messages about the number of seats remaining for a particular film (there were 7 screens).  The effect was to engender a mild panic. Once we had our tickets we were ushered out into the rain again and found other people for the same film sheltering in a doorway.  We were eventually called back in and walked down stairs and along black-walled corridors and down more stairs and into a small cinema.  We were lucky to have squeezed near the front of the queue** because they had clearly sold exactly the number of tickets for the number of seats but the seats were not numbered.  We picked two on the gangway in the back row. There was a lot of walking around by latecomers and people were separated.  Two people came in after the lights had gone down.  Goodness knows how they found seats.   It was really very comfortable and once we had checked the fire exits (we felt we were rather deep underground) we relaxed.  I can't say it was a good film (Magic in the Moonlight - Woody Allen), in fact I would only give it 4/10.  Peter was more generous (6/10) but it was an enjoyable bit of froth.   Afterwards we walked back and had dos de cabillaud for supper - a very thick cut of cod which we don't see in the UK.  Delicious.

* I have witnessed about three near fights between people who feel they have been slighted or insulted or bumped or jostled on the bus, metro or in the street.  It's really surprising how the slightest inconvenience generates a slanging match with each one provoking the other further.    My French teacher seems to think it's OK to give someone a 'paff' ( explanation accompanied by demonstration of a right hook) if you are disrespected in any way.  In some situations, it seems, there's a lamentable shortage of sang froid or turn the other cheek or 'sorry'.
** Unlike the English the French do not queue.  At the bus stop it's every man/woman for him/herself, unlike dear old Norwich where you get on the bus in pretty much the order you arrived at the bus stop!  Oh we are soft!

Still in demand???

How about this for a message received on my Meetup page! 
I'm still smiling!   Naturally I have dashed his hopes!

Hello Ruth, Thanks for your note,I joined to group to enable me meet people in Paris,As i am presently working on a project valuation in France and have been here for close to two weeks, I am sorry to bug you, But i came across your photo here and your picture and smile captivated my soul, I will like to know if you are still single or married. I hope you do not get offended with my question.Kindly make my day by responding.I await your mail. Cheers God bless

Clever idea

I had cause to find a doctor during the week, so I put our address into Google maps and searched nearby for a 'médecin généraliste' (I think that's how you spell it).  The surrounding neighbourhood is awash with doctors so I patiently went through each in turn looking for someone that took my fancy, though I had no idea how to tell one from another except that some were actually psychiatrists (not needed, yet) or therapists of one sort or another (ditto).  I found a doctor nearby and phoned only to be completely stumped by an answerphone message that was relayed at machine gun speed.  I hung up none the wiser.  Eventually I located a doctor with the delightful name of Charlotte de Rochbrune (nice picture too) and what's more, I could book an appointment online!   What a brilliant idea!  So much easier on the blood pressure than trying to get through to a surgery.  She turned out to be charming and business like and, I hope, good at her job.   Apparently I may have gallstones - a punishment for all that butter and cream!  

Another clever idea that came to fruition this week was the showdown with Jean at the language school.  Khem and I delivered our prepared speech and low and behold, we talked the whole 2 hours and now have a list of topics we will be discussing.   

Showdown time!

Peter is on his travels this week (Rome, London, Plymouth) and I'm having a relatively quiet time.  I made a large batch of vegetable soup and am slowly working my way through it.   I went to the bank on Monday to collect Peter's debit card, this time with his name on it rather than mine.  Dignity is now restored to him.  My French class on Monday was dreadful.  Jean talked the whole time! 

On Tuesday I got together with my classmate Khem in a bar nearby. It was 11th November, a holiday here, so no class and we spent the time talking in French and English and making a plan to confront Jean about the lack of opportunity to speak French. I can't remember if I've said that we answer questions but rarely have the chance to speak at length or in dialogue.  Jean does 90% of the talking. Culturally, it's difficult for Khem to criticise her teachers, but I have no such problem!   We cooked up our arguments and rehearsed our phrases. 

Today I spent the day at the British and Commonwealth Women's Association, borrowed another book, helped put covers and raffia bows on pots of jam and started a tea cosy for the bazaar, and had lunch.  Great company again.  They all have amusing stories to tell.  One of the French women there gave me a bit of coaching on my approach to Jean.

Turned up to the class this afternoon.  As soon as Jean came in, I pounced!  Nicely of course, but with determination!  Khem backed me up.  He kept shrugging his shoulders as if to say, "Isn't that what I've been doing?" "I was asking you yesterday about the British transport system", as though he'd been giving these opportunities and we hadn't taken them.  Anyway, he suddenly produced a list of topics that we might want to talk about, already typed, that he passed off as his wife's idea so I wonder if she had got wind of his long-windedness!  He let us talk for a long while although he didn't look completely happy...rather bored and tired really...but we ignored him. 

I am preparing a talk for tomorrow about British traditions!  What he really wants to know is what's not good about Britain!  Jean loves his negative stereotypes.  I shall be boringly positive!

A good walk

Place de la Bastille near the start

On Sunday we found a walk in the box of walks that Simon and Tania gave us and checked it out on the map and online.  It goes for about 5km from Opera Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes.  Part of the walk is on top of an old viaduct and other parts are along an old railway line.  It's very attractive, even in November, and well used by strollers and runners.  We started off by looking at the shops that have been opened in the arches of the viaduct and found a Portuguese café  selling very nice coffee and pastels, those little custard tarts.  I had to have one!  Then we climbed up the steps to the top of the viaduct and walked in the direction of the Bois de Vincennes.  We didn't make it quite all the way there as our stomachs told us it was lunch time, so we dropped back down to the road and found a brasserie right by the metro on our line home.   A very satisfying urban walk.

The viaduct

Pastels

Tai chi in the park

The promenade plantée

Steps up

One of the several tunnels

Promenade Plantée

Brick church