Catching Up

Derek and I arrived in France what seems like weeks ago but also the blink of an eye. We flew to Paris on August 2/3 and went to our apartment on the edge of the Marais district, 5 floors up with a view of Blvd Beuamarchais through the giant trees that lined the street. The apartment was totally cool, filled with shabby chic flea market treasures but totally well equipped with modern conveniences.

Derek had spent the weeks before our trip studying his bible of gastronomy and had turned down a bunch of pages and planned our culinary game plan, as well as packing for himself and encouraging me to pack for several swanky nights out. Oh well, every restaurant on his list was closed for the "fermeture annuelle" in August, where the very sane French take off for between two and four weeks. Not to mention that the hugely famous boulangerie across the friggin street from the apartment was also closed till two days before out departure! Probably for the best, we decided.

We basically packed the days with a death march of tourism, including but not limited to the Louvre, which I unexpectedly was entranced by (and we only really made it to ancient Egypt before I got hungry); more cathedrals than I can name, three walking tours (Montmartre, Parisn During the Occupation, and the two islands of Paris); a stroll around the Canal St. Martin and the Paris Plage (more on that later); more Marais; the Left Bank of course; the Marches aux Puces of both Vanves ( sans Derek) and Clignancourt; etc. etc. We did finally find some dinner gems and cooked/reheated a few times at home. Also had dinners with business friends of Derek one night and Suki's sister and bro in law Kaaren and Richard another. Oh yeah, and it rained or was overcast almost every day!!!! Total clothing nightmare.

Things we learned:
Every things closed in August. We knew this intellectually but didn't appreciate the practical implications
As tier restaurant is open, and they have a never ending cheese plate included in the menu that will kill you (with happiness).
L'as de Falafel is also open. You can go there with Derek. I'll be somewhere else.
Check out Paris Plage. I mean, really: the city of Paris went out and closed the highway along the Seine, barged in a bunch of sand, and then set about making the coolest place for its citizens to hang out, including, for example, very nice Smith and Hawken style lounge chairs and umbrellas, artisinal ice cream stands, the library bringing books to borrow, dance classes, supervised childrens play areas where you can just droop the kids off for an hour or two, beach volleyball in the square in front of City Hall,and right next door a paddle boat bumper car pool for toddlers, free sailing on the Canal St Martin as well as pedal boats and giant plastic things you get into and roll around in on the water, arts and crafts for kids, a beer garden, foes ball tables, board games, you get the picture-- or do you? Because it's all free and for Americans it's a little hard to get your head around. Derek points out that it's only the month of August though (so where do they store all that stiff the rest of the year?)
Musee Maillot-- oh wait a minute it was closed.
Memorial de la SHOAH, which is the Holocaust. The Vichy government is incomprehensible.
Paris Walks: for 9€ you get a two hour walk around some interesting area or subject. Pretty cool. Better in London, though.