Days 07 – Here and There
It was a lazy day. We slept in to an hour nearly unheard of for me. After breakfast, we caught up on e-mails, some imaging, and I did the previous blog.
We headed off to a nearby restaurant for our favorite versions of Soup à l’Oignon et Mozzarella Di Buffala et Tomate. A carafe of water was fine, since we still had our bottle of lovely rosé from Françoise et Pierre that we planned to enjoy in Jardin du Luxumbourg.
We wandered through the park, stopping first to watch the chess players. I asked permission, as some get quite angry if you photograph without asking. I assured the two gentlemen that this was not for publication. Promise! I loved the intent concentration as one player made his next move.
We sat in the sun for a bit by the sailboat pond, then meandered on. Near Saint-Suplice there are usually tents set up with some sort of book, photography or other art fair. This year, it was art, some quite good, a lot of it dark and not particularly good by our standards. Still, it is always interesting.
I wanted to head back to watch la pétanque. Pétanque is a classic Provençal game, similar to Bocci, where the feet (the Pé for pieds) are held together (tanca or planted side by side).
I recognized one of the players from the last time we were here, and he recognized us. We had had much conversation the last visit, so our faces were strangely familiar to him.
The sun beckoned, and we walked back towards the pond. On the way, an Irish artist, apparently of some note, was painting one of a series she is doing for a fall exhibit.
It was time for our picnic wine, but for love nor money, we could not open the bottle. Arnie and I got the giggles, as we were trying to be discreet with the bottle, with children around, but the bottle was the deciding factor.
Our friends Cathy and Mike (Michel in France) caught up with us, and Mike showed us a great trick for budging a recalcitrant cork. It worked, and we shared the wine and some nuts the hotel had given us.
Soon, though, we had to leave to meet up with friends over in the 7th. We got specific insgtructions for the Metro which were perfect, and we made the required transfer without a hitch. We kidded about Charlie and the MTA of Kingston Trio fame, but when we came to our final stop, the doors did not open! We had visions of Charlie, never to be seen again, our friends wondering what had befallen us. I saw a button marked “Poussez” (push) and did so immediately, but still the doors would not open. A young man came to our aid, and between Arnie and him, they forced the doors open, and we were able to escape.
We had a lovely dinner and catch up with our friends Jan and Ed from home. They had been to Alaska and back on a ralley, and we told them of our adventures.
After a walk to les Invalides, we found a taxi and had a nice ride back, able to see the view, and without dreams of Charlie.
Next: Some time with another friend from the US.
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You must share the name of the place where you had the soupe de l’oignon. I know that it is a tradition on New Year’s to eat that soup early in the morning on Jan. 1st. I’d also love to hear the trick for getting that cork to budge! LOVE all of your photos, especially of the intense chess player. What a wonderful, beautiful city Paris is— the real “City of Light”.
I have the card in my packet which is put away for the flight back to the US today. It is right opposite the Jardin du Luxumbourg on the right as we came down from our hotel.
The trick for the cork is easy. With those plastic corks that even come with excellent wine these days, the trick is to push down on the cork with the bottle on the ground. That releases the seal. Then, you also create more pressure in the bottle, and the cork then comes out easily.
So glad you have been enjoying the blogs and photos.
Take care,
TBC