paris breakfasts: Ile Saint Louis

Friday, August 22, 2014

Then and Now

Yesterday I went back to my old nabe/quartier the 19th for a number of reasons.

Where I live now is quite a step up...understatement.

My old stairway (52 steps that kept my derriere smaller).

My grand stairway has a 17th century history I can't begin to imagine and many more steps. I live on the 7th floor. Resolved: take the stairs more and the l’encenser less!

The old place was TEAL city.

My Brit landlady Rachel Khoo, of The Little Paris Kitchen fame showed me how to light the hob (a frightening mystery to me as an American).

"Now remember, if you go away 1-2 weeks, do turn off the gas" she warned me.

I didn't get up the nerve to 'light the hob' for THREE WHOLE MONTHS. I never 'turned off the gas' either. Fortunately I did not burn down the house

Once I got the hang of lighting the hob, it became my BBF. I adored that little cooker. So much better than the electric burners I have now.

Bear loved our work area.

I dragged an ‘objet trouvé’, a pink secretary chair found in the street, to the new digs. Bear 🐻 settled in nicely.

The old place had it's charms but I don't think I could have managed many tea parties there.

The new diggs are streamline. A place for everything and everything in it's place, if only I could remember where I put stuff. If you've ever lived on a yacht please advise.

My raison d'etre for visiting the 19th was to join piscine Pailleron.

This has to be the most gorgeous pool in a city with many divine pools. I grew attached to the 5 heated pools and local families attending.

Now I have Art Déco 🏊🏽‍♀️ PONTOISE Piscine in - pas mal.

I really miss Parc Butte de Chaumont just a few steps away.

So many wishes made here came true.

Lovely flowers 🌺 too.

Franprix next to my old apartment may be the ONLY place in all Paris to have chunky peanut butter (from Nicaragua no less). Believe me I have looked 👁️

I will never complain about living next to la Seine.

It's life-changing. An experience words can't describe.

6:44 AM this morning the view out my window is pretty spectacular.

Big Merci to all who subscribed to the Paris Sketch Letters!

You've helped make my life in Paris unforgettable.

Monday, March 03, 2014

Sur Le Quai, Art Ludique musee, salon d’Agriculture

Sunday was a divinely gloriously sunny day here in Paris. We have been very lucky this winter.

Is it winter? It didn't feel that way yesterday. And the bridge was closed to traffic.

The marathon was going on. I could see a stream of tiny brightly colored bodies moving swiftly up the other side.

But I was headed along the quai to the Pixar show at musée Ludique.

There are small paved inlets along the quai. I wonder if in summer Parisians dangle their feet in the Seine?

Dogs were out sans/without collars. People were wearing SUNGLASSES!

The Art Ludique musée is surprisingly modern. Not your typical Parisian museum at all.

Last day for the Pixar expo so long lines.

But you can't move to Paris without paying homage to Darling Remy can you?

I was crazy about Ratatouille. Was it really 2007 when it came out?

Next stop an animal of another kind...

Last day for the Salon de l'Agriculture. I had missed the top floor, 7.3 of world-wide purveyors all begging you to taste. This Portugese ham looked sooo good too.

So much fresh vanilla as if just plucked from the vine.

The fragrance was swoon-worthy.

The Aligot man from Aveyron doing his thing with cheese and garlic.

This I couldn't resist but she served everyone around me and pretended not to see me. Finally she made an extra goopy sample, handed it to me and then giggled. Out of this world even if it did dribble down my front a bit...