Walk in the Marais and Birthday dinner 🎂

Alain's birthday  on Saturday September 28 was a sunny, but cool day.  High of 15C.   We slept in and then took the Métro to Hôtel de Ville (City Hall).  There are often interesting photographs on the City Hall railings.  This year there were pictures by David Turnley, a Franco-American photographer, winner of the Pulitzer and other prizes for photography.  Turnley was born in Indiana in 1955 and moved to Paris at 19 to continue his French studies at the Sorbonne.  He has worked in more than 90 countries, covering many zones of conflict as well as documenting apartheid.  He has also taken many pictures of Paris, which he describes as "his spiritual city."  He lives in Paris with his family.

David Turnley: Love and Hope

1974

2024

1975

1989

There was also an exhibit inside City Hall called "Paris" which started in May and runs until November.

Sign for the exhibit

There were a number of posters in the exhibit detailing life in Paris.

Deciding Together-- new places of engagement 

Fighting for your rights is part of the history and identity of Paris

Since 2024, there have been 317 Parisian tributes to women.  Many streets have been renamed.  A very interesting list.

Café terraces: the Soul of Paris

A brief history of swimming in the Seine.  People did swim in the river until the 1950s, though not officially allowed to do so after 1923.  There was a picture of the mayor swimming this summer just before the Olympics.

A garden on the second floor of the exhibit

My favourite poster. "93% of Parisians live less than a five minute walk of a bakery!!"  So true.

The red dots are the bakeries in Paris

We then stopped for a coffee at Le Peloton Café, a small buzzy café that caters to cyclists.  Good coffee.

Alain at Le Peloton

Inside the small café

Then a stop at Happy Socks- where Alain got coffee cup and runners socks

We wandered some more in the Marais-- a stop at Jack Gomme where I got a small silver purse.  A number of stores and small art galleries have been turned into showrooms for fashion week.  The public can not wander in, but it is fun to see the clothes and the showroom designs.

A very high end showroom

Another showroom for Japanese brand Plu

We did some more wandering and then headed back to the apartment for a short rest.  At 9:00 p.m. we headed out for dinner at Belle Maison, a fish restaurant in the 9th, about a 25 minute walk from our apartment.

I had squid with roasted vegetables and artichoke purée

Alain had cod in a crab bisque with red cabbage and beans

The birthday wish

Chocolate mousse and chocolate sorbet

The restaurant was on Rue Navarin, just off Rue des Martyrs.  The Hôtel Amour is on the same street--- a nod to the area's former tawdry past.  Now more upscale.

Looking back on the street from the corner

We had a 25 minute walk back to the apartment.  Another international birthday celebration for Alain.  Stockholm in '23 and Paris in '24.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back to the Marais

Image
Sunday September 29 was the coldest day of our trip so far.  High of 14C.  But no rain!!  We took the Métro to Les Halles.  Our intention was to see the Surrealism Exhibit at the Pompidou Museum. More subway lines now have barriers between the tracks and the trains.   The #1 line has had them for a while.  The #4 has them now. Subway poetry- entitled "Jesse Owens", When we got off the Métro, we first took a walk up one of our favourite food streets- Rue de Montergueil. Advertizing the Penguin movie The famous Stohrer patisserie- Inside where a purchase was made We initially got in one long line outside the Museum that turned out to be for the Pompidou library.  We then got into the line for folks without tickets-- after about a 20 minute wait spent chatting to the folks behind us, we saw a flashing sign that the Surrealism exhibit was sold out for the day.  We were going to wait a bit longer and see one of the other exhibits, but Alain talked to a...
Read more

Visiting Il Castello District- last full day of our trip

Image
Wednesday October 16 was a mix of sun and cloud with a high of 27C.   We had our breakfast on the deck and did most of our packing before heading out to explore Il Castello District. First a stop to buy some Cagliari coffee and a coffee tin for Alonso We walked over to Piazza Costituzione and took the elevator up from the garden under the walls. Looking up at Il Castello District near the elevator We took some pictures once we got to the District. View one way View toward the water A narrow street in Il Castello We walked to the Piazza Palazzo that housed the former City Hall (Palazzo di Città) until 1906.  It is now a gallery that had recently had a Robert Capa photography exhibit (it ended on October 6).  The gallery was closed for installation of a new exhibit. Palazzo di Città Across the Piazza Palazzo was the Cathedral of Santa Maria.  The Cathedral was built in the 13th century in Pisan-Romanesque style and then renovated along Baroque lines.  Except for t...
Read more

Art Gallery, Roman Amphitheatre and Botanical Gardens

Image
Tuesday October 15 was another beautiful day.  Blue sky with a high of 28C.   Breakfast on the deck Green roof across the road Our late morning destination was the Galleria Comunale d'Arte (Municipal Art Gallery).  It was about a 25 minute walk uphill from our apartment. We passed some very nice houses on the way up We passed the Convento Cappuccini (Capuchin Convent) which is built on an ancient pagan site on the Buoncammino hill.  It is the main convent of the Sardinian Capuchin friars.  Under the Convent, there are famous Punic caves transformed by the Romans into stone quarries to build the amphitheatre, to which they are connected by an underground tunnel.  The Convent was built in 1591 and is now called the Convent of S. Ignazio after France Ignazio da Laconi (1701-1781) who was Sanctified in 1951.   The Convent Beautiful mosaics Across from the Convent, was the Anfiteatro Romano (Roman Amphitheatre), Cagliari's most significant Roman monument. ...
Read more