05.31.05
Posted in Travels at 10:05 am by Leopoldo
Monday, May 31, 2005
Did my longest walk so far this morning, all the way from Mouffetard to the Champs de Mars with some winding and swerving along the way. I got a nice little ham and cheese croissant near Mouffetard and about an hour and a half later stopped by a bulangerie for a small strawberry torte. I quickly found a nice park to sit in (not hard to do in Paris) and rested while I enjoyed my torte. Heavenly.
It took a good many hours and I was tired as hell by the time I got to the Eiffel tower. I doubted my plan to climb the Eiffel tower by stair then saw how long the line for the elevators was (and how little time I had left) and decided the worst that would happen would be pain the next morning. €3.8 and five minutes later I was out of breath and my knees were taking hostages as I stood about half way up, but a wee rest and some water fixed most of what ailed me and I continued on my journey. The most memorable part of climbing the Eiffel Tower is the panoramic view of all of Paris, the most interesting part was probably the informational tidbits posted about every fourth landing along the way.
I was a touch late for lunch with Dad and Himelda, which was at a Crêperie on Mouffetard. We went back home afterward for a bit of a rest and then Dad and Himelda went to a local theater to see live Latin music by a band that called themselves ‘La Tina’. I was very tired and deiced to stay home instead of going out for the music, something I later regretted.
Permalink
05.30.05
Posted in Travels at 10:59 am by Leopoldo
Monday, May 30, 2005 10:23PM
In a good resaurant in Paris
Spent the morning at home reading The Darth Side and writing blog entries for the last few days. I then went on another of my exploratory walks this time taking Mouffetard all the way down to the river then winding my way around the little alleys and back streets that are between St. Germain and the river back to Eurocentre. For lunch dad, Himelda and I went to an interesting restaurant called Le Procope which is advertised as being the oldest standing restaurant in the world. I am not sure if I believe this claim (it was established in 1868) but I did enjoy their richly decorated rooms and had a tasty quarter chicken with onions and potatoes as well as a very finely made Crème Brule.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
05.29.05
Posted in Travels at 11:52 pm by Leopoldo
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Meanwhile, in France…
Went out this morning with Dad and Himelda looking for a Brunch (pronounced in French Broonch) along Mouffetard. To find a hearty breakfast in France it seems you have to go to the restaurants that cater purely to tourists. Every place we went to was either not serving food (they stoop between breakfast or lunch) or had wee breakfasts of coffee and some small pastry. We settled on a place that looked more like a drinks bar on a nice plaza and Dad and Himelda ordered off the menu. I asked for a Café Au Lait then sneaked off to a Creperie around the corner for a delicious and filling Crepe with Nutella and Banana.
After our late breakfast we went down to the Opéra Garnier for a matinee performance of La Clémence De Titus. Wow, what a performance, it moved me. Lets begin by describing the Opéra Garnier. The building is huge and gorgeous, constructed with a luxurious style and maintained through the years. The anteroom was a show by itself. As soon as I saw pictures of the scenario in the program I feared a recurrence of what is hands down the worst opera I have seen in my life. This was about ten years ago at Seattle Opera, I forget what the title was (I try to forget the experience but cant) but it was a minimalist set, all white with a huge neon cross above a set of chairs. All the characters sat at the chairs from the very beginning and would stand to sing their part then sit back down and stare stoically at the audience until their turn to sing came up again. Awful, painful, boring, utterly uninteresting. Tito opened up to reveal a similar looking scenario, a white room with plastic shields going up about 3 meters all around and neon illumination. It looked like an over-lit basketball court. But then the actors came out and the singing began, and oh my, what glorious song it was. I was particularly blown away by Susan Graham who sang the lead part of Sesto and by Catherine Naglestad who backed her up as Vitellia. They both had power, control and best of all could convey real feeling through their acting and their song. There is a scene where Vitellia is toying with Sesto’s affection and you can see and hear Sesto’s heart break on stage. It was simply magnificent.
Permalink
05.28.05
Posted in Travels at 8:46 pm by Leopoldo
Saturday, May 28, 2005 8:37 PM
Woke up this morning and decided to run downstairs for a chocolate and banana crepe rather than have breakfast at home. It was delicious. After breakfast we took a train out to Versailles. The castle at Versailles was overflowing with tourists but was well worth the visit. If you should ever go there I highly recommend paying the extra money for the guided tour. Paying extra to enter the gardens seemed a bit much (plus we had been walking around for five hours) so we gave it a skip. I had another crepe for lunch this time one with ham, cheese and mushrooms and a rather delicious apple cider. On the way back we got off the train at La Defense and after a half an hour of watching the buildings took a bus back.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
05.27.05
Posted in Travels at 9:45 pm by Leopoldo
Friday, May 27, 2005 11:45 PM
Paris, France
Got up this morning thinking I would walk over to the Tour Eiffel but ended up spending most of the morning trying to debug why GeekRoar.com went down (as I write this it is still down, and since I am not at home I don’t know if the server died or what is going on). After I gave up (there is only so much you can do remote) I walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg where I spent some time ambling then down to the Place de St. Sulspice and to the Rue de l’Université.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
05.26.05
Posted in Travels at 7:48 pm by Leopoldo
Thursday, May 26, 2005, 7:00 PM
Dad and Himelda met me by the Louvre Pyramid and we had lunch at a very nice nearby restaurant. Afterward Himelda went to an appointment while dad and I spent the evening at the Musée d’Orsay. Orsay is a huge train station that had been abandoned, then renovated and turned into a modern art museum. The building is gorgeous with a well-integrated mix of classic and modern architecture. I mostly enjoyed the Art Nouveau furniture and the sculpture though it was great to spend time in the building itself.
Dinner tonight was at a very good local Greek Restaurant. I don’t have a lot to say about the place other than it is close to the apartment the food is good and it has an absolutely wonderful name:Les Delices D’aphrodite
Permalink
Posted in Travels at 1:22 pm by Leopoldo
Thursday, May 26, 2005 1:22PM
Louvre, Paris
I am sitting in the central patio outside the Louvre, got to love a fast and light laptop. I walked down this morning and spent a good three hours in the museum, starting with the Greek and Roman sculpture rooms and then onto the Ecole du Nord. The Louvre is huge and gets a bit tyring after a while but the Danish works are so beautiful and detailed it is easy to get lost in those rooms. I made a quick pass through the wing for the Italian masters but that was so stuffed with tourists (specially the room with the Mona Lisa) that I was not inclined to spend much time there.
Permalink
Posted in Travels at 1:27 am by Leopoldo
Wednesday, May 25, 2005, 1:00AM
Paris, France
Had a nice long walk around Paris this morning starting with an exploration of the neighborhood where I am staying. There is a pedestrian road, the Rue de Moufetard that I can take from the Rue Monge to the river and has restaurants and shops along the way. I have noticed a lot, and I mean a LOT of comic book/comic figurine shops in the Latin Quarter. I am not sure if this is because of the colleges nearby and what ages they are marketing to, but they are everywhere. I also found a bookstore of all movie related books.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Posted in Travels at 1:18 am by Leopoldo
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Ile de la Cite
This morning I took a long walk that took me to the Isle de la Cite via Point Neuf. On the way I walked by the Palais de Justice where a group of demonstrators were getting ready to protest the weekend vote to accept or reject the new European Union constitution. The street was surrounded by cops in riot gear, there were two buses full of more cops standing by around the next street ready to run in and crack heads. Another group of cops had the very next street closed as there was someone ready to jump off the bridge, as a demonstrator or suicide? I am not sure. The man was talked back while I was there and one of the cops ready to jump in after him took a dive off the bridge and into the river to get back to this boat.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
05.24.05
Posted in Travels at 1:29 am by Leopoldo
Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 10:00AM
Paris, France
Got into Paris yesterday morning. I tried to get lost a few times on my way into town but never quite managed it. The train ride from the airport into town was a great chance to sit down and look at the Parisian countryside. The car I was in had two kids playing accordion for coin, they were both very good and I was inclined to give to the cause but was only carrying Euro bills. I ran into Himelda on the metro (subway) car close to the apartment. She was quite shocked to run into me like that, I told her you run into all kinds of people on the Paris subway and should not be terribly surprised to find odd and strange people there.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
« Previous entries ·
