Paris Journal 2007

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One day, on our walk up through the 8^th last week, taking rue du Balzac from the Champs Élysées, we encountered a park with this exceptional building in the middle of it. It was the home of Salomon de Rothschild’s widow, a member of that famous European banking family. It is on land that formerly was home to Balzac’s house, the home he had when he died. Earlier, the property was the country home of Nicolas Beaujon, called the “Folie Beaujon.” Beaujon was the court banker in the 1780s. The building is now an art school, and is a bit run-down. But the park is lovely. Thomas Jefferson statue. Horses heads outlined in neon in front of a shop on the market street of rue Ponçelet in the 17^th arrondissement. Cute sign indicating the hours for the cute Pylones shop on rue de Varenne in the 7^th arrondissement.

Monday, August 6 We have a new favorite place in Paris: the Petit Palais. This museum, one that belongs to the City of Paris, was renovated and re-opened in 2005. We’d never seen it. The building itself is another one of those left over from the 1900 Universal Exposition. One reviewer describes it as “bombastic.” I think it is very, very French, and very beautiful. The building itself is worth seeing – with all of its decorations, large open spaces, beautiful tile floors, paintings on the ceilings, many arches, a lovely garden in the middle, a pleasant layout, and a comfortable café. Best of all are its permanent collections. That’s what we went to see, and that part of the museum is free. There is an admission for special exhibitions, which are to the right as you enter the building. But the vast majority of the museum, including the area to the left on the garden level, and almost the entire lower level, is where you’ll find the permanent collections. The only confusing part of going here is that even though it is free, you still have to pick up a ticket at the cashier’s desk. Yet signs on the cashier’s desk make it seem as if they are only handling tickets for the special exhibition. The cashier’s desk is ahead of you and to the right as you enter. But don’t miss the other reception desk, ahead of you and to the left, because there they have laid out brochures about the museum’s permanent collections, all sorted into little piles according to which of who knows how many languages. I didn’t count them all. I picked up the English brochure an immediately started reading. Unlike many museums in France, this one has excellent English. This is not only in the little brochure, but also on the information cards in each gallery. The permanent collection is astonishing. For example, the Impressionistic paintings from the 19^th Century included a fabulous Monet – an image of the setting sun and its reflection in the water outside of Paris. Other Impressionists represented in the museum include Jongkind, Pissaro, Sisley, and more. The pioneers of Romanticism are represented with paintings by Gericault, Delacroix and Chasseriau. Several fascinating Courbet paintings are included, as well as paintings by naturalists like Roll and Pelez. Sculptures in the 19^th Century collection include those by Carpeaux and Dalou. That’s just an example, pulling from the 19^th Century. Other parts of the museum are devoted to the early 1900s in Paris, with many fine examples of Art Nouveau, the 18^th Century, the 17^th Century, the Renaissance, 12^th and 13^th Century art representing the Christian World in the West, 15^th and 18^th Century art representing the Christian World in the East, and even pieces from Ancient Greece and Rome. Don’t miss the lower level. You’ll find the stairway in the far back left corner of the garden level. This is a great place to be on a warm, or even hot, summer day. The air conditioning is formidably powerful, especially downstairs. And the café is just a delight. You can sit inside on very comfortable art deco style upholstered chairs, with a nice view of the garden, or your can take your tray out to the terrace on the garden to sit at little ice cream parlor style tables with their little metal chairs. The food is surprisingly good! I had the daily special, which was perfect salmon with perfect vegetables in a magnificent beurre blanc sauce, for only €12. Tom was less adventurous, opting for a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette. His baguette and the poilane bread that came with my meal were quite good. I needed that bread so that I could mop up every bit of the delicious sauce. Tom also had a yummy clafouti for dessert, and he said is double coffee was excellent. All this, and a glass of white wine, came to just €26 (remember that tax and tip are ALWAYS already included in the prices). The museum is open every day except for Monday, from 10AM to 6PM. It is located right on the Champs Elysées, across from the Grand Palais, which I believe I wrote about last year. Because of my slow way of going through museums, trying to absorb everything, we really only had time to do justice to the garden level. We’ll be going back to the Petit Palais soon, and I promise to take my camera next time. We had a fun family dinner on Saturday evening. Doug’s brother, Cliff, and his wife Nadine and their two charming children were in town just for the day. The eight of us met up at the Orangerie and had a long walk through the Tuileries, the Cour Napoléon at the Louvre, the Cour Caree at the Louvre, over the pedestrian bridge, the Pont des Arts, through the Institute de France arch, down the rue de Seine, pausing to rest in the Square Gabriel Pierné, over the rue des Beaux Arts, past the École Superieure des Beaux Arts where the 1968 student riots occurred, down rue Bonaparte, onto rue Jacob, and down rue de Saint Benoit for just a bit until we finally reached the goal: the Relais de l’Entrecote! This is the restaurant that the two children, Josh and Emma, had picked. They remembered it well from their visit to Paris in August three years ago. Not bad for kids, to already have a preferred restaurant in Paris! If you didn’t read about this unusual (for France) restaurant in my journal last year, be sure to click on the link above and check it out. It is great for families. Tom and I had walked all the way to the Orangerie, and we went on the walk to the restaurant, of course, and then we walked all the way back home to the 15^th. That was quite a hike! I’ve been enjoying Julia Child’s book, My Life in France, immensely. In fact, I dread finishing it, because then what will I read? I decided I will read her books, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volumes 1 and 2. This will be perfect, because My Life in France covers the period of time when she was developing and writing these fine cultural masterpieces that are far more than mere cookbooks. I’ve been so inspired that for lunch today, I prepared pork chops, julienned carrots, turnips, and haricots coco (see July 30), with a very fine mustard cream sauce made with shallots, garlic, fresh chives, fresh sage, olive oil, white wine, whole cream, black pepper, salt, and butter. Tom (and I) was utterly delighted with this lunch! It was a real success. I’m fortunate that the two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking are here in the apartment. They were way up high on a shelf in the kitchen, which is an indicator that they are not used much here. I asked Tom to get them down for me whenever he happened to have the ladder out next time, no hurry. He practically ran to get the ladder to retrieve these tomes for me. I take this as a sign that he is encouraging me in my culinary escapades. Carolyn and Doug are spending another day at the Louvre today, and then they are going to find their way via the Métro to our apartment. They have not seen a real, non-touristy upper-middle-class Paris neighborhood like this yet. It will be a treat to give them a bit of a tour, and to take them to one of the calmer restaurants near here. ←Previous Next→

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