Initial Paris Wanderings, 2023

Pix from a variety of orientation walks, from April 29th, generally within a kilometer from our apartment...

At Luxembourg Garden; never enough flowers

Luxembourg pond, where we took Penelope sailing in 2014

Pony ride HQ; she did it twice

St. Sulpice, which we visited with Tawana and Wes in 2012

Looking toward Mont Parnasse and the tower there;
new to us, but we'll be going there for the Wednesday/
Saturday market, other things

Deux Magots, where we had drinks with Marc and Pat Johnson,
humanities friends, in 2014

St. Germain de Pres, oldest still going in Paris

High season, river tour boats full, the Louvre across the river, just
downstream from the Cite; straight shot via Rue de Rennes

Oldest still-going restaurant in Paris

We have to go there, since procope means onion soup, a favorite

A bit of Luxembourg palace, where the French senate meets

We got into bouillons in 2021, mostly for their
fin de siecle looks; this one, near Montparnasse
has awful reviews for the food, but we'll do it
anyway for the looks

Seeing more and more art deco buildings in this area

At Marche Raspail, a couple blocks away; Paris'
organic market; a big poulet roti lasted us three dinners

Whistler's abode

No indication where his mother lived

Nice art nouveau down the street

Chicken tenders at the Marche Edgar Quinet, Montparnasse, which
will be our market; half a mile walk, but worth it...very similar to
the Bastille market, less crap, less crowded, many great shops and
stores nearby

Largest artichokes ever, so far

Feet in vinegar: aren't there supposed to be four?

Rhododendron honey, which we couldn't resist; anyone got a recipe
using rhododendron honeycomb?

Not Mrs. Paul's fish sticks

Our 2023 Paris Apartment

We arrived in Paris April 28th and took a taxi from CDG to our apartment (the rental agency pays for it!), 10 Rue Jean Bart, in the 6th, Rive Gauche, the first time we've had a longer stay on this side of the river. Our previous apartments (four) have been in the 2nd, 3rd, and 11th (twice), and we've done several weeks camping in the Bois de Boulogne over the years. As usual, our first days were moving in, getting to know the place, getting to know the environs. Happily, the Franprix grocery store is on the ground floor of our building. Two more groceries are on the street, and there are numerous cafes, restos, boulangeries, patisseries...all the usual suspects...on the nearby streets. We took many more walks, generally within a kilometer, just to get better oriented, to be posted later. 

Google Earth view...red dot in exact center...Luxembourg Park

is 250 steps away (Vicki counted) 

Rue Jean Bart...one of those streets that's exactly just
one block long; of course you know that Jean Bart was
a noted privateer and admiral during Louis XIV's reign;
the battleship Jean Bart was famously sunk by dive
bombers from the USS Ranger, in Casablanca's
harbor, during the American invasion of North Africa,
November, 1942; previous coverage on this blog, here

Only on our second day here did we notice that our building
is a genuine Art Deco beauty, dated 1930

Better view; so how cool is this? All our previous apartments have
been fairly non-descript, and we will nearly always go out of our way
to see fine art deco...and now we get to live in one!

Entrance; Jean Boucher and Leon Barriquand, architects,
P. F. Joyeux, sculptor, 1930

Numerous art deco accents and flourishes

In the entry

One of two elevators...could be 1930, but works!
We're on the second (European) floor

Second floor landing; all the hall lamps are torchieres...

Living room; some of the furniture is arguably art deco...

Bedroom

Bath

Alcove off the living room...study, retreat, 2nd bedroom

Kitchen; all updated, bath too, and AV/Internet systems; the rest
of it, not so much; more, and better pix are at the rental agency's
site; second listing down

Interestingly, there are four Maurice Martin original
paintings, not prints, in the apartment...hmmmm

King's Day, Amsterdam, 2023

King's Day is the king's birthday, celebrated all over the Netherlands, but most famously in Amsterdam, where it is known, charitably, as Europe's largest street party. We had heard that most of the action takes place on the canals...more easily cleaned up than the streets...so we decided to play it safe and stay on terra firma, mostly on Damrak street, not far from the station and our train. Just in case. While Vicki stood in the 45 minute queue for frites at the MannekinPis friteshuis, I ventured forth a few blocks hither and thither for some documentation. All this was in the afternoon, after Keukenhof, presumably before the main King's Day activities really got going.

Look closely, there's a canal down there somewhere

Thus (pix off the web)

Across Damrak is the MannakenPis and its very long queue; we
thought its fries were not equal to Vleminckx'

All kinds of orange merchandise available

I think the only piece of orange clothing I own is a T-shirt from
Kauai with a rooster on it; securely and safely stored in Missoula

The €5 t-shirts were tempting, however

Penelope, note: your favorite restaurant is in Amsterdam

In a street gutter, strangely meaningful...

160dB dancing outside the bar there

Onesies were popular, until it started getting warm

Probably their first King's Day without chaperones

Still daylight...

Heading back to the station

Having a little trouble with the footing, dear?

Helpful interpretive signage; there's a €100 fine for wildplassen

Where it all ends; note the 9:1 ratio of plein-aire pissoirs, with
3 urinals each, to the more private porta-potties