Pretty much sums it up

Tic

This is a picture of my clock, which was left here at my apartment after the guy who was here moved out. For some reason all of the color is bleached out in this picture, but I love how no frills it is.
I miss no frills non brand. It was so well designed. White bag simple red and blue stripe at the top, black block lettering. I tried to find a picture but there aren't any as someone started a brand called no frills defeating the whole purpose.

I probably can't (shouldn't)

On the way home again...just can't wait to be on the way home again..... oop sorry Willie. Here we go. I walked home a different route than I normally do and got to see some things I normally don't. This was the long way home, by way of Rue des Pères and the hang a right on Rue de la Seine, straight until the Petit Pont onto Ile St. Louis, my hood here in the 4ème. Well on the way home first I came across

 Look at this door, it is amazing. I know, I know, they are in the process of repainting it, which by the way takes about a month, I kid you not. They sand and put coat after coat after coat of paint, until the door come out looking like glass. Quite beautiful, but I just love how there are 3 different colors of paint and the rusty red is simply perfect. I would be one of those wacko owners who come upon the painters in the midst of work and say "Stop there, leave it, don't touch a thing. Now just finish painting the scratches, with the same color they are surrounded by, and then just shellac the heck out of the whole thing. Perfect. It reminds me of Russian posters of the 19 teens and 20s, or der Stijl.

 I always get this building confused with the Monnaie, which it is not. The bridge opposite (and Metro) are called Port au Change, so it has something to do with that. The Monnaie, which is now a museum, was what we Americans would call the mint. This is more like the office of exchange (but just for cash) the Bourse is the stock exchange. I just liked how gleaming this was at 6:30 at night. And look at the sky. so so blue. The huge cumulus cloud behind the dome hung over St. Germain all day and the sun only escaped at around 5:30.

And, last but not least, I passed a Danish Modern store and this magnificent creature was just sitting there, crying out to be taken home. I bet its possibly the most uncomfortable thing on earth to sit on, and would have to be covered in cushions, but look at the lines on it. The tall arms creating a private womb, I mean room. The color is like a fine 100 year old single malt scotch, or cognac. It just wants to be loved. But, no price tag and the rule of thumb as we all know it is, "If you have to ask...."

Don't worry, I won't.                                                                   well

Technology

I am under the grand delusion, or was until two days ago, that technology was here to make our lives a bit easier. Well that delusion has been shattered to infinity and beyond in the easier department. I locked myself out of my phone until this morning it dawned on me how to open it. Ridiculous.

I don't have 870 friends that I need to be in constant contact with, and I use severely less minutes here in France than I did in the US, but really, getting locked out and no one has a clue how to open it is stupid. Calling SFR was a complete joke, and they were less than helpful. They didn't even offer and suggestions other than "remember your password properly." Gee, thanks, I wonder why I called you in the first place, duh.

And I hate this stupid stupid phone...

On a positive note my nails are clean!  :)

Paris Plage

This would never fly at home. Ever. Can you imagine telling commuters "Oops, sorry, the only major highway through Paris is now a pedestrian mall, but just until the first weekend in September, no biggie." It is something else to see all the traffic diverted, and I just haven't heard a peep, not one angry customer, no complaints. Every here just shrugs their shoulders, et viola! Beach.

All Parisians really do vacate and allez dan les pays. They travel and go places, see things, go with family, go with friends. The staff is slightly up in arms that they can only take a week, as the french are quite accustomed to taking their 3 weeks (at least) and are incredulous in their realizing they don't have more time.

Vite

Very quickly what I saw while in Londontown.

Perhaps the decorator was going with a "peoples we conquered' theme using all Aborignal prints here at the hotel.

This is a new office tower and each corner is a different color. You can't see the Lime Green and Royal Blue sides.

  Back on the Eurostar to Paris.

I will go back, soon, most likely.

Londres overnight.

I am sitting here on the train to London like a dullard, but at least I am plugged in so I can type to you. The reason I am a dullard is because I left my headphones at my apartment. Thank goodness I dropped the 25 Euros on this international plug. This is also the first time I am writing at a proper desk as I am here on the Eurostar, which left ONTIME! (take notes USA). It is also insanely quiet and quite lux. I am in business class its not the norm but, commuters in and out of NY have no idea what they are missing, unless they are more well traveled than I am, which isn't too difficult.

Um, get this. I have champagne, Its normal here. It isn't Veuve or anything, (Pannier Brut to be exact, but it is a wonderful way to travel.) And the seat is too big. I am sitting Indian style and have room on both sides, but I am not complaining. I can't believe the website said this train was full as there is one person per row, evenly distributed of course.

A minute brilliance, packing my adapter.

While bulleting through the farmland they are harvesting at 9:30 at night, as the sun is still up. Talk about productivity, it must only be the farmers with super strong work ethics, or maybe its because the are owned by Germano-American agriconglomerates, but hey. Here the DNA is still intact. Genetic modification is a no, no.

Just passed Haute Picardie and a cool windfarm was becoming all blinky, and all the blinks were synchronized on the gloaming french countryside.

For dinner aboard the train I will have the filet mignon. I could have the trout souffle de Sud-ouest France with crayfish cream sauce, sauteed spinach butter and grilled tomato with emmental cheese instead, but I am not the biggest fish fan.

Yes that is my mini bottle of Burgundy.

I was lucky enough to sit next to two bankers, one working for a British bank in France, and one Australian who was in London, but was originally a Kiwi, but has since moved to Australia. She works for B&B, which is probably the name of a bank that I know, but they are talking derivatives, market properties and fah fi fah. I am watching them through the reflection in the windows. He is going to get her a taxi once we arrive in London.

I am getting quite the thrill looking out the window and typing to you, glad that I can do so without looking. Wahoo, french keyboards finally taught me how to type! Have you seen a french keyboard? Google it, they are BIZARRE, I mean, different.

These two in the foreground are the bankers, she a bit older in beige, he to the left, upon arrival at St. Pancras Station.

And all the times I had the chance to...

Speaking of grey. Nico's voice is that color.



 

thanks Ctl+Alt+Del

I'm Marty Stouffer....

....and this is wild America France.

I begin by saying, I am sorry. I didn't have a camera to take a picture but you are going to just have to take my words for it. The other day, while awaiting the close of work I was meandering betwixt the kitchen and the office and I saw it, one floor below, tearing the bird apart. It was a hawk, or a kite, or something of the ferocious avian sort. It was so so so amazing to see, and here in the heart of Paris. It was reddish with grey tail feathers, and was pulling its prey to bits. I am glad it wasn't a wasteful bird as it would have been nightmarish if a piece of its catch had ended up on one of the white linen table cloths below, though observing the spectacle would have been amazing.

http://www.gigrin.co.uk/and/red_kite_figurine.html

And by the way, while typing this my computer has insisted that the correct spelling of the color intermediate between black and white is with an a. I like it with an e, so here it shall be.

I want a little baby bumble bee

What a great little car. BMW 2002 convertible. I want thee. Your beautiful spyder top, split in two, making you look el Camino like. and those awesome taillights cut into a single piece sheet of metal. And then that chrome!!! and real real bumpers.

Louvre

  Those are Louis XIV's initals, the Sun King.

The Louvre, a name so strange even the French can't figure out where it came from. If you come here and go there, you have to see the exhibit on its medieval roots. It is really fascinating, and kind of makes me wish they didn't build the Pyramids on top of it and instead just reconstructed its remains. Anyway, I went here the other day, for the first time, with about 1 million other people, all seemingly tourists. Digressing for a moment, there should be resident only days, where you have to show ID that you actually live here.

 Ingres' masterpiece, the Bather, which he put in about half a dozen paintings, not one person looked in about 10 minutes.

OK. So, art, and history. I really tried to stay away from the area where all the tourists are drawn to. Nike (the sculpture, not shoes) La Joconde, as she is known here, and instead look at the medieval art and furniture, the Napoleons' apartments (I & II) some Greek and Roman sculpture, and then to the Classical European French and Italian Galleries (with Flemish and Germanic thrown in for good measure). People are insane. They are staring at these amazing paintings and instead of going for really great work go for the size. It is kind of wild and anthropologists must love going to crowded places to see how the human animal socializes. Tons of people, all clustering, in the same areas, all looking for the Mona Lisa and missing really great stuff. 

The dude in the green shirt walking towards these stairs is about 6'2". That is big art.

 Detail of an Ingres.

 Le Petit Chaperon Rouge from 15something. I didn't know the story was that old.

Anyway, it is amazing. I think I have a feel for it, and will be going back, to see things in more detail. I just wanted to get a general overview and feeling for the building. I will come back for the art. I promise.

Worn marble stairs

Gushing

I don't know if I have said it before. I suppose I could take about a minute and run through the half dozen blog posts I have made, and check, but I am posting again in regards to the brilliance that is the sewage and sanitation systems of Paris. First things first, it works, brilliantly. When it rains, water does not gather in huge swamp size lakes at the edge of the sidewalk. All the streets are pitch appropriately so runoff flows into the gutters, which are seemingly never clogged. And why are they never clogged? Well dear sweet reader, because actively, there are folks, in nice green jumpsuits that would make any ghostbuster green with envy, sweeping the gutters and sidewalks. They even have switches to turn on and off water to brush all the detritus away, leaving behind puritanically clean gutters.

Look at that water go, clean clean away!

What lives beneath or maybe doesn't

The entire reason that Paris is where it is and not in Turkmenistan or somewhere else for that matter, is because several hundreds of years ago there was a tribe called the Parisii who decided they like the area that now has evolved into Paris. The reason they decided to move here because of the fishing. They're huge here, the fish! I was walking to work the other day and I saw them about 6 of them, just swimming at the base of the boat ramp/walkway thing where the seals/people sun themselves after work.

These are monsters. I don't know if you can make them out but if you look above the white speck in the direct middle of the page there are four, all fins, each about a foot and a half long. But I will just have to catch one to show you guys, though I don't see that happening too soon.

Umm, and something else in trying to find out what kind of fish are in the Seine, that I discovered? Over a period of 6 years over 300 bodies were retrieved from the Seine, the highest being 16 on one day. I guess these fish are big because they are eating Soylent Green... makes me think about walking home...

Yay bicycle!

Vive la France

So today was my day off as it is Bastille Day or (Freedom from Tyranny Day) here in Paris, and the rest of France. I was over by the Bastille or its footprint a couple of weeks ago after I bought my bicyclette, and happened upon a communist march/demonstration. It is kind of amazing how little we actually know as a general public in the U.S. about the communist movement here in France. It is just a form of Socialism, plus a little unfairness for those of us who like to work. . . Anyway. I digress.
I was woken up by what seemed to be the invasion. There must have been a series of 10 flybys ended by a put puttering by plane. Quite amazing. I didn't see it but it shook my tiny palace, and the putterer, whatever it was, sounded so tiny. To think that it used to be the height of technology.

After my alarm clock ended (see above) I got dressed and went over to the market to pick up some food for the day. I have gotten into the habit of shopping everyday, a la français.  As soon as I stepped foot in my doorway the deluge. It poured poured poured, a lot like it did a few weeks ago, at least this time I wasn't caught in it. Ahh well I think the rains in Spain seem to fall mostly on the plains of Paris.

So, last night I was on the way home from a movie in a cab, as I am want to do after dark here. And I passed La Tour just as it was going all bright. I love that this flashy sparkly champagne light show started in 2000. So much fun, and it is too magnificent!

Medieval cantina in the stars

Hi. Look at this charming fellow, which is hanging above what seems to be an antique store. This could be one of two things; an antique store where the proprietor is being absolutely honest with the provenance of the articles inside, and what may come along with them, or it is the logo for a Star Wars like cantina. He is absolutely charming and repulsive at the same time, a fellow that I would never want to meet, don't mind looking at him in steel, plus he is talented and plays a double flute like instrument. I just don't want to be around when he eats.

This is what is great about here. This could either be medieval or from the distant future.

So this was the sky the other day, at about 5pm or 17h as the folks around here say. It was beautiful. Look at how high those cumulus clouds, so majestic, so fluffy and white. There might even be some magical creatures living inside. Little did I know that they are harbingers of doom. I woke up the next day to one of the most intense rainstorms I have ever had the pleasure of walking to work through. Yes, I was soaked. But more than that, what astounded me was how absolutely dark it got, exceptionally dark, post gloaming dark, and everything was blue, it was a weird grey pinky yellow green color. Did I say dark, oh yeah. All the cars had to have headlights on in a "I am driving at night" kind of way, not a I am going to be overcautious and extra safe so other drivers see me in this inclement weather kind of way.

What you can't see is the Tour Montparnasse, which should look as if it is at the end of the street, plus you really can't tell how dark it actually is at 8:45 in the morning.

Made in...

On this day, my Parisian 4th of July, I have been thinking, as I am wont to do on days that I do not work, I was thinking about origins, not only of the species, but the origins of things. Today for dinner I bought some groceries to make dinner, which will most likely end up Italian. I have garlic from Argentina, (weird, aren't Italy & Spain just a couple of hours away?) pigeon heart tomatoes from France, pasta from Italy, and snap peas from Kenya, CocaCola from France. Now, I don't know why but the last two just strike me as absolutely bizarre...

Why am I weird-ed out by peas from Kenya? I am sure Kenya is a nice place, but I just can't separate the governmental unrest from how they could possibly handle food. Is that unfair? Needless to say I bought them and will eat them, and they will be magnificent.

So there was that, and then the Coca Cola. I bought it in honor of all things American, as today is Independence Day.  So, it is made in France, which is actually one of the best things ever to happen to Coke this side of the border of Mexico.  There is no corn syrup!!!! It is glorious or should i say GLORIOUS! It tastes so much better. Brown sugary goodness. It is a flavor sensation.  Oh, and here is how to open an 8 pack. I love this efficiency. Using a chef's knife slice down the middle of the carrying carton.

and yes, I would willingly pay a sugar tax on this.

de la Grand Jatte

This is the corner of my building,  acute angle of about 33 degrees & that is the front door all the way on the right.

Apologizes dear George. As I was walking from a re-con mission, I had to take a picture of these folks as they reminded me both of seals sunbathing off somewhere in California, or the  Seurat masterwork that hangs in the Chicago Art Institute. 

Umm, quoi?

Today I had the day off, the first in 5 days, which most might say is normal, but in the world of retail the fifth day is akin to being a guy who instead of pushing the rock up the mountain only to have it roll back down has instead chosen to just let it roll over his head. But, really it isn't that bad. So, on this glorious day which reached a high of 33C, for those of us who aren't in love with temperature that is based on 10 and freezing at zero boiling at 100, it was about 91F, I did laundry. (more on that in a second, perhaps more if you read slowly like me).  In NY this would have been absolutely unbearable. Here, just mildly uncomfortable, but people are freaking out. There are radio reports and hotlines going up making sure that all are safe. This is because of a heatwave that killed a couple hundred folks a couple of years ago. It reached 105F here for about 5 days, and as Paris is on the same Latitude as Montreal, it was kind of a big deal. Compared to NY though it is like nothing. It is warm, and yes even hot, but when the wind blows, you aren't being assaulted by even worse conditions, here the wind blows and one is relieved, a nice breeze too cool you off and blow air on your face. Hmmm, where was I? Oh yes, laundry...

After spending a week folding and prep-ing and getting ready for sale (which is akin to the storming of the Bastille, or at least supposed to be here) I did my laundry, precisely one month's worth. It has been a while, I went away, came back, and then after getting down to my last pair of underwear and having to wear a bathing suit as I had nothing else, I did my laundry. (take a breath, that was a long one) I don't have a washer/dryer here in the Petit Palais, so this means I have to walk up through the tourist trap that is Rue Saint-Louis en Ile, with about 70 pounds of laundry. (don't ask me kilos, I am not quite there yet) The system for the public laundry is bizarro and strange, well actually it turns out to be quite brilliant if not a bit off putting. You walk in and all the machines are on one side, and there is a quaint park bench and some sort of keypad box on the other. Upon inspecting the machines there is no where to put the money. So looking around there is a machine on the wall with instructions written on it in scratched up sharpie. 1. pick the number of your machine (this for some reason is taking me back to gym class and the "dodge ball unit" in Littleton, CO) insert your laundry and detergent, 2. go back to the wall machine, type in the corresponding washing machine's number, wait, wait, its thinking, 3. insert money and then it silently starts. Not so bad, but you have to really look around for instructions, and no one is there, the door is wide open. It is confusing for the french as well, as I helped a woman find her way. It is funny to see people walk in and stop, and stare. Then walk over to one machine, inspect it, walk over to another machine, inspect it, walk to the keypad box, inspect it, and then it dawns on them.