curi·ous {Old French curios} Drawn to investigate, prick up the ears, ponder for the sake of pondering. Enticed by mysteriously labeled bottles.
vo·luptu·ary {Late Latin volupturius} A lass devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. An unabashed epicurean, hedonist, libertine, sensualist, lotus-eater.
Perhaps any veracity in the myth regarding the allegedly endless words Eskimos have for snow (first perpetuated in Franz Boas‘ 1911 The Handbook of North American Indians) would simply reflect a need to stamp back the boredom of talking about it for weeks and months on end.
Valentine’s Day Greetings to you, from a hasn’t-been-frozen-enough-to-walk-across-in-thirty-years Wannsee [...]
We hosted a party this weekend and I was quite impressed by the turnout, given the subzero temperatures and inches of lumpy, slick ice (presumably the result of plummeting temps followed by thaw followed by freeze again?) covering the ground. The path carved below, for example, is not stone but thick, gray ice. Which is [...]
“I’m going to take you on The Walk of Boredom.” is how Alfonso introduced our miles of hiking through the snow among the conifers and betulaceae. What he meant was “You and I will create new and splendid memories of one of the more dreaded walks of my childhood.” And so we did. We’ve seen [...]
We began our last morning in Paris at our local belle époque Café Charbon, and then hustled to the train which took us through Belgium to Aachen, where we stopped to visit a friend en route to Berlin.
A few nights back we saw a good chunk of Cabaret, which I spose heralds our homeward crawl. [...]
For our last night we met Alfonso’s colleagues for dinner and then solo walked to Canal St. Martin for a glass of Bordeaux at Hôtel du Nord (aka Hotel of the Flying Louses). This spot was made famous by Marcel Carné in his 1938 film of the same name (it’s been around since 1885). The [...]
Today is an editing day, so I offer photographs of the second half of our Sunday. Cimetière de Montmartre was built below street level in the hollow of an old gypsum quarry and opened on 1 January 1825. It is the final address of Truffaut, Picabia, Nijinsky, Foucault and courtesan Marie Duplessis, among others. On [...]
We spent the afternoon on rue Montorgueil, the oldest market street in Paris. Elements of a salad Niçoise were purchased, as well as yet more foie gras (Alfonso is anticipating our departure, it seems), and another small Galette des Rois. Delicious cake (puff pastry and frangipane) with a surprise inside (une fève), what could be [...]
Working down to the bottom of my research list, we had an adventure on the outskirts of Paris, at Le Parc de Saint-Cloud. It spans over 460 hectares, and on the east end of the park at the Seine, was once the house purchased by Marie Antoinette, that delighted both Napoleon I and Napoleon III.
The [...]
Woke before dawn and watched the sun come up on a new decade, from a window I will soon sadly relinquish. Made coffee for my honey, who bravely accompanied me to Passy, a wealthy area of south-west Paris that was once a commune, as I begin to wrap up the research that brought me here. [...]
Lost a day and night to food poisoning, both of us, presumably via the dreaded shellfish! Discover a passion for oysters and the price of such passion in one go…
We did manage to drag ourselves through the Louvre, where Alfonso had never been. It was a sea of humans and alleged “masterpieces.” When the Mona [...]