“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 [...]
Leave it to the Dutch. In Maastricht one finds the Selexyz Dominicanen bookshop, housed in a 13th century Dominican church repurposed by architects Merkx + Girod. Featuring 14th century ceiling frescoes, and a café situated in the former choir (with a cheeky cruciform reading table), this shop is designed essentially as a giant, walk-in bookcase [...]
Tho’ you may think it strange/Wine and women play the mischief/With a boy who’s loose with change/They’ll never want to see a rake or plow/And who the deuce can parleyvous a cow? Oh how ya gonna keep em down on the farm/After they’ve seen Paree?
This post WWl tin-pan alley tune looped on my personal [...]
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. [...]