Two Days with Moritz and Rebecca

After a glorious, five-day romp in Paris, Becky flew back to the States yesterday (sad times Panda). Now that she and Gladis have come and gone, we only have one remaining visitor coming up - Maggie's mom. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, we're super late in gushing about two visitors we had in early April, when the ash cloud was still just a bit of indigestion in the belly of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano.

Rebecca (Maggie's 2nd cousin) and Moritz (Rebecca's partner) had previously been our hosts when we visited Munich for Thanksgiving. We were excited to return the favor during their trip to Paris, and we hope we showed them as good of a time as they showed us.

Since neither Rebecca nor Moritz cared too much about hitting all the major sites of Paris, we were free to meander through our favorite areas, stopping by places both familiar and completely new. For example: the Maison de Victor Hugo (the apartment where he lived between 1832-48 is now a free museum run by the City of Paris) . . .


 . . . the Berthillon salon de thé . . .

 . . . La Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché, where all kinds of Easter-related delights could be found  . . .

 . . . and the Pont des Arts, where couples recently began leaving small padlocks attached to the bridge as a sign of their undying love (the City of Paris just announced it will soon begin removing said padlocks).

But the big event of the weekend had nothing to do with where we went or what we did. It started when Moritz emailed us several weeks before the visit, asking for restaurant recommendations for a "special celebration." Maggie came up with Les Ombres, the restaurant on top of the Musée du Quai Branly with close-up views of the Eiffel Tower. Here's the happy pair before dinner:

When they got home, we found out that Moritz and Rebecca had had the "best meal of their lives," followed by a short walk to the Eiffel Tower, where Moritz proposed, and where Rebecca accepted. Hooray! and congratulations!

It turned out Moritz and Rebecca showed themselves a good time in Paris. We're just glad we got to go along for the ride.

Happy Easter!

Paris can't seem to make up its mind about Easter. Lots of things are closed today and tomorrow - schools, the BN, the Grands Magasins - but lots of other things are open - museums, local boulangeries, parks. Schools have spring break starting two weeks from now, but people still call it "Easter break," much as they do in the U.S. Flowerbeds are bursting with color but temperatures have been hovering in the upper 40s (Fahrenheit, obvi). Whereas I'd expect everyone to be hunkered down with family obligations today (including a big dinner), I have a rehearsal and a photo shoot scheduled late this afternoon, and no one I know has left town for the long weekend.

Still, it's not like anyone could miss Easter's arrival. Egg-shaped balloons hang from balconies and delectable desserts beckon from storefront windows. Yesterday we stopped by La Grande Epicerie at Le Bon Marché with our most recent visitors, Rebecca and Moritz, and took in the sights and smells.


Happy Easter, everyone!

Fête de la Saint-Patrick

No one seems to be celebrating around here (at least not in Belleville, which seems to have welcomed every ethnic and religious group but Irish Catholics), but that needn't stop us from paying hommage to St. Patrick, aka Sanctus Patricius, aka Naomh Padraig, on his feast day. So here's some green from our photo archive.

Barbie, Rue Dénoyez, all made-up for the St. Paddy's Day Parade

Park behind the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, 4e arr.

Lockers, Archives Nationales

Chinese New Year's Day Parade

Lobby, Hôtel Georges V

Completely unintelligible pedestrian sign, Lyon

Napoleon's "Camp" Bed, Fontainebleau

Wall tiles, Le Bon Marché

Design-y Lamps, 5e arr.

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Love the Engrish

I'm not sure what they sell at this store we saw from the bus in Fontainebleau, but whatever it is, I certainly don't want it on sale.

(Just in case you have a hard time reading that, it says "Manhattan Gigolo.")

As for this next one, since we saw it in Le Bon Marché, it must be ok.

Someone likes her sweaters extra-pimply. 

Le Bon Marché

Before Printemps, before Galeries Lafayette, before BHV and La Samaritaine, there was Le Bon Marché. The first modern department store, Le Bon Marché revolutionized shopping and middle-class life. Sales, special events, entertainment for children, fixed-price shopping, all were pioneered by Le Bon Marché's founder, Aristide Boucicaut, in the mid-19th century. And the place is still going strong, as classy as ever.

The building complex isn't as flashy as the flagships for Printemps or Galeries Lafayette, but it has its nice touches, especially inside. 

Yeah, they've got fish. But I don't think they're for sale. Anyway, our favorite part of the store is elsewhere - it's La Grande Épicerie, a humongous and remarkably aesthetically pleasing gourmet supermarket.

Any store that arranges dried fruit and nuts, egg cartons (notice how they're not refrigerated?), and jars of olives and spices so carefully is a store we like to shop at. Also, they have a really funny American aisle. Peanut butter, syrup, popcorn, pancake mix, M&Ms, Hershey's chocolate chips, OMG THEY HAVE FLUFF BRB

Fluff makes us miss Somerville. But we have plenty here to be excited about. Not least of which is the fact that Le Bon Marché, a fancy-pantsy luxury department store, welcomes dogs.