Paris in Winter

I wasn't going to write a blog this trip. 

It takes a great deal of time and a commitment to focussing on the potentially memorable in order to capture things that may be of interest to others.

But so many people have asked where exactly we are, what we're doing and how the rest of the world is looking after two years of lockdown.  

So here we go. 

The first task was to choose a name for the blog. As we are in France to take possession of our little village house in the south west, it seems appropriate to call the blog something like "A Residence in France".  

But that's not a very clever title so I have opened a competition for a better name. Please send your suggestion to Paul at saviburke@icloud.com. There is no prize I'm afraid, only kudos in this small (but very select) company.

We arrived on Wed 22 Feb at about 2pm and spent 45 minutes waiting in a chilly 5 degrees for our Airbnb 'greeter'.  Paul has since weakened and added track pants and a light jacket to his t-shirt and even the thongs eventually gave way to sneakers, but he'd turned a delicate shade of blue by the time the 'greeter' let us in to the apartment.

On the other hand, I am very grateful to the amazing Ms Dani Rocca for her wise advice about a feather coat. My coat and I spied this gorgeous magnolia about to burst fully into flower in the Place des Halles.

Our apartment is cosy and warm, full of light and plants.

Paul has a desk. I have the table.

The kitchen has a pop-up exhaust fan. It works incredibly well.

Being on a corner we have seven windows with views onto either rue Turbigo or rue St Martin.

Our first outing was a walk to the Seine to see progress on the repairs to Notre Dame. There is not a lot of progress evident but Paris will host the summer Olympics in 2 years time and President Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swear it will be ready.

The magnificent Samaritane department store on rue de Rivoli is open again after about 10 years of restoration and renovation - and the plaza at the side entrance is showing the first signs of Spring. As you can see from the streets not everyone is back at work yet, the streets are quiet and there are few tourists.

In order to board our aircraft in Melbournes, enter the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi and then enter France, we had to first convert our Australian Vaccination Certificate into an International Vaccination Certificate. But because the stupid Australian government did not sign up to the European vaccination protocol as NZ and every other sensible country in the world did, our Australian "International" certificate is not recognised anywhere in Europe.

So we had to convert it to a local French "Health Pass" in order to be served in a cafe or restaurant, or to enter a gallery, museum or public building.  However, it was very easy; done quickly and efficiently by the young woman at the local pharmacy for a substantial fee of $55 each. 

We used our new, snappy online pass to enjoy a vin rouge as we waited for a heavy shower to pass in rue Montorgueil.

Had we been experiencing Covid symptoms we could have popped into a tent outside just about any pharmacy for a PCR or RAT test.

Our first meal in Paris was smemorable - minimal, expensive, sensational.  One of our favourite restaurants Yum T'cha has opened a new Dim Sum house called Lai T'cha and the menu is on this QR code. Forgot to take a foodie pic!

Musee Carnavalet is the Museum of the City of Paris.  It is a wondrous place in the Marais district and has just reopened after 4 years of renovations. I have been reading a book about the French Revolution by Hillary Mantel entitled A Place of Greater Safety, so we walked to Carnavalet to have a look at the French Revolution section where I could remind myself of what the key protagonists (in both my book and the Revolution itself) actually looked like.

Maximilien  Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins.

Sunday was freezing but sunny so we walked the length of the Canal St Martin from Republic to the Basin de la Villette. At Republic there were small Union based protests against Russia's aggression in the Ukraine.

Usually so green, the Canal looks very different in winter.

We sat by the water in the sun at La Villette for a vin rouge before retracing our steps back along the Canal towards Republic. 

Along the way we passed a very loud and enthusiastic street procession of African drummers and dancers that appeared to represent 5 or 6 different cultural groups They were having a great time and so were all of their followers and other onlookers. Easily 1000+ people controlled by one police vehicle front and rear and two marshalls with each group. 

Monday was sunny but still very cold.  We took the Metro to the Foundation Louis Vuitton in the outer 16th Arr. in the Bois de Bologne.

The exhibition was the Morozov Collection from Russia that has not been seen in France before.

It included many Impressionist paintings and sculpture including this Monet -

- and this heartbreaking Van Gogh painted during his year in the asylum of St Remy de Provence.

A fabulous collection in a fabulous building (designed by the American Frank Ghery) in a fabulous park.