Auction House

finished with apt hunting, sat in all day yesterday looking for cheap flights to greece and generally working on the computer. didn’t get out enough, so didn’t sleep well. becca (a dog mom who is here for a year from LA) invited me to go to the auction house called “DROULT” with her today. am thrilled that i made myself go. it was so interesting!

becca has had great success. she first went with walter who is a dog dad from the park. i don’t think i have met him yet. walter apparently makes his living as an art buyer.

becca saw a painting that was attributed to jean dufy. she went to the viewing session then went home and did some research online. she found that the better jean dufy’s were selling for 25-35K at sothebys/christies. this one was valued at approx 1000-2000. she discussed it with her husband who gave her the ok to go up to 2000. it was up for sale on the day of the royal wedding, and she knew that the sessions would be emptier because of it. she got the painting for 2000, promptly brought it over to the official jean dufy expert down the block, who gave it a seal of approval (for 700 euros). she figures she could get 10-20K for it. she went and got it re-framed for almost the same amount as she paid. it seems so ballsy! we are all a chatter in the dog park about it. on saturday at dinner she said she was coming up monday and i said i wanted to come too. i sort of forgot about it, but she sent me an email. so i came up today to take a look. it is a whole world.

Droult is the facility, the auction center. it is a building where different auction companies rent a room to hold their sale. there are maybe 8-12 rooms, each holding auctions of different types. there are rug auctions, furniture auctions, art auctions. in fact, it’s much more specialized than that. the auction we were going to was impressionist to 20th century art. there was even an auction of vintage hermes clothing. though some auctions are of someone’s estate – so a general collection of things. it could be a cheaper way of furnishing if you like antiques.

i looked on the website for the particular auction we would attend. i saw real impressionist paintings – not by the big names of course, but by respected googleable ( a new word!) names. some beautiful paintings valued at 200-300 euros! gosh, that’s cheaper than MY paintings. maybe i could go buy an impressionist painting. not today. today i am just going to look and see how things are done. there are people lining the reception counter and people looking at the stuff and looking up the price. there was a 19th century to contemporary painting sale that we are going to. but there was also a room for rugs, a room for silver pieces, a room for one modern artist, a room of fancy furniture and stuff. i got to get up close and look at the paintings. there were some very nice paintings. one called “the spaniard” was quite small but beautifully painted with amazing detail for such a small format. the light was good. i would buy that painting. i think it was valued at 2K.

at noon, they all closed their doors for lunch. everyone went outside. all along the neighboring streets are shops for appraising, buying, selling, stamp collecting, furniture, asian arts. it is a whole system and society. i guess, some local shops go in and buy stuff daily from the auctions and then offer it for sale. it’s a whole society and world in itself. there were numerous cafes and restaurants nearby, filled with people working around the auctions. they all knew each other. according to becca, they were all having affairs with each other too. i was looking forward to the actual auction.

i met my becca in the hall outside the room where our auction would be held. it was 1:30. other people were waiting. when it got close to 2:00, people got up and stood in front of the door. when the doors finally opened, people rushed in, scrambling for seats. then there was an arrangement reminiscent of a courtroom. there was a a high desk where the “judge” sat in the center of the front. he had 2 women sitting to his left and a lower desk to his right where a man and a young woman sat. on one side of the room there was a low desk where 4 people sat facing the center, and one man sat facing away from the front. the “judge” was the auctioneer, and the man to his right was the “expert”. the expert announced each painting, with the “lot” number, the title of the work, artist, either attributed to or definitively, the value range and the starting price which was around half of the lowest value. i was confused at first because sometimes he would say “we’ll start the bidding at” and then he’d rattle off a few numbers – as if he was changing his mind at what to start the bidding at. he’d say “we’ll start the bidding at 100, 150, 200.” plus, he would be bidding on things. in fact, he was bidding for the people who had submitted bids on paper ahead of time. he had a bit of a speech impediment too. the auctioneer would go very quickly taking bids. and there was none of this “going once, going twice and gone!” stuff. he would just hold his gavel up look around the room and then hammer it down if he didn’t see any interest. then on to the next item. but sometimes he would hold his gavel up and cajole the crowd . “it’s a gift [because it’s so cheap]”. one time he looked at one of the people who had been bidding but was giving up, and said “are you sure? are you really sure? c’mon how about 400?”

there would be people talking at the same time, because as soon as an item was sold, the next item was being described as the old one was getting the credit card of the buyer. there’s no registering beforehand. when you have successfully bought an item you hand over your credit card and get a paddle with your number as your id. the guy sitting on the side is writing down the item number and the id of the buyer. the others were taking telephone calls for people bidding on things remotely, many of them speaking other languages. it was amazing how cheap some of the paintings went for. in fact, some did not sell at all. if there were no bids, the auctioneer would drop the price a little. but if there were still no bids, he would move onto the next item.

becca specifically went to the auction on the day of the royal wedding. she was right in thinking there would be very few people there. she has a name for a good portion of the clientelle. she calls them “doctors wives”. that’s when she got her dufy. one of the paintings i liked was a little “modern” painting – flattened shapes of a vase on other shapes. it was actually nice. it sold for 80 euros. my usual line is that i could paint it myself. but these paintings were impressionist paintings and they were really very different feeling from anything i would do.

teaching dog to count

is maynard, the dog sick or just bored? he doesn’t want to eat his food. has he gotten picky or bored with the same food every day? brought some of the food to the park and gave it to other hungry dogs as “cookie” in front of him, and then he liked it better and ate it at home. but that only worked for a little while. i put rice in it. that worked for a while. i put chicken soup in, also worked for a while. then i gave him soup from boullion cubes, which he ate a few times but then was hesitant again. unfortunately, i didn’t taste the boullion cube stock before i fed it to him. he didn’t seem to like it. finally after days of him rejecting it i tasted the stock. it was REALLY SALTY. oops. just like a baby, you should taste test the food before you give it to them. then we figured out that he actually wanted to work for it. if we made him do his tricks to get a reward of one piece of food, he got warmed up and then was starving and gobbled it down. has he turned into a french dog, who needs to have an appetizer before his main course? we’re also afraid he might be sick. last year, we went one afternoon to lincoln, he got a tick and within 2 weeks he was sick. actually they said he had 3 tick borne illnesses. when he couldn’t come with us last summer, he went back to lincoln. we were so grateful to our friends who took him in, but he was exposed to lots of ticks. after a few days in france, we even found a lincoln tick on him! don’t know how they cope over there. anyway, i’ve had him tested again and all it says is that he has been exposed to lyme disease and his levels are exactly what they were 3 months ago. maybe he’s bored. he can’t see out the windows here, so we put ½ of his plastic crate, upside down as a bench under the window for him to look out. he does sit there sometimes watching the people and dogs on the street. no squirrels here in paris. poor thing must miss them. they were his favorite pastime in belmont. he’d sit there for hours looking out the door at them. so i think he needs intellectual stimulation. i decided i should teach him how to count. we’re starting with one and two. at first he seemed to get it quickly. but he went away to camp for a week and forgot everything. we’re back at it, but he doesn’t seem to catch on. we have these colored stone eggs that we bought in italy. i put one on one corner of the rug and two on the other. i say “go to ONE” and point to it (he knows the command “move”). he’ll go. i say “go to TWO” and point to the 2 eggs. suffice it to say, progress is slow.

current landlord; dinner at friends

our new apartment is not available until july 1 and we have to leave our apartment on june 15, so we’ll still have to figure something out for the 2 weeks in between. there are enough short term rentals available, but it will just be a pain to move our stuff around twice. 

the landlord came by the apartment yesterday to dig in his storage. he has returned from south america to paris early to attend a wedding, so he needed to find his suit in the closet. it was a slight pain because i felt the need to make the apartment look good for him, so i spent the whole morning cleaning up. he might not even notice. i put maynard in a room to be out of visibility and vacuumed all the dog hair off the rugs. i realized later that the storage closet had a space under the door and probably there was a mass of dog hair that had found its way under there. oh well. anyway, he called again today because the shoes he took were from 2 different pairs and he had to come back to get a matched pair. we were over at the new apartment signing papers when he called. it made me roll my eyes and laugh. it was so typical. when he came by he showed me the 2 mismatched shoes. they were actually very similar black dress shoes – with only an extra seam in one. it was actually understandable that he might have made the mistake. he could have worn them and nobody would’ve noticed. i asked him if it would be possible for us to stay in the apartment until the end of the month. i meant to say to him, “think about it”, but with my bad french i said “you are thinking about it.” anyway, he understood.

we had dinner at a friend’s house. bob is the dog-dad of maynard’s girlfriend, tock, the beagle. ann is his wife. she is a current editor at the international herald tribune and he is a former editor. they have a nice cozy apt on the 5th floor with a nice balcony looking over at the eiffel tower. their rooftop was lovely. tom and becca, a dog parents from LA, were there as well. they are all real parents as well.

we started with champagne on the balcony. we had delicious mushroom risotto for starters then a lovely nut encrusted salmon and asparagus on the side. then we had fresh fruits on panacotta. the white wine was delicious, also a rosé served – the french apparently are into rosé. we finished with the sweet white that we brought. it was a lot of alcohol and i slightly passed my limit but had a wonderful time. it’s very convenient that we don’t need to drive in paris. we can usually take public transport home after drinking. tonight we are within walking distance.

apartment hunt

we had been seriously looking for an apartment for a month. our current lease runs out june 15th and the owner will move back in. the search has been a real pain. it took all of my time. i sat for hours at the computer scanning the ads, then calling, then going to visit them. it has been much harder this time than last year for many reasons.

firstly, we’re all much more fussy. we wanted a bigger place in a charming old building. everyone had their own personal list of requirements. jj wanted a view of the eiffel tower (i can’t help rolling my eyes every time i tell people this). p wanted a balcony. i wanted it to be close to school so jj could pop back for lunch or hang out with her friends there. i also wanted to be close enough to the champs de mars for dog walks and to continue to see the doggy people. maynard, the dog, wanted a balcony or a yard, or some sort of outdoor space. after looking at some apartments, the wish list got bigger. it should have nice light and maybe a view. it shouldn't feel like a college kid's apartment. it should feel like a grown-up's apartment. we should be able to see the sky. 2 toilets are certainly preferable to one, but if it only had one, it should be in a separate “water closet”. though, certain requirements did get eased. we started looking at more modern buildings, not just “hausmann” or 1930’s era. we would give up charm for a balcony. the allowable distance from school increased. of course, rents are high. the prices have even gone up since last year. there were fewer reasonably priced places – and “reasonably priced” is relative. we increased our rent allocation.

we thought that we might try getting an unfurnished apartment. many of our friends are also expats living in furnished apartments and they all feel the same way. instead of someone else’s crappy furniture, we’d rather have our OWN crappy furniture. we’re willing to spend time and a few thousand at IKEA. plus, we’re tired of other peoples “junk” in the apartment.

in the empty apartments, the french have varying levels in kitchen furnishings. the previous tenant might take with them the things they installed, like the fridge, the stove, the oven, even the cabinets. i not only had lots of practice with my french in just setting up appointments with agents, i also learned the subtleties in the language describing the kitchen. a “cuisine vide” means it has nothing but the walls, a sink and some plugs. it would probably cost minimum 2000 euros to furnish an empty kitchen. a “cuisine amenagé” means there are cabinets but no appliances. a “cuisine equipée” means it may have a stove, an oven and a fridge too, though not necessarily all of them.

there are lots more unfurnished apartments, than furnished apartments, but what we learned was, there are a lot more people going for them too. only the foreigners would be going for a furnished place. any normal person would be looking for an unfurnished place. there is a shortage of apartments in paris. we suddenly found ourselves in competition with loads of french people, people with regular salaried jobs and a credit history. at some apartment viewings there would be 30 french people, all prepared with their “dossier” (bank statements, paychecks, etc) under their arms. in those cases, we figured out that we didn’t have a chance. p was an independent worker (no salary records), we had no tax document from the previous year, i wasn’t working and we were weird foreigners who could (in their eyes) disappear into the ether without paying the rent. plus we have a dog, which they are not allowed to refuse, but we figured wouldn’t be a plus either. we realized it wasn’t just a question of finding the apt we liked, it was also a matter of being accepted as tenants. we knew it would be hard, but we still believed we could do it.

in total, i considered almost 60 apartments over 5 weeks. at first we started out slow, but then i picked up the pace. we found several apartments that would be ok. some of the family liked them, but others didn’t at all. then we found an apartment we all approved. it was offered unfurnished but had some furniture that the landlord would be happy to leave there. it was a good size, on the 5th floor of a nice old building, with a pseudo balcony – big enough to put 2 skinny chairs on, along the wall, with a view of the eiffel tower. one toilet, furnished kitchen. 5-10 minute walk to school, closer to the dog park. we told the agent we wanted it and he asked for a dossier. i moved quickly to put together the papers and took it myself to his office that day, a friday afternoon. the office was dark and i had a feeling he was gone for the weekend. after the weekend and a few weekdays, he called to ask if we had sent the dossier. we told him i had left it at the office. oh, he would go look... we called after several more days and he said he hadn’t given it to the landlord yet. after many back and forths, we felt that either the agent was incompetent, the owner really WAS hard to find (out in the french countryside – not some exotic locale) or we were being jerked around. they were probably waiting for a better candidate. we continued our search. days would pass and we would assume we were out of the running then he’d call back with another document request. finally, they said we could have the apartment if we created a “blocked” bank account – an account with 12 months of rent set aside by the bank, payable to the owner if we stopped paying the rent. time was running out and we were not confident that we would actually get to signing a document with these people. we had a few more places to look at and so we told them we would discuss their request.

jj’s school has a parent website. there was a nice apartment that i had not considered because it was too expensive and a longer walk from school. however, after a month of looking, with our slight budget increases in reaction to the market and an expanding radius around the school, suddenly this apartment merited looking at. owned by the parents of a mom at the school. the apartment was beautiful, furnished tastefully, bright. even though it had no balcony, only one toilet, and was not bigger, it felt right. it was the same distance to the champs de mars in a more bourgeois building, in a more bourgeois neighborhood. we asked if the price was negotiable and she told us right away a price that was attainable – again a little more than we wanted to pay, but there were no agent fees, which made a difference. she had no problem with us having a dog. we asked then and there, “if we wanted it, could we have it?” she said, “yes, i trust you. i am an honest person and i assume you are honest people.” we went to lunch and decided to take it. we signed the next day. it’s amazing what a difference a personal contact makes. coming from the school we were in the same community. it was so easy. what a relief!

only a flesh wound

maynard, the dog, cut me off as i was running.  i went flying and landed on the dirt path in the champs de mars. got hands and knees and elbows scraped. in mid air, all i could think was, “oh no! it’s SOOO dirty here!” this being the only place for miles where dogs are allowed, there are lots of them, all doing their things. but it was fine, just a flesh wound, though it looks pretty bad. made a hole in my pants at the knee. the doggy people were so nice. they came running, helped me up and offered their nearby apartments if i needed it. i was also touched that the other people who came to help were the african eiffel tower souvenir vendors. i realized that they are probably very nice people just trying to make their meager living.
meanwhile, jj went to giverny and monet’s garden today on a school day trip. it was a lovely day for it. she was very lucky.

maynard attacked

i was on my normal morning run with maynard. we were running up to the doggy area in the champs de mars. there was a bunch of dogs playing in a group and as maynard ran by, this big black flat coated shepherd tried to attack him. it was the same dog i had seen grab onto the scruff of the neck of a yellow lab (owned by an asian american woman) a few weeks ago. it grabbed on and wouldn’t let go for a long time. the yellow lab was crying at that point. the master of the bad dog was saying “stop, stop!” but not doing anything to pull him off. other owners were yelling and a pack of littler dogs were barking and running around the 2 dogs. it was mayhem. it was a long time that the black dog’s jaws were locked on and i was sure there would be blood everywhere. finally, the owner really acted and was able to get him off. surprisingly, there was no blood or any visible sign of damage. the other doggy parents were talking and saying that the master never disciplines the dog, so of course, it didn’t listen.

anyway, today, the same dog went running up to maynard, growling and trying to grab his scruff in the same way. maynard had a terrified look in his eyes and was barely able to scramble away before it could lock onto his scruff. maynard’s neck was all wet from saliva. the master put the dog on a leash and went off riding his bike. i asked the doggy parents, “was that the same dog that...” they said “yes”, before i could even finish my sentence. luckily, maynard was unharmed. now i know why many dog owners are wary of unknown dogs. one just can’t tell how an unfamiliar dog might act. in fact, this was a regular dog around the park. i have seen other dogs who were fine, suddenly get ornery and start attacking.

stuck in elevator, 2

jj got stuck in the same elevator (at her friend's apartment) again today. luckily it was during the day on a weekday. she was supposed to be heading home to walk the dog. i was unhappy with the fact that she should've been home earlier, when she called to inform me she was stuck again. she said she had just readjusted her heavy bookbag on her shoulder, when it stopped.  she pushed the emergency button, which calls the elevator company.  she said she got to practice her french.  she just didn't know the word for "stuck" which the lady helped her out with.  after jj gave the address, the lady hung up.  jj didn't know if someone was sent or not.  after half an hour, she called back.  yes, someone was on the way.  it took an hour for the appropriate person to come.  so, she was sitting there, doing her homework (i was proud of her for being so efficient). her friends sat outside the door, drinking cokes.  they played music and danced.  ("what?" i said, " you danced in the elevator that couldn't even take a jiggle of the bookbag?"  "just a little shoulder moves", she said).  the friend's mom wasn't home, but she hurried back when she heard. she wasn't scared this time except when without warning, the elevator went up a little and then down a little, back and forth, then the alarm went off. she thought then that she might plummet and die.  the elevator repairman had't let them know that he was there. he just went straight to the basement to do his thing.  he then lowered it to the ground floor.

DSK talk

paris is buzzing about dominique straus kahn, who they refer to as DSK. in case you don’t know, the current head of the “international monetary fund” or “ IMF” and also the predicted french presidential frontrunner for the socialist party was arrested on sunday for attempted rape of a hotel cleaning lady.  imagine the headlines if one of the prime candidates for US president was arrested for the same thing... hard to understand why a guy in such a privileged position would risk so much in such a stupid way. i was in the park with the dogs and doggy parents and heard them talking. as always, some people blame the victim – saying sometimes certain women wear much to short skirts. i also hated hearing that some journalists said “and she wasn’t even pretty”. someone else suggested that the little maid outfit makes some guys go wild.

at first, everyone here thought it must be a conspiracy (new vocab word for me – “complot”. excellent word – looks like it’s made up of the words “committee” and “plot”), but after his history came out, many think he is probably guilty. i do hope that the woman’s life isn’t totally ruined. apparently, the current president, sarkozy warned DSK that he had to watch himself with the americans who really took this sort of thing seriously.

what i loved most was the explanation by one older woman who is a multi-dog mom and obvious doggy person. she said something like: “boy-dogs all want to mount the girl-dogs when they are in heat, but there are some dogs who want to mount ALL the dogs ALL the time. DSK was one of those dogs”.

boston trip

may 10-16, i went to boston to check up on the house. our old tenants are moving out and new ones moving in. i went to dig into our storage to take out our kitchen things, which i was supplying to the new tenants. the stuff was not in one place. the various boxes were scattered in various parts of our storage. it was a LOT of work. but it also allowed me to go through many of the other boxes and pull out things i wanted. it sort of seemed silly to go back, since it would’ve been cheaper to send someone to ikea and buy a set of kitchen things, but it was good to go back and check on the house. the garden looked gorgeous. i also got to go visit my mom and sister and family up in new hampshire. i brought 2 paintings back from paris to show friends who had expressed interest in them. one of them was purchased. then i packed some old paintings to bring to paris to try to sell.

scallops with pea pasta

beautiful day. went for my daily morning run with maynard, but stopped first at the marché. bought 3 kilos of scallops (including the shells – which will actually only serve 3 people) and a kilo of fresh peas. then i did what i see french people do all the time. i asked the vendor if i could leave my bag with him for half an hour. no problem! so i ran off with maynard without carrying around an extra 8 pounds of weight and came back to pick it up afterwards.

p and i went to breakfast in cafe. i had the “english breakfast” = fried eggs and canadian style bacon, croissant, buttered baguette, big coffee.

jj is at sleepover; went to see an apt in the same area. for dinner i fried the scallops and then made a new attempt to replicate the italian fresh peas and pasta. i cooked the peas slightly more, and then pureed some, adding a little pasta water to make it more saucy. of course, there was garlic and olive oil and parmesan. the family thought it was pretty good, but it still wasn’t as good as italy. i think it’s the peas. really.

jj orchestra concert

our road, rue du commerce was closed off today for pedestrians only. it is a sort of street fair with all the vendors having tents in front. it is terribly crowded on saturdays as it is, but this made it even more crowded and difficult to walk. 

later, jj had an orchestra concert. we arrived at 8:30, for the beginning of the concert, but another younger orchestra was going to play first and they hadn’t even started. we decided we’d go for walk while they played. (they were all playing the same music from the last concert). on our walk, we found a jazz club with a pianist playing, so we decided to stop and have a drink. they had nice sangria. we felt a little guilty, but we also laughed at the idea. we got back to the church just in time. her orchestra isn’t great, but the location, an ancient stone church with carved columns, was beautiful. i sat there thinking that at least this was an opportunity to make this complex music – even with mistakes – in an interesting environment. you don’t have this sort of place in the US. jj said that at one point, all the violinists had turned their pages to the next piece, but it was the wrong music, so they didn’t come in at the right time. funny, we hadn’t notice at all. on top of that, the audience, made up of parents and grandparents, were a bit over-enthusiastic. they applauded wildly at the very end, with a standing ovation and called for an encore. a bit overdone. the french get very enthusiastic about music. anyway, afterwards, jj went to the home of her friend (the other violinist) for a sleepover. 

p and i went to blvd montparnasse. p wanted go to cafe he remembered from past visits, to get a bite. it is called “le select” which is the namesake of a cafe in belmont. the food was ok, not great. the french salad nicoise is just not as good as it should be. i used to LOVE french salads, but salads in the US have now surpassed the ones in france. but it was fine. what was nice was sitting there on the boulevard. it is a very animated area. you could be alone and feel like you were with company, just sitting there watching the people.

royal wedding

spent a lot of time looking at apartments online.

today was also the royal wedding. some british friends from the conversation group organized a get-together at lunchtime at the local british pub to watch. i hadn’t been following the lead up to the event, but in any case, i decided i had to get dressed up and wear my big straw hat. we started off with champagne and then had fish and chips. it was good fun. i enjoyed looking at the royal couple and thinking that they actually seemed to like each other and hope they have a happy life together. it was quite touching to watch.

jj had another french lesson today. it really seems to be helping. she seems much more comfortable speaking than before. she just seemed to need a little practice to get things going. for dinner, we went to try out the chinese noodle restaurant that we found earlier. the cook makes fresh noodles and basically cooks them fresh for your dish. it was wonderful.

violin teacher concert

we went to hear jj’s violin teacher and her new quartet in concert at the american building in the city university. she played some astor piazola and philip glass. she does very creative stuff. they had a friend make a little film that went with the philip glass piece. unfortunately, with music playing and a film showing, i end up focusing on the images rather than the music. i tried closing my eyes to just hear the music, but kept coming back to the images.

maynard to dr

maynard has not been well. he barfed a couple of times. i’m worried that he has lyme disease again, so i took him to the vet to get some tests.  will hear back in a few days.

sue and her mom and brother visit

monday, m’s mom headed home and m spent the day with her dad.

meanwhile my friend from college, sue, arrived with her brother and 85 year old mother. her mother has been “in training” for this trip and was really amazing. she had broken her hip last year and just walked and walked to get back into shape. she leads an extremely active life, still playing in the same orchestra since sue and i were in college. they came to dinner. i made the same thing as the night before! 

the next evening, i went with them to the restaurant with my paintings. we had a very nice dinner.  i had told them about my "riz de veau" experience and her brother, who likes that sort of thing too, decided to have it, along with the suggested wine. 

one more week off

we got back last sunday and p went to pick up the dog from the countryside. the dog returned skinnier and stinkier. i gave him a bath the next day (out in the courtyard of the building). the weather in paris is gorgeous. jj is on vacation for this whole week too. i’m trying to take jj out to do things in paris and not forget that we are here in this amazing city. we went wandering a bit in paris and were crossing a street next to our apt and almost got hit by a car. we had the light to walk, and a car was turning the corner slowly. i thought the driver was looking at us. he got closer and closer and didn’t stop when he should’ve. finally, i screamed. jj saw that he wasn’t paying attention and scooted out of the way. he was all apologetic, but meanwhile, everybody around us looked. i’m glad that jj was paying attention and could tell he wasn’t seeing us. as everywhere, there are plenty of crazy drivers here too.

we went to see an exhibit on “madame gres” who was a dress designer. apparently she started out as a sculptor. the exhibit was at the musee bourdelle, bourdelle being a sculptor who worked at the end of the 1800’s until 1929 and made very large chunky sculptures of heros and large people – “monumental” sculture. sort of a funny name too, because it sounds like “bordelle” which means “whore house”.

jj’s friend m and her parents, arrived on wednesday morning on the red-eye flight and didn’t even take a nap. jj went over to pick her up and show her around. jj brought her to the eiffel tower and biked on the champs de mars and then took her to have macaroons at Bon Marche. then they came back to go look at an apartment with me. our lease ends on june 15, so now is the time to get serious about finding a new one. the apt was very close to school, but a bit frumpy in decor. a little old lady must have lived there and left her furniture... m and parents went off to giverny for the day thursday, but we met up with them for dinner. we went to “l’auberge nicolas flamel”, a restaurant housed in the oldest building in paris. nicolas flamel was an alchemist and built this house in 1407. food was good and reasonably priced.

jj spent a lot of time with m, and it seemed like m hardly spent time with her parents. but i guess that was ok with them, since they got to see paris on their own terms. easter sunday, we all went biking on the highway along the seine. later, they all came to dinner. i made duck breasts with raspberry sauce and also salmon teriyaki. i forgot that they weren’t big meat eaters. oh well.

end of trip

we packed our bags and brought them back to the car, and then went back into venice. we took the ferry and got off at the rialto bridge. we split up, jj and i went shopping at touristy stalls and the fish market where i bought some beautiful dried tomatoes. then we sat on a pier and i did a drawing. we met p and went to have lunch a sandwich at a sandwich bar and a pasta at a fish market cafe. then we headed back to car to drive to bologne airport. we into the city thinking maybe we could take a quick peak. last time we were here we decided that we really liked bologne. but we quickly hit traffic and decided to just go to the airport instead.

venice full day

our only full day in venice, we got up, had breakfast and let jj sleep in. when we finally got going, it was 10:30. i had to mail some gifts we got for the cousins, to the US. we walked to the post office along the water. i bought a box to use and as i was building it and packing my things, the post office computer broke and the lady started shooing people out of the office. she told them to come back in an hour, i didn’t understand what was going on exactly, but an old man came in and she was trying to explain it to him, he made some comment and she made some strange gesture with her hands waving up and down her body. i really wish i knew what she said. then an old lady came in, insisting on something. the post office lady was nice, never lost her temper. just tried to explain things over and over. i finished packing my box and by the time i figured how to close it, the computer was back up, so i got to send my package fine. it just took a 45 minutes...

we walked inland and back towards our b&b so we could go to the peggy guggenheim museum. apparently this is the best collection of 20th century art in italy. she had jackson pollacks, miros, kandinsky, jean arp, salvador dali, yves tanguy, joseph cornell, really everybody... we had a lovely lunch there in the museum cafe. then we walked towards the center. we decided to head to st mark’s square. we went at the wrong time- it was packed to the gills with tourists and it was exactly the bad impression of venice that p had had from his first trip here. we quickly walked through and headed inland. i would like to go back there in the early morning, when it is more empty. we finally found a less crowded spot and decided to splurge on the gondola ride. some gondola facts: there used to be 4000 gondolas in venice. now there are 400. it used to be the only form of transportation. there was a big battle between the gondoliers and the “vaporetti” which are the boat buses, and motor boat taxis. the boat buses cost 6.50. the gondolier ride cost 80 euros (for 1-6 people). now it is relegated to be more of an amusement park ride, than transportation. it is very strictly regulated. our gondolier said he is only allowed to work 3 days out of 5. he is a third generation gondolier and his son is studying now to be one too. they have to go to school for 2 years. aside from learning to row the boat, they need to learn enough of 4 other languages – english, german, dutch and french. it takes 5 years to pay off your gondola, but the gondola will last 20 years. the canals are 6 feet deep.

we have really enjoyed our stay here. i wanted to start our last dinner in venice at a recommended bar. we followed the directions of the book and went down a tiny little alley – about 4 feet wide, thinking, this couldn’t be right. it turned right and then left and then suddenly opened onto a cute little plaza right on the grand canal. the bar had slightly expensive drinks, but piles of free food. help yourself. good value, though the food was just ok. afterwards, we went to another recommended place for dinner. jj had a plate of pasta and p and i, having eaten a lot at the previous bar, just shared an antipasti plate. too bad we were full, since the food looked quite good.

venice

we packed up, and left at 11:30 to go to venice.

the first time i went to venice, it was in summer. i was on a solo whirlwind 3 week tour of europe. it was towards the end of my trip. i was tired and venice was hot, humid and stinky. the canals do get stinky. i wasn’t impressed (though, i do have a fond memory of being woken by the garbage man going by at 5 in morning singing opera)

the second time i went to venice, it was in winter, many things were closed and i couldn’t find any restaurants. so i wasn’t too impressed then, either, and had no interest in going back. apparently jj had been talking about venice and has been wanting to go for years. i must have blocked it out of my ears since i had no desire to go back. but, luckily, p was booking the flights and included venice in our itinerary. as we approached time to depart, i got more and more excited. i opened up my mind again to the idea of venice. spring is a very good time of year to be there.

following the direction of the owner of the b&b, we drove over the bridge to the island, parked the car in the giant parking garage and took the boat bus.

as the boat pulled away, the scenery was quite industrial. i pulled out the book that a friend had lent me on venice restaurants. when i looked up from it, i was struck by the scene in front of me. we were on the grand canal lined with the houses of islamic influenced style. it was beautiful. we actually took the boat-bus in the wrong direction, the long way around, but we didn’t mind, as we got a lovely tour. we got off at our stop and walked through the little alleys and along canals. i thought the address was for a little street that wasn’t visible on the map, but we discovered that the addresses were merely a number and a district. each house has a unique number in that district. the addresses do not include the street name. you have to know the district to know where the house might be. it’s not a great system (but not as bad as tokyo, which apparently has houses numbered in ascending order based on when they were built). we called the owner again and he told us the name of the road. it was a nice b&b in a very old building, on a little road that led to the lagoon. we had a decent triple. the first thing we did was to plug in our computers. we had been without internet for 5 days and i had this feeling that the agent helping us to rent out our house, might be trying to reach us. i was a little nervous about being out of touch. (p said he thought i was addicted to the internet. i said, “yes, i think i am addicted to the internet too”. he said “the first step to recovery is to admit there is a problem”. i replied “i didn’t say it was a problem”). in fact, our agent was frantic, trying to reach us. someone DID want to rent our house in boston and she couldn’t get hold of us. we made contact and then we went out into venice. we walked through the silent narrow streets.

the striking thing about venice is, how quiet it is. (if you are away from the touristy areas). there are NO cars, NO mopeds, NO motorbikes. in fact, it is not a town friendly to any kind of wheels, motorized or not. the many foot bridges crossing canals, made of stone with a few steps up and a few steps down would make using a bike a pain. the cobblestones and the risk of falling into canals would make skateboarding or rollerblading dangerous. unfortunately, it is certainly not wheelchair friendly.

the only motorized vehicles were boats on the canals. along the smaller canals, the gondolas slowly make their way, so there were no noisy speeding boats there either. because of all these things, it is very peaceful, and i felt a sense of calm.

much of the city is made of narrow alleys and canal-side walkways. it is a remarkable feeling, knowing that the easiest way to get anywhere in this town, in this age of motorized everything, is to walk. everybody walks. we would be walking along a path and suddenly a wave of walkers would flock by at a brisk pace.

the main area of venice is divided into 2 by the grand canal which flows like a backwards S. the only bridge that attaches the 2 parts is the rialto bridge, a big stone bridge which is divided into 3 lanes and is made of stone stairs climbing to the center and descending down the other side. in the center lane are touristy shops facing inward. it leads down on one side to the fish market. the rialto bridge could be said to be the center of town.

we walked towards the center, but my first intended stop was a bar called “fiore”. venice has a tradition of little dishes served in bars, similar to tapas. one of the things people do here is to bar hop and eat little dishes along with drinks. fiore was quaint and small. we had a few nibbles and a drink and went out looking for a more substantial dinner. i had the book with me and we made our way to a recommended restaurant. unfortunately, it was now prime dinner time and there was a line out the door. this is one thing that really drives p crazy, because, unlike me, he can’t imagine that any meal is worth waiting on line. so i didn’t insist, and he humored me as we went looking for other recommended restaurants. the next one was closed and the one after that was really too much like a bar for jj to feel comfortable in. we tried 2 more, and then i gave in and said, ok, whatever place you pick is fine. we settled for a touristy joint in a plaza. it was not terrible, but it was mediocre. it’s sad to have a mediocre meal in italy where there is so much fabulous food, but, i had tried to find us a good place. i will prepare myself in advance for our next dinner.

we set off to find our way home through the alleys. it reminded me of the early computer game “adventure” which had an area of “twisty, turny, mazelike passageways”. the game must have been invented by someone who had been to venice. we let p get us home, knowing that he would enjoy this game. it wasn’t easy, even with the map. but it was lovely out, the temperature was perfect - a bit cool, but not cold. our b&b is right near peggy gugenheim’s house which is now a museum – so not too shabby a part of town.

last day in tuscany

our last full day in this area. we went to the office where we are staying, and the lady helped us book tickets for the uffizi museum. we were told that you have to book ahead otherwise you can be on line for hours. we arrived in florence around 12:30 and split up. p went to get tickets. he said later that the line to pick up tickets was just a little shorter than the line to buy tickets – but i was happy to avoid any risk that we’d have to wait on line for hours. he also said that the booking cost 4 euros in addition to the ticket, but this happened to be cultural week and so the tickets were free. jj and i went shopping looking for my old favorites shops. the jewelry store where they made replicas of jewelry seen in renaissance paintings didn’t seem to be there anymore. the. leather store was there, but didn’t find anything. we met p at museum. p had scouted around and found a lovely little restaurant on a quiet square. i had gnuddo, sort of like big dumplings made of fresh spinach mixed with ricotta and baked and white sauce poured on top. it was very good and fresh tasting. p and jj both had pizza. these are the times i love the best, sitting in the sun in a quiet italian cafe. very atmospheric.

we spent about 2 hours in the ufizzi, which has many of the best renaissance pieces including botticelli’s “birth of venus” and “spring”. it was fun to see the pieces again, even though we just did a quick run through. p said he wasn’t bowled over. to him, it was just a bunch of old paintings. i do prefer these paintings to those in the louvre, where i am very aware of how our tastes are different now. however, we were all quite taken this time, with the portraits by bronzino. really touching and beautiful.

the museum shop had jewelry replicas from the paintings – just like the shop i had been looking for. p bought me a beautiful pair of amethyst and pearl earrings from one of the bronzino portraits. they are my new favorites. there was a website written on the little bag – which was: www.tharros.com. so you can check it out, but i don’t see a way of ordering online.

afterwards headed to the famous gelato shop, vivoli, and this time we were successful. but to be honest, it didn’t blow me away like the first time i had it. we have an excellent gelato chain store in paris called amorino. plus, as p reminded us, the famous sorbet and ice cream by berthillon sold on ile st louis, is amazing. we headed home, and were going to try a restaurant recommended by the lady in the office, but it was a bit too pricey so we decided to go back to the “locanda di pietracupa”. this time, jj ordered the truffle zucchini pasta and tagliatelle of beef. i would have ordered the truffle pasta again, but since jj ordered it, i decided to try the risotto with asparagus and shared her beef. p had the onions again – it was the only vegetarian starter – and the spinach ravioli. it wasn’t the same experience as the first night. oh well, always the danger in going back.