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| Spring comes to the Tile Factory - I just love this view |
I had a lovely day in Paris yesterday, mooching around with friends and doing nothing much. The weather was overcast thought it didn't rain, dooming all attempts to do some good photos, as per usual. But never mind, I am trying to share with friends what experiences I actually have, so it is much more honest and realistic to show things as they are, which in this case was murky.
We went to Chatelet for a quick peek at the plants market, and then walked along the banks of the Seine direction Place de la Concorde (that's where the giant airplane is mounted on a plinth, the last of its tribe).
On-route we checked whether my now favourate cashmere shop (Richard Grand) had any of their special fabulous stoles in store. Last year I found one which they had produced 'as an experiment', which is almost twice as heavy as their regular stoles, and did sterling duty on the often unheated coaches that I commute in - I wore it almost every day for a month! They had not ordered any this year, but did manage to rootle up one from the previous year that had been overlooked, in a beautiful olive green - result!
Just around the corner is the Marche St-Honore where we had a little snack in an Italian restaurant. Well, it was supposed to have been lunch .... We ordered the cheese platter, enough for two, we were assured. The face of my friend when it arrived was priceless! Four two-inch thin slices of cheese, with a few pieces of broken walnut and, it must be admitted, a basket full of excellent bread. We immediately ordered another plate, this one full of charcuterie, which was more plentiful, but still barely counted as a snack, much less lunch. But as A. said, you can't expect la Bourboulian standards in the centre of Paris!
Thereafter we sidled up to my Paris club, deftly avoiding the entrance to the Hermes store that is along the way (one of my friends is trying hard not to buy a particularly desirable and hideously expensive shawl - I, of course, am quite immune to the lure of their scarf counter nowadays).
At the club we were rebuked for one of my friend's sneakers, and refused entrance to the main cafe. We were, however, allowed into the sports bar, which I didn't even know existed, and took tea overlooking the swimming pool where several sporty Parisian were doing the rounds, with the park-like garden in the background.
Thus refreshed we walked over to the Place de la Concorde, ogling the shop window of Maxim's on the way. I noticed that the Grande Roue, the giant ferris wheel, as still up. It is usually taken down in February, but will stay up longer this year because France is hosting the European football championship this year - every capsule is decorated with the face of a football player!
The Tile Factory (aka les Tuileries) is just beside the giant wheel, so we went there, too. Always an amazingly dusty experience, my shoes were still covered in a whitish powder when I arrived home in Oxford. All sorts of flowers were in bloom, though the daffodils had finished some time ago. My friend claimed they are still out on La Banne d'Ordanche - I hope they made it through the snowfall that was predicted for Saturday night!
The main disappointment of the trip was that we couldn't find any chicory, a coffee substitute which I favour as an after supper hot beverage, but well, you can't have everything. I did find a new Les Tresors de Picsou, though, which I read on the way home.
All in all it was a very nice day out.
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| Nifty car at the club entrance - some cool people are members! |
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| Maxim's shop window display |
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| Temporary facade while they are restoring the Hotel de la Marine |
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| Can you see the faces on the Ferris wheel? |
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| The tulips are out! |
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| Don't recall seeing this water-garden before |
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| The old lady sitting on that chair moved while I took the photo - her head was three inches away from the pigeon |
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| Pigeons are totally respect-less, even the most beautiful woman is just a roosting post for them |
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| Great composition, lousy colours - imagine this photo with a blue sky, please! |
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| Daisies galore |
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| Some sort of prune tree in bloom, gorgeous! |
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| though decrepit |
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| We nipped into the Louvre, this is the view from inside the pyramid, not the goal |
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| More prison bars |
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| Whatever were they thinking when they imposed this contraption on the Louvre? |
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| Having coffee opposite the Gard du Nord we noticed this melting house - apparently underground heating ducts are melting French residential properties all over central Paris |
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| There is a Velvet Underground exhibition on |
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| Personally I would sue! |
