Roses to Paris

   Water ---  a favorite subject for me to attempt to watercolor. Above, patterns of a swift-flowing springtime Seine, near l'Île Saint-Louis.  (this looks like something I painted detailing waves in the Comal River)    A lock between the Canal Saint-Martin and the Seine. Looking downstream toward Notre Dame near sunset. Evening c ongregating on the banks  Play of bridge shadows, dusk Paris has the most delightful puff - pom clouds some times! And some dramatic contrasts in lighting as well. Water elements that delight me here...probably even more than the considerable human achievements in view. I am tonight in Reims...the capital of the Champagne region and of the crowning of French Kings of old.  Today I visited two small production wineries, Veuve Maitre-Geoffroy and Michel Fagot, and learned about what makes champagne champagne..and tasted a few as well.   Apparently Louis Vuitton now owns Dom Pérignon, Veuve-Cliquot and others...

Saturday morning May 11....  thoughts before the weekend begins totally, but at this spot took my takeout coffee and pain au chocolat, serenity, morning joy...(Place des Vosges) Yesterday I explored the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, in the 13e Arrondissement---very modern buildings looking nothing like old Paris; the quiet there was calming too.  The National Library is in the shape of a huge cloister with a "garden of eden" at forest scale in the middle, planted 4 years before the completion of the library in 1995.  No one but the few gardener-arborists is allowed access into that center forest, so it is a mostly undisturbed space of amazing diversity. The view from near the entrance where you see the upper canopy... Some interpretive panels line one side of the view--this one states that limiting access to the forest allows the introduction of pioneer species... and a haven of peace for  birds. A photo I took looking down: At a nearby university campus courtyar...

Mid-week after a week of bountiful beauty and humanity in Paris, I scouted places I wanted to situate precisely: the reverse-from-usual starting point for walking the "Coulée Verte" and the Gares du Nord & de l'Est for future train departures. From the Coulée Verte (or Petite Ceinture branch, perhaps): Walking guides to this beautiful linear park were vague about how to find the far starting point...most describe starting from a spot behind the Bastille Opéra near the center of Paris, rather than in or near the Bois de Vincennes on Paris' edge if you wanted to walk from the outside in.  Contrarian that one can be. From what I gathered, taking Métro Line 8, direction Créteil, stop Porte Dorée would do the trick.  Arriving there I went into a corner café for breakfast and met owner Sidi, a warm and friendly Kabyle-Algerian who actually knew about my Algerian dissertation author,  Kateb Yacine.  He also knew where to find the start to the walk.  I would have mi...

When Bernard (Paris Greeter, morning tour of Luxembourg Gardens) and I arrived, via 3' x 3' ascenseur   (typical tiny French elevator in apartment buildings) at his home, his wife Francine, impeccably dressed, welcomed me and had me put my little umbrella outside the door.  The one bedroom apartment was beautifully appointed, with tasteful furniture yet not large.  They have a country place as well, as do many upper middle class French.  At first Francine thought I was German (yesterday a Kabyle-Algerian café owner thought from my accent initially that I might be from Luxembourg, consistent!) but she seemed to like me more when I declared my U.S. citizenship.  The "simple lunch of leftovers" served on white linen, and from a silver rolling cart brought from the kitchen, consisted of, to start, tender radishes, filleted and skinned tomato slices, in crescents arranged beautifully in an oval dish, and a unique sort of tabouli, with choice of red or white wine (I c...

While in Texas, I bought an eSIM for communicating while not on Wifi, hoping that as advertised it was indeed easy to activate. (suspecting that it is easy if you are under 40 years old, which is the case no doubt.  Or if you aren't using it for the first time.)   Because I had not yet been able to actually turnit on to the available cellular networks it uses in France, I missed a Paris Greeter rendez-vous on Saturday, to the frustration both of my volunteer greeter and myself..if only.... we were waiting about two blocks apart for almost an hour to see if the other would show up.  Without confusion about   meeting spot, and if we'd used WhatsApp and I had a connetcion at the street cornerm all would have proceeded.   But great end of story, rescheduled to meet at in indisputably spot Monday, oh what a day it was. I later learned that Bernard and his wife had on Friday scouted the jardin du Luxembourg for a more successful visit.  Bernard has...

This was in the 7th Arrondissement, and Art Nouveau all decorated with Calla lilies Jardin du Luxembourg, (above and 2 below) a private park open to the public, owned by the French Senate Marché aux Fleurs, Île de la Cité: some familiar, some in surprising colors Random finds: In my courtyard, hidden behind some construction: