Happy Third Anniversary to Katharine and George! 🙂

Gretchen headed for the airport at 8:30 and Mark needed one more serious morning of catching up on sleep so I worked on the VRBO site for the Estes Park house, processed photos and wrote a few notes for the blog.

At about 12:30 we pulled a few things out of the fridge and had a little bite to tide us over (the fennel and oranges are wonderful after sitting for a couple of days, and of course goat cheese in its various forms is yummy any time…). Mark got online and ordered me a Velib bike and we walked down and hopped on.

We headed in the direction of the Jacquemart Andre museum, which took us south across Pont Neuf, east along the Tuileries, north through Place Vendome (the column is being restored, along with a couple building facades), toward the Opera, then left on Haussman where we found a bike stand to drop off our bikes. We walked the remaining blocks to 158.

The Musee Jacquemart Andre is a mansion that was built in 1836 to house the banker’s considerable art collection. His wife was a painter herself who had a special love of the art of Renaissance Italy, and they made frequent visits to Florence and surrounding areas to acquire some amazing pieces. The mansion and art collection were bequeathed to the Institute of France on the couple’s death. It has an exhibition space and the current one is on Perugino and Raphael. The installation is in maybe 7 rooms, and it was wonderful! I love Raphael’s art but I didn’t realize that he was a student of Perugino. I also didn’t realize that he and Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci were contemporaries who were all living around the time that Columbus made his trip toward across the Atlantic in 1492. Must brush up on some history…

We found another Velib bike stand and rode toward Maison du Miel – House of Honey. (It took a bit of riding around the neighborhood to find a spot to drop the bikes. That part can be interesting and a bit of an adventure.) Love that place. Wall to wall honey of all flavors. We tried several and bought a couple (lavender and thyme). There were a couple of shoe shops in the vicinity so we had a look and Mark found some nice ones. We found another Velib  stand and rode back toward home, this time down Rue Honore (beautiful shops here!) then turning south in front of the Louvre at the beginning of the Tuileries, across the Seine, down Rue de l’Universite and back home. Mark went back out riding for about another hour while I got a shower and some down time.

Several years ago we met a very fun Parisian couple about our age, Jean Claude and Olivia. She is actually Italian come to think of it. This was well before Gretchen and Luigi bought the apartment here and now it turns out they live a few blocks away. They had exchanged homes many years ago with our dear high school friend, Terri, who lives in Los Angeles. We have had dinner together a few times and on another occasion they joined us for a few days in Provence and we’ve come to really enjoy them. All that to say we had made plans to have dinner together and we ended up at a little neighborhood spot and had a delightful time together. It’s really, really nice to have friends to reconnect with here, and now they have become friends with Gretchen and Luigi as well.

Another gorgeous day. (View from the apt)

Hallway out to the courtyard

And out into the street

Nice view around the corner

Another nice doorway and courtyard

Little gallery across the street

Another bike adventure

Place Vendome – the column is under renovation

Passing by the Opera House on bikes

Interesting sculpture in a window

Nice mirror! And I like the image it captured

These little girls had apparently been taught to check exits the way American kids are taught to “look both ways”

At the entrance to the Jacquesmart Andre Museum

Entering the courtyard

Nice fireplace

Lovely staircase

Hallway

The Winter Room

Another view of the Winter Room

Entrance to Perugino exhibit

Another entrance

Detail of stone carving on the entrance

Entrance to Venice Room

Explanation of Perugino

Exhibition poster

Monsieur’s bedroom

Thinking George could maybe make us one of these?

Exit

View of the front

Bees (on the Maison du Miel)

On the floor of the Maison du Miel

Honecomb

In the Zwilling shop on the corner – special pots for soup and meat

Maille store

Mustards everywhere

Nice little gift pack

Passing by the Louvre on bikes

Looked up the address for dinner – 4 minutes by foot, 7 minutes by car

Today was all about catching up – on each other’s lives, on correspondence, writing, photos and on SLEEP.

In the morning, Gretchen and I worked on various things and chatted about this and that and tried to make ourselves think the milk in our cafe au laits hadn’t gone bad but it really did have an off flavor so we went down to the market to exchange it, which they wouldn’t do. Bought new, made new cafe au laits and as long as we were passing by Carton, the boulangerie, we picked up a croissant and a brioche, and a baguette for dinner.

While Mark was rousting himself to shower and get ready for our 1:00 lunch at Ze Kitchen Gallery, Gretchen and I took a walk through the Passage Dauphine, turned right on Rue Magazin, walked to the end of the block by several galleries and crossed to the Seine. We walked a couple of blocks along the river, by the bouqinistes (book stalls), and headed back to the apartment to get Mark.

Lunch at ZKG met every expectation we had built from previous visits there. The food tasted and looked wonderful, the service was excellent and Mark picked a very nice bottle of Pouilly Fume that accompanied our food very well. Conversation with Mark and Gretchen was so enjoyable.

On our way back to the apartment we stopped in at Dilettante, a really nice little Champagne shop a couple blocks from the apartment. The young saleswoman was very helpful and knowledgeable and she suggested what turned out to be a really tasty bottle from chardonnay grapes. Bea, Gretchen’s daughter, was coming for dinner and she recently got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Joe, so we did want to celebrate with something interesting.

We dropped off the champagne and then walked over to the Monoprix to pick up some fish and veggies for dinner. It’s a very odd place – one would have no idea there were groceries in the basement. You have to walk through the undies to get to the groceries. Highly amusing.

Mark cooked a really, really good cabillaut (cod) in a lemon cream sauce and served it with baby roasted potatoes and the wonderful little skinny green beans. Bea arrived around 8:30 and we had yet another wonderful meal with some good conversation at 24 Rue Dauphine. There was just enough of the fig/prosciutto tart left from the previous night that we were each able to have another small piece. Yum.

We had one last cappuccino then the Humphries took me to Linate (about 35 minutes). Caught Easyjet (truly easy) to Paris, then hopped on the OrlyVal train two stops and changed to RER B into the city. (NB – hang onto the little metro ticket as it is needed to exit from the train, as well!).

Exited at Luxembourg Gardens, noted the new photos on the fence (bugs instead of World War I photos this time) and walked through the park and north to the apartment – maybe 10-15 minute walk on a truly gorgeous day!  Mark was awake and cheerful despite major challenges getting here (Chicago FAA tower fire caused havoc on his departure – he found out at 10PM Sat night that he was going to have to leave at 6 AM for Houston/Dulles/Paris instead of 2PM for Chicago/Paris).

Gretchen soon arrived with groceries and while M took a snooze, G & I caught up a bit. We started preparing dinner and realized we were still missing a couple of ingredients so I popped down to Carrefour while she started dinner. (After standing in line with items, including lemons, I had to go back to the fruit/veggie area and weigh my items and get a sticker – I always forget that!). Dinner was smoked salmon with a Greek yoghurt/lemon/chive sauce, capers, boiled eggs, salad. Gretchen’s and Luigi’s friend Gabriel Poloni joined us and we had a delightful conversation. I kept thinking of friends in Wichita that I would like to have had at the table with us.

We had a quick FaceTime with Katharine and Martha at bedtime – Mark was nearly asleep and when Martha wasn’t getting much of a response to her “Ciao Papi’s” and “Good Night Papis” she began to get a worried look on her face so Mark finally lifted his head off the pillow to say good night and Martha was OK. 🙂

Welcome to Paris and Starbucks?

Passage Dauphine by the apartment

Yummy caramel shop

Love the posters in the windows

Galleries, galleries

Must return and investigate

Nice pottery…

Gretchen and our dinner guest, Gabriel

Fennel and orange salad

Smoked salmon

Fig and Pistachio Cream Tart from Mulot!

Up, cappuccino, drove to Cernusco-Merate to catch train to Milan for exploring and soccer game (Humphries) and walking (me).

Missed train (it was sitting there when we pulled up but we didn’t have time to park and catch it) so Plan B was to drive to Sesto San Giovanni (Sesto Primo Maggio train station), park and take the red line in from there. Worked out GREAT.

Metro to San Babila, peeked in the church, walked toward Via Montenapoleone and down a few blocks, turned right on Santo Spirito and walked by Casa Valdisecchi (?) and Four Seasons, down a few blocks of Via Spiga, then headed toward La Scala.

Found tickets to soccer game (Inter v Cagliari) then walked through Galleria and into Duomo and Humphries went to top. Met up, walked toward Brera (area around the Brera art museum), found a spot for a bite of lunch (on a walking street with several outdoor restaurants). Lovely.

Humphries left for game, I took my time with the rest of my salad (note to self: lettuce, tuna, tomatoes and corn) and glass of house wine – Barbera. Yum. Wanted to walk where I hadn’t been yet so started walking and realized I was fairly close to Castello Sforzesca, where I’ve not yet visited (and should’ve… years ago!). Wonderful time exploring and walking – Milan was out in force on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

As I left the Castello I came on a Gelato Festival!! Awesome. Waffled about buying a ticket and going on a sampling spree but decided that sort of thing is better done with friends or family… a bit sad to do alone. Instead I found a little shop and had a scoop.

Made my way back toward Duomo, took some time inside, then waited for Cary/Susan in front of the Duomo as agreed. Awesome to sit there and take time looking at the sculpture on the building and doors. Amazing. The sun was setting in the 45 minutes I was sitting there so the light was doing wonderful things. Just lovely.

Metro back to get our car, drove home. Plan was to drive right to restaurant but my phone had died and I could only remember part of the name, much less how to get there. We stopped to ask at a certain point but then just had to go back to Barzi (and wi-fi) and look up directions.

We backtracked a bit but it wasn’t far and it was well worth it. Delightful place (Giovannia Passeri) where there is a veggie grower (and chicken coops) and a small restaurant. An event was going on, and at the end of their evening they shot fireworks. Pea flan (VERY tasty), lasagne, osso bucco, gnocchi. Crostata for dessert. Took the rest of our Dolcetto d’Alba home at their recommendation.  Very festive!

A side aisle of San Babila church in Milan

Cool bronze “sculpture” of center of Milan

Susan capturing Cary imitating the model

In the Valsecchi (house museum)

The courtyard of the Valsecchi

Cary & Susan in the Valsecchi

In the Galleria near Duomo

Street in Brera

For Polly

Entrance to Castello Sforzesca

Castello Sforzesca

Courtyard of C Sforzesca

Castello Sforzesca

Gardens of Castello

A guy rode up and started feeding the birds

Nice door at Castello

Another view of the door

Over the moat – another entrance?

Inside the Castello walls

Gelato Festival in progress!

Ruggero

Detail on the entrance to Duomo