Nobody is exactly normal, everyone has their oddities and their quirks. Still, for any particular quality, the normal distribution curve, that familiar bell shape, does exist, and by definition most folks are happily camped out under the comfort of the big dome, while a few stragglers are destined to live their lives under the thin remains of the long tail, far to one side or the other. And the long tail is where I am when it comes to the desire to socialize, to be around people for a long period of time. I like people, I really really do, but I prefer them in small doses, a few at a time. After a while, I feel this imperative to get away and be alone, my brain shuts down on small talk and chat. Although there’s no right or wrong about that, it often feels like a stigma. Then I wonder, what are people out at the other end of the curve like, those people who absolutely have to be around people, socializing, all the time? I suppose they become successful salespeople or politicians. If you have to be on one end or the other, I think mine’s preferable, but then I suppose I’m biased.
Pardon the deviation, but it is relevant, because my long-tail characteristic gets magnified when I am tired. And yesterday by the end of the day, I was tired. And, I should add, in a little pain. I mentioned the new shoes, didn’t I?
Quite comfortable as regards the most important aspect (not injuring my ungodly-flat feet), but unfortunately as is sometimes the case, they have one spot where they rub, not a lot, just a little, which in ordinary circumstances would be no big deal, but is a huge deal when you are walking all day. Bottom line is that there are now two angry blisters, one on each big toe, which despite the band-aides made each step yesterday noticeable, if not downright painful. So by the end of the day I was not only tired, but hurting.
The day wasn’t all bad, though. As has become our custom, we slept in late and didn’t get out until after 12. Suzie had found on Yelp a restaurant in the 10th she wanted to go to, so that was our first destination. We got off at the Chateau d’Eau Metro station, went the wrong way at first, and found ourselves in the middle of an interesting block of shops and stores catering exclusively to black people: afro haircut places, skin lightening places, something called “Afro Monde”, all grouped together on this one lively stretch of block, exclusively populated by French-African men and women hanging out on the street, greeting each other in animated French. Quite the unexpected scene (although not entirely, we’d been in this area once before, although not on this particular block). Then, as we made our way to the restaurant, the neighborhood suddenly, within the space of a block and a half, the neighborhood changed, back to a more traditional working class (but white) neighborhood. We’d experienced something similar the day before, when during our walk through the Marais, we found ourselves at once on a block that was exclusively Chinese, which just as suddenly ended when we turned the corner.
We eventually got to the restaurant, Brasserie Flo, apparently fairly well-known in Paris, an old-style traditional brasserie, with dark wood, brass, white tablecloths, waiters in black and white vests and ties.
We had an exceptionally excellent meal. Everything was fantastic — I had an entree of fois gras and apple compote (extraordinary) and a plat of a fish called merlan, which translates to English as “whiting” (of no use to me because I’ve never heard of that either). The plat was actually called “Merlan en colere” (angry merlan), and it came presented on the plate whole, twisted into a circle with its mouth “biting” the end of its tail, a surprising sight, served with potatoes and an rich, delicious hollandaise sauce on the side. I don’t ordinarily like seeing the faces of things I eat (I suspect we’d all eat less meat if we had to see the faces of the creatures who died), but this was somehow OK, and was cooked perfectly. Suzie had crayfish, which she said was one of the best things she’d ever had, and the boys each had hampe of beef covered in an incredibly rich and flavorful traditional dark French sauce. Yum. The late lunch was topped off by dessert — creme brulee for the boys, perhaps the best I’ve ever tasted (and a lot of it, too), and mouleaux de chocolat noir for Suzie and me, which is rich chocolate cake with a warm gooey center, topped by almond ice cream. Wow. Here’s Suzie and Andrew afterwards.
After lunch we walked south, taking in various views.
Eventually we decided to give the boys money to do some shopping for school clothes, and they went off on the Metro toward the Centre Commercial at Place d’Italie. Suzie found a shoe store and started shopping, I was left to wander on the street, where I came across a crew filming a commercial for our favorite mobile phone operator, Orange:
As an aside, if you ever wonder why movie tickets are so expensive, watch a film crew sometime. Why, why, why do they need 25 people, extra lights, a cart of food, etc. to film a damned commercial. I work all day without a cart of food.
Anyway, Suzie found shoes to buy and we continued our walk south, through the fabric district in the Marais (there is a funny French film about a young jobless man who falls into a job with a Jewish family fabric business in this district, and who has to pretend to be Jewish in order to fit in, the walk through this area evoked that film). We passed through a pleasant pedestrian area, then continued south.
Eventually we came to the back door of an enormous old church, St. Eustache near Les Halles. Dating from the 1300s, it is imposing and austere both inside and out:
At this time, I’m running out of steam. We sat in the courtyard outside the church for a while, in front of a famous piece of sculpture, called “Ecoute”, and behind the old Paris Bourse:
A little further on, we found ourselves beside a wing of the Louvre, in a small plaza next to the Église Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, where, after purchasing more band-aides in the pharmacy, we attended to blister control under a pretty clock tower.
We continued further south, over the Seine, with wonderful views:
I apologize, but I am running out of time, the rest of the day has to wait. I also think I’ve figured out the mystery of why my pictures have not heretofore been very good. A demain….
Categories: Travel -- France
Tags: Paris France