We begin by returning to Friday night, Suzie and I at the Paris FC v. Auxerre soccer match. Google put a highlight video from that match in my news feed, and when watching it discovered that Suzie and I were in the upper-right hand corner of two “crowd reaction” shots, at 0:40 and 1:27 of the video at the link above. Cool.
I omitted to mention that even though the match was between two 2nd Division teams, the quality of play was excellent. At least I think so; I’m not a soccer expert, but I’ve been to San Jose Earthquakes matches and it seems to me that either Paris FC or Auxerre would rip the Quakes if they played.
Enough of that. Today we did a lot for a day that we had planned as a day of semi-rest. A late start with a lunch at the Cafe Buci, a place just around the corner from our apartment, taken outside. We love this place, the food is consistently good, the service is prompt and friendly, and the prices are reasonable.
From there we walked to the Tuileries, stopping to take in this rich colorful view of the Institut de France:
All told, we walked a bit farther than we should have, but it was such a splendid day that it was hard not to be out in it.
But the highlight, by far, of the day (and maybe of the trip so far) was our going to a matinee performance of a French play, La dégustation, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. Suzie had the idea to go to a play while we were in Paris; we chose this one because the actors (particularly the two main characters) are well-known in French films, and because I have a particular liking for the main actress, Isabelle Carré, who is absolutely adorable and very funny all at the same time. The theater was glorious, if a bit old and in need of some infrastructure upgrades. (For example, the staircases, which were beautiful sweeping spirals, were not well-lit and were dangerous, especially on the “inside” where the steps were close together — feet were smaller back in the day I guess.) The pictures at the link above are better than the ones below, but the ones below give you a sense of the marvelously ornate space.
We loved the play — it was a warm, funny piece, and the predictability of the plot was saved by the quality of the acting, which was excellent. We understood about 85% of the dialogue, mostly missing the parts spoken by the youngest actor (who played an affable parolee, and thus spoke more quickly and with some argot). And Isabelle Carré is even cuter and more adorable in person than in films. So two big thumbs up from me and Suzie.
This being a weekend in Paris, the day would not have been complete without a manif. The one we passed was a small group gathered around a candidate for the Presidency in Algeria, a man called Rachid Nekkaz, voici la photo:
I hope you all won’t get tired of these posts. Part of me says it’s too much. But I love sharing the beautiful pictures, and the interesting and odd things that happen when you travel. So they’ll keep coming until I start to poop out.
Categories: Blogging