Another day in France

Monday, July 6

Another day in France. Gosh that’s great to say. Reminder: in my next life I’ll be French.

This morning I peeled the kids off the bed at 9:30 (no 6:00 a.m. risers in this family except me). And no complaints. Except when school kicks in and I have to get Claire moving. But it’s July and in September I’ll let the alarm take care of that problem. Or we’ll just move to France. Joe says the Paris office gets moving at 9:00.
I could see the rush hour thing moving a little later as I wandered Paris again this morning – even between 8 and 8:30 it was quiet, cafes just setting up, lots of places not open until 8. On Sat. I assumed life would start a little later, Sunday of course (but was surprised to find nothing much moving uintil 10 either day).

Joe couldn’t even get his suit pressed at our boutique hotel over the weekend (what the hell is that?). Though I guess it would be a great place to work…hours less demanding, no 24/7 mode…

About our hotel: lovely little property with really tall ceilings done black and white w/ Renaissance style paintings…very nice. Doors likewise very tall – bathroom kept trapping me in as it slid back and forth – had a good bathtub so really if I must be trapped someplace – without kids – the bathroom at CP champs elysees wouldn’t be all bad.

On my way out to exercise and explore Paris, I noticed Joe’s beafast menu hadn’t been picked up so I got a speech about first round of b’fast being delivered…gee, I don’t know if we can handle getting ham and a baguette to Mr. Weber by 7:30…yada yada. (Given the place is overstaffed and they have a full service buffet downstairs I was thinking how hard can some ham, bread and juice really be.)

I just looked at the guy while he squirmed and eventually said they’d get something together. Hello boutique hotel.

Similar moment when I found an empty fruit bowl in the workout center. Apparently the fruit guy hadn’t had time to replenish so I was sent down to the full breakfast buffet to ask for fruit, wherein the biggest fruit basket I’d ever seen was at my disposal.

I’ve never thought that much about customer service, but have heard over and over that the Americans do it really well. Am beginning to think at least we have some idea of what service means, even if we don’t always have our act together…

For breakfast the kids and I went across the street to Josephine’s again for coffee and pastries, then headed to the Picasso museum, which is a great one – I highly recommend it. (Bonus: it’s open on Mondays, a rarity for museums in Paris.) Great, airy spaces, cool rooms and of course cool art – big and small paintings and sculptures, use of nooks and crannies, courtyards, etc.

No crowds, huge contrast from the Louvre in all aspects.

The kids were engaged on and off – they seem to like finding different shapes, media, abstract depictions of faces, arms, etc. that many of Picasso’s works feature. Photos of the artist on display, too.

On the way back to the metro we stopped at a supermarket to wander through and pick up cheap water and sodas, then a bakery for delicious looking sandwiches for picnic. We then metro’d it to the end of line #1, near Chateau de Vincennes, as our destination was the park of flowers, a huge park full, appropriately, of flowers (all sizes, colors, types, some random, some in mazes, and carefully landscaped in various designs. May I again say the place is huge – first we found a brick climbing area, then made for miniature golf, a course laid out w/ Parisian landmarks (Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, etc.). We golfed our way through, then made for the playgrounds and tons of playscapes, big yellow and blue slide complex in the middle.

Claire talked me into renting a 4-wheeling quadricycle for ½ hour to pedal around the park – it was a hoot. We then had ice cream (I needed it after all that pedaling, and walking, and stroller pushing).

We eventually made it back to the hotel, where Joe was waiting – he actually beat us home!

Three people came in to set up Claire’s bed (again, welcome to India). We headed off to a restaurant recommended by our concierge. Oscar’s. It was fabulous. We got a great table near the sidewalk , started w/ olives that Ava devoured, Joe and I shared a warm goat cheese salad – so good. I had wonderful lamb chops that practically melted in my mouth. We shared 1/2 carafe of white wine, ½ of a nice Beaujolais. And for dessert: incredibly good molten chocolate cake and chocolate mousse, shared by four. Great last meal all together in France!