I’m starting to think of Paris -- and probably France
too, although I don’t have the same exposure -- as in a very strong transition
right now. I mentioned in an earlier
post about the financial “crisis” which still continues. Everyone reads about how coddled some French
workers are. The 35 hour work week
(revised upwards, but in exchange people were given 2 more weeks vacation). The extremely good social services. Very early retirement. And then, of course, the French lifestyle.
But that seems to be changing. Quicker lunches. Companies coming up with ways to lay people
off. Businesses that have closed. New restaurant concepts successfully
competing with old ones (more on this in a couple paragraphs…). What I wonder about is this. France is one of the largest economies in the
world, not a small social experiment.
And the whole “French thing” from lifestyle to employment to food to
architecture and beauty, all of it is something that has always struck Maxine and
me as apart from our US experience. But
is it changing, and changing to more of a US/21st century model (I’m
treading carefully with my words here to avoid being too pejorative)? Some portion of that strikes me as
inevitable. If you want to be
productive, you’ve got to get more hours out of your workers, all of that. So, is the France (Paris) that we’ve come
here to see an archetype of a lifestyle that is evaporating in the face of
exposure to the rest of the world? I
don’t have a conclusion, but I suspect that it is. And then I wonder what’s left. Over time is France reduced to a French
speaking America, with Gap store and even French *chain* retailers?
OK, enough of that.
Friday, Maxine walked through the 16th arrondissement to the
Musee d’Art Moderne. They have wonderful
Matisse murals which turned out to be closed that day!?*! But she really enjoyed the Sonia Delaunay
special exhibit. To be honest, she’d
never heard of Sonia Delaunay before this but there are posters up all over
Paris and this prompted her interest.
Definitely worth seeing.
We went out for dinner to Frenchie’s Bar a Vins, another
great wine bar, another of those places that flies in the face of conventional
French food. Waited in line to be
seated. Hung up our own jackets. We sat at high stools and shared a table
(that’s how everyone does it at this place).
No idea who exactly was our waiter.
No table cloth. A serve-yourself
pile of silverware in a basket on the table.
And prices nearly as high (for the total meal) as a Michelin 1 star
restaurant. Yet, we paid it willingly,
and we’d go back there again, ahead of the 1 star. Why, interesting and great food and fun
atmosphere versus stuffy and quiet. This
is what I was talking about a couple paragraphs back. People, young people?, are exploring. They are breaking out of the mold of what a
restaurant “should” be. They’re creating
casual experience. And, let’s be
realistic here, they’re taking money away from the French restaurant
establishment. Last trip, Maxine and I went
to a 1 star in Paris every 2 weeks. This
time, only one for the entire trip.
We’re looking for good food, good wine, a comfortable experience, and to
feel welcome. The wine bars, the cocktail
bars, the craft beer bars are the ones getting our attention. (Of course, to counter argue all of this, we
had a phenomenal beef bourguignon at a 30 year old restaurant a few weeks ago).
Emmy continues to be the clock that drives our day. Maxine walks her first thing in the
morning. We switch off on the late
afternoon walk. And I do the 11pm
one. Recall that it’s 65 stairs up to
the apartment. I think I disappoint my
dog both when we head out and when we return.
She races ahead of me and is waiting at the far end of the hallway,
looking to go outside, way before I get there.
And on the return, she zips up a few stairs, then waits patiently for me
to catch up, time and time again till I unlock the door and she races up the
last flight of stairs inside the unit, to Maxine.
And the day ended with some more observations on
surreality… In the evening I started
watching Love Actually, which if you haven’t seen it, is a movie set in London
during the Christmas season. I got
through the first ½ hour which has a lot of scene-setting segments showing
London at the holiday. At one level,
this all made sense. After all it is the Christmas season. But, when I paused the movie and took Emmy
outside, as I stepped off the building curb, it struck me. I’d become engaged in London Christmas for
the last ½ hour, but my feet were touching ground in Paris-Christmas. Once more, I feel fortunate being able to do
this trip with Maxine and Emmy… To
conclude things, during the walk, Emmy and I passed the Serbian and Congo
embassies.
Saturday was sort of mixed. I went out for some Christmas vibe, which I
got, and some last minute Christmas shopping, which was much more
difficult. By mid-afternoon I was beat
and trudging through the streets. I called
Maxine back in the apartment. I was
looking for a magnum of champagne to bring the friends we’re visiting for
Christmas. It’s available everywhere,
but we wanted to get a special bottle, and I didn’t see any options during my
trudge. Maxine did a search and, from
what she’d found, the “best” place in the city was the one where we’d done the
champagne tasting last week. So, we took
the ½ hour, 2 metro lines, trip over there…
And they were out of everything.
And, it was raining despite a 0% probability of rain in the
forecast. I got grumpy and we headed
home to a dinner of some cheese, and the foie gras Maxine made!
Sunday we’re getting ready to go out of town. We’re spending a week in Toulouse with our
friends, my friend from college, and his family. We’re picking up the rental car tomorrow
morning and making the 6-7 hour drive down there. So, we’re getting caught up
today. Some more shopping. Getting the
blog current before we forget things we’d prefer to remember here. Packing.
Although tonight we’re both going out.
I’m going to a Philosophy club dinner.
And Maxine is going to a Chanukah menorah lighting and concert.
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