Au revoir Cite

Today, we leave the Cite, the University Center in Virginia (U.S.A.) atelier will be occupied by a new person, a friend of ours. We went out for our morning cafe and a tartine, then took a walk in the neighborhood. We "found" the candy shop that made chocolate letters, and the good chocolate covered noisettes, which naturalement, we had to buy. There was a big display for halloween, too. These ghosts are charming, n'est ce pas? We returned to the Cite to finish cleaning out the refrigerator. Daniele was in, so we offered her the things from the frigo. Hated to waste good mayo, laitue, un oeuf, confiture and buerre. A person came to check the inventory, went through the check list and all is wel,l so we'll get our deposit back. On to the next part of our adventure. When I'll blog again, je ne sais pas, however, I'm sure I'll have some bonnes images to post. A la prochaine!

Morning sky.

This morning, we got up early...okay, so not THAT early...about 8h, and the sky was really nice. It's been overcast every morning, but this morning, the sun was making the sky peachy and pale blue, with purple on the clouds. The Pantheon is in the distance. This was taken through the window!

Faeries & Noel

There's a tiny shop nearby that is crammed full of ornaments and figurines. By tiny, I mean like a closet tiny, really little, really crammed. The upstairs is faeries, witches, angels and animals. The downstairs space is tinier, and full of Noel items. The stair "rail" was a red velvet rope, and when Chuck held it, it triggered "Santa Claus is coming to town" in English. Chuck said he was so surprised he pulled back. When he came back up, he avoided touching it, even though the stairs were steep and narrow. All I heard was the singing, because I stayed upstairs, snapping a couple of photos. It was some experience.

Yet another dessert.

Friends came over for dinner and join us for the concert. Afterwards, we came back upstairs for dessert. We shared two tartes aux framboise and a Napoleon. The tartes were tart as were the groseilles used to "decorate" them. They were very tasty as well as nice to look at.

Hotel de Sens

This is a view of the Hotel de Sens from the window at the end of our corridor. It's one of the few medieval buildings that survive. It was built in 1454 or 1445, something like that. In any case, quite old. It houses the Forney library of graphic arts, including wall paper. The little street to the right is the one I walked the other day when I went to Monoprix. It's amazing to me that I see this sight everyday, as I walk down the corridor to the elevator or stairs. I step out of the Cite, look to my left, and there is this building. I'm pretty much in awe, being here, seeing these sights, speaking French, buying baguettes and pain au raisin. Pretty awesome.

Being with artists and musicians

We visited with our across the hall neighbors Tuesday afternoon. Previously, I'd posted a photo of Daniele's back with her sign and a picture of their door with the request for clothing. Now, we have some idea of what Nadege and Daniele are doing. On one wall of their studio they've put up the signs they wear when they go about the city. Some have all of the phone number tabs gone. They are documenting where they've been and will create, with the donated clothing (cut up into pieces) a schematic, as a tapistry. At least, I think that's what is happening. If they read this maybe they can help with the explanation. In any case, it's an ambitious project. Their studio looks out onto the courtyard. Here's one view from their windows. In the evening, we went to a concert downstairs. A jazz guitarist/composer from Serbia who performed his own compositions alone and with other musicians (a sax player and an accordianist) Really nice sounds together. And a quartet playing Beethovan and Schumann. An interesting program combination. This is the thing that is so wonderful about being here.

A rainy day

I walked to Monoprix, on Tuesday, along the streets behind the Hotel de Sens, between the two schools, past the Village St. Paul (connected courtyards with little shops) just looking, listening, thinking that soon I would be leaving this place. The leaves are starting to change to red on some walls. The winds have been strong but the leaves on the trees in front remain, so we still don't have a clear view of Notre-Dame from our windows. Who knows, maybe by Friday, when we quit the Cite, it will happen. I'll post a picture of Hotel de Sens that I took from the window at the end of our corridor in a bit.