Day 12 of 21
I woke up feeling like I had to fit lots of things in today. I still have 9 days but I can feel it coming fast. And I don’t want to miss anything.
I tried to focus on the 3rd, 4th, and 7th arrondisements. My system for getting around is still pretty flawed. I need to know exactly where I’m going and how to get there before I walk out the door. On Lunar New Year I wanted to eat at a Chinese food restaurant that I had read about on a forum. Halfway there I realized I’d just written down its name and nothing else–not the address or directions or the arrondisement or the closest metro. My improvising boiled down to randomly following a trail of Chinese lanterns in the 4th that didn’t lead me anywhere Chinese.
I had lunch at Cafe des Musee today. It was a little bit fancy. Or I should say civilized. It was the first time that I was brought a carafe of water without asking.
I had a salad (again). Reading menus remains a challenge. I thought I identified mushrooms in the ingredients but there were none. I had the ‘Winter’ salad. Figs, prunes, smoked meat, apples, nuts, and endives. And mint tea. All of this facilitated a good dose of thinking and writing. Mostly about the same thing: being attached…being detached. I find myself picturing people in my life and from my past sitting across from me and how I would feel different…and what it is that no one is sitting across from me.
After lunch, Musee Chasse et Nature was next on my places to visit. What a magical place. It’s a hunting museum. I didn’t know this. It was just on my list and my ability to read French is about as good as my ability to speak it. So it wasn’t until I was on the second floor looking at spears and boar skulls that I pulled out my Time Out Paris guide to find out what kind of museum I was in. And it was kind enough to tell me.
It’s a hunting museum. And like I said it’s magical.
I liked these dogs in the owl room:
But I was most surprised by how moved I was by the hunting rifles. They were exquisite:
I particularly liked the one in the middle:
I also popped into Maison de Victor Hugo. Which was ok. I have to go back and focus. I liked this window that was preserved from the original apartment.
The rest of my day could be called La Grande Epicerie: The Odyssey. I think I was tired. And hungry. Because everything to do with getting there, finding it, shopping in it, and then going home was a debacle. I went left when I should have gone right. I went South when I should have gone North. Buying a basket of groceries ended up being a three hour project.
But here they are:
I’m loving Le Jean Bart next door. They get it now. I come in around the same time in the evening. I’m not eating. I’m not drinking alcohol. I’m only having tea. They know which tea. They know I’m by myself. They know that I’m going to write for two hours without stopping and that as soon as I’m done I’m out. The lovely Saturday waiter suggested Pomegranate Oolong for my second cup. Loved it. Love Le Jean Bart.
Tomorrow: Food tour, tattoo (?), drink with Ophelie.
My favorite walking song today courtesy of Luisa:
Paté and Heartbreak 