Just when you think Paris has lost its edge, the NY Times proclaims a new ‘it’ neighborhood.  The latest is on the city’s fringes, like Belleville and the former red-light district of Pigalle.  A pop-up restaurant, a taxidermy-stuffed speakeasy.

http://www.lefooding.com/restaurant/

I came upon Le flaneur des deux rives, a charming bookstore near Boulevard St. Michel and Rue de Vaugirard.  Beautiful lithographs and hard to find books line the window.  How lovely to see a line out of Guillame Apollinaire’s book as a name of a book store…

Our friend Juliette and Sean, my husband and I had a perfect, end of summer meal at a gem of a find, Restaurant l’Agrume. The menu degustation, at 37 Euros is a bargain, considering that it is like two full meals. The sweet host warned us that the menu consisted of small portions. Perhaps it is managing expectations but we were so full, by the time the plat arrived, half of us could only finish half. Even with my husband’s seafood allergies, the chef accommodated so that we can all enjoy the menu. Five lovely courses, with a memorable risotto with truffles, and a white fish with anchovy oil… delicious. A definite gem.

15, rue des Fossés Saint-Marcel, Paris 75005 01 43 31 86 48

Maybe I can live here, now.  Perhaps after almost two decades of coming here and traveling elsewhere, I’ve become, as John Berger once said, ‘a patriot of elsewhere.’  I don’t need to live in San Francisco anymore, though I want to have a home there.  I can now have a home here, rather than just a piéd-a-terre.  Or perhaps, I’m finding that Asian culture has completely infiltrated Paris.  There is now K mart, the new go to Asian supermarket in Paris for Korean food as well as Japanese products.  Our friend Laila introduced us to a great ramen place and took us around this gentrifying quartier.  I said ‘K Mart in Paris?”  She said, ‘Non, a Korean Mart in Paris!’

KMart is the only place I know of where one can purchase kimchi and soft tofu in Paris. Alongside the sushi grade fish and the fresh meat counters is the produce shelves with shitake, enoki and shimeji brown mushrooms, daikon radishes, shiso leaves, fresh ginger, red and green chillis… Also, don’t miss the supermarket cafeteria for a quick lunch or food to go.

K mart
6-8 Rue Sainte Anne
75001 Paris
tel: 01.58.62.49.09
Metro: Pyramides, Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre

I’m consistently awestruck every time we visit our ‘Jardin.’  We’re so lucky to have le Jardin du Luxumbourg as our backyard.   Even after more than a decade and a half of coming to this lovely city each year, I have always found this park and its gardens magical.  Lately, I’ve found myself reading more about the planning of the space.

The Project for Public Spaces, a major urban planning think tank, considers the Luxembourg Gardens to be one of the most successful parks in the world, partly because it is so well integrated into the fabric of the city around it, which makes it easily accessible. There are also many things to do there, evidenced by the wide range of people who use it: children, older people, Sorbonne students, people cutting through on a lunch break, etc. People come to stroll, play chess, to sit and read, people watch, to sit at one of the cafes or to bring their children or grandchildren to one of the many attractions.  During the past decade, it has also become ground zero for French runners and athletes, who run/walk laps around the perimeter roads in the Park.  In addition, an organic fruit garden has sprung up in the southern section of the park, with pears, lemons, and oranges in full harvest.  Organized activities at the park include tennis, pony rides, puppet theatres, and toy sailboat rental (children float them in the large central fountain). We have used them all.  I just realized that visitors can also stop inside the Palais and attend a hearing of the French Senate, which is open to the public.

The Gardens also host innovative exhibits, such as one of aerial photographs from around the world.  Twice or thrice a year,  the exhibits are mounted on its perimeter gates facing Rue de Vaugirard and Blvd. St Michel.  In addition, it has an intimate Musée where we have seen some of the most memorable expositions, like the exquisite and rare Modigliani show we saw a couple of years ago.

I can imagine why Marie de Medici, bereaved after the death of her husband, could no longer live in the Louvre, and wanted to have this palace and the gardens built to remind of her childhood home, Palazzo Pitti in Florence.  We all want to be ‘home.’  My husband and I walk through the Jardin daily, and talk about whether indeed, this can or cannot be ‘a moveable feast.’

The auction rooms at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris date to 1852. They’ve been modernized since then, but the general atmosphere probably hasn’t changed much. On any day of the week, a throng of characters straight out of a Maupassant novel can be found bidding for dusty treasures straight out of the proverbial Old Curiosity Shop. Annually, about 800,000 lots pass through the 16 rooms, over the course of more than 3,000 auctions.

On a typical day, half the rooms are set up for viewing, and half are given over to sales. Regular offerings include jewelry, contemporary and classical paintings, antiquities and furniture of every description.

Located in the warren of narrow streets and covered passageways north of the Grands Boulevards and south of Montmartre, the Hôtel Drouot is a hub of lively galleries, restaurants and bistros, where dealers and collectors wheel and deal over glasses of wine.

The schedule of sales can be viewed online (drouot.com) or in La Gazette Drouot, a weekly magazine. One event to note: on June 9, selected works from the estate of Jacques Prévert, the French songwriter, screenwriter, author and poet, will be on auction.

Hôtel Drouot (6, rue Drouot; Ninth Arrondissement; 33-1-48-00-20-20) is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Do It Yourself Culture… by Michael Kimmelman

An interesting rumination on defending the language, in defense of values..

Pardon My French by Michael Kimmelman of NY Times.

April Fool’s day is said to have French origins. In 1564, France reformed the calendar, changing the beginning of the year from the end of March to January 1st. For those who resisted the new calendar and adhered to the old traditions, paper fish were playfully attached to their backs and they were fondly dubbed ‘poisson d’avril.’ or April fish. To this day, poisson d’avril is the French name for April Fool’s Day, and the tradition of hoaxes and tricks is alive and well.