I got there a little after 10:00.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how shopping there works. First, you look around and admire shelf upon shelf of useful and beautiful things.
This photo does not adequately illustrate how enormous these pots were. I could probably sit in one.
You then become overwhelmed.
You select a few small things, including a really sharp knife (recognizing that this will mean you have to check your luggage). None of the items have prices anywhere near them. Do you say "oh, I don't care... it can't be that much. I'll just bring them to the counter?" No. You try to figure out the store's system. Aha! There's a book hanging at the end of the shelves with a price list. So, you go back to where you found your item, note the item number, and return to the book (mumbling the item number to yourself so you don't forget it).
After you've finished touching everything, you bring your selections to the series of counters and look around to try to figure out what other customers are doing with their selections. There's the guy wrapping purchases. There's a guy taking money. There's a guy walking around telling people what to do. The guy who is walking around telling people what to do is the first guy you need. He will write down what you've selected. He then gives you a piece of paper and hands your selections to the wrapping guy. You stand in line for the money guy. You hand the slip and your money to the money guy, then you get back in line for the wrapping guy and he inspects your slip to make sure you've paid for the items he's just wrapped for you. Then, you take your carefully and thoroughly wrapped very sharp knife and leave. That's it.
From there, I wandered a bit until I got to City Hall - Hôtel de Ville. I noticed a long line to get in and wondered what was going on there. Then, I saw the sign:
So I got in line. It was a free exhibition of the drawings of Jean-Jacques Sempé:
Translated into twenty-five languages and the creator of several thousand drawings, Jean-Jacques Sempé is one of the most famous French cartoonists. He has managed to reach every generation over the last fifty years.(From the Mairie de Paris website)
More than 300 original drawings, together with texts by Jean-Jacques Sempé, will give visitors to the Hôtel de Ville the opportunity to appreciate the wealth and brilliance of a rich yet undemanding body of work, between humour and poetry.
Paris and Sempé
Sempé soon settled on the Left Bank when he arrived in Paris. Between Montparnasse and Saint-Germain des Prés, he roved curiously around the locations which brought him out of his shell (Chez Lipp brasserie, the Café de Flore, the Closerie des Lilas restaurant, the Chez Castel club, the Luxembourg Garden, etc.) and became friends with Françoise Sagan, Jacques Tati, Jacques Prévert, Raymond Savignac, René Goscinny and others.
New-York, the New-Yorker and Sempé
Sempé discovered New York in 1965. He stayed there for two weeks and passed the New Yorker building several times without daring to go in. He returned several years later, having created his first cover for The New Yorker magazine. At the request of William Shawn, the director of the daily publication, he created "Air Mail", the American equivalent of Monsieur Lambert, in which he gave his view of America. Sempé has created over one hundred covers for The New Yorker since 1978.
What a great exhibition! It was everything from the artist's notebooks and sketches to his most famous New Yorker covers. My photos are terrible, but here's a taste:
It was such a surprise to stumble upon this exhibit! I felt badly that M wasn't with me to enjoy it, as I knew he would be so sad to have missed it.
I did some other wandering and browsing and then met M. Our plan was to go to La Coloniale (the Cambodian restaurant we'd seen the night before) when it opened to make reservations for later in the evening since they didn't answer their phone. We got there at 5:30, but it seemed closed. We wandered around nearby, then returned. Still closed at 6:00 (despite the sign in the window saying that they opened at 6:00), but M was able to get a waiter's attention inside so that we could make a reservation - for 6:30. With a half hour to wait, we decided to go have a glass of wine somewhere.
We sat outside at Les Etages St. Germain next to an American family. It was a mother, father and two college-aged sons. Although M and I didn't say anything to each other about this until we left, we both noticed exactly the same thing: the father and two sons seemed to have nothing to talk about except sports. The mother had a faraway look in her eyes. She was drinking wine; the guys were drinking beer. She finished hers before they finished theirs - and one of her sons said "wow, Mom, you pounded that one down!" She just smiled and stared off into the fantasy land in her head where people have conversations that don't involve "the game" or "the score" or statistics or seasons.
We returned to La Coloniale (which was empty, except for us) and took in the room.
Cluttered, but cozy. The most remarkable thing, by far, was the hostess. I can't say it better than this review does:
“Authentic, Fiery and Fresh”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 14 December 2011
We loved it here, partly as it seemed so bizarre to have such a thoroughly Asian meal in Paris. It was full of locals, the tourists had all gone out for French. We expected the Cambodian recipes to be filtered through French cooking methods but this was authentic, fiery and fresh food. The lady running the restaurant must be the owner - she's so thoroughly eccentric that no one would employ her! A cross between Basil Fawlty and Edith Piaf, she meanders around singing to herself and muttering at the waiters - but it's all charming. The decor is also charming, a beautiful expression of a French-Colonial interior. The best thing about the restaurant is the quiet and gentle Cambodian man who appears by your side and coaxes you to ever more adventurous menu selections. Like Yoda, he gravely listens to your selection, then counters, "Ah, but why don't you consider....". Impossible to resist, he took us on a culinary adventure we were most grateful for. The food was utterly perfect. Freshest produce, with stunning presentation and tastes that stay with you. We're used to this freshness in Sydney, and it was a delight to get that crunch and mint and mango and chilli blast during a trip to the capital of creamy cuisine. I won't list the dishes we ate, I recommend that you put yourself in the hands of the Cambodian man and eat anything he tells you to!
"A cross between Basil Fawlty and Edith Piaf"! It is true. She was wearing a red sweater and red beret, humming and singing (loudly), and bossing people around. Terrible photo, but:
She was charming. Everyone was. And the food was spectacular:
There is no place like it in Paris.
No comments:
Post a Comment