The Arc de Triomphe getting a face-lift

Recently a grand clean-up project for the four pillar sculptures of the Arc de Triomphe was started. Four teams are working around the clock to clean and restore the four sculpture groups that are featured on the famous arch: "Le Départ des volontaires de 1792" (known as La Marseillaise and the most famous of the monument's reliefs), by François Rude; "Le Triomphe de Napoléon de 1810", by Jean-Pierre Cortot; and "La République ou la Résistance de 1814" and "La Paix de 1815", by Antoine Etex. They hope the cleaning will be complete in time for the commemorative events marking the anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's "appeal of June 18". Now we only have the scaffold to enjoy in our photos.

"Le Départ des volontaires de 1792" Blindfolded for the cleaning.

Cy Twombly ceiling at the Louvre

I knew that it was happening, but didn't pay attention to the room being closed for a few weeks over the winter months. Last week I found myself passing through the Louvre museum's "Bronze Room" to find the newly unveiled painted ceiling by the American artist Cy Twombly. This is a large, major work. (400 square meters) It is a fun addition for the museum. Though I'm never sure if the money paid for a modern work belongs at the Louvre. This winter there were strikes at the National Museum of Modern Art, the Pompidou Center. I'm sure that the Pompidou could use the financing this grand Twombly cost the state. This Cy Twombly work is titled "The Ceiling". The painting is a lovely deep blue with odd disk shapes and names of ancient Greek sculptors. (In the very next room there is a painted ceiling by the artist Georges Braque in the 1950s). There are two other recent contemporary works to be found in the Louvre. One by the French artist Francois Morellet is called "L'esprit d'escalier". This doesn't look like much in the stairway of the Louvre compared to the Twombly or to the work by German artist Anselm Kiefer. The Kiefer is a large installation sitting in the stairwell that links the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian antiquities at the museum. Check out the article in the New York Times about the Kiefer work.

Twombly said he was inspired by the blues of early Italian Renaissance artist Giotto, "I was just thinking of the blue with the disks on it, it's totally abstract... I put all the great Greek sculptors' names on the top. It's that simple."

The Glorious Land of Acabo

One of my favorite websites to visit about the love of food and all sweet things in Paris is David Lebovitz's, "living the sweet life in Paris". In his long list of Paris wonders I found "the best candy shop in Paris". It is called, A l'Etoile d'Or. One day some of my favorite visitors asked if I could take them to this wonderful shop. This shop is run by a grown woman in pigtails by the name of Denise Acabo. She has to be one of the sweetest women in Paris - in more ways than one. On this first visit Ms. Acabo saw the instant love for what she sells in her shop as soon as we walked through the door. She then gave us the grand tour of all of the special things sold in her "golden star" shop. Madam Acabo specializes in all of the best quality products direct from various regions in France. She tells tales of each of these classic candies explaining how they were produced and even the history behind these sometimes unusual things: Calissons, Bergamottes, Graines d'Anis, caramels (like none I've ever enjoyed), traditional nougat, and of course chocolate. One of the great chocolate specialties she has in her shop is creations from Bernachon. This is one of the few chocolates in the world located in Lyon that still makes the chocolate completely from scratch. So many of theses wonderful creations are made from recipes centuries old. Madam Acabo took great pleasure in explaining where each originated and how they were made. You’d be amazed, we were.

The grand finale for me was when she opened the large glass case of specialty chocolates in the center of her shop. There were too many wonders to behold. On my first visit I left the store spending many more euros on chocolates then expected. Later in the day I would use my chocolates almost as a bribe to get information. I've been back to the l'Etoile d'Or shop - down the street from the Moulin Rouge - nearly five times since the holidays.

Denise Acabo’s love of what she sells is inspirational. She explains how much she loves good things and good food. She spoke of only wanting things of the highest quality in her life. I saw proof of this over the weekend when I spotted her at my favorite food market in the city. The Sunday “Bio”/ organic market located on the opposite side of the city from where I live. This market has some of the very best food in the city. I try to make the effort to go there when I can each week. When I saw Madam Acabo there this past weekend I felt like I saw a movie star. I wanted to run up to her to say hello, but I just stood back to watch her in the action of shopping for the good food she spoke of loving.

So many people have written about Denise Acabo already. I just couldn't resist.

Denise Acabo
L’Étoile d'Or
30, rue Pierre Fontaine
75009 Paris

I LOVE LUCY! Lucy turns 10 years old.

This past week on August 6, my mini-poodle (caniche in French) had her 10th birthday. For her it was an uneventful day. She didn't know why she got the extra treats. For me it sort of marked another landmark for my life here in Paris. She is also the very first dog I have ever owned. I grew up in a house with cats. Lucy only came into my Paris apartment and life a year after moving to the city. When she was bought we were told that she should have a name that begins with the letter "P". I think this had something to do with the year her breed was born. This shop on the quai de la Magisserie, where she was found was calling her "Princesse". She can sometimes act a little like a princess, but she didn't deserve the title. Since she is a redhead giving her the name Lucy seemed perfect. Well technically, her color is listed as "abricot". What I thought was a bit amazing was finding out that she shares her birthday with Lucille Ball. I only just discovered this last week when checking IMDB.

My Lucy was born in France though her French language skills are nearly as bad as my own. Our neighbors will try to give her commands in French. Lucy loves the attention, but only react to the French with a wag of her tail. It always seems such a shock to my neighbors kids when she performs the commands when given in English. Her "passport" lists her birthplace as Montaigu de Quercy, which is in the Midi-Pyrenees. A little girl from the country. I remember her fears of the city noise when she first roamed the sidewalks of Paris. She has gotten over these fears. Lucy now only fears a visit to the groomer. Her greatest fear is any visit to her veterinarian, Marie-Laure Camus. The vet's office is just down the street from our apartment. Lucy's daily walks take her down this street towards the office. If we should cross the street at the end of this daily path she suspects a visit with Dr.Camus and will pull in the other direction. The only thing she likes about visiting the vet's office are the many cats that the doctor has wandering her office. Lucy doesn't know that Dr.Camus helped save her life when she had a serious bladder infection. Since her operation, Lucy has gotten out of the habit of wandering Paris as she did in the past. She does love her life staying close to home.

Happy Birthday Lucy and thank you for making my life in Paris even more memorable.

Another new beginning

I keep trying hard to operate a blog here. Since the arrival of a new president in American speaks of great changes in the world today, I thought I could work to change my lazy ways and start writing on a more regular basis here.

It was great to see the new year arrive after a personally not so pleasant 2008. I was still very lucky to tour the city in 2008 with many new Paris visitors. It was especially fun to see many returning faces as well. I feel so lucky making so many new friends each year, and 2008 was no exception. The city is always more fun when one gets to share all it has to offer.

We are keeping positive thoughts as we move through this first month of 2009. There have only been positive feelings expressed to me here in Paris by my French friends and neighbors with the arrival of President Obama.

Here's to a new and historic era in the world!

Following the Red Balloon

Paris has a wonderful collection of movie theaters that show classic films and "art house" movies. Being a great fan of the movies, I really enjoy the chance of seeing old movies on the big screen. Earlier this summer I saw that a childhood favorite, The Red Balloon had been re-release at one of these movie theaters in Paris. Many people may recall sitting through this short film - if they were lucky enough to - during their elementary school years. That's where I had first seen it. It is a short film (about 34 minutes) by Albert Lamorisse first released in 1956. When I had first seen this movie the fact that it was set in Paris hadn't really made an impression on me at that time. Seeing it once again was a real treat. The movie is also more beautiful than my younger self could ever have understood. The story of a small Parisian grade-schooler, played by the director's son Pascal, becomes best friend to a red balloon. This balloon will not leave his new friend's side. It was great fun to see Paris in it's recent past as the young boy rides the city buses, goes to school, and climbs the hilly neighborhood of Bellville and Menilmontant. Just this week the request to visit this part of the city came my way. As I wandered there this weekend the images of this movie came to my mind. Of course the old fallen down shanties no longer exist. Now there is a modern, beautiful park that offer a less known view over Paris. It's quite spectacular to come upon the city in this way. It was nearly the view that is quickly glimpsed in the movie.
This wasn't the only classic that I set out to see over the summer. Most of the theaters that play these great old films are located in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Places like "Action Ecoles", "Grand Action", and "Reflet Medicis" were showing some great old classics this summer. There was a festival of Marx Brothers movies to a movie musical festival like An American in Paris.

"I bought myself a red balloon, And got a blue surprise,Hidden in the red balloon, A pinning of my eyes,It took a love light from my eyes,Blue, blue surprise." Tim Hardin lyrics from the song: Red Balloon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L2-wOJMPw

Re - Starting

This has definitely not been any way to run a blog!

I'm coming back to my blog after a very long absence. More than six month have passed since my last commentary. This has been due to a difficult year of distractions. My main excuse for bad attendance was the passing of my mother Eleanor. It is her photo that I've posted here with a sign that says, "I'd rather be in Paris". On the back she had written: "I'd rather be here sitting in my living room with Michael and Scott by my side- just talking and laughing." I would be forced to remain in Paris while the events to honor my mother back in the states unfolded. The updates on these events from home felt like odd dreams.
My mother was a strong woman. She would beat cancer twice in her lifetime. She was a great and loving woman that knew how to make people feel good about themselves, always with a wonderful sense of humor. Everyone that had any contact with her will miss her greatly.

Of course my one regrets will be that she never got to see Paris. There had always been too many things preventing her from making the trip. Most often her worries were related to her health. These kept her close to home. Still, she had been talking about this being the year to make her trip to Paris. I'm sorry that she wasn't in better health, or felt strong enough to make the visit earlier. I know that she would have loved it here. So often the photos and images that I took would be captured with her in my mind. I hope that she at least was able to visit the many photos that I would post of my Paris wanders. Sharing the pleasures of Paris with her was something that I so wanted to do. Now this Autumn I'm looking forward for my father to make the trip to my adopted city. My mother's passing has put the idea of a Paris visit into the minds of others in my family back home. I really hope that they are able to make the trip at some point in the very near future.

This year Paris had a very odd spring. A chill would fall over the city throughout the month of May. The city did not have the feeling of past summers experienced in recent years. Once August had arrived it felt as if autumn was already in the air. The month is already at an end with tomorrow bringing another September and another rentrée. I started this blog a year ago to celebrate living here for ten years. I'm looking forward posting more photos at this site, along with more frequent updates about life in Paris.
Thanks to all that have visited this barren blog over the past months to find things at a stand still.