For luxury shopping it’s hard to beat the area around Rue St Honore.

The Ritz Hotel is right around the corner.

A little something by Chantal Thomas. I guess women are wearing stocking with garter belts again. I’m not one of them.

I don’t wear slippers like this either but I like them. It looks like something stars from the 40’s wore.

I don’t know if it is still true but at one time Joy was the most expensive perfume in the world.

A very strange, enchanted boy

You will know my age when I tell you that I can sing every word by heart to the old Nat King Cole song, Nature Boy. It has a very mystical, magical quality to it and you can picture a traveler happening upon a young boy, perhaps deep in a jungle or on an tropical island by the sea and he says something that you remember the rest of your life.

I happened upon a street performer the other day in front of the St Germain des Pres church in Paris. There was a girl playing the flute and the boy had a crytal ball which he moved in such a way that it appeared to float over his arms and hands. For some reason, this song came to mind.

There was a boy
A very strange, enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was heAnd then one day,
One magic day he passed my way
While we spoke of many things
Fools and Kings
This he said to me

I love to start a walk at the Palais Royal, take a look around the gardens, then cross the Pont des Art to the Left Bank.

A detail on the freshly painted fence by the Louvre Museum

As you cross the Pont des Arts over the Seine you get a view of Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is located. Here is the end of the island with Pont Neuf on either side.

On the Left Bank, the first building you reach is the Institute de France which was once a boarding school for boys set up by Mazarin.

It was a very busy sunny Sunday and also Palm Sunday so the streets and gardens were packed with people. These girls were set up in a little alley and I bet they made alot of money.

A view of the Luxembourg Gardens which is huge but it was so full of people it was like being on a street. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so crowded.

An Easter Egg in a window created with macarons by Gerald Murot. He’s the “Pope of Macarons”. They are very tasty. I did a taste test.

Alsace is know for its storks. I never did see a live one.

A metal stork above a store door

Strasbourg was a large Protestant area before King Louis XIV forced it to become Catholic. He, by the way, loved the area calling it a Garden and had many of his subjects move here resulting in some beautiful buildings including a chateau. His illegitimate son remained a Protestant and when he died they didn’t know what to do with his body, not wanting to taint a Catholic church or cemetery so he was buried in a Protestant church in Strasbourg. Here is his tomb. He is stepping down toward his casket which death is holding open. The weeping woman is France begging death not to take him. Strasbourg, by the way, was where Martin Luther posted his teachings on the door of the Strasbourg Cathedral starting the Lutheran Reformation.

Albert Sweitzer, that famous scientist, taught and preached in Strasbourg before coming to America. He was also known for his organ playing and this was the famous organ he once used for recitals.

Lots of those half-timbered buildings. I learned that they were almost like a piece of furniture in that they could very easily be dismantled and moved, then the empty parts were once more filled in with straw and plaster.

A bridge as the sun set. We were sitting at a cafe on the river having dinner.

The food in this region has a German slant as you might expect. I had the Tarte Flambee twice. It was on a very thin crust and was very tasty with a white sauce, cheese and bacon.

A closeup. I’m wondering if I could use an ordinary flour tortilla to recreate this at home.

Strasbourg

I have to say that the Alsace region of France is really terrific. All very clean and rather German looking due to the fact that this area of France has gone back and forth between being part of Germany and France and finally choosing to be French. Apparantly it was with some difficulty that they fit back into the French culture and Maurice says that they still pay their taxes differently in a somewhat German way which I don’t understand. I loved my short time in Strasbourg and took an audio tour around the old part of the city and was charmed.

We took the train there. The high speed TGV will be operational to Alsace in June. It took us about four hours. We saw the new TGV in the station at Gare de l’Est and it was huge and full of some sort of dignitaries who were probably going to get a sample ride. There were all sorts of staff around. The train station both in Paris and Strasbourg are undergoing massive rebuilding to accomodate the TGV. By the looks of things I don’t know how they will ever be ready by June. The train we took to Metz had a really nice dinner car where we sat at booths and had some Alsacian wine and the menu was in English, French and German. The newer trains just have sort of bar cars with a few stools but mostly just standing room.

Another fabulous cathedral-the tallest in Europe, I believe. It is a lovely rose color and very ornate. The Cathedral square was especially lovely and it was so wonderful to sit in front of a cafe in the shade (it was hot) enjoying a cold drink and gazing at this masterpiece.

Yet another huge clock inside the cathedral. This one had a rooster on top the crowed three times when the main “show” took place at 12:30. Disciples passed in front of Christ and death chimed the time. This clock also showed the day of the week along with religious days and lunar and solar cycles.

This little angel turned his sand clock on the hour.

A building with that German take on architecture although it reminded me of Amsterdam.

Many of the buildings had roofs like this with the little covered windows. They were used to keep the attics cooled off and food was also stored there.

I went to a market/fair Saturday with a blogging friend Lisa of http://theboldsoul.lisataylorhuff.com. She had passes to get into a fair selling the food and wares of farmers and others and it was right in my neighborhood in the Parc Floral of the Bois de Vincinnes. It wasn’t as large as these things can be but it was fun.

There was alot of cheese for sale, some butchers selling meat, honey products and also a man selling products for the skin and soap made from mare’s milk. I’ve heard milk from horses is good for the skin but, even being a skin cream junkie, I passed. I think there were the most booths there selling either wine or cognac and Lisa and I were feeling a little tipsy from the free tastes before it was all over.

I love the color of cognac and most of them have rather splendid bottles. I did try a little of this and it was way too strong for me.

This was way too strong too. I took the photo because I really liked the bottle, both the leaning ones and the square ones behind which stack up in little towers. After I took it the man told me I couldn’t take photos which is why I’m showing this here. He said something like they could loose alot of money if their product were copied I think.

I did end up buying something from this booth. It was manned by two cute ladies who had huge smiles on their faces and they were having a really good time giving us samples. I told them I liked how happy they looked and one of them pointed to her tea mug. I suspect it had a little cognac in it. I bought a cognac product called pineau, which is a much sweeter alcohol, a mix of cognac and grape must which is then aged in oak barrels. I got an older one. It had a lovely deep brown flavor and is, I’m sure, loaded with calories. I also bought a Cream de Peche drink, flavored with peaches. Very yummy. When I served it a few days later I was told it was a drink for ladies, I guess because it is sweet. The Pineau, I found out, is considered an aperatif, served before a meal. All of these rules and traditions. I’m clueless basically but I’ll try them all. Just tell me when.