France with Ken
FRIDAY, 10/8/99: At 5:40PM I phone and say I'll wait DOWNSTAIRS, DON'T CALL. "Gray Lincoln town car, 2 minutes." He arrives 5:45 and to airport by 6:35, and VERY long line for flight 7. $25 ride, and $2 coupon is no good. Tough! Check in at 7:05, ticket redo by 7:08, and lounge by 7:15. Board 7:40, relatively numb. Plane full. Off at 8:20, said to be 6:15 flight, wish for blinders and they hand them out! Try to sleep at 8:40, no good. Take pill at 8:48, no good. Take wine 9:09, no good. Up to look out at 10:10 to lights---Newfoundland?
SATURDAY, 10/9/99: Doze 11-1AM maybe. Up to pee and drink juice. 1:15 LIGHTS on for BREAKFAST, map comes on, WAS Newfoundland. 7:20 over Arran Island, but TOTALLY dark out still. At 7:25AM the SLIGHTEST hint of a dim horizon. They SHOW the navigational system, but only ONCE? 1:12 to landing! Small groups of lights (England?) obscured by clouds. TINY roll and yogurt and juice was breakfast? TRIPLE layer of clouds. Land at 8:45, middle of nowhere, and dock at 9AM. Into terminal at 9:15, plane leaves at 9:40?? To "F" at 9:30, LONG line. To F29 at 9:40: it's GONE! Correspondence (next plane at 12:15) to 10, meal at Pomme de Pain of cereal bread and bacon and tomato and cheese, salad, cream, and fruit for free, for 48F. CLEANERS on strike---place is JUNKY. GOOD breakfast to 11:15, get 1000F at cash machine: 6.1F/$! Wait TIRED, to board at 12:50! SHIT! Off 1:40! Land 2:48, CIRCLING Marseille! 3:15 onto bus: 47F. Reset watch. 3:40 to Gare St. Charles (#0) and church (#1) to Novotel Vieux Port HOLLERING at driver for putting bags in TRUNK, and 47F ride goes to 70 with it. GREAT room (#2&3 from window). Unpack. Ken's in at 5, we leave to see Palais du Pharo on plain above Vieux Port. Cute guys, wedding, statue photo, and back at 6:45 for 7:15 taxi to Petit Nice, more Passedat than not, for $132 we have GREAT cream of cauliflower taste, but lots of (some bony) fish, pushy sommelier wants 750F wine, but we settle for mediocre 375F WHITE Chateauneuf du Pape like "off" Sancerre. Mignardises BEFORE vanilla pudding dessert. WALK back along pinpoint-light-clear corniche. FALL into bed at 11:30 and sleep.
SUNDAY, 10/10/99: But CAN'T sleep after peeing at 3:40AM. Ken wakes me at 8:30, groggy, and I have NO toothbrush and NO bag and camera!! He calls restaurant; it's there WHEN she checks under the table. Buffet breakfast in kiddy-loud room to 9:30, taxi to pick up bag and up to Notre Dame de la Garde. Mosaics, mass, stair-climbs, crypt below, English brochures, down hill to Abbey St. Victor and HUGE crypt and book for 50F. More masses. Down to boat to Chateau d'If at 11:20 for 50F and 25F entrance. Picturesque. Up and look at WHOLE elaborate bay and harbor to 12:30. Boat not till 12:50, rush to hotel, but only buffet for lunch, so we're to Bar Pharo for hot ham and cheese for 18F and two apple juices. To Hotel to pack and taxi for 80F to station for bus that leaves at 2:48. To airport 3:15, cash machine NOT working, to Europcar at 3:30. Start at 6260 (and forget to record final mileage, forgetting to ask Ken for the record on the pay-slip until NOW, when he's probably thrown it out) odometer on CUTE stubby Mercedes, through "Alpilles" surroundings---FEW houses, LITTLE traffic. To Les Baux and wander closing town, parapets, exhibits, tourists, no ATMs. Back-pedal for Le Cabro D'Or, offered a larger room for 1200F and we say no. Lovely birdcage and oleanders and gardens. To car to Ousteau, not that EITHER of us remembers it. Large pool, few clients (many speaking English), and maitre d' says he has Ken's "vin cuit" and YOUNG guy says "almost," then FINDS it. Lovely fruity wine to 8PM, to sparse dining room for multicourse LOVELY meal with 300F half-bottle white and a good red and GREAT 60F glass of licorice-y red with four SHARED cheeses, Banon de Province almost NAUSEATING with tiny curds in a sourish whey. CUTE wine-pourer, GREAT cheekbones and NICE smile. Cute open-shirted guy behind me. Eat 8-10:45 and FULL, even to creme anglais/syrop de Grand Marnier crepes and apple ice cream (pulpy) and REFRESHING lemon sorbet and lovely load of fraise du bois. Back at 11:45, Ken shuts off TV, I brush teeth with purchased brush.
MONDAY, 10/11/99: To bed at 12:30AM as he gets up to pee. To sleep. Up 3:30 to pee, warm in a/c room and cold outside. Up at 8:30 and to dining room for grapefruit juice and rolls with honey, fig, and red fruit jam. Back to room at 10:10. FRESH day in misty sun. Good shit, water with breakfast, Ken FUSSES about route, out after 11:30. How long will I be patient with his throat-clearing? BUY vin cuit at Ousteau, drive north to Ardeche and LOTS of views and roads and overlooks to Pont D'Arc and Caillets: pork in oil: STRONG and fatty, in cream sauce, and two beers, to 2:50. Also stopped for photo of Pont D'Arc, a natural bridge over Ardeche, very near which, as Prehistory Museum later showed us, is Chauvet Cave. Also showed dolmens in Bidon and abris in St. Rezere and neolithic fireplaces from La Bastide de Virac, all of which we neared or went through, to Aven (a pit, as opposed to Grotte, a cave) D'Ornac, found 1834 and VERY large, with some INCREDIBLY high, FLUTED, broken and reconnected, "Crepes" (flat pancakes from splashes) formations and FLOWER-like formations (from SPRAYS). One-fourth of formations still living. Down and up a 22-story building. [My watch alarm rang last night, Ken tells me. I shut it off.] To museum at 4:55-5:30, microliths, molds of many incisions, exhibit by woman who painted Lascaux II, and so many books and maps that again I have that "The more you see, the more you see there IS to see," feeling of frustration: you could spend MONTHS looking into each cave, pit, museum, study, abri, map, site, location, and read and catalog each book and STILL have more left to do. Ken in a panic about getting to hotel in dark. Sunset about 7PM and more traffic after quiet countryside of infinite regresses of misty hills a la Morocco, and a busy city starts and NO signs, and PASS "Hotel ** Le Park" sign and Coram Opera and Palais de Congress does NOT stop Avenue de Nimes and we find our desperate selves going to AIRPORT. Ken turns at random to "City center" and we follow to "Hopitaux" and "Boutonnet" and turn off Gerhardt to Jaumes and he gets out his CITY map and we're incredibly CLOSE to hotel, going wrong way on repaired place Albert I. Ken FRANTIC. To Avenue Achille Bege and to parking and woman says we're in OUTSIDE room. Ken protests AT LENGTH, in his inflected French, and I sit, numb, and stare at floor like dutiful wife. She moves us inside and we get directions to Villefranche and Street and two others, and out at 8:30 to walkers and few diners, and look at Me Kong and then Avenue Foch and back to Me Kong for "triangle d'or" appetizer and lovely pork brochette combination and duck lacquered; beer; and flaming apple, banana, and pineapple beignets for dessert. Walk past Arc de Triomphe, side of Cathedral, and dark buildings and roaring Vespas to hotel to WEARY bed at 11:20.
TUESDAY, 10/12/99: Up at 8 and MOPE in bed, maybe tired, maybe bored, thinking NEGATIVE: WHY on trip? WHAT will go wrong today? WHY do I ALWAYS feel like this, but up to shower well and change clothes and open shutter to pleading cat, and Ken's up to shower at 8:55 and I write LONG notes to catch up to here at 9:22, and I cough a couple times and sneeze once and actually HUNGER for breakfast, give my 4-piece set (2 socks, shorts, tee) to Ken to wash, talk of Ken's ankle sores and duodenum, and to breakfast at 9:30. (#10 arbutus, Ericaceae "Arbre aux fraises"). Pisang orange is banana and orange, green-colored Maitrank is licorice-y, at La Gueuze for lunch. Really too much of ham/blood sausage/tomato/potato lunch, with Bernadus beer, to 2PM. To Chateau D'Eau and Cathedral, dim, at 2:30, and to Fabre Museum for a BRIGHT Botticelli and detailed copy of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" and Teniers and Sert "Judgment of Midas" with sultry boy, and "Achilles Irate," a CUTE body and face. Out tired (after farting) at 5PM to closed shop and hotel to lie down while Ken fusses about tomorrow in rain. Dress and call cab to Jardin des Sens, and arrive first at 8 to 6-7 amuse bouches, order chardonnay for 300F and homard is so MULTIPLEX there's no FOCUS. Ken says, "Too busy," and it goes for scallops and loup. But cepes in corgette isn't bad, just not super---too mushy and pasta is too hard (too SOFT, really) to cut. ALL is hard to cut. Cheekboned young sommelier, PRETTY pourer, fast-talking server, mediocre goat before 8-10 desserts, warm chocolate tart best in two small bites, as was cream chicken in corgette flowers at start. Out at 11 and wait for cab as it rains lightly. Taxi back for 65F, 50F going, and bed at 12.
WEDNESDAY, 10/13/99: TWO dreams: 1) Vaguely admonitory of "Don't eat much, don't eat MEAT." 2) LAVISH Shelley apartment has MULTIPLE men's and ladies' rooms back of wicker doors, a kitchen filled with freezers and lockers of prepared foods and desserts, multiple guests coming and going, multimedia "entertainment" board, slips to evaluate entertainers, and I nuzzle a guy who seems not to like it, then smiles and returns kisses and we smooch mightily and he turns a glistening, marble-muscled back and I leap on and get under his legs and enjoy his body hugely and wake about 7AM VERY hard. Lie and think and up at 7:40 to pack and dress and light all lights to wake Ken at 8:30 and finish this at 8:50 as we go to breakfast. LIGHT breakfast (DARK chocolate) to 9:25, light rain. He drives out, to Ganges, we change as drivers at Ganges, car handles nicely, but "stalls" when I don't turn off wipers BEFORE motor. Cirque de Navacelles clouded, but nice, and we drive edge, middle, and edge to Vigan at 1PM, for lunch to 2PM at Cafe/Restaurant des Cevennes. 120F for salad and pasta and wine and I fart all PM AGAIN. Drive in MUCH fog till 3:45, when it CLEARS a bit before Meyrueis at 4PM for 300F room with circling vultures! Ride to Chateau Rocquedols to look around to 5PM, walk to Notre Dame du Roque and see spots of sun on hills, walk old pittoresque town streets and back to lie down and listen to Ken fuss to 7:45, last down to dinner of merlot for 65F, foie gras terrine and dud of riz d'agneau and rognons de veau and cheese and HEAVY chocolate dessert to 9:30, last one, and up to second floor salon for Cynar-like gentian and vin cuit-like Eglantine aperitifs. Bed 10PM, exhausted!!!
THURSDAY, 10/14/99: Up at 1AM to pee and change awful bright light in bathroom. GREAT gas pains eventually pass away by lying in various positions on small bed. Up at 4:32 to try to shit, and again Ken gets up at 7:20 and I raise shutters to dark gray morning and shit hard pellets and feel gloomy---six days gone, six days of Ken, seven days of Jean-Jacques to do. Finish this at 8:02AM. Tired of writing ALREADY. Bit over one card/day. Packed and ready to go as Ken finishes his bath and clears throat and prepares to pack two huge bags, what a DRAG. Out on fresh lawn to 8:10, repark car, GOOD breakfast rolls with THEIR plum jam, and Ken calls tonight's chateau. Sit peacefully, cats stalking, leaves changing, tiny gnats hovering in air---and cars passing. Leave about 10AM and drive to Mt. Aigual in increasing clouds, ALL in clouds at top for meteorological museum in 1893 building: of clouds, rain, storms, frost, and sunrises and sets, of which only clouds are visible. Down to Les Roziers at 12:15 and I insist we NOT stop for lunch. Spectacular views from INSIDE Gorges du Tarn. To Point Sublime (I'm driving all the way) to couple and dog ONLY, and to another viewpoint and drive to Cirque des Baumes for farms, and down to lunch at 2PM at Le Gevaudon, specializing in aligote, with kir au framboises and croque monsieur and salad and wine and German/Danish/English/French couple with one-star-winning son now in London. Dine to 3PM, along tarn to Chateau de la Caze at 4, walk to tarn for herons, across property to dog and tarn, then to car to visit St. Enimie and signs on all sites and Place Plo and view on climb toward Boisset and down to car in rain to chateau at 6:45 and in to solitary dinner at 7:45 of veggies and snails and lotte and orange dessert and good local white wine to 9:30 and back to bed, brushing teeth while watching Towering Inferno in low sound in French. Exhausted!!
FRIDAY, 10/15/99: Up 1AM to pee on water-wet floor, trouble getting to sleep. Up again at 4:30 to shit, stars STILL out, and again at 7AM to pee, and up at 8 to shower to find that Ken had 4AM FEVER and can't do anything but SIT in CAR and hope to last to Laguiole so he can lie down! DAMN! Call for breakfast in apartment---two LARGE rooms, low lights, separate toilet and bath with TWO sinks, but no SOAP, only PACKETS of GEL. John is at OTHER end of hall. He studies alternate route for day to 8:40 and I finish this. Odd "off" taste to apple sauce and rice pudding, and odd "greens" not QUITE in yogurt. Eleven DOORS in apartment. Finish breakfast 9:30. Drive (#2 & #3 Castelbouc) through morning mist till NOON, to Laguiole at 12:30 and room's not ready, so we're to town and try Hotel Auguy and it's pricey, so to Hotel Regis and Ken has salad and soup and I have duck and fries and tarte framboise and we have beers and back to ski-lodge hotel to unpack and at 3:20 decide to nap to 5. Then he writes cards and I sit in lounge and read till 7:30 and we dress and sit in restaurant waiting for MENUS to be printed. Great veggie entree. He doesn't eat his beetroot souffle and gets a piece of sausage. Marcellac wine OK for 130F and 720 meal is good though biche is tough and soupe au chestnuts is thin. Desserts REALLY fill us up. Bloated PAINFULLY to bed at 11:32 under sweaty duvet.
SATURDAY, 10/16/99: Up at 3:30 and 6AM to pee. Up at 8:30 to breakfast to 9:30 and pack to 10. Two dreams: 1) Sex with Rolf, 2) Fantasy. [#12 castle/flowers in Estaing] 1) was VERY erotic till others came on the scene, and 2) involved a hotel in which many movie producers, directors, and stars all moved through parties and galas in elaborate costumes and combinations of sexual partners. No good pix of Bras's from a distance, but hit deep fog in valley, which looks like CLOUDS from a distance. Sky clear as we get to Conques past hilly, bright scenery (in contrast to rain and dimness in previous visit) and in JUST as Tresor II closes. Into church at noon: singing by three monks, and look at high Romanesque nave and capitals through binox and get book and leaflets not there previously. Wander upper streets of town to Center European (closed, but with guys from conference laughing over lunch in the Maison Dadon below). Down to our hot lunch in Pizzeria du Parvis, Ken with Pizza Conquaise and me with walnut salad, ham and cheese crepe, and cassis ice next to three gay Parisiens. At 2:15 we buy tickets to Tresor I, past makers-in-training tap-tapping, and Ste. Foy is FEMALE, now in raised niche framed in red drapes, rather than floor-near-center. Quickly through what I'd seen, and Tresor II seemed new to me. Back to car on street (Hotel Ste. Foy now 4-star, no one in center jardin) and pictures of church and tympanum and into car at 3PM for long, winding drive through cow-country, a passed farm tractor that nearly drove us into a wall, castles at Estaing and Polignac, and luckily onto faster road that gets us into Puy at 6:45, just before dark, and Ken gets lost in traffic and we drive around many blocks to Dyke Hotel, only double beds left, and receptive Regina across street with twin beds for 340 and a nice hostess who leads me to garage and to room with shutters on windows and PERMANENT exhaust (versus Laguiole's that NEVER worked) in john. Look at city plan for "Bib Gourmand" restaurants, but with 7-9AM breakfast hours, decide to eat downstairs, where Francois Gagnaire is Hillary Clinton-like hostess's husband chef NOT related to Paris's 3-star Pierre Gagnaire. Ken finds nothing to like in fancy restaurant with tight circle-booth for two (and crying babies in BACK and six dykes [?]) except for 190F "Colors of autumn" menu that gives us Sancerre for 130F, smoked herring salads, snails and cepe tartlets, pretty good, though he doesn't care for his Saint-Pierre, my mignon de veau in cream, shrimp, and LOTS of morels is good, with veggies that pathetically TRY to emulate Bras's "gargouillou de jeunes legumes" with 1/8 the variety, none of the leaves and sprigs and bits, and 1/16 the finesse. Three creme brulees (regular, anis, and lavender that Ken observes correctly tastes made of soap) after cheeses, of which I try "blanc" cheese, which is FRESH with a sugar-sprinkler-dash and a pitcher of DELICIOUS rich cream, and a LONG wait with crying kid and enquiring drinkers for red-glassed "Capote"-clone effusions, and FINALLY get chocolate dessert by 10:20, just TOO tired to go out to enjoy fun-fair at nearby city square. Up GROANING to bed at 10:30.
SUNDAY, 10/17/99: Toss for a bit, up at 3:45AM to pee and doze and up at 7:15 to pee and shit and wake Ken to throat-clearing and dressing, and I catch up with this at 8:15 and we're down to breakfast. GREAT breakfast to 8:40: TWO glasses of juice (pitcher nearly tips in ice-vat), LOVELY large slice of ham, GOOD yogurt with fresh fruit, rolls and butter and jams and orange TEA. Up to TV to brush teeth. To cathedral city up streets to stair-door, around to 10AM tour, and buy 35F book in tresor. Listen to tour, see chapels and crosses and organ. Pay 25F for cloister and treasury upstairs and photo Vanier slaves. Down to walk Rue du Table and Ken buys a lace goose for Jay. Follow Michelin walk-map to stumble on an open (most are closed Sunday noon) Tournayre. I LEAVE lentils from smoked quail legs and lots of joue de porc (hog-jowls!) and have cheese and dessert. [Slaves: Vanier] At 12:20 to Tournayre Eric and Marc (brothers) for lunch. To Regina at 2:05 and check out and drive to TWO parking lots for St. Michaels. Helpful flashlight-guide, easy climb, down at 4 to MISS turnoff for view over Le Puy. Pleasant drive to St. Bonnet-les-Froid at 5PM, check in, unpack, and at 6:20 I say "Let's go" for a circle ride with GREAT mushrooms and "out" for an hour. Back at 7:40 to change for dinner from 8 to 11:20! Ken thinks 2-star Ousteau and this should be 3, and 3-star Jardin and Laguiole should be 2. LOTS of mushrooms (this place HAS duvet that I took sheet OFF and put on a more-comfortable BLANKET, and it was MUCH less---though STILL---sweaty). Literally FALL into bed WIPED OUT TOTALLY!
MONDAY, 10/18/99: 9:30 turn on TV to mask TV-noise from next door. Two dreams: 1) Watching some sort of female award ceremony, with five levels of awards. 2) I'm watching a presentation (from above) of a submarine sinking, sinking, near its limits of depth, coasting to rest near ANOTHER sunken sub in the sand thirty feet above its 300-foot limit, in amazingly bright and clear water. Two INCREDIBLE ideas at 8AM: 1) DON'T HAVE BREAKFASTS. 2) Get a FLASHLIGHT to solve bathroom nightlight problems. WHY didn't I think of it BEFORE? AND Ken came BACK from breakfast to say they offered salmon and ham in their good 90F breakfast that he GIVES me 45F to be even on the bill. Which he tots up now: CAR at $550 is about a NIGHT at Laguiole! AND they GAVE us the 565F printed tasting menu last night with two WRITTEN cheese-names (and a cigarette smoker complained about). Ken reconfirms my 10/20 lunch, and Jean-Jacques will do so for 10/21 tomorrow. Pack and finish this by 10:30AM, very foggy out! Over-2000F bill. To Vienne by noon, see church and lunch at smoky, crowded bistro downstairs from church, on HUGE omelet to 2:05. Museums and theater CLOSED on Monday. Rains HARD. Umbrella-closure breaks and sticks, which I manage to repair the next day. To car at 2:35, finding that ticket-ordinateur for payment takes lunch, too, so we parked FREE from 12-2. To Bleu Marine at 3:45 in Lyon, having lost our way by crossing Rhone BEFORE the "bridge with flags" (turns out ALL Lyon's 22 bridges over Rhone and Saone are shaped and LIT differently at night). Back and forth and Ken is INCREASINGLY desperate and I'm perfectly comfortable just following his often quick-changing directions. Unpack and just CAN'T get up energy in rain to go out to Old Lyon, so I try phoning Jean-Jacques 6-7 times, dialing 01, and always getting what I take to be a BUSY one-second-cycle tone. We just lie, I take a shower, and down at 7 to find I should dial 001, and GET Jean-Jacques and he CANCELED his reservations at two restaurants and puzzled about my P.R. Hill name, for which I apologize for not having told him. Down to find taxi STILL not arrived. Leave 7:10 and long way for 120F to Collonges and Paul Bocuse, a BLACKAMOOR conducting us out of taxi and in to table after ANOTHER fuss where Ken has to pull out his reservation letter (Bleu Marine had him under KENNETH as a last name) and we get a table in a "busy" room of 8 tables, side chamber for four empty tables, and other rooms obviously filled, AWFUL paint-job (Mama Leone-phony) all along outside and inside lobby after HEAPS of pumpkins and squash and gourds on sidewalk. Squash soup and chestnuts not so great BEFORE classic Soupe aux Truffes with LOTS of veggies, meat, pastry cover, and MAYBE 1/5-1/6 WHOLE TRUFFLE. Ken's lobster and my turbot just OK, but his Bresse poulet with cream and morels is CLASSIC and my carre d'agneau has THE BEST buttered small green beans EVER, as Ken loves his RICE. Cheeses include a GUILLOTINED Rocquefort and a "strong" Fourme de vignonieres du Lyon that's not so strong. Ken laughs at the photo of Bocuse's "Last Supper." Germans four across the way recall Germans two in St. Bonnet. Three "hippy" types fun to watch as we eat CLASSIC creme brulée and (my) mignardises. Three waiters wheel up FIVE tables with TWENTY desserts: 1) framboise tarte for Ken after he doesn't care for 2) chocolate "Madame President" cake. I get 3) vanilla ice cream DELICIOUS in rum, 4) balls of "red fruit" sorbet (oh, Beaujolais ICE between courses GREAT) and 5) citron sorbet, and 6) creme anglais on 7) framboise. Ken gets naked 8) fraise du bois, half of a carton from a three-carton supply (later resupplied), and we pass on 9) strawberries and 10) cut red fruit in Beaujolais and cassis, 11) baba au rhum, 12) floating islands with GRACEFUL golden-sugar wings, 13) imperatrice white swingle (?), 14) chocolate mousse, 15) pineapple, 16) pear, 17) prune, and 18) fig fruit and 19) apple tart and 20) regular cream for fruit. Finished OUR FIRST and greatest array---others ate our leftovers! Bill of 1980F comes and taxi comes TOO quickly to look around place MORE. Out at 10:50 and back to hotel past Bocuse's lit "wedding cake" lights of a LUNCH place for meetings, and driver points out "pencil" tower of Meridian Hotel on top and Bank Lyonnaise offices below. Another 140F taxi, up to room to GROAN into bed: Ken STILL had virus discomfort but he survived. Bed at 11:30.
TUESDAY, 10/19/99: Wake at 3:30 to pee, and 7AM to shit, knocked up by Ken NEEDING to pee. Up at 7:50 to start packing and planning for his last day, and I make note for him to lend me his red Michelin and binox that I'd forgotten. Feel HUNGRY as I write this and eat two butter cookies, part of which I picked up behind fridge after tipping over "breakfast" tray when putting chair atop mini-bar to save space last night in this SMALLEST of rooms, including garage for car that Ken will drive to airport about 2PM today from our "disabled" slot, which was only one left by 3-4 2-space-hogging cars. Ken goes to breakfast at 8:20 and I write ALL this, and he comes back at 8:55, saying place was JAMMED with suits. Gives me binox and book and we leave at 9:10 after I shit again! 9:57 #35 Delorme Gallery ** 1536. #36 Hotel Boulioud, OPENED to stairs. 10:45 #0 Musee de Gadagne, #1 Rue St. Jean inner court. #3 Tour Rose, Rue de Boeuf. 11:17 #4: 29 Rue de Boeuf. #5 Cathedral St. John. #6 1323 astronomical clock at 11:45. 12 noon Pomme de Pain for "Genereux" and Cidrai for 39F. Eat most to 12:20, to hotel 12:30, pack to 12:40, pages/cards DAMP. Ken fusses to 1PM, goes down to PAY so he can give me his spare francs, if any, and I can return the key while HE goes directly down to the car with all his LUGGAGE. He returns 1:05, keeps $140 in francs, and we part in elevator at 1:10. I take taxi to Port-Dieu Station, from 1:15-1:25, paying 50F because the driver, who tried three shops in station, has no change: no tip! Buy 312F second-class TGV ticket to Paris and get a window in coach 8, LOWER! CUTE kid passes with "maman" and gives me "THE" eye! Wait on chilly platform for 2PM train at 1:38. Lots of freights and locals. Train in at 1:52, leaves at DOT of 2PM. Train about 40% full. Cloudy, then REAL fog, then clear as I read TGV magazine and find THREE operas in Paris. 3:15 almost there. ALL area is farming and grazing! Only PASSAGE is on the upper level; all lower levels are cul-de-sacs. "Paris 118 km" at 3:28PM. About 4 km/min, or 144 mph. We outstrip a small monoplane. Arrive 3:58PM. To Jean-Jacques's at 4:15 and talk to 7:30. To La Forge for GREAT mushrooms, cepes and girolles, and saltimboca, FREE kir royale and three GOOD profiteroles, out at 10 and back at 10:15 and watch Phedre to 11:30 and bed.
WEDNESDAY, 10/20/99: Up at 9:30, breakfast, watch TV to 10:40 and dress in Jean-Jacques's jacket and get to Arpege at 12:50, to champagne, fish mousse, egg in erable (maple syrup!) great, then soup of mushrooms and peanuts, VERY good with Pineau white wine that they REFILL. We have TWO bottles of Badoit that take (what I thought was) 625F to 1300F. Good red Cote de Rhone evigal (?) with tough-ish Charolais Bavarois shown in a HUGE cut for all of us through eight courses, and Jean-Jacques has MORE red and we struggle to name Mondrian, and chef Alain Passard is VERY sweet and eats with people at two tables, and we have (FORGOT scallops with WHITE wine and a great basil sauce!) chocolate cake and BASIL ice cream, MANY mignardises, custard and caramel millefeilles with my sweet Muscatel wine to 3:30, LOTS of servers for PRECISE service. Bus 5.5F, make way for otranpus (?) views, slight rain. Home 4PM to write this to 5 and go to NAP. Up at 6:20 and dress and leave in rain for car to pick up Rita and get to Chatelet for Jean-Jacques to park car and Rita to lead me to caisse where I ask for tomorrow's Alceste and there's one in the orchestra and a few in the first ring for 670F and then only cheap 70F seats "You see nothing" from. Rita is flabbergasted. I pay in Visa and go upstairs to 5th row behind Mme. Pompidou, who's later asked to visit Bob Wilson, but she says no. TV cameras and BRIGHT lights on OUR section at end. Wilson's "SQUARE" enlarges UNEVENLY, drawing my attention to his INTENTIONS. GREAT diagonal line of Euridyce's gown lost on straightaway. She's not such a great singer as Orpheo, who reminds me of hyper-dramatic maid in Phedre on TV. Eros has pudgy legs but a perfect gamin face and costume. Orchestra and music is great, but many in male chorus look in DRAG in lipstick, as Orpheo is TOTALLY a WOMAN. Mixed audience appreciation and intermission-less 7:37-9:15 for only 1:38. To Le Zimmer for snack to 10:15 and home by 10:45 and bed 11:30.
THURSDAY, 10/21/99: Up at 6:10AM to pee, Jean-Jacques goes to doctor at 9 and I shit at 9:30 and glance through his French-language, long Gratte-Ciel book. Shower (only two left for Saturday and Monday) and listen to Rossini's Ermione (Andromache) on CD till he comes in at 10:15. Brief breakfast and write this till 11:33, leaving at noon (HE has no metro map) for Pierre Gagnaire, which restaurant calls him this AM for HIS held reservation this evening. ALSO get tickets to Saturday Marriage of Figaro for first opera at Bastille. Walk Champs-Elysee Outdoor Art Show for two hours. Orpheo ed Euridice tonight: my hand-written notes are messed up here: the opera is described in LAST night's notes!
FRIDAY, 10/22/99: 11AM: Jean-Jacques reserves my MasterCard luncheon at Les Ambassadeurs on Sunday and waiting for Grand Vefour for Monday. Get La Perichole for me tonight at Trocadero. Lunch IN today. #11: Sign at JJ's "First HOUSING skyscraper in Paris, 65m high, Edoard Albert in 1960." [New Guinea: Dancer with penis case, wrapping it up against bell-belt. Teotihuacan gate! Bonompak murals! Gondar paintings! Prehistory, North American Indian, South American Indian, Africa, Music, Ukraine paintings, Eskimos, TIBET! North China, Turkish house, Southeast Asia and Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Japan, Oceania CLOSED.] 6:15 decide to go UP Tour Eiffel. At 6:30 top is CLOSED, 43F to 2nd. To 2nd at 6:40, JUST at sunset, and take five photos. Then 6:45 find that level 3 is open from level 2 for 17F, or 60F total. On line for TWO elevators and get on THIRD load at 6:59, rather DARK pictures from top may not come out (but they DID). To second level and see the buffet and buy a ham and cheese and 40 cl beer for 39F and eat while gazing over bright-lit city. Down to first level at 7:40 and look around a bit and down at 8:05, up around Chaillot wing again and the Salle Vanier is WAY underground and johns are WAY around and whole 30 rows of 50 seats back built on SUPPORTS in a BARN of a room. My reduced senior ticket was 120F. Staged as TOTAL farce, but "the" melody is orchestrated and sung OK by Perichole, and tenor's arias are OK, too. Lots of American: "FUCKING music," "Just a Gigolo," and "Barcarole" and Carmen's "L'Amour" and Dizzy Gillespie and "Love Me Tender" by Elvis-lookalike thrown in, plus dogs humping doggie-style and cross-dressing and can-canning peasants and priest. Homage to Robert WILSON as Offenbach's conducting arm goes UP with the curtain, lavish tacky sets and costumes, and finale repeated 2-3-4 times with audience clapping in time. Ends 11:15 and out to metro to get out at Corvisart to see a hunky guy in loaded jeans at exit, but his dumpy friend says, "Control" and demands my metro stub. Left pocket comes up with ONE stub and museum entry and Eiffel Tower stub. "No good." Right pocket yields eight UNUSED stubs. Reach into left again, check through wallet, and dig in AGAIN and pull out SECOND stub, which MUST have been used. "This is no good, either." "L'un ou l'autre," I say with finality. He tries to show me a blurred reading on one ticket and I say "Trocadero." He says something else. I say, "Je comprens rien," and hunk says "Passez." I leave and cute guy lets me in and takes elevator up to 12, saying "Bon soir," and I get up to Jean-Jacques watching a TV talk show, and my two stubs ACTUALLY read 1415 and 1705, which couldn't be right. Write this to 12:15 and I tell him my day to 12:37AM, exhausted.
SATURDAY, 10/23/99: I turn my alarm ON again. Fragonard Biomedical Museum: 1:50PM: skeletons, 2 heads, fetuses, breaks in bones old and new, calculi up to 20 pounds, stomachs, livers, eyes, intestinal tracts with or without cecum, ankyloses, tuberculoses, fish, hooves, elephant's (?) penis at 18 inches, shellfish, birds, man on horse, echinococcal MASSES, YARDS of taenia, insects and beetles. Horseshoes! The man with the jawbone of an ass has an ERECTION. 2:20PM: butcher's cuts, many HORSE maladies, brains, out 2:30, looks like RAIN, and I don't FEEL so good! Jean-Jacques is sick! 3PM Port Doree for Oceania, in Les Cascades for quiche, salad, and beer. HOME 3:50PM. Onto bus 91 at 6:46 and driver steps OFF to TALK! But the FAST, DIRECT bus arrives at 7:04! Take outside and inside photos of Bastille. Settled at 7:20, ALMOST comfortable. Act I 7:33-8:22, people leave for non-intermission! NOT such a good cast OR production OR direction OR orchestra (worst). Coughing to left, talking and SINGING (SHH!!) to right. Act II 8:24-9:17. BOTH men's and women's johns have lines! I coughed a BIT, NOTHING like OTHERS! Photos from front and top---I'm NOT tired! Back after LONG wait to sit at 9:47. Act III to 10:34!
SUNDAY, 10/24/99: Crillon: Tomato and goat cheese amuse bouche, asparagus souffle and morels, chestnut soup (NICE cepes), 1/2 Sancerre La Marchante is GOOD. 1/2 red Pomerol Chateau Clinet 1994. Seven-hour lamb "au cuiller" and dessert of citron vert and framboise. Lunch till 4PM! Jeu de Paume collection moved to d'Orsay, now MODERN: Eero from 10/27. Tuilleries ENORMOUS. #33 4:15PM Tuilleries old-young man. Egyptian "Merci" (mime with begging bowl) on Champs Elysee 10/21, outside Bastille 10/23, and outside Louvre 10/24! Louvre CLOSES at 6, but I get ON LINE at 4:27! #36 Aknaton and ceiling of "Parade" room. ROOMS from the Musee Charles X. Regent (141 carats) and Sancy (55 carats) diamonds in Salle D'Apollon and two Louis XV crowns and ROSE Hortense diamond (23 carats).
MONDAY, 10/25/99: Grand Vefour: D'anet (herb, anise?) and cauliflower mousse on GREAT cream. Ravioli of foie gras with truffled cream (chef's special)---GREAT. Tomatoes in cream soup with coffee beans. Les Romains Sancerre 1994, 300F+, NOT "better/cheaper" at 170F. It was Blois: Cour Cheverny, which he gave me a glass of, as an "extra." Dorade roti with mashed potatoes and vitellotte chips ("a type of potato"). THEN they insisted I try another special: Cote de boeuf Parmentiere, with potatoes atop, and truffles, and sauce TRUFFLED and vegetables TRUFFLED---incredible! Red: Cabecu, Chateau D'Abeche, Beaufort. TWO dessert wines, second was Maury, dark red. Caramel ice cream DIVINE. Chocolate dessert---I'm SWIMMING. Grand Vefour even has SPECIAL infusion: romarin and others. Leave 3:30. LONG Louvre line, in at 4PM. #4 Salon Carrée and Giotto (school) Cross and Cimabue Virgin. #5 Grand Gallery. #6 Five da Vincis! #7 Mona and neighbors. #8 Caracci: The Deluge. TWO Antonello da Messinas: Christ at Pillar and El Condottiere. #10 Borghese Gladiator. Metro stop: Blanche for 70 Blvd de Clichy for Museum of Erotica, since 1997. #17: All 1300s, PERFECT! Cloisters sad by comparison. #18 1400AD, 60+ all perfect. #19 DelaTour ROOM! #21 Jupiter from 200AD, #22 Hermes, #23 Heros (Egyptian), 300AD, all three Roman, after Greeks. #24 Venus de Milo. #25 Apollon Lyden (Praxiteles copy). #26 Discophore, 400BC, Naucydes, #27 Borghese Ares, copy of 500BC Alcamene. #28 Apollo copy from Phidias. #30 Cour de Sphinx. #31 "Salle des Empereurs," #32 "Chambre de Parade" with Roman art. #33 Marcellus, 23BC. To 6:40PM. 6:48 buy LOVELY 176F The Louvre, "Last broken copy 30% off" to 128.50F! Also noted incredible Nagada, pre-Egyptian, from 4000-3100BC. LOTS out at 6:45! To Opera and get ticket in CENTER orchestra---GREAT! Take pictures #0-4 of NEW roll, hot. Jacket off. Lots of flash photos, place jammed. ECSTATIC at 7:30PM!! Poor ballet, bloody knees, out at 9:25, home at 9:50, Jean-Jacques in bed! Brush teeth to 10:30 and get to bed.
TUESDAY, 10/26/99: Don't sleep. Think. NOT worry. Pee at 3:30. Nap on and off. Tired at 8:30 alarm. Chat, he feels OK, will phone at 10AM to check plane. Start packing and write this at 9:30---12 hours to home!!! Breakfast with choked throat, putting out a set of PM pills I hope I won't need ON trip. Pack "New York-Cold" bag and things to read, and big bag (only 9.3 kg only 20.5 pounds!) closes easy. Jean-Jacques phones: on time, no airport tax. Be there 11:45. We leave 10:34 because I'm ready early after last shit with his smooth paper. Long, busy ride to Charles de Gaulle Airport 2, building C, and short check-in line and to gate C91, boarding 12:30. I'm there at 11:45, early! Let's hope it LEAVES on time. Sky clouds, clears, clouds again. C91 VERY small area, flight NOT marked 747 or 737, just "jet." Sit and write this at 11:50, TIRED. Hope I can sleep on plane. Gave Jean-Jacques ALL my francs: 290. NONE left, only $$$. 12:32: boarding delayed 50 minutes! 12:54: Flight 006 beginning boarding. On end of line 1:15. JAMMED 777, in row 40 of 48, well behind wing. Baby screams NEXT CABIN up. 7:50 flight! 1:35 baby screams louder and we back out, off at 2:04, through clouds over Paris; CLOUDY glimpse of Eiffel Tower. MOST of LOVELY Rupert Everett's Midsummer-Night's Dream and at 4:35 wait for La Vie Est Bello. Decent salmon mousse with champagne and turkey with Syrah lunch. 4:44 starts and 5PM RESTARTS Life Is Beautiful. Pee at 7:05. ALMOST over coast. At 7:14 see land. Wild West ends at 9:18, as Cape Cod appears CLEAR. GOOD Long Island! Land 9:59PM (six hours' difference). Stop at gate at 10:12, through customs by 10:30. Into taxi at 10:37, $35 GREAT cabdriver: Trinidadian, to 11:30! [Don't forget 2-tooth dream of 10/25.]
Reset clock to 5:30PM. Phone machine blinking: only two messages: Fleet MC about "odd pattern" and Lawrence Weisburg. Talk to John 5:40-6:15, phone Arnold 6:15-7:15. Bed 7:45 but can't sleep, so I j/o to 9PM, 3AM Paris time!
WEDNESDAY, 10/27/99: 1:55AM pee. Up 4:20, do puzzle and Times to 7:20AM. Mildred is busy, Charles no answer, Carolyn WCB, and talk to Shelley 10-10:30, Carolyn 10:20-10:55, Mildred 11-11:30, Vicki 11:35-11:47, and Lawrence Weisburg, and leave word with Sherryl and Ken and Tammy and Terry. J/o before bed at 10:22.
THURSDAY, 10/28/99: Pee 2:58 and 5AM, 5:10 up to j/o to 6, up at 7AM. Bed 11:29PM.
FRIDAY, 10/29/99: Pee 5:10, up 8:15. Bed 12:05AM.
SATURDAY, 10/30/99: Pee 4:10, up 7:10 to SMOKE and j/o, really SPACING OUT the day!
SUNDAY, 10/31/99: Bed 12:11AM, 7AM shit, up 9:40AM, but exhausted to bed 9:58PM!!
MONDAY, 11/1/99: Pee 1:30, up 7:11AM. Bed exhausted 11:30PM.
TUESDAY, 11/2/99: Up 8:30AM.
WEDNESDAY, 11/3/99: Bed 12:40AM, up 9:15AM. Bed 11:50PM.
THURSDAY, 11/4/99: NO pee, up 8:20AM.
FRIDAY, 11/5/99: Bed 12:46AM, up 8:35AM.
SATURDAY, 11/6/99: Bed 12:40AM, up 9:03AM.
SUNDAY, 11/7/99: Bed 1AM, pee 7AM, up 9:35AM.
MONDAY, 11/8/99: Bed 12:50AM, up 8:43AM.
TUESDAY, 11/9/99: Bed 1AM, up 8:50AM.
WEDNESDAY, 11/10/99: Bed 2:05AM (watching TV on "normal" schedule at last), up 9:30AM.
Spent $4186.30 for 19-day average of $220.33. Ken's form: car ran 1351 miles.
SUMMARY PAGE
FRI,OCT.8: 6:15 flight to Paris 8:20PM. Can't sleep much.
SAT,OCT.9: Land 8:45AM. Lunch in Pomme de Pain, 1:40-2:48 to Marseille, meet Ken 5PM Novotel Vieux Port. Walk Palais du Pharo. Dine Petit Nice ** $130.43.
SUN,OCT.10: Notre Dame de la Garde, Chateau d'If, to Les Baux for Le Cabro D'Or, dinner at Ousteau de Baumaniere ** $172.71. Should be 3-star.
MON,OCT.11: Drive Cevennes, Pont D'Arc lunch of Caillets; Aven D'Ornac with its Prehistory Museum; to Montpellier Park Hotel, dine at Me Kong Cambodian.
TUE,OCT.12: Botanical gardens, Le Gueuze lunch, Montpellier Cathedral, Fabre Museum, dine at Jardin des Sens *** $127.24. Should be 2-star.
WED,OCT.13: Cirque de Navacelles in clouds, lunch in Cafe des Cevennes. To Meyrueis, view Chateau Rocquedols, Notre Dame du Roque, dine in Hotel Aigual.
THU,OCT.14: Climb/drive Mt. Aigual in fog, Gorges du Tarn, Point Sublime, lunch at Le Gevaudon (aligote), Chateau de la Caze hotel and dinner on Tarn.
FRI,OCT.15: Past Castelbouc to Laguiole, lunch in Hotel Regis, read in lounge of Michel Bras, extremely expensive *** and not really worth all the fuss.
SAT,OCT.16: Conques, lunch in Pizzeria du Parvis, church, to Le Puy for Hotel Regina for dinner in Francois Gagnaire's "really tries very hard" restaurant.
SUN,OCT.17: Le Puy Cathedral city, lunch at Tournayre, St. Michaels, to St. Bonnet-les-Froid for Les Cimes ** for great mushrooms: this should be 3-star.
MON,OCT.18: Vienne, church, lunch at Vienne Bistro, to Bleu Marine Hotel in Lyon, dine at Paul Bocuse *** $165.40, which we think may be 2-star quality.
TUE,OCT.19: Walk Old Lyon's streets, lunch in Pomme de Pain, Ken leaves for airport, I train to Paris, Jean-Jacques and I dine in La Forge $57.04 for 2.
WED,OCT.20: Lunch at Arpege *** $107.27, great. Alceste at Chatelet by Robert Wilson, dinner in Le Zimmer for about $8.
THU,OCT.21: Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire *** $107.27, greater. Walk Champs-Elysee Outdoor Art Show for two hours. Orpheo ed Euridyce at Chatelet by Wilson.
FRI,OCT.22: Lunch on salad at Jean-Jacques, Musee de l'Homme in Chaillot, Eiffel Tower (snack for dinner), Le Perichole at Vanier/Chaillot Theater.
SAT,OCT.23: Fragonard biomedical museum, lunch at Les Cascades at Port Doree, Bastille Opera for mediocre Marriage of Figaro for $110.57. Tiring trip!
SUN,OCT.24: Crillon ** lunch $107.27, Tuilleries Gardens, Louvre for 2 hours of wonderment. To Jean-Jacques to rest.
MON,OCT.25: Grand Vefour ** lunch $107.27, should be ***. Louvre swimming in wine & food. Garnier Opera for Bejart's homoerotic "Clavigo" from Goethe.
TUE,OCT.26: Fly Paris-New York 2:05-9:59, home tired, bed 3AM Paris time.
WED,NOV.10: Finally finish this trip summary, 2 weeks after the end of trip.
SLIDE NUMBERS
ROLL 1:
Gare St. Charles (#0) and church (#1)
Novotel Vieux Port GREAT room (#2&3 from window)
#10 arbutus, Ericaceae "Arbre aux fraises"
ROLL 2:
#2 Castelbouc
#12 castle/flowers in Estaing
#35 Delorme Gallery ** 1536
#36 Hotel Boulioud, OPENED to stairs
ROLL 3:
#0 Musee de Gadagne, 28
#1 Rue St. Jean inner court
#3 Tour Rose, Rue de Boeuf
#4 29 Rue de Boeuf
#5 Cathedral St. John
#6 1323 astronomical clock at 11:45
#11 Sign at JJ's "1st HOUSING skyscraper in Paris 65m high,Edoard Albert1960
#33 4:15PM Tuilleries old-young man
#36 Aknaton and ceiling of "Parade" room
ROLL 4:
#4 Salon Carree and Giotto (school) Cross and Cimabue Virgin
#5 Grand Gallery
#6 Five da Vincis!
#7 Mona and neighbors
#8 Caracci: The Deluge. TWO Antonello da Messinas: Christ at Pillar and El Condottiere
#10 Borghese Gladiator
#17 All 1300s, PERFECT! Cloisters sad by comparison
#18 1400AD, 60+ all perfect
#19 DelaTour ROOM!
#21 Jupiter from 200AD
#22 Hermes
#23 Heros (Egyptian), 300AD, all three Roman, after Greeks
#24 Venus de Milo
#25 Apollon Lyden (Praxiteles copy)
#26 Discophore, 400BC, Naucydes
#27 Borghese Ares, copy of 500BC Alcamene
#28 Apollo copy from Phidias
#30 Cour de Sphinx
#31 "Salle des Empereurs"
#32 "Chambre de Parade" with Roman art
#33 Marcellus, 23BC