Escargot moments...

We've known our friends Curt, Todd and Landon for what seems like forever. Portland's a small town, after all, and they are also our Pearl retail next door neighbors. What with JD Madison, Studio G11, and Madison-Millinger Rugs, they are busy!

We invaded their rustic and removed French territory (The Aveyron for those of you Francophiles) for a week of our French excursion and rented a 14th century Mas not far from them. Imagine our surprise when we discovered these guys really living the country life! With fancy Portland and Seattle stores and a fancy Portland house, we got to know their other side....

Curt and the boys hunting snails by candlelight, after a leisurely dinner on their terrace. A leaky water faucet is the bait!

These snails were NOT being hunted for eating!









Me, lounging on their terrace after several bottles of rose wine (not drunk all by myself!) and a delicious dinner of duck confit, salad, haricots verts, and a local specialty called Aligote. This dish is basically mashed potatoes but they are whipped with huge quantities of local cheese.

Oh, and the quarry of the hunt in the glass jar!




Todd, putting the finishing touches on our evening. Note the vivid umbrella that provides a beacon to all visitors to their small (and we mean small!) town of Peyrusse le Roc.

L'Art de Vivre

Meet Jacqueline and Andre. I've known them most of my adult life and they became friends of my Great Aunt and Uncle in the early 1950's. They've lived in their 12 Arrondissement apartment since 1961 and at 89 and 85 years old respectively, are still active, interested and productive. Andre is a well-know artist who recently had a sold-out show in the Latin Quarter.

They invited us to lunch yesterday at 12:30 and we left about 6pm! We started with Champagne and crackers and then spent a few hours at the table with a delicious meal of cold meats, charcuterie and salads--and a bottle of Alsatian Riesling and a bottle of Bordeaux.

No French meal is complete without cheese and I just had to share a picture of what we savored. The cheeses were fresh and delicious and come from a neighborhood cheese shop that represents 400 different cheeses from Europe that are delivered direct from the producers.

"Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?"
("How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?")
Charles de Gaulle (from Les Mots du Général, Ernest Mignon (1962))
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_cheeses"

When in Paris.....

and it's 92 degrees, you go to MacDonald's. Especially when it's across the street from the stifling and musty Musee de Paleontologie (whose third floor could easily have surpassed 110 degrees) and one's six year-old is about to come unglued from hunger, thirst and heat.

And it's AIR CONDITIONED!! At that moment we were thrilled at the American import!

However, a tepid Diet Coke with no ice isn't really a Diet Doke, though that might be forgiven as MacDonald's also serves beer! And a lovely olive oil vinaigrette with the side salad. And a special Pommes Frites (French Fries) sauce. And, (and I don't know why they haven't thought of this in the good 'ole US of A) takeout bags with handles. (Not that we were taking out; we nearly stayed there all afternoon!)

So, fellow travelers, in the heat of a Paris summer with a child in tow, dont knock MacDonald's!

Ecstasy in Paris.

The deserted Paris Tuileries Carnivale at 10pm. Temperature about 80 degreees.

My son and I arrived in Paris Saturday morning at 8 am. My son, proud of the fact he didn't sleep on the plane from Atlanta to Paris, slept our entire first day in the City of Light (or City of Heat this weekend!).

At 8pm, we finally headed out into the city taking the Metro right into the middle of things: Place de la Concorde. As we were inhaling our foot-long Hot Dog au Fromage, we were struck by the lack of people. We wandered into a carnival inside Les Tuileries (think of Waterfront Park during Rose Festival, but with beautifully maintained rides and hosted by well-dressed and groomed attendants) and couldn't believe the rides were completely empty on this beautiful Saturday night in the center of Paris.

And then we saw a TV in a carnival bar surrounded by scores of cheering fans watching the France-Brazil soccer match of the World Cup. So, not only is it vacation month in France, and Parisians with any sense have headed out of town, but folks were holed up at home and, as we discovered later, holed up in every bar and cafe in Paris that has a TV!

Anyway, we headed for Montmartre to get a view of the city from the breezy heights of Sacre Coeur and enjoyed the sights and sounds of an ecstatic Paris, once more savoring a total defeat of the Brazilians at the last moment. Here are some photos taken about 11pm last night.


Fireworks celebration off Montmartre balcony 11pm, steps from Place du Tertre.














Darkened Tour Eiffel lights up again, in twinkles, once France won the match.














Sacre-Coeur glowing last night. There was actually room to walk around. A crescent moon hovered over Paris.