The Great Parisian Tile Hunt

Monday, October 22. Today I notice a sign in the Metro: Ma Ville Comme Je l'Aime. From October 1 through December 15, there's a "contest" on to submit written entries describing your city. Les plus beaux textes passionnes, humoristiques, poetiques, seront affiches dans le metro and the 50 best ones will receive an art book. The contest is sponsored jointly by RATP (the metro) and the Centre National du Livre (the National Book Center). Anyone over age 15 can participate, no matter what your nationality or where you live (except that entries have to be written in French!). Maybe I should write one about Paris.

I meet Jing Jing and Daniele at the Alliance Francaise at 12:30 to return Jing Jing's books and to visit for awhile. I really enjoy seeing them. Both are such interesting people. More on this later.

On the way home, I stop by the market to get toilet paper: c'est urgent! I also stop by the Quimper shop to see if they have tiles (les carreaux) as Janet and Alan collect them from their travels and Janet has been looking in vain.

Shakespeare & Co. I walk over to meet Janet and Debbie at my favorite Parisian bookstore. So much history attached to this place. [Add quote from Sylvia Beach.] I pounce on a little book called "The Paper House" by Carlos Maria Dominguez (it's translated from Spanish) about a man who is undone by his obsession for books. When I'm paying for it, the bookseller says that it is wonderful so Janet goes back to buy the one remaining copy. As a result, Janet and Janet have cleaned S & Co. out of this particular publication! I can't wait to read it (but first I have to finish Le Malade Imaginaire). I could spend all day here.

Since we're along the river, Janet and I walk along the quai (Port de la Tournelle) to the outdoor sculpture garden (formally titled the Musee de la Sculture en Plein Air) which we had noticed from the boat last night. We then cross over to Ile St Louis and sit on a bench in the sun in the Square Barye for a few minutes. Down the r. St-Louis-en-l'Ile to the r. des Deux Ponts, across the bridge and up to the r. Francois Miron to see if we can find the liqueur de myrthe we had at L'Alivi. Unfortunately, the wine shop is closed on Monday. There's a cute little shop with very colorful baby things, Le Petit Pan, where I fall in love with a little "doudou" and bring him home with me! We see a very pretty tile in the window of a pharmacy but, upon inquiry, find out it is not for sale. It's part of the window display. Dommage.

The Great Tile Hunt. We are now officially on The Great Tile Hunt as time is running out. Janet and Debbie leave tomorrow morning and it's now about 5 p.m. We stop at BHV as someone has suggested to Janet that they might have tiles. Well, they do but not in the main store. We have to walk further up the r. du Temple, passing in turn the BHV key maker and the BHV sign maker, to find the BHV Carrelage. Yes, BHV has its own tile store! Obviously, its primary function is to sell large lots of tile for bathrooms, kitchens etc. but they also sell individual tiles and Janet finds three lovely Italian ones. We then drag our weary bodies over to the Quimper shop where Janet indulges herself in a fourth tile (with a lovely Breton lady painted on it), as these tiles are traditionally French! I humiliate Janet by asking the Quimper shopkeeper to wrap the BHV tiles in bubble wrap for safer transport, but she is delighted to do it. She also gives us some great caramels. A quick stop in the patisserie for an eclair pistache which we share, and we're done!

We go back to my apartment so Janet can send email to Alan and we can decide what to do about dinner. We call Debbie (who went back to hotel after Shakespeare & Co as she has not been well) but she's not feeling up to dinner. After some rumination, Janet and I go back to the Corsican restaurant, L'Alivi. Hey, we know a good thing, and we can have more of that liqueur de myrthe! (Add food).

After dinner, I walk Janet to the Parvis in front of Notre Dame where we part, she to walk to her hotel, I to walk back to apt. It has been so much fun having her here. Janet and Alan are part of what I like to refer to as our Big Chill Group but more on that later. It's late and I'm going to bed.